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Playing my first game since 1.05 upgrade. AI agresssive setting at normal. usa army has been setting in washington dc the entire game, currently in nov 1963. some movement in tenn and ky but the eastern army has not moved. Do I have some setting wrong? What should I check? A bit of a boring war!!

I've recently gotten back into ACW2 and played out a number of games against the AI and have experienced what you note; however, I've also had some challenging games with the AI sniffing out weak points over the Appalachians and launching large offensives from WV into NC and from Knoxville into Georgia bypassing the Chattanooga bottleneck, or sweeping east of Corinth down into rugged northern Alabama towards Selma. Also some rather intense swarm attacks straight into Virginia.

I play the AI at the Colonel level, now and then setting aggression and AI detect bonus to high as well. As I've stated elsewhere recently, the main problems with the "AI" (which is actually a PO--'programmed opponent") are:

--a clear inability to build maximized divisions and Corps command structure

--lack of dedicated invasions initiatives along the coastlines

--lack of an effective incremental blockade of the CSA

In a current game of mine as CSA the Union has invaded:

New Orleans
Mobile (many times)
Pensacola
Savanah (2-3 times)
Charleston (2-3 time)
Wilmington (many many times)

Now I am playing the game in extra innings (currently late 1868) but even through 1865 there were plenty of invasions.

I do play with as much of a advantage to the PO/AI as possible, so Colonel, Very High Activation, VH Detect, Normal Aggression, attrition for me only, etc., so that may influence the AI to be more aggressive with invasions.

I suspected I had simply not yet had an AI game with those strategies triggered. Good to know.

Playing with 1.06 RC3 I've had a very aggressive Union make those
amphibious attacks as well as make a few strong and aggressive
thrusts, taking back a lot of hard won territory (especially losing
Cairo and then Western Kentucky). I thought that my game was
pretty much over when I got those surprises.

You can't expect the AI (ok, PO to make a splendid game full of surprises, if you play at lieutenant level. Otherwise I would be selling my AI code to IBM

Pocus wrote:You can't expect the AI (ok, PO ) to make a splendid game full of surprises, if you play at lieutenant level. Otherwise I would be selling my AI code to IBM

I think the latest beta patch gave Athena quite a nice boost and
made my current game more challenging. I'm looking forward to
the next game soon but I still love the hell out of CW2. I'll be going
back to it until you guys decide to make a CW3, if that is even needed!

The thing is, Athena doesn't need to surprise in order to be successful as the Union (or CSA).
Then vulnerabilities for the CSA are known. Athena needs to throw the troops she can spare in one go at the weakest point.
If the CSA moves troops to counter, then that point becomes weak and could also fall.
Select the top money, WS or VP producing cities, and recon them to get a feeling of the troops stationed there.
Whilst doing recon, Athena can start building the necessary troops and then launch an attack with favorable odds.
Nothing the CSA can do about it.
Athena now attacks in too many spots with to little troops. If you combine all the forces of those mini invasions, you can attack
all but the heaviest fortified places. You need to bring a sledge hammer not a small hammer.
Seems like the evaluation function to select the targets to attack still has some room for improvement.
That's ok, as I now can still win a game vs Athena as the CSA

Pocus wrote:Otherwise I would be selling my AI code to IBM

I'm sorry, Pocus. I'm afraid I can't let you do that.

oke:

Cardinal Ape wrote:I'm sorry, Pocus. I'm afraid I can't let you do that.

oke:

[ATTACH]33639[/ATTACH]

And to actually contribute, in 1.06RC3 the Confederate AI does appear somewhat better than it was in previous versions.

Gray Ghost wrote:Playing my first game since 1.05 upgrade. AI agresssive setting at normal. usa army has been setting in washington dc the entire game, currently in nov 1963. some movement in tenn and ky but the eastern army has not moved. Do I have some setting wrong? What should I check? A bit of a boring war!!

the US has a large number of brigades that are permanently fixed in Washington and Alexandria.

Gray Ghost wrote:Playing my first game since 1.05 upgrade. AI agresssive setting at normal. usa army has been setting in washington dc the entire game, currently in nov 1963. some movement in tenn and ky but the eastern army has not moved. Do I have some setting wrong? What should I check? A bit of a boring war!!

I have the same thing going on, it's my first game ( just purchased ). It's January and they haven't moved into Virginia at all. Is the A.I scripted at all to attack Manassas?

Hello kc87. Welcome to the forums.

There may be an issue with a passive AI in the 1.05 version of the game. You might want to try out the beta patch 1.06 where some of those issues have been fixed.

On the other hand I often play in my head what I call "The Longstreet Strategy"...

Let the bluebellies bleed themselves to death and overthrow Lincoln in 1864.
Major defensive positions they have to attack... etc... Just get all your 20 lbs and columbiads in place with Porter Alexander part of the stack.
AS Jackson said:
"Kill em all"

Stauffenberg wrote:On the other hand I often play in my head what I call "The Longstreet Strategy"...

Let the bluebellies bleed themselves to death and overthrow Lincoln in 1864.
Major defensive positions they have to attack... etc... Just get all your 20 lbs and columbiads in place with Porter Alexander part of the stack.
AS Jackson said:
"Kill em all"

I have something like that setup in Northern Virginia and they have yet to attack and it's now 1862. It seems like the A.I is trying to bypass them with a major offensive through West Virginia instead.

Cardinal Ape wrote:Hello kc87. Welcome to the forums.

There may be an issue with a passive AI in the 1.05 version of the game. You might want to try out the beta patch 1.06 where some of those issues have been fixed.

thanks, is the 1.06 the beta tab on steam?

Sorry no, but 1.06 official will be live rather soon now.