Ormand
Posts: 682
Joined: 2/17/2009
Status: offline
|
The short answer to your question is NO and Yes.
The Long Answer.
At the standard "AI" level (not "AI+" or "AI++") the AI doesn't get any production bonuses (it does, bigly, for the other two). Basically, a tank will cost human and AI players the same production points. In addition, there are events that make the AI production resource compliant. That said, the AI does get some advantages that will cost you production points and time to catch up with it.
1. The AI gets free strategic movement. In addition, it does not lose readiness from it. On the other hand, you will have to allocate precious production points to build trains. And very soon, you will be resource limited to produce them. Thus, the AI can move its forces up to the front much faster than you can, and its units will have better readiness. The new TOE system helps to reduce this imbalance as these transfers use less LANDCAP. And, the units have better readiness. But, they take two turns.
2. The AI gets "free" upgrades to the resource hexes. It doesn't need engineers or PP's to do this. Each turn there is a probability that the resource hex will be upgraded. I also suspect the building of roads doesn't use resources either.
3. The AI can reassign units to HQs without a readiness hit.
All of these give the AI an advantage in the early turns while you are trying to catch up. The AI will move its forces up to the border and be ready to go. And you will have your forces halfway to the front. Generally speaking, you can look at it this like a "Pearl Harbor" event and you have to reorganize and strike back. Indeed, I think the AI is extremely vulnerable to what I call the BBBA strategy, Build, Block, Bleed, and Attack. The basic goal is to develop a defensive line to man and hold with well-balanced infantry so that the AI will suffer enough attrition to be vulnerable to a counter strike.
1. Build:
My favorite mix for an infantry division looks like:
27 rifle/SMG
9 MG
3 Mortar
3 Inf Gun
3 AT Gun
3 Bazooka
Transportation for the artillery units.
This is close to a historical formation, and they have the ability to defend fairly well, and with two of these in a hex, it is hard for the AI to break it. Building these might be a bit tricky depending on the start. Namely if you have to start from scratch with the Inf Gun and AT Guns, which are pretty expensive.
2. Block: Find a defensible line that you can reinforce. Sometimes cities on the border might be too hard to defend and you will have to give them up. "Better to lose a city than an army". Basically, you need to slow the AI down so that you can get your defensive line in place. It doesn't have to be two deep everywhere. Pick the likely points of attack, and use terrain to help. Put artillery behind the line to launch artillery barrages on the AI front. In your turns, generally avoid assaulting the AI so that you build up your entrenchment factor. Rather, use artillery and air to conduct attacks on the AI line to inflict losses in personnel and readiness. Readiness is very important as it determines the effectiveness of attacks and defense.
3. Bleed: When this line is in place, the AI will commit suicide on it. Every turn, it will attack various points along the line, but it will generally NOT go all in, and attack with a massive artillery barrage, airstrike, and overstack attack to break the line. The AI will attack up and down the line and will generally suffer a loss ratio of 2:1. If you choose to counterattack, pick AI units that you can maul badly, but remember this will affect your entrenchment.
4. Attack: While this defensive action is going on, you will need to feed replacements in, which the TOE system will do fairly well. And, you should be building a powerful strike force. In particular, a mobilized armored army. Over time, the AI's loss rate will high enough that many of the AIs front-line units will become weak. In fact, you will probably find that the line is ready to be attacked before your armored army is actually ready to go. But, once this happens, the game will likely domino to the end: the AI suffering losses in manpower and readiness that it will have a hard time keeping up with. You need to put enough pressure on the AI so that you can get an envelopment and wipe out say ten units. You also need to make sure you don't deplete your own unit's readiness. If you do this right, the AI will have a hard time recovering from this and you should win.
|
Printable Version
AI Builds Really Fast?? - 
RE: AI Builds Really Fast?? - 
New Messages
No New Messages
Hot Topic w/ New Messages
Hot Topic w/o New Messages
Locked w/ New Messages
Locked w/o New Messages
Post New Thread