Choosing "the correct" settings

[Navelgazer]

So I bought this game on Steam, but have put off playing it for a little while.

For my first game I was thinking about going for Austria (being somewhat of an Austrophile), but first things first: what settings should I play with? I am talking about "AI ranking" (though being a total noob I think I will leave it where it is, on sergeant), but perhaps most importantly "activation bonus" and "AI detect bonus". How do they work?

I will hook off "give AI more time", becuse I plan on having this running when doing homework and such. Five minutes extra will not really make a difference with turn times already being what they are.

I have never really liked giving the AI "artificial" bonuses in games. Losing battles and such due to the AI having a bonus on the roll seems somewhat cheap, even though I know that it is just an AI and it might need it.

What options do you pick and why?

[loki100]

Sergeant is fine, the main advantage to the one higher setting is (I think) the AI does a better job of running its economy under that setting and it faces a lower malus for a poorly led stack. You face -35% as the max if command need exceeds command capacity, at normal the AI faces 25% (forget quite what) at the higher level 18%. The critical thing about these numbers is they impact on speed of movement and performance in battle. For eg at -35% the rate of fire is reduced by 1, so for many units they only fire once in each combat round.

Activation bonus means that a general with any level strategic level (the first number of their sequence such as 3-1-1) is that bit more likely to be active in a turn. Active stacks of units move faster and can attack, inactive stacks have slower movement and are limited to defensive operations.

Don't overdo the detect bonus. It allows Athena (the AGE AI) to 'see' behind your lines. Unfortunately she can then get rather frisky and send units off deep into your rear and out of supply. I'd keep this at no more than +1.

All in all the AI is good at both economic and military management in PoN.

General word of advice, don't play your own country as a mercantalist state. Overall you'll gain by actively engaging in international trade (including buying to sell on) as that will help the AI. Remember in PoN, today's rival is tomorrow's trading partner.

... and welcome to the forum and to PoN

[Navelgazer]

Thanks for the reply.

I am a little unsure of exactly what to conclude, though. If I understand you correctly, having "detection bonus" on +1 (low bonus?) is fine, but having it on no bonus is also fine? If the AI is competent enough without any detection bonus, I do not think it needs it against me.

After all: I am a total noob with AGEod, so even if the game ends up as the equivalent of two blind men fighting, it is unlikely that I will mind too much – or even notice.

As for the activation roll, I have some feeling with what it is all about from reading the TEAW PBEM AAR that is currently ongoing on the Paradox Interactive forums' OT-board. Honestly, I do not think I need the AI to have any bonus here either.

And yeah, I think I will leave the AI ranking on sergeant, as the private rank seems to give the AI those artificial penalties that I do not want.

In review:
- AI Ranking: Sergeant
- Use all behaviours: Check
- Activation Bonus: Easy (no bonus)
- AI Detect Bonus: No bonus
- Aggressiveness: Normal
- Give AI more time: Check

If this does not make the AI completely useless I think I will run with it.

[Navelgazer]

I forgot about the game options.

I will obviously use fog of war, not run randomized generals, extended pool and structure pool is set to 'historical', extended SOI set to 'historical', and extended claims to 'historical' as well. All of these options seem to be the default ones. The other ones have me puzzled, though.

What are your suggestions for activation rule? The deffault middle one? That is: "a large movement and combat penalty if the stack leader is not ativated"?

The default option for redeployment seems to be three instant redeployments for the AI and zero for the player. Is this the best option?

The default for delayed commitment is 'small delay'. Historical attrition is set to 'standard' rather than 'historical for both the player and AI'.

[loki100]

first response ...you are brave starting with PoN. Can I seriously suggest play the battle scenarios, both the 1859 (Italy) and Russo-Japanese war that come with the stock game will teach you a lot about troop movement and combat in the AGE system. If you feel like splashing out, the Franco-Prussian war DLC is another good one (& you can even see me make a disaster with the French ... link in my signature).

Second, very shameless plug. Have a look at 'Manufacturing Italy'. It starts as 'how do I play PoN', but there are a lot of posts (described as such in the table of contents) that describe various game mechanics - I'm assuming you don't want to read the whole thing, not least Italy burns down Vienna 3 times before its all over . Also look at the lets plays, these discuss how the various economic screens and economic model fits together.

Activation - use the middle one. Harsh is ... well harsh, if you are inactive you can't move which is too much in PoN (works well in some other games, I had a great tussle with the AI in Rise of Prussia using that setting as a balance). Leave redeployment to the AI, as a player you should be able to preplan much more effectively and if you are caught out ... well that is part of the fun.

Rest sounds sensible, commitment means there is a greater chance of arriving in a province and not starting a battle. Its pretty neutral at any level.

Keep the AI on standard attrition, the loss of manpower and goods will really hamper it. For the player, 'historical' enhances the importance of depots and reserves, so its good for making the flow of the game more realistic.

Remember, you can change all these settings at any stage in a game, so if you find it isn't working as you want just amend them.

... and (final thing), if you are going with Austria, check out Kensai's Gross Deutchland mod (my spelling is probably wrong), it tries to model the outcome of Austria winning the struggle for Germany in the 1860s rather than Prussia

[Kensai]

If you are a newcomer leave most difficulty options to default. I believe that the 1880 campaign scenario (extra DLC) is the best to start the game as most major nations have already formed.

[Navelgazer]

Copy.

I bought the package and have all the additional content. Will look on the smaller battle-campaigns first just to see if I can wrap my head around it.

Probably will not play the 1880 start, even though it might be easier. I understand things may be rough for Austria between 1850 and 1880, but those are the exciting years and if I fail I fail.

Will look into the Gross Deutchland mod. Have not had the time to play yet, and probably will not for quite some time.