Perhaps additional settings for "AI Tank Heavy"?
 

I recently managed to get some time inbetween preparing some scenarios for you (hope you gonna like them) and went in for some generated campaigns in late Cold War SPMBT.

AI is constantly aquiring ****loads of standard footmobile, infantry rifle companies. It is 1985 and Poland deploys 2 infantry battalions on 160x160 map. Of course this happens always - simply that's how AI is and I cannot do much about it as I cannot controy AI buy options in campaign mode (and in generated battle I can buy for them, but then I know what is going to come after me).

There is this option in the preferences, "AI Tank Heavy". Perhaps - since new patch is probably coming in like 2-3 months as ussual - you could think of adding extra option, that will simply disable standard infantry companies for AI? This would force them to buy motorized and mechanized troops, as it should be in modern times?

I wonder how complicated in the coding would that be.

Re: Perhaps additional settings for "AI Tank Heavy"?
 

I agree. I usually pay games with a company of infantry, several tanks, loads of artillery and some sort of scouting group. When I play against the Russians, they usually pick a bunch of infantry and some ATGM's. To be honest I wipe the flow with them and there is no challenge. I'd like to see them pick some tanks and make a go of it.

Re: Perhaps additional settings for "AI Tank Heavy"?
 

I find this VERY unusual. What are your "buy" levels for the AI set at? I routinely will see tank heavy as the setting implies, a good amount of artillery, SPAA, Mech Int. and air whether AH or other, ATGW teams providing cover fire initially and yes foot infantry normally bringing up the rear.

How long are your Campaigns? Anything less than say 9 or 11 battles over a course of a year or more is a waste of time playing the AI. We (w/AI) generally always start small and adjust as the campaign season evolves.

Bottom-line I'm personally not seeing this.

Regards,
Pat
:capt:

Re: Perhaps additional settings for "AI Tank Heavy"?
 

What the AI buys is heavily influenced by the amount of points it has.

It will almost always buy one foot mobile infantry company, but after that what can it afford? Tanks are expensive.

Re: Perhaps additional settings for "AI Tank Heavy"?
 

This is it - tanks in the later years are hugely expensive, when APCs get festooned with missiles and thermal sights they cost almost as much as the MBT, and AAA assets (and attack helos etc) also get hugely expensive as well. Cheap bazookas get replaced by ATGM teams with expensive missiles and expensive thermal sights. As in real life, military stuff has skyrocketed in cost over the post war period.

AI tank heavy means that it will try to buy tank coys if it has the points available where it would have bought a platoon, and occasionally it will double buy the tank formation if it has points remaining. But those points will soon run out as the buy goes on and AA assets etc are also bought. When it is lacking in points, it fills out with the cheap stuff.

Therefore the AI will need more points, as time goes by in order to show up with a lot of tanks. 50 point Shermans in 46 become 500+ point MBT by the 2000s. 15 point half-tracks become 350 point IFV.

Of course - if you really want the AI to buy 30 or so MBT and nowt else, you could always do a little editing of the OOB in Mobhack to get one you like to play against. Move the infantry companies somewhere else, and replace with MBT formations, etc.

Re: Perhaps additional settings for "AI Tank Heavy"?
 

I tend to get the opposite - I have a small(ish) light force set to fight insurgents, rebels, etc and the AI buys tanks and regular mechanised troops. It would be nice to have a even lower setting to force the AI to use its lighter troops, rebel forces, insurgents, paras etc.


By way of example choose to fight in the S. African Bush war / Angolan Civil war and I always get heavy tanks and Regular mechanised infantry never lighter rebels, etc.

Re: Perhaps additional settings for "AI Tank Heavy"?
 

Same answer as above

Use the OOB swap utility. Back up the old enemy OOB in a sub directory, then use mobhack to edit a copy where you swap the tank platoons and coys elsewhere in the OOB (up at the top say) and then replace the moved items with the appropriate grunt formations. Then when It would have bought tanks, it buys the freedom fighters or whatever. Make a copy of that in another sub directory and then use the OOB swap utility to move the one you currently want to play with in and out of the game's oob folder.

Re: Perhaps additional settings for "AI Tank Heavy"?
 

I do not think you all get the point :v
Campaigns I now played had points set to XXX, while my core force usually occiliated around ~10k points. Roughly 2 tank coys, 2 mech coys and supporting units, this adds to it, depends on the nation.

Yes. AI deploys tanks. And mechanized infantry. And motorized infantry. Yet, if you happen to deal with all that, there is always a swarm of footmobile infantry coming in en masse - like if AI still decides to buy these units regardless of the fact its 1985, map is 160x160 and generally motorized/mechanized units dominate the battlefield.

What I suggest is adding an option, that if clicked ON, would make standard infantry companies (not "elites", such as paratroopers etc.) invisible for the AI - something like with types of artillery controls that disables the access for on map units. This would force the AI to resign from standard footmobiles completely and spend points on greater ammounts of modern units.

Re: Perhaps additional settings for "AI Tank Heavy"?
 

And as explained - it buys cheap things with remaining points when it has only loose change to spend. The cheap stuff is riflemen, if an MBT is 500 points and it has 1000 or so left, then it wont buy MBTs often. It will buy the rifle platoon, go round the loop again saying "not enough points" to the tank choice, arty choice, AA choice etc. and revisit the cheap rifle platoon or inf-AT section and buy that till the loose change runs out.

Re: Perhaps additional settings for "AI Tank Heavy"?
 

The best solution IMO is to buy the AI force yourself, rather than let the AI do it.

Re: Perhaps additional settings for "AI Tank Heavy"?
 

if you often have the AI as the same country, perhaps the best way is to do as others have said and edit the AI's OOB so foot infantry is not available. I did that a few years ago when I was playing generated battles UK vs Argentina and I edited the OOBs so that only the formations historically present were available

Re: Perhaps additional settings for "AI Tank Heavy"?
 

How am I supposed to do that in the campaign? :v

Re: Perhaps additional settings for "AI Tank Heavy"?
 

^my mistake, I didn't see the campaign part.

Re: Perhaps additional settings for "AI Tank Heavy"?
 

As mentioned before - edit yourself a custom OOB that works for you. Swap it back for the old one if playing a scenario etc.

We cannot cover all bases, so we provide you with the tools to craft your own solution - in this case, Mobhack.

If you think he is taking too much infantry, you could find the rifle coy he uses at that time frame, copy that to another slot, replace with say an MBT section or platoon. if you promise to yourself never to use air against the AI then find the SAM, AAA etc formations and copy elsewhere, then replace with tankie stuff - and never use air, or he will have no or little air defence. Same-same with arty etc.

Or - find the MBT platoon and edit the rifle coy to use 2 of those instead of 2 of its constituent platoons, whatever makes a mix you like.

If you want to test your mix
- set points in preferences to your core's value (or what you think it will be)
- Set player 1 to your side, set date as well to where the campaign will be
- Generate a battle, with both sides human, with AI pick for both
- when it is force 2's deployment - look at what it bought
- exit and repeat the buy several times

After that, you may want to tweak the enemy OOB and repeat the buy test, etc.

But first - either use the OOB swap utility, or copy tour original enemy oob before editing it.

Re: Perhaps additional settings for "AI Tank Heavy"?
 

The first 2 of your 5 points is exactly what I do and have from the start of when I first played the game. This is why I'm ALWAYS seeing a healthy combined arms mixed force from the AI. When I've had to be the defender, look out because the tanks are coming out of the "woodwork" with plenty of everything else. I feel like I'm doing something really wrong or really right in how I set up the AI and let it do it's own thing. I don't know!?! Well I really do and won't change a thing, all I can say is I'm seeing plenty of tanks well supported for combined arms combat.

I had this discussion a few years back about the point setting concerning the AI it seems to work just fine. Only my opinion but, I feel the "battle" length of the campaign might have some affect also again, only my opinion.

Regards,
Pat
:capt:

Re: Perhaps additional settings for "AI Tank Heavy"?
 

Good way to test your revised OOB is to generate a few "Battles" with the same date and using the same OOB as you're modding.

See what the AI buys, find the formations you don't like in the OOB and replace/modify them with Mobhack.