The Union's Artificial Intelligence

[richfed]

I know, I know ... this topic has been discussed in this thread:http://www.ageod-forum.com/showthread.php?t=5270, and elsewhere.

Seems to me, with a little tweaking, either by the user adjusting settings and/or the AGEod team's patches, most issues can be sorted out rather easily. The game is very playable & the AI rather good, in my humble opinion.

One thing I don't often see mentioned, if at all, is the Union AI's nearly complete disregard for the southern ports. Yes, there are fleets out there that bombard here and there, but I am speaking of REAL attacks by land forces to take Mobile, New Orleans, Vicksburg. There are some cavalry raids; a brigade of leaderless infantry wandering around seemingly aimlessly; but no real offensives.

This is frustrating.

I have replayed the first year of the April '61 campaign as the CSA countless times; played through 1862 numerous times; and have gotten into '63 & '64 a few times. Not once have I experienced a concentrated effort by the North to take the Mississippi and related ports.

I see Union vessels out at sea moving about, and all the green lights on their bases are lit, and though that makes me think that maybe they are transporting large forces to the South, it just never happens.

As I see it, fixing the AI in this regard - that it will at least SOMETIMES organize an offensive in those mentioned areas - would improve the solitaire playability of AACW immeasurably, and more so than any other single request for features out there.

Just my opinion. Here's hoping someone listens!!

[Toten]

I agree. As it stands now I aways send the Carolina dept forces up to Virgina, after the fall of Sumter. There is little reason to keep a force near the coast, although the AI will occasionally land a force to contest Norfolk. I'm sure Pocus will get this sorted at some point.

[PBBoeye]

My opinion, but successful amph invasions, and their support/exploit, are some of the hardest AI maneuvers to get done effectively. It requires initiative, logistics and - in the case of moving bridgeheads further inland - persistence.

Often an AI will develop bridgeheads and not support them in games. Not sure how this game does, but it is a common problem in AI coding, it seems.

Although I will say that if the AI can be made to do that effectively, that really does make the CSA player keep back a reserve of forces to deal with such an issue, making ahistorical parades into Union territory a bit harder to accomplish. So I hope this is an area of the AI that gets addressed.

[Pocus]

This is indeed a thing which is difficult to get right, but I know of the issue. Hopefully, things will improve on that within some weeks.

[Blutch]

I actually play CSA side.
Union has done two landings. One in Norfolk and the other one on Vicksburg.
Twice were a disaster. Perhapas AI should do only one big landing.
I think when you saw one of your army destroyed this way, you think about before trying again a huge operation.

[richfed]

2 months of playing since I posted this, STILL no offensives by the Union AI on Mobile, New Orleans, or Vicksburg. A one front game makes this game much less than it should be. And, yet, it's STILL a great game!!!

[McNaughton]

You must realize the complexity of an amphibious invasion. I don't think there has ever been a strategic game that has been able to get the AI to do these things effectively, without being totally thrown back into the see and annihilated.

Take Hearts of Iron (1 and 2). There was great effort and results made for amphibious invasions, but, even after everything (events, AI modification, etc.) they are still fairly easily defeated by the player.

The AI cannot plan as effectively as a human player. You simply cannot have it develop such a specific plan, implement it, and (most importantly) support the invasion (by either sending in reinforcements, or withdrawing the force due to stiff resistance).

I believe that AGEOD has realized this, and has not put much emphasis on the AI to do such invasions. Otherwize it will simply throw away force in attacks that it is unable to effectively support and plan.

Look at the 1862 scenario, with Burnside in the South, it is fairly easy to push his force out of the region since the AI cannot sufficiently prepare reinforcements there (it cannot forsee the future need for constant replenishment).

The choice basically is, have an AI that ignores amphibious invasions, and uses its forces more effectively along the front lines, or, have the AI use amphibious forces which will most likely fail due to its inability to plan.

[richfed]

OK. I'll buy that ...

How about a pre-scripted plan[s] that gets triggered by a certain set of events/circumstances?

Hey ... the game is a blast as is!!!!