Campaign AI and economy improvements

[MasterBurte]

In the current state of the game the ai has zero chance to win any war against the player. The strategic that every player can use and that is bulletproof just wipes all other nations without problem. So as long as the game mechanics don't change it would be the easiest way to hard lock the ai in a similar behavier.

As a player i just do the following steps at campaign start.

1. Put every slider to max (crew, research, economy)

2. Build shipyard at max rate (slider completely to the right)

3. Use priority on BB development early on to get a head start and then research without any priority.

This behavier combined with better ship designs in general gives you such a big leap over the enemies that after 10 years it's gg. You will have BB with more speed, armor and firepower that can singlehandly defeat enemy fleets. Even the doomstacks can easily be dealt with a pair of BB. I usually just use 6 BB in 3 pairs per nation i am at war with. Doesn't matter if italy has 300+ ships. Just build 6 BB. Currently my BB that are 15 years in service with no refits can still wipe out whole nations with ease.

So as long as the economy and research is in it's early stages just hard lock the ai in this behavier so they won't become obsolete after 10 years. And force them to build and refit as there is no tomorrow. In my current campain germany used 1890 tech ships in 1920 until i destroyed them all and just then started to build newish designs that are just 15 years behind instead of 30.

[Phelidai]

Definite agree. When playing the game, your choices at campaign start are pretty much as follows:
1. Play normal mode. You dominate the seas and swat down wars in a month.

2. Play hard mode. Enemies throw more ships at you meaning you now get to deal with laggy 2 v 100 battles when the enemy sends their entire navy to sea.

3. Play legendary mode. You can sometimes still kill enemy doomstacks even though they grow larger. BUT, now the enemy economies are so inflated that they can easily park their whole 300 ship navy in the sea and give you an impossible blockade. You're unable to remove that blockading fleet because fighting it is either going to be a slideshow, crash your game, or result in an impossible battle due to the inflated economy allowing for mindless quantity over quality to finally win out.

[RegamusMaximis]

lol that's exactly how I play. Normally have 3 fleets of 6 BB's and they wreck everything.

Except I do min-max research and boost stuff, as the slow down doesn't apply to the research I want, as the way I boost it makes up for the few months lost boosting others.

Priority to start is hull, control something n rangefingers. Bigger ship with accuracy, that's normally all ready for my first shipyard upgrade finishing, and the next generation of 6 BB's to be built. Next two years, is engine, funnels, guns, control n rangefinders. 

As soon as numbers appear on the research boost them. If no numbers are present boost the 3 next things you want. 

Within 6 years you've won, within 8 1/2 those 6BB's will have a 20k tonnage advantage and 16-18 12.9 fully extended barrels, with however many 6 or 8 inch secondaries fit. Times that by 6 BB's being in the battle, and the shells lobbed during a full 6 ship boardship, is a site to see

[Tycondero]

The same, the game really needs a massive boost to AI capabilities. The AI is so horribly bad that a decent player easily wins against the AI. Like the OP says, both the ship design and strategic part of the campaign suffer from bad AI. Also, I think that the tactical part of the game (naval battles) leaves much to be desired. The only strategy the AI seems to develop is to go head to head like it we are have 17th century naval skirmishes. As a result, a battle with a lot of ships usually develops into a big mess with AI ships rushing in.

Tactically the AI needs to become better in:

- Retreating/breaking contact when necessary if the battle goes against their favor, providing that they have enough speed to escape or break contact. The AI should also actively end the battle when retreating and this is allowed. It is somewhat unfair that the player is allowed to choose when to end the battle, as a player might exploit this.

- Actively use some of the screens (DDs, CLs) to scout ahead and spot your force, these ships should also keep contact/gather intel (ship specs) providing they are not spotted

- Use and keep formations in which BBs are covered by screens

- Perform torpedo runs to force enemies to retreat in case the AI controls DDs with torpedoes

- Use smoke screens to cover retreating fleet

- Engage more cautiously, even if it has a force/numerical advantage over the player fleet. Only if the AI has a severe advantage should it go and engage in a skirmish like fashion.

- A tactical naval strategy should be developed based on the most powerful ships in the fleet. For example, if the AI has better BBs that are capable of delivering effective firepower at a longer range than the player, then the AI should exploit this benefit by keeping sufficient distance.

- The AI needs to become better at preserving ammunition, if the AI starts with a reduced ammo design, it should switch to save main battery ammunition.

[StrikerDanger]

Unpopular Opinion: Early player ship crews suck. In a 1920s campaign my ships cant even hit anything 5km away. Also why are they always Cadet level, and not, for example, trained??

 

There's also the fact that the AI still 1) Torpedo spam and 2) superman dodge/detect torpedoes long before even the player can.

Edited July 21, 2022 by StrikerDanger