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Hi Guys. I'm pretty new to the game and although I've watched strategy on gamereplays, I just can't seem to beat the AI on hard no matter what I do. Could someone please do me the favour of posting a replay of them beating the AI so i can get an idea how to defeat the damn thing.
Conditions are:
Angoville south side playing as US vs Wehrmacht. (hard setting) Thanks in advance.
#2
I'll get you something later today since I'm currently at work. Do you have a preferred doctrine for the US player? I could win with any of the three. Also, I assume you're using Standard Starting resources and it's a standard 500 VP game (not Annihilate) - not that it makes much difference in beating the AI. High Starting resources is actually more advantageous to the human player, and Annihilate/1000VP games just mean it takes me longer to finish the game.
Note, there are things you have to do differently when playing the AI that you wouldn't see in a replay of human-only players or that wouldn't work against a decent human player. It basically comes down to knowing the AI's weaknesses and exploiting those weaknesses, if you're going to routinely beat it at the higher difficulties.
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Also, I going to move this thread to the Strategy forum where it belongs.
Last edited by BlackOmne; 13th Sep 11 at 2:49 PM.
#3
Here's one example. I didn't go quite as I planned but I won. Admittedly, the southern position is harder to play as the US.
2p_angoville farms.2011-09-13.21-57-10.rec
Awesome, thanks! Will check it out later. Sorry about the wrong forum posting.
Ah so enjoyable seeing the computer get bashed for once. Your wire and trap strategy was so simple yet effective and something I've never done. Would you say it's necessary to use this strat on most maps to stop being overwhelmed? thanks again
#6
Yes. Among the many things that the AI is weak at, it doesn't deal with wire and traps easily. If a human player came across wire early in the game, he would just have his engineers/pioneers cut it or have a bren carrier (or PE HT) crush it. The AI is capable of cutting wire but it is a rare event and seems to occur on certain maps (eg, Lyon) more than others for some unknown reason. So, use that weakness agaisnt the AI. One of the first things you want to arrange is to split map control as close to 50/50 as you can by mid-way thru the game. This also helps to cut down on the AI's disruption of your resources. And it helps to limit the AI's pop cap, so that it can't build a force that is overwhelmingly larger than yours. Map control and pop cap size are two of the biggest keys to victory in the game regardless of whether you're playing a human or the AI - the greater one side's map control and pop cap is over the other side's, the greater the momentum that side has toward victory - eventually that momentum becomes unstoppable. Also, never sit on your laurels; don't be satisfied with just 50/50 control and a simple majority of the VP control. The Hard AI is getting a resource bonus for manpower and munitions throughout the game. So, even 50/50 control means the AI has an advantage. Therefore, keep pressing the AI. Once you're secured half the map, keep grabbing more until the game ends either through VP victory or destruction of the AI's base. The biggest benefit of grabbing more map is that you shrink the AI's pop cap. It can have all the resources in the world to build stuff, but if it's pop cap is at its max, it won't be able to spend those resources for new units. Note that on maps like Angoville where there are two cutoff strat sectors outside each base, it's fairly easy to limit your opponent to the most minimum pop cap and resource income.
Let me know if you need other pearls of AI weaknesses.
One easily exploitable AI weakness is its love for certain doctrine call-in units. This has been noted before in other threads but it bears repeating here as it's something I've noticed a lot myself. Basically, once the AI gets access to certain units (Stormtroopers, Rangers, Calliiopes, Hetzers, Luftwaffe Ground Forces/Fallschirmjager are the ones I see this happen with most often) it considers them the very best bang for its manpower-buck, and will in almost every case spam those units at the expense of anything else. If you see the AI has called in one of these units, you can expect a whole lot more of them, and plan your counters appropriately, virtually ignoring counters to other units.
The AI also loves to use mortar teams but almost never backs them up with anything, so if you have a clear shot don't be afraid to rush them to force a retreat.
Originally Posted by hecubus23
They spam them because they run out of fuel. AI gains manpower faster than a human player, e.g. expert AI has manpower rate doubled. Once they have no fuel left and their fuel points are captured, they will spam units which need no fuel. AT-spam is probably the most annoying since late game has a lot of tanks and vehicles. Against infantry they can spam StuHs.
AI cuts the wire but not sandbags. It is possible to "cut" sandbags with pioneers/engies but Relic forgot to include that for AI too. Instead they try to destroy sandbags with flamethrowers, grenades and satchel charges. Still you can create kill zones with sandbags and tank traps because they won't destroy them unless they block the way to your troops/base.
Well after about 6 hours of gameplay I finally did it. (yeh I got a little obsessed with beating it ) I'm pretty much in awe you did it first go with such apparent ease. As you say the ai does some silly stuff, they just run into machine guns and die over and over. Time for some human competition.
#10
Well, it wasn't really a first go. I've been playing the game since it was release 5 years ago. I've played the AI too many times to count, especially on Angoville which is one of the best 1v1 maps. I know the AI so well, because I've played agaisnt it so much.
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No. Hecubus23 has it right. The AI spams the units he lists because something in the code finds those to be the best "bang-for-the-buck" units. Not because the AI doesn't have fuel. I've seen it spam those units plenty of times even when it has plenty of fuel. Remember you can never cut a player (human or AI) off from fuel income - everyone gets a minumum +5 fuel income even when you don't control a single fuel sector. I used to help Warnstaff with his AI Mod, which included a fuel bonus for the AI's fuel income, and he had trouble killing the spam. Even when he tried putting hard caps on those units, the spam might still continue, ignoring those limits. AI spamming is the number one thing that needs to be fixed about the AI - the AI needs to build a good combined arms force. A close second is removing the health bonus for Expert AI units.They spam them because they run out of fuel. AI gains manpower faster than a human player, e.g. expert AI has manpower rate doubled. Once they have no fuel left and their fuel points are captured, they will spam units which need no fuel. AT-spam is probably the most annoying since late game has a lot of tanks and vehicles. Against infantry they can spam StuHs.
AI cuts the wire but not sandbags. It is possible to "cut" sandbags with pioneers/engies but Relic forgot to include that for AI too. Instead they try to destroy sandbags with flamethrowers, grenades and satchel charges. Still you can create kill zones with sandbags and tank traps because they won't destroy them unless they block the way to your troops/base.
I am aware of the the glitch in the code. I guess they don't try use all their fuel if they have call-in units. Everyone has minimum fuel income but it's pretty useless unless you can hold enemy back for awhile.
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