Slitherine

quote:

ORIGINAL: WanderingHead

Damaged rail does affect the retreat outcome. Units will first attempt to retreat via an undamaged (all the way from start to finish) rail line if possible.

quote:


Which patch version of the game was this? Latest?

quote:


Retreats are tough. I've tweaked them a little, but they follow somewhat generic rules and it is hard to make them always make sense.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Tom Grosv
That's not good. Should I have dismantled my Gorki factory and moved it to another region just to encourage my retreating Kursk units find their way to Moscow! Surely you should be able to have some control over where your units retreat to?

quote:

ORIGINAL: WanderingHead

My goal was to try to make retreats fairly intuitive. I tweaked things to make them retreat more towards regions with higher production and population. In your case, I would have expected them to retreat to Moscow (assuming that Moscow had more production than Gorki as it normally would).

quote:

ORIGINAL: Lucky1
Hmm. I have been able to replicate what Tom has noted. Troops ALWAYS appear to retreat to Gorki from Kursk... I have to admit, I have never paid much attention to retreat paths before, so I don't know whether there are similar weird retreats in other critical areas (e.g. czechoslovakia, Austria).

foreach candidate_region (neighboring lost region)
{
  metric(candidate_region) = supplies  + 5* (1 + factories*production_multiplier + population + rail_units)
  foreach neigb_region (same player region neigboring candidate_region)
  {
    metric(candidate_region) += (supplies  + 5* (1 + factories*production_multiplier + population + rail_units))/2
  }
}
retreat to region with largest metric(candidate_region)

foreach candidate_region (neighboring the lost region)
{
  metric(candidate_region) = supplies  + 5* (1 + factories*production_multiplier + population + rail_units)
  foreach neigb_region (same player region neigboring candidate_region)
  {
    metric(candidate_region) += (supplies  + 5* (1 + factories*production_multiplier + population + rail_units))/3
  }
  metric(candidate_region) += die(10)
}
retreat to region with largest metric(candidate_region)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Lucky1
Does the algorithm factor in strategic points values anywhere (I didn't notice this....)?

quote:

ORIGINAL: WanderingHead
Just changing the weighting to 1/3 from 1/2 changes the start of game values to Moscow: 34, Gorki: 35

quote:

ORIGINAL: Lucky1
Keeping in mind that this post was initially about units not retreating back to Moscow (and the big 5 points it represents), SPs are arguably relevant to the equation (I think most games are won and lost over Russia). Would it not be possible to simply have the SP value added to the mix, with no value being added where no SPs exist?

quote:

ORIGINAL: Tom Grosv
I can't make up my mind about randomization. Perhaps it would be good for units to spread out somewhat.

quote:

ORIGINAL: WanderingHead

What I liked about randomization is that if the algorithm isn't quite right, it wouldn't be so glaring since it wouldn't be all or nothing. If 5 units retreated to Gorki and 3 to Moscow it mightn't be so bad.

The priorities would still come in to it, so they shouldn't retreat in bad directions. But if multiple regions have close retreat values then units might spread out.

quote:

ORIGINAL: WanderingHead

The start of game (Global Glory) values are Moscow: 41, Gorki: 46

quote:

ORIGINAL: Tom Grosv
Ah ha! Now I know that supplies are important I did another experimental attack and this time packed Moscow with supplies - it worked! My retreating Kursk units went to Moscow! Well, it's better than dismantling the Gorki factory.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Tom Grosv

quote:

ORIGINAL: WanderingHead
The start of game (Global Glory) values are Moscow: 41, Gorki: 46

Could I humbly ask you for a bit more detail - I've tried following your algorithm but I can't get my sums to add up. Should have studied maths harder at school.

foreach candidate_region (neighboring lost region)
{
  metric(candidate_region) = supplies  + 5* (factories*production_multiplier + population + rail_units)
  foreach neigb_region (same player region neigboring candidate_region)
  {
    metric(candidate_region) += (supplies  + 5* ( factories*production_multiplier + population + rail_units))/2
  }
}
retreat to region with largest metric(candidate_region)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Tom Grosv

So, if I was able to go back in time and redo my move, what should I have done to ensure my units retreated to Moscow? I haven't got a clue - can anyone help me?

foreach candidate_region (neighboring lost region)
{
  metric(candidate_region) = supplies  + factories*production_multiplier + population + rail_units

  metric_neighbors = 0
  foreach neigb_region (same player region neigboring candidate_region)
  {
    metric_neighbors += factories*production_multiplier + population + rail_units
  }

  metric(candidate_region) += metric_neighbors/3
}
retreat to region with largest metric(candidate_region)

quote:

ORIGINAL: WanderingHead

The changes involved in the equations:
1) eliminate the 5* for all the non-supply terms, to make supply relatively more important. This allows the player to more easily influence it directly if desired.
2) remove the impact from supplies in neighboring regions (again making it easier to influence with supply placement).
3) decrease the effect of neighbors to 1/3 from 1/2.

In addition:
4) show the retreat value in the region popup for friendly regions, so the player can see it.
5) maybe include some randomization (?)
6) maybe include strategic points (?)