Shannon V. OKeets
Posts: 22095
Joined: 5/19/2005 From: Honolulu, Hawaii Status: offline
|
quote:
ORIGINAL: Skanvak Is it the right place to ask if we can have an AI that has the historical leader psychology? I reckon it might too much work for now though but I think about it I would like to see it. I will developp if needed. I believe that will weaken the AIO too much, since it would then be very predictable. We know what actually happened historically (though there are differring viewpoints on that). During the war, the historical leaders did not know what the other side was going to do (Enigma aside). When players say they would like to play against historical leaders, it just seems to me that they want to have a calendar of the enemy actions in advance. Small things caused major changes in policy and decisions during the war. In retrospect we view them as "what Hitler/Stalin/Mao/Churchill/... decided" with the expectation that that would have been true regardless of what had gone before. If the Belgians had spotted the Germans about to paradrop into Liege and mounted a successful defense of the fortress, how would the rest of that campaign worked out? You can plug in any of hundreds/thousands of instances of small things that made a huge difference. The Japanese slacked off in their attacks in China, but if their earlier attacks had gone especially well, they might have increased their effort there enormously. To restrict the AIO to always behaving in a set way: strategically, operationally, and tactically, regardless of other events in the war seems less than reasonable. Historically, the Axis made no effort to take Malta. So, if I am playing against an historical Axis AIO, there is no need to defend Malta at all. And be sure to put a strong defense in the Ardennes, so the Germans get crushed trying to force their way through there. Don't worry about an invasion of England, the Germans aren't going to attempt it; they are just going to hope the Brits sue for peace. And so on. If you want more of an historical flavor, you could start the war at different points using one of the 6 scenarios that start later than Sept/Oct 1939. But even then don't expect the AIO to just plod along following a predictable historical course. === Perhaps I seem too harsh here, and if so, I apologize. But I keep having players ask for the AIO to play like 'historical' leaders. This is the first time I have buttressed my reasons so substantially with prose.
_____________________________
Steve Perfection is an elusive goal.
|