Coalition and AI.

[Uxbridge]

Is there any way of playing (controlling) the units of Austria, Prussia, Russia or any other French hostile state? My concern is the situation created by the AI playing both France and most Coalition forces when I play Britain. The situation on the Continent is just a mess, with French armies deep into Austrian territory while Coalition forces lurk at the French borders. And units tend to attack each other with little regard for numbers or regional situation. My dismay is not so much the stolen control as it is the utter absurdity of what's going on. I really want to love this game, but it's making me lose interest. If the Coalition forces were controlled by the British player, with the French AI responding to Coalition actions, I don't think this silly situation would occur. It's quite all right not being in control of production, politics and such matters, but being able to set unit posture and movement orders would make a crucial difference.

What is the rationale behind this design? Would the French AI be unable to recreate the glory of Napoleon if the Coalition forces were human controlled?

Yes, I'm fully aware of the Allied request system, but since I can't make the forces march in reasonal directions using it, I haven't been able to grasp how to use it properly.

If I seem very aggressive come to this issue, I'm not. But this thing is rapidly stealing the joy of what should be a marvellous game.

[oho]

You can chose each major power, one after the other, and create a save file before for each power, and then end the turn. The engine will take the save ORD files and execute the turn I think. That's how the PBEM work.

[joueur]

the main problem is that, as british, you will fight to the last austrian, the last prussian and/or the last russian if you control all of them (and play with only british interests)
you will not consider if they must continue to fight or not ; after all, after Austerlitz, Austria could have continue to fight with russian and british help.
In the game you will do that but in real life, austria said stop. Now, if you control austria, you will not sue for peace


it appears clearly that WoN can be played ONLY by PBEM with 7 players cause IA is totally ****

[lodilefty]

You can "influence" Allied AI behavior with the TAB key function.
See the Manual Errata for details.

[Uxbridge]

Gosh, Oho, I never realized that one can click the lesser flags. If I ever read the text 'click any flag' I must have thought that it refered only to the French or British flag and that the small flags were for prettiness only. This changes everything. The way to go now is to let the AI handle the nations that are at Peace with France, stepping in only when they are at war. As regards joueur's thought about the last Prussian, couldn't one way to handle that be to add all Coalition Victory Points together, dividing them by four. If the result is higher than the French VP, Britain wins; if less, she lose. This, of course, I do as a player, so I'm not talking about any changes to the game. Deciding when a beaten nation should call it a day is trickier, but I assume looking at the 'importance values' of the regions could be of assistance. When the French have conquered a certain pre-set value, I will accept any peace proposals Nappo sends my way, reverting the beaten nation back to the AI.

Splendid! I'm very happy again. In fact, without paying anything, I now have a completely new game.

lodilefty, even if my new discoveries has made the 'Allied Request' somewhat obsolete, I tried to find an Errata in the manual, but could not. Were you refering to some patch text?

[Aurelin]

Gosh, Oho, I never realized that one can click the lesser flags. If I ever read the text 'click any flag' I must have thought that it refered only to the French or British flag and that the small flags were for prettiness only. This changes everything. The way to go now is to let the AI handle the nations that are at Peace with France, stepping in only when they are at war. As regards joueur's thought about the last Prussian, couldn't one way to handle that be to add all Coalition Victory Points together, dividing them by four. If the result is higher than the French VP, Britain wins; if less, she lose. This, of course, I do as a player, so I'm not talking about any changes to the game. Deciding when a beaten nation should call it a day is trickier, but I assume looking at the 'importance values' of the regions could be of assistance. When the French have conquered a certain pre-set value, I will accept any peace proposals Nappo sends my way, reverting the beaten nation back to the AI.

Splendid! I'm very happy again. In fact, without paying anything, I now have a completely new game.

lodilefty, even if my new discoveries has made the 'Allied Request' somewhat obsolete, I tried to find an Errata in the manual, but could not. Were you refering to some patch text?

http://www.ageod-forum.com/showthread.php?41756-Manual-Errata

[Uxbridge]

Thank you.

If someone could confirm: once I open a nation and then save, the AI is overwritten for all actions, military and others, for that nation and turn?

[Lynxyonok]

Thank you.

If someone could confirm: once I open a nation and then save, the AI is overwritten for all actions, military and others, for that nation and turn?

Yup.

AI actions for that turn are only generated if there is no respective order file. Even if the order file is blank (you open the game and immediately hit save without any changes).

[Pocus]

Lynxyononk shows indeed a vast and pertinent knowledge here

About the 'allies requests' window, if you set a group of regions to minimal interest, the AI won't enter it...

[Uxbridge]

Think I stay with controlling the countries myself. Mainly, I'm afraid that trying to control things through the window, would be like shouting directives to fotball players while standing outside the stadium. I'll probably only confuse the AI. Nice to have learned that I can actually open other nations, however. The game is much more interesting now.