Activation rules for better AI

[mjw]

This was being discussed on another thread but was lost between discussions on chess and physics. I think its an interesting topic that can be explored.

Is it better for AI performance to set the game so that there is NO movement by inactive generals for both AI and human player? My guess is that this would limit poor attacks by Athena using inactive troops at substantial combat penalty.

It was mentioned that this would cause the AI to lose inactive troops to attrition when they get caught in the open when inactive. This could be cured by turning off historical attrition for the AI only right?

What are the opinions out there as to this? Good idea or bad?

[slimey.rock]

I don't know much about the hard activation rule, but I do know that when your forces are low on supplies, the odds of them being "unlocked" are increased.

[Jarkko]

My reply in that other thread was not very smart now that I read it again I blame Arsan for confusing me with his distracting question

There is only one choice, to either have nobody move or everybody move. However, by giving the AI an activation bonus they will be able to move a lot of the time. Effectively giving the AI a +3 bonus (from difficulty and/or activation bonus) means the AI troops are always mobile.

Attached you find two pictures of the settings I use in SP games. I have found these settings makes the game most challenging for me to play against the AI. The AI does very few stupid attacks, and attacks only when it really is capable of making a serious push.

[arsan]

Sorry for the confusion! I was mixing up historical attrition (That can be setup for you and the AI or only for you) with the activation setting.
With the +3 AI activation things should surely be very challenging (you locked if inactive, her virtually always active).
Will have to try sometimes
By the way, your on your pictures you have no AI activation option, not +3
Cheers

[mjw]

Ok, so(1) no movement unless units are activated, (2) historical attriction for player only and (3) activation bonus for AI?

[Jarkko]

By the way, your on your pictures you have no AI activation option, not +3

That is correct. With less activation the AI does less stupid moves. AI gets +1 from the difficulty rating, and that is IMO more than enough when the AI is set to defensive.

Ok, so(1) no movement unless units are activated, (2) historical attriction for player only and (3) activation bonus for AI?

Almost, I would *not* give the AI any activation bonus (in addition to the +1 from difficulty). To be honest, the AI is not very good at attacks, thus it should not be (in my opinion) given more incentives to attack


EDIT: And now that I read that previous post of mine, it would appear I think it is *good* the AI is mobile all the time. Well, I should rephrase that, I think it is good it is active most of the time (ie a +1 to activation) but not *all* the time

[arsan]

Oh!, OK! now i got it
The +3 activation idea you mentioned before confused me.
Cheers!

[arsan]

By the way... when playing with hardened activation (unactive=locked)... does AACW generates lots of message lines telling you wich stack unlocks each turn??
It does in WIA (where i have tinkered most with this setting) and i find it a little tiresome as it bloats the message log a lot
That is the main reason i have not used it much...

Regarding another possible difference between AACW and WIA hardened activation: on WIA after some testing it was implemented an automatic unlocking when stacks had little supply, so no starvation by being locked occurred.
AACW currently has much less bonus for this so stacks can starve because of that, which i find very frustrating

Hopefully this is modable, so if somebody what to try it out, check
AACW/settings/Command&Leaders.opt file and look for the lines

fixHARuleChanceMC = 50 // Hardened Activation rule: Chance in per cent of being not fixed in case of 100% MC (linear scaled in case of less MC)
fixHARuleChancePartSupply = 10 // Hardened Activation rule: Chance in per cent of being not fixed in case of Partial Supply
fixHARuleChanceNoSupply = 20 // Hardened Activation rule: Chance in per cent of being not fixed in case of No Supply

On WIA, this 2º and 3º lines use 100 instead of 10 and 20

Cheers!