Question about Athena (AI)

[GreyRanger]

I have played through a games so far and Athena has done the same foolish thing many times and I am wondering if there is a setting that would make this behavior rare. Specifically, Athena often hunkers down inside cities or redoubts and then just waits. If you sit long enough outside with an army besieging the city they will eventually surrender during the siege.

Is there a setting or difficulty level that makes this behavior unlikely? Parking the Army of N VA in Richmond with RE Lee and letting it sit there until is surrenders in siege is foolish.

[W.Barksdale]

I have had the best results against Athena on Colonel difficulty. No activation bonus and no detection bonus.

[Straight Arrow]

I agree with W.Barksdale.

For quite a while I played at Lieutenant, but I find Athena to be much more active and aggressive at Colonel.

[GreyRanger]

Sorry for the follow up, but I searched around and could not find information on this: What do the AI levels change:

1. Cohesion penalties & move rates (I found this)
2. Athena behavior? (I found mixed theories on this)
3. Athena resources (I found posts saying it is +50% resources at Captain and +100% at Colonel, with follow ups saying that is not correct)
4. Other advantages (e.g., combat resolution)

Thanks for the help. Still learning this game and want to get fluid enough with it to have fun. As far as I can tell it is the best CW strategic game out there.

[ArmChairGeneral]

1. and 3. are true. (I was one of the people who said it wasn't correct, but I was wrong.)

2. Not as far as I know. What theories are you referring to?

4. None to combat resolution that I have found (although the movement and cohesion affects combat indirectly; Activation Bonus has an indirect effect as well, but that is a different setting).

[Captain_Orso]

2. I believe the setting setting affecting this is 'Use all behaviors'. You may also want to set 'Gave AI more time'. I use these always.

I always play on Lieutenant, because Colonel increase enemy leader's Strategic/Offensive/Defensive ratings by 1 and then the game plays different than when playing with a human opponent.

Honestly, if I want the full, exciting experience of playing the game, I'll PBEM. From my experience, PBEM will get your heart racing while executing a turn far more often than Athena, unless she's being cheeky and showing some leg while I'm trying to concentrate

[GreyRanger]

Thanks for the info. I am trying Lt., all behaviors, more time, and +1 detection this go and it is more interesting so far. I am hoping to have enough time to learn the game, play through a few times from each side, and then look for a/some PBEM opponents.

Is there a good source for finding PBEM opponents. I did not see a forum area dedicated to that (surprising).

[W.Barksdale]

Perhaps you weren't looking in the right place?

[GreyRanger]

Ah, thanks. I was looking around the CW2 forums.

Thanks again.