Slitherine

quote:

ORIGINAL: Iain McNeil

I've found that while the turns do take some time, there is quite a lot going on so you are watching what happens (and praying!) during the AI moves, not just waiting. It's also pretty darned good. When I saw it herding its transports across the Atlantic with a destroyer screen and massing for D-Day (with all the technology and production decisions that involves) and then actually launching an effective D-Day I was pretty astounded. I don't remember another game where the AI was able to put together a plan at this scale and complexity.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Hubert Cater

Hi Grim Reaper,

1) Generally speaking the AI has been sped up from older versions due to a number of coding optimizations, however due to the increased size of the map this might not be immediately apparent as it is not a 1 to 1 comparison with the earlier releases. Early on in game and depending on your AI animation speed settings, turn lengths can vary from 1 to 3 minutes, and later on as the map opens up and more units are on the map it will be a bit longer than that. Essentially it is quicker, but will proportionally slow down as the game progresses and more and more tasks are being taken into account by the AI.

2) It is scripted but there are several paths that the AI can take and more so on the Allied side, i.e. Torch or no Torch, early D-Day, going all in towards North Africa or staying home to heavily protect the UK home island and so on. The Axis side will see more variety in the Battle of the Atlantic, but generally speaking it tries to just conquer you as quickly as possible on all fronts as that is the most efficient thing for the Axis AI to perform. But with diplomacy and other effects you can get some variety with Spain and/or Turkey entering the war and so on.

Hope this helps,
Hubert

quote:

ORIGINAL: ILCK

quote:

ORIGINAL: Iain McNeil

I've found that while the turns do take some time, there is quite a lot going on so you are watching what happens (and praying!) during the AI moves, not just waiting. It's also pretty darned good. When I saw it herding its transports across the Atlantic with a destroyer screen and massing for D-Day (with all the technology and production decisions that involves) and then actually launching an effective D-Day I was pretty astounded. I don't remember another game where the AI was able to put together a plan at this scale and complexity.

I was wondering how the AI would handle that since so far we haven't seen that in any of the videos.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Grim.Reaper

quote:

ORIGINAL: ILCK

quote:

ORIGINAL: Iain McNeil

I've found that while the turns do take some time, there is quite a lot going on so you are watching what happens (and praying!) during the AI moves, not just waiting. It's also pretty darned good. When I saw it herding its transports across the Atlantic with a destroyer screen and massing for D-Day (with all the technology and production decisions that involves) and then actually launching an effective D-Day I was pretty astounded. I don't remember another game where the AI was able to put together a plan at this scale and complexity.

I was wondering how the AI would handle that since so far we haven't seen that in any of the videos.

Maybe so....but long processing time can put off some players like me, even if AI is great. Not saying I won't purchase, but is a key consideration for me.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Iain McNeil

I think i was unclear and you misunderstand what I meant. I don't sit there waiting for the AI to move. The vast majority of the time I am watching the AI make its moves, as this is useful information. I need to know what attacked where and what damage was done. It is the choreography of showing me the AI move that takes the time, not sitting looking at a busy cursor. If I had to split the amount of time playing or watching the AI move versus the amount of time waiting for the AI to move it would be somewhere in the very high 90's in terms of percentage but I haven't tracked it - could easily be over 99% as I haven't even noticed the waiting time. The amount of time waiting with nothing going on is pretty minimal. I am extremely short on time and I have not found it to be a factor at all.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Hubert Cater

Hi Grim Reaper,

Just to echo what Iain mentions here, and you'll see this in the very first turn of the game when playing as either the Axis or Allied side in 1939, there really is no real/significant delay in AI actions, i.e. processing time, just the optimal time it takes for the AI to move a unit and so on. Early game turns should feel relatively quick and depending on your AI animation playback settings, even quicker if animation is halved or even turned off.

Sometimes there are actions under FoW that will have you feel like the AI is not doing much, like moving its navy under FoW, but there is an indicator of AI processes in the bottom left hand corner of the screen and this gives you a pretty good idea that for those few seconds of seeming inaction on screen, it is simply moving units hidden from view.

I ran a quick test of the AXIS AI (all of which can be confirmed by anyone once the game is available) under the following animation settings for the very first turn of 1939 all under FoW. Note, this only includes the actual AI planning and unit movement, combat and reorganization and not the in game messages and popups, calculation of supply or the processing of in game events. Reason being as those would be the same for the AI or a human player playing out the turn and I just wanted to provide a feel for AI processing only.

1939 AXIS AI (first turn with 73 available Axis units in total)

Full Animation Turn Length = 2 minutes and 10 seconds
Quick Animation Turn Length = 1 minute and 25 seconds
No Animation Turn Length = 40 seconds


I also wanted to expand on what I briefly described above in my first reply, which is to say again that once the game progresses and there are more units and territories in play, it should be expected that turns will take longer but this will of course also be the case for a human player as well.

An example of this, and to hopefully and reasonably temper expectations, I took a quick look at the 1944 campaign and at game start the Allies have a combined total of 216 units on the map, i.e. land, sea and air. If let's say only half of these units engage in some sort of action during the AI turn, and if we give the AI 5 seconds per unit (on average) to plot and animate its move, i.e. take action and possibly engage in combat with attack and defensive fire shown, you are looking at about 9 minutes for the AI to play out its side on default animation settings.

There will be some variance from game to game as the playback settings, number of units at any one time, and even your PC are all factors, but hopefully it paints a pretty good picture on what to expect. Either way it will still be much faster than what a human player will be able to achieve with the same turn.

Hubert

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Thanks for taking the time to post and clarify...this is probably one of those things I will have to see for myself. I completely understand the need for the AI to do its thing and at the same time be a worthy opponent. But on the surface waiting for a 9 minute turn even if your watching "seems" like a long time and not sure I have any other game with that kind of time. Again, unfair of me to judge until I see it in action, just my random thoughts until the release.