How do you guys handicap yourselves vs the AI (SPMBT)?
 

Love this game, have been playing since I was 8 in the 1990s! Thanks to the devs for devoting a good chunk of your life’s work to this work of art.


Unused handicaps (things I could do that the computer cannot reciprocate).
----------------
Arty gold spots.
Fire filtering.
Covering to break contact (w key).
Area fire. This is OP IMHO. Maybe use triple ammo each shot (say if you have 30 units of ammo and run out after 10 fires)?


Handicaps I use against the AI.
----------------
Setting engagement range using Y.
Create smoke in hex manually (I still use indirect arty smoke).
Backing up (8 key).
Bailing crew. Stuck veteran units in danger of being overrun always get this treatment when safe to do so.
Reloading unit's ammunition. Some "fun" units don't come with enough ammo to party, the Italian SP 90mm comes to mind. I like the realism of limited ammo, not complaining :-).
Adjusting arty fire instead of always replotting.
Selectively firing weapons.


Handicaps I give the AI to use against me.
----------------
Sometimes I will buy units I don't use to give the AI a boost when they delay/defend.


Also, note:
I never give them stat buffs; I always keep everything at 100% but set the initial campaign buy at 65k.

Re: How do you guys handicap yourselves vs the AI (SPMBT)?
 

The only thing for me, personally, I will never do a single Z fire, not even once, against the AI.
Can't even stand it when someone uses it in PBM.
Of course different folks different strokes.

Re: How do you guys handicap yourselves vs the AI (SPMBT)?
 

How did you get those keys? Is there a keys shortcut list somewhere?

Re: How do you guys handicap yourselves vs the AI (SPMBT)?
 

Press " HELP " then game Help

Re: How do you guys handicap yourselves vs the AI (SPMBT)?
 

I very seldom use Z-Fire myself. Only after an enemy unit has fired at me and hasn't been spotted but I have a good idea which hex it's in.

Re: How do you guys handicap yourselves vs the AI (SPMBT)?
 

I assign unit boundaries, and phase lines and move units accordingly rather than just 'rolling along joy-riding'. Company level mortars only indirect fire for their Co. HQ or Platoons unless in a deliberate coordinated defense or assault and then only as pre-planned fires.
I Z-Fire with no regrets. I find it very well replicates real life 'covering fire' and it's misuse suffers the same drawbacks as real life.

Re: How do you guys handicap yourselves vs the AI (SPMBT)?
 

The get to cover key. Does this make the enemy units lose sight to your unit, or just increase the chances your unit will not get hit?

Re: How do you guys handicap yourselves vs the AI (SPMBT)?
 

That's exactly what I do as well. The other thing I do that does not affect gameplay, but it affects the final outcome is the following; At the final casualty screen I multiply my casualties by 0.8 and the AI's casualties by 0.8*(random number between 0.4 and 0.6). The AI is never savvy with its units and it often does stupid counterattacks straight at the strongest part of my forces. I reason for my decision by assuming that the AI is much more clever and that my forces exaggerate their kill claims and severity of enemy resistance due to the fog of war.

I also saw that this formula produces much more realistic casualty results.

Re: How do you guys handicap yourselves vs the AI (SPMBT)?
 

The "take cover" key operates just like the reaction to fire that says "unit X takes cover".

It can break LOS leaving the unit hidden once more, depending on range to nearest enemy, their suppression status, individual skill etc. But it is not guaranteed. Just like enemy units that take cover due to fire - you can see some of these that "pop back into sight", others remain hidden till you re-acquire them.

So - best used when you think the enemy is far away, or your unit is size 0 and in cover etc. Not really of any use if they are 1-2 hex away and looking right at you.

Re: How do you guys handicap yourselves vs the AI (SPMBT)?
 

handicaps to give the AI a fair go-

1) Set the AI advantage to say 110% so he gets more toys.

2) Don't use ammo units, since he does not know how to use these. Or limit yourself to 1 or 2. (They are charged as artillery units for arty overload nowadays in any case).

3) If there is a "killer unit" in a particular era, then deliberately avoid using these - like say ATGM in the 60s. At least, dont overload yourself with them.

4) Deliberately take "lesser" tanks, etc., like not taking TI sighted units when he doesn't have access to them e.g. NATO vs AI USSR in the later cold war era. Or in WW2 if Germany, try using the P4 as your main tank even if Tigers and Panthers are available. Or play as the side that does not have TI, versus someone that can have such (i.e. play as USSR V NATO in the 80s). Or you can deliberately play the "inferior" side - like one of the Arab sides in the Arab-Israeli wars.

I quite like playing as Jordanians in '68 with 90mm Pattons vs a 105mm equipped high experience AI enemy, you have to fight smart then!:).

I also like playing as a "secondary" WARPACT country with less access to the high end toys than the USSR in the time frame, having to rely on say the T-55 in the 70s again means having to think a bit. Cuba vs South Africa in the bush war of the late 70s and early 80s, especially if you limit your (non core) leg infantry to Angolan allies is another. Tanzania against Idi Amin's Uganda in 77-8 is yet another pairing I like - you'll meed to rely on your Scorpions, which are easy kills to the Ugandans there.

Re: How do you guys handicap yourselves vs the AI (SPMBT)?
 

For WW2, I use the old 33% KIA, 66% WIA, interpretation of the final casualty figures unless in urban or mountain which I consider 50/50 KIA/WIA.
For modern nations with good medical evacuations, 20% KIA, 80% WIA.
I've never considered the casualty calculations being 'reports' that could be in error but that is an interesting idea.

Re: How do you guys handicap yourselves vs the AI (SPMBT)?
 

Just noticed this, I assume you dont buy anything near 65k for your core force.
20k is about the maximum you can use for your core otherwise the AI will not be able to get sufficent points to buy the correct force if it is assaulting.

Remember you have to leave space to allow for the fact your core will improve & hence be worth more.
Also allow for the fact you might well want to buy some aux forces so you have to allow for that.

As mentioned elsewhere simplest balancer is adjusting AI percentage so they get more forces than you but take that into account with your max core size.
AI at 120% means that 20k force just became 24k for the AI in a meeting if its assaulting whoops it should have got 72k.

Other balancing tips
Reset or place manually victory hexes to AI advantage, AI units tend to slow unload passengers when they get within infantry combat range.
Turn on timed victory hexes if you are attacking assaulting so time is not on your side, set it high and things become very hard.

First turn just press the end of turn button, especially if theres some nice vantage points available, give the AI a chance to get them by letting them go first.

Taking further for meetings if mechanised deploy in clusters as in all a company together near your map edge, decide you wont move for 2-3 turns & stick to it.
You can deploy & move a few units normally, these would be your scout units or convoy outruners.
Done this in PBEM with no arty allowed to be plotted untill you spot an enemy unit or are fired on.

Put a portion of your force in reserve what is up to you but your mechanised company & a platoon of top end tanks could be delayed till say turn 10 as reinforcments for the average units the rest of your force is made of.
Place close to map edge in cover if possible, if enemy air makes an appearence I let them become active.

Restrict your artillery, its very powerfull in that its fairly fast reacting and can suppress units in safety making the ground battle far simpler.

Do not purchase that artillery unit with the good range in your core that you want to improve & use for counter battery purposes. Aux unit only if appropriate otherwise you have negated a good portion of the AI artillery buy.

Use helicopters only occasionaly they are imensly powerfull due to their inteligence gathering abilities if used correctly. Changes the entire flavour of a battle if the enviroment suites them. Urban & helos for example allows a far swifter advance without headbumping surprises.

Buy the "wrong" type of force, you know the enemy is likely to be mechanised with MBT. Try advancing with foot infantry & ATGM vehicles, best be sneaky & have suitable terrain.
One of the hardest games I ever played & l considered reloading it because it would be a massacre was Russian AI doing a river crossing. Wide map Big force turned out the AI bought a platoon of tanks & artillery as ground units. Everything else was air, attack & transport helos planes and here come the paras in my arty park. They made the river crossing easy I had to scramble to protect the victory hexes with helos feeding the AI information. Wrong force for sure never expected that & never seen it since.

As said elsewhere buy the underdog force or at least not the best units. Russia is great for this dont buy the guys with the best RPGs or the best tank AAA.
Played a great game like this recently, my tanks could not engage the enemies unless I was point blank from the front. They spent the entire game sniping APC,s & breaking up infantry. My poor infantry bore the brunt of the losses attacking tanks by the platoon with a little aid from the arty to suppress them.

None TI vs a TI equiped AI is a good challenge but I dont do it often because its very hard.

Modern battles can be intresting vs sides which have MBTs etc with varying TI & low visibility say 20 something which makes it harder for infantry to scout. Buy 40 TI equipment & run into some units that can see further. Best if you are advancing attacking.

Dont use AI deployment as things can get scattered but AI buy can produce some fun battles, use what you got vs AI at 120%

Its actually worth letting the AI buy things for you as a test to see how realistic your purchase is, AI is generally pretty good at picking a correct force.
Choose time frame & opposing side, do AI buy 3 or 4 times to see if what you are buying unit wise is realistic.

In campaigns buy a smaller core & use more aux units spending repair points if needed.
Example
Normaly I used to buy a core thats good to go, meetings just use that & supplement sometimes for other battle types with aux units.
Other option is think a bit when you buy, say you want a campaign based on 3 companies. Buy 2 in your core and only 1/3 of your normal artilery. This works well with a low to mid experience country as part of your force wont gain experience. With the arty its sort of nice to have the odd 1.2 reaction unit but if they should realy be mainly 2.0s this helps.
Other option though rarely do is dont buy your FOO in the core, this can really smart when you get a bad die roll & your artillery times suddenly jump to 2+

If you do use ammo trucks rename them & use for a specific purpose, SAM, mortars, ATGM etc.

Think about the type of AI force & map width if its advancing, the sooner it makes contact the better as you dont end up fighting the vehicles & then the infantry.
Map depth makes a big diffrence to make it wide & the AI will probably be more dispersed letting you deal with things in "pockets" and giving you more avenues of approach.

I think I get these factors right about 1 game in 3 & the AI puts up a good challenge. Because there are so many factors it cant always but help it a bit & its great.
I just tried to pull off a pincer movement & discovered the AI was already trying the same thing in a big way.
Then it dropped artillery smoke, decided to send in its planes & a real combined arms tussle was on.
Played PBEM that were not as much fun, AIs use of artillery & air was superb for 5 or 6 mad turns.