AI improvements?

[MCab]

Hi,

I'm just now playing v16. I'm playing one of the Ukrainian War scenarios as Ukraine and I noticed the AI is no longer making mad dashes to the objectives. Instead, it's deploying its infantry in a line early. No more top speed rushes. Tanks and APC's going 11mph. The only bad move I see is that it sent its munitions truck forward.

Did you all improve the AI somehow?

[Mobhack]

Improve over what - the original Steel Panthers 1/2/3? - loads of changes made once we got the source code way back when, SP1/2/3 was the "AI of lemming charges".

The AI shouldn't have any Ammo trucks - it hasn't got a clue what to do with those and I haven't been able to think of any way of telling it to. Ammo trucks are for the human players use only. Are you playing a scenario the opposite side from what someone designed it to be played as human?

[MCab]

I jumped from v11 to the latest update.

I'm playing one of the new scenarios against the computer.

[Mobhack]

Not a lot if anything AI-related has changed since then that I can think of. We changed the AI radically way back in the MSDOS days and early versions of the Windows version. The original SSI game was appropriate to the French at Agincourt - "see objective, charge objective at full speed" and our tweaked AI code is somwewhat more cautious than that.

A lot of the early stuff was simply allowing it to deploy in a diffeent manner than the rigid "Greek phalanx smack in the middle of the map" style of the original games, so now you can have the AI go heavy on the left flank or whatever, it sometimes has reinforcements that appear halfway through the game as a second wave and so on.

But in a scenario, the designer can programme the release of units to objectives, lay them out logically and so on as opposed to a random generated battle. A scenario designer is also not limited to the default troop ratios points-wise or he can tweak the leader rally rates etc.

[FASTBOAT TOUGH]

When I saw the "scenario" used that was my thought, in that the designer intended for that to happen.

I can assure you the AI is still coming at you with armor and any mechanized infantry units first.

In my last battle (#8 of 25.) from my generated campaign I finished earlier this week (I set my AI tank heavy with plenty of buy credits.)

My left flank was my weakest, center would act as a "feeder" to my flanks with the right flank a little stronger, then the left.

Based the map and objective locations I felt the center needed to be the stronger force and to better allow me to "pivot" to meet any threat.

The main attack was on my left. This involved some APC's and about 15 tanks T-80/T-72 and a T-90 supported by a Hind-P.

If not for my artillery I would've lost the battle on the left. The Center and Right were engaged to the point I didn't have the flexibility to reinforce my flanks as hoped. At the same time I was under air and artillery attack mostly in the Center.

AI sent in 4 transport Helos late in the game escorted by different Hind-P. This air assault was meant to retake my Center objectives I had captured earlier in the game.

It failed completely by all being shot with one transport taking out an Ammo Carrier I sent in to chase it off from below with its machine gun.

The helo didn't "run-away" and attacked my ammo carrier with the end result it destroyed it and then the explosion "shot down" the helo. They were "stacked" with the helo in low altitude.

Typical overall results with AI mixing things up a bit with a "GOTHA" or two.

The battle resulted in a DRAW.

The AI tree is still RECON/MBT/APC (Mech)/Infantry
With Air and Artillery support

Regards,
Pat

[Karagin]

Offering a small comment on the AI, mainly because I still believe, yes, both Andy and Don have told me I am crazy for this, the AI cheats when it comes to artillery plotting. But that is another topic best left dead.

The AI does a lot better than it has in past versions. I have noticed that it will use the flanks of the maps vs. running right up the middle, which was the standard of the old DOS days. I have also noticed that it has at times, in random one-off battles, bought a decent force to counter things I bought, or when I have forgotten to buy AA units, I have found that it will make me pay for that mistake.

I have also seen the AI use air assault-style attacks where as unless the person had set a scenario up for said event, the AI was never very good at these in the past, so overall the changes made over the years are some really good ones.

[Mobhack]

The original SSI artillery did cheat - it could "teleport" artillery that was just arriving to an impact spot much nearer to your troops if it was not too far away from yours. That cheat is no longer in there, naturally!.

Otherwise it plots based only on what it can see and also by use of the "AIInterest" function that I added, things that you do may result in raising its interest level in that hex and hence arty being plotted. Firing, tripping objectives, clearing mines, laying of infantry smoke and so on can all result in "presents" being addressed c/o that hex..