I disagree. You have a 21st century advantage. You instantly know where every unit is located. In the 19th century, all you had was a blank map. If a commander could not see what was happening directly, then he did not know what was really going on. That's how the AI plays. Try it and you will find that the AI is very challenging. When I first started playing that way, and using couriers, I barely won 10% of my games. I played a lot of games. At my best, I can now win ~50% of them. When you force yourself to play with the same restrictions that the AI has, you will find the AI a very good opponent. I have been amazed at times just how good it is. At the strategic level, there are instances where I could not distinguish the AI behavior from that of a human. This part of the game is far and away Norb's greatest achievement. The only weakness I repeatedly see is that the AI does not utilize his reserves very well. And it's the reason I can usually win half my games. I defeat the enemy forces in detail.As corps commander, I am ahead of the Div commander and I observe the battle from behind the lines. This is what I do and what the AI should do as well.
GShock wrote:
Here I agree with you completely. Relative to the strategic AI, the tactical AI is weak. Tactics require rules. Norb hates programming rules. That's why brigade don't have the cohesion to act as one unit. The regiments all act independently for the most part while trying to achieve a common goal. The other problem you've touched on is what I call the 'fear of doom'. The AI does not possess it. The regiments act more like ants than humans. They fearlessly advance no matter what the odds. This is also the reason for the large number of melees which never occured in 19th century warfare. I'm sure it is no easy task tto program a tactical AI so it mimics human behavior, but the payoff for the effort would be an enormous benefit to the game.If a rgt is in open vs covered: fallback (if the rgt is facing overwhelming odds, instant retreat).
If a rgt is in open vs open and there's cover between rgt an enemy: advance to cover.
If a rgt is flanking an enemy rgt which is already engaged: advance.
If a rgt is shooting a gun: advance.
As I wrote in another thread, there is no divisional artillery AI. If you want artillery to work properly you must use an OOB that has the artillery batteries distributed to the infantry division commanders.I already said the most important thing here to do is to modify the behavior of the DIV leader so that he will not see his guns as an assemblement of troops to be kept in a particular formation.
Seeing the final location of the player's troops was a deliberate decision. That way the player could align his troop properly when moving them to a new location. Seeing the enemy's movement plans was an unintended consequence. I agree, that should be fixed.About the command map. Did you guys notice that if you open the command map (all in sight) you will see not where your DIV is (any DIV) but where it will be at the end of the previous "N" order?
Quite obvious isn't it...
but well there's something more.You will ALSO see where the enemy troops will be at the end of their order