Oil and the AI

AdmiralSarek · Post by **AdmiralSarek** » Thu Mar 11, 2010 1:20 am

I am relatively new to this game.
Does the AI on the basic game handle turning the oil setting on as the axis (I will play allies).
I don't want to play a game where the germans build lots of tanks and loose when the AI runs out of oil.

In my current game with the oil turned of my brave rusians are bein mowed down by about 8 panzer and 10 moterised divisions.

timhicks · Post by **timhicks** » Thu Mar 11, 2010 10:20 am

Hi , are you plaing Grand Strategy or Vanilla ?, so you're playing as Allies against an AI Axis ?. The forces that you describe do sound a bit excessive, unless you've changed the difficullty settings and given the advantage to the Axis. In that case the Axis (AI) would have extra production.

From reading other posts, it seems that the AI is never affected by Oil shortages. This was done intentionally to avoid having to code very complicated oil-saving logic into the AI. If left to itself the AI would very quickly run out of oil.

AdmiralSarek · Post by **AdmiralSarek** » Thu Mar 11, 2010 6:36 pm

Current;y playing vanilla.

Thats what I thought about the oil, and I am playing with two steps of advantage to the axis.

timhicks · Post by **timhicks** » Fri Mar 12, 2010 12:21 pm

I played a game against an Axis AI, with max advantage to the AI, and found that the AI did well attacking into Russia. It's a good way to practice you're defence against Barbarossa.

In my game, the Axis rolled the Russians all the way to Omsk. But the AI virtually ignored the defence of the west and in 1943 the Brits and Americans took Berlin, at which point the Axis were only two or three hexes from Omsk.

Good luck !

BuddyGrant · Post by **BuddyGrant** » Fri Mar 12, 2010 3:28 pm

timhicks wrote:I played a game against an Axis AI, with max advantage to the AI, and found that the AI did well attacking into Russia. It's a good way to practice you're defence against Barbarossa.

In my game, the Axis rolled the Russians all the way to Omsk. But the AI virtually ignored the defence of the west and in 1943 the Brits and Americans took Berlin, at which point the Axis were only two or three hexes from Omsk.

Good luck !

The fact that the German AI does not protect Berlin makes the game almost impossible to play solo as the Allies. The AI is especially lax in the west, but it also does not bother protecting Berlin when the Russians advance to that area in 1942 or 1943. Looks like they did not bother with much defensive AI logic for the Axis, because the AI does a pretty good job as the Allies prioritizing the defence of it's capitals. You can create house rules to play as the Allies to try and make a game of it (like no Allied landings allowed in the west - ever!), or try to edit the scenario file to add a whole lot of GE units to the map (not really a great help though).

FWIW, you can have some challenging solo games as the Axis side. Not as good as versus a human obviously but a genuine challenge if played on max allied advantage.

timhicks · Post by **timhicks** » Fri Mar 12, 2010 7:06 pm

agree totally with BuddyGrant, playing against an Axis AI is a waste of time, unless you want to practice a particular event (like Barbarossa). I've had some great games though playing as Axis with Max advantage to the Allies, you can try out different strategies, before you risk them against a Human opponent. In my last game I ignored France and Invaded Russia in 1940, it was certainly entertaining.

Clark · Post by **Clark** » Fri Mar 12, 2010 9:01 pm

timhicks wrote:agree totally with BuddyGrant, playing against an Axis AI is a waste of time, unless you want to practice a particular event (like Barbarossa). I've had some great games though playing as Axis with Max advantage to the Allies, you can try out different strategies, before you risk them against a Human opponent. In my last game I ignored France and Invaded Russia in 1940, it was certainly entertaining.

Yeah, I've played the AI every which way as the Axis. I've attacked Russia in 1940, then conquered the France and the UK. Can't remember if I got Canada and the US, too in that one. I've also launched Sealion first, then attacked Canada and the US, then attacked France, and in the meantime took on Russia in a delayed (and weak) Barbarossa. The last time I played the AI, I attacked Canada after Poland and Denmark, then conquered the US, then took out Britain and France, and finally the USSR.