Bullwinkle58 -> RE: What level to set AI for newbs? (2/1/2011 2:03:12 PM)
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ORIGINAL: obvert Thanks Bullwinkle. I did the latest patch, (not the Beta), and it's not that it hasn't tried a bit, but just not as I would expect. I had well trained Banshees there fairly early, and took out some TFs with those, and AI only sent a mini-CV TF to help. I took out a good many troops on ships in Jan-Feb with air and PT Boats, a few sacrificial DD squads. Then in March it brought the KB to run circles at Soerbaja and Batavia, while taking Medan, and it kept hitting PTs when it would try to bombard ports, which may have messed up the plans a bit? I did peek early, just to get the feel of how quick the movements were through December, but haven't looked to the Dark Side since, and it's all seeming a big mystery. Maybe I messed up the scripts there? I thought it would send everything when I took Tulagi in January, (which I know I shouldn't be able to do), but again, just a small CVE TF which went down under 1000 pounders. In my two games in one the AI sent the mini-KB to help at Java, and in the other it sent a 3-CV TF to help. In the first game, with early AI scripts, the mini-KB did circles around Java, but in the second game the 3-CV TF did not. It was very effective at tying down Soerbaja air to allow the invasion to happen (it stayed to the east on the DEI side.) Andy Mac, the "AI Scipt King" on the dev team, did adjust some scripts since launch. You could search for his posts in the forum archives. I'm not sure where you're getting lots of PT boats. You have the small RN squadron that starts at Hong Kong, but USN PTs are thin that early in the war. And sinking TFs with Banshees shouldn't make the AI stop trying for an objective that's scripted as vital. If anything, complaints have been that it tries too long at too great a loss for those. And Palembang should be one of those. Taking Tulagi, or any objecitve YOU think is vital, isn't going to matter unless the scripts are written to make it matter. There are trigger bases in the scripts that will get you a BIG response. I won't ruin your fun by listing any, but I think it's safe to say Tulagi isn't one of them. It's one of the limits of a scripted AI--it can't respond on the fly to anything too ahistoric. As you say, going aggressive in the Solomons in January 1942 is ahistoric. There is a menu of scripts though, and if you restart you'll get a different random draw from the list. In my two games I've seen significantly different AI behavior in multiple sub-theaters. But I haven't seen what you describe, so I can't say why you're seeing those AI moves. I'd try a restart, and pay close attention to the set-up switches. For example, don't randomize the reinforcement arrival dates and see if that matters. As for difficulty level, to my knowledge the devs have never released a comprehensive list of what changes between Historical, Hard, and Very Hard. Players have tried to infer over the years since WITP, but take those estimates with a grain of salt. I don't believe device effectiveness is adjusted in the combat routines for example. The AI doesn't have prep point restrictions (I believe this has been confirmed by the team), and it can teleport ships wherever it needs to in order to form TFs. Mostly, on the harder difficulties, the way supply works is changed. On Very Hard it has been reported that the AI forces don't use supply, so sieges are impossible. You have to take everrything by frontal assault. I personally think that makes the whole theater distorted. The main Allied thrust of the war was to ruin the Japanese economy and prevent them from resisting, not to kill every last Japanese soldier and sailor. So far as I know the difficulty setting does not influence which scripts get chosen out of the list. The scenario selection does. Read what each scenario changes in the scenario notes, and try a different one on a re-start. If you REALLY want a harder AI experience, try the Ironman scenario. Many players have reported that it is a tough, tough challenge. I have not tried this one myself, but will after I try a game as the Japanese.
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