AGEOD Forums

Just thinking...

To help out Athena, perhaps you could make it easier for her to organize her armies by allowing her to buy whole divisions or partially filled divisions.

I wouldn't recommend that for the human players, but for the AI it could be an easier way to handle the problem than to try to teach her how to create divisions from scratch.

Ray (aka LAVA)

we are debating a simplification to say the truth, as the main problem is having the right HQ at the right place, not what to do when it is there...

Indeed...

One way would be to have "programmed" divisions appear, like the reinforcements of historic brigades, with an HQ, general and perhaps the historic brigade already contained in the division. That way Athena not only does not have to "buy", or even move the HQ, it will just appear for her in theater for her to use. She then only needs to know how to "fill out" a division with reinforcements.

This would especially help on the more "historical" formations... such as Stuart and his cavalry.

If Athena understands how to fill the divisions and use them in the army organization, having leaders appear attached to a divisional HQ would also be a good idea. Though most folks don't like the AI "cheating", I would hardly call assisting the Athena with army organization even close. It's a way to enable her to at least maintain parity with humans capable of abstract thinking.

I would say a combination of both is the best. A few historical units and a few HQs in theater to give greater balance to Athena, who is fighting with one arm behind her back.

You can do this and still maintain historical accuracy if you tie the appeareance of certain brigades and leaders (with division HQs) along the ACW timeline.

I'd go easy at first, put say 5 or 6 per side in a patch and see how the players react. I can't see anything but good coming from this.

Ray (aka LAVA)

What I am testing is having 10 Divisional HQs appear via event, 6 in the East, 4 in the West. The AI tends to build Divisional HQs in small numbers (in 6 months the Confederates built 3 Divisional HQs, using only one of them). I also think that they still build too many militia, which drains money and troops so quickly that there isn't enough left for 'tougher' units like brigades and HQ troops. I am going to do a test, eliminating the Militia construction pools entirely (so the AI cannot build militia forces) just to see what they produce instead. It may be that 1 Brigade is better than 6 Militia... Or maybe not...?

Militia will be more useful when they will be build in non garrisoned cities, this should help much the AI, and this is the aim of having her build militia in the first place. The aim is not to create a mob with them

As for the HQs, we will propose a poll soon.

I was primarily going to test to 'see what happens', as more of a 'quick fix' until the AI gets sorted out.