huh. was doing well up through turn 7, then the AI froze up on its turn.
I guess the latest AI patch does not apply to the Battle of Britain mod.
pretty sure this hang has something to do with the AI trying to figure out what to do with the British strategic bombers that get sent over in turn 4. On turn 5, I had severely damaged 3 of them, and left the 4th alone. On turn 6, the AI tried to send back the 3 bombers that were damaged to the nearest airfield, but totally ignored doing anything with the undamaged one.
Sometimes I am getting no rp or morale for sinking enemy shipping. I always get rp for truck and radar destruction, but sometimes get no morale boost. especially if I have gotten a morale boost from something else the same turn.
btw, when the AI goes into "The Thinker", it has nothing to do with how powerful your machine is. It is taking ZERO cpu cycles while it is stuck like that, which means it is a scripting error, not an issue with the game engine vs computing power, etc.
so, it means it is trying to do something with a unit that is offscreen, or that it thinks it can do something with that it simply can't, like trying to move something that is trapped.
It's too bad, as I like how this is done, but it doesn't look like the AI scripting is up to the task of positioning so many units that don't have pre-programmed orders.
maybe check with the devs for feedback, because it's pretty consistent I get hung turns on this map, whereas that has not happened once since the AI patch came out for any other map.
as a kludge, maybe the devs could add a timer for the AI side that can be programmed by the mapmaker. say, you can set it so the AI has 5 minutes to decide what to do, and when 5 minutes are up, that's it. the ai quits attempting to move or attack at that point, and it is again the players turn.
because as it is, the only way to play these maps is to force the AI not to take its turn anyway with the #johnconnor cheat.
anywho, having "played" it till the end as it is, I judge this map (out of 10 for each category):
8/10 graphic design. The key features (cities, airfields, radar stations, etc) were well laid out, and often allowed multiple avenues of approach. What was missing were any kind of roads or railways, like you would expect in both France and Britain at the time, and would have been used to move AA pieces and whatnot. These features are not hard to add, and do add a quite a bit to a map IMO, not just from a visual standpoint, but a tactical one as well. Graphics were painstakingly added for briefings and events, and were appropriate and well done.
9/10 concept. I really like the scripting for this scenario, as both sides are provided with units by "headquaters" and you are not allowed to purchase and place your own, which actually is pretty realistic for the time and place. I think maybe the pacing is a tad quick, but other than that, I like it. Also, not the author's fault, but having so many unscripted units running around requires a huge attention to possible AI hangups; more than frankly is warranted. It's up to the devs to address this issue really, but the only quibble is maybe having to take this issue into account when designing scenarios and keep the overall numbers down a bit?
8/10 gameplay. I had a lot of fun planning the back and forth timing of aerial fighter battles and setting up red herrings to fool the AI into sending its forces into the wrong place. Also bombing London flat was more satisfying than perhaps it should have been
On the downside, I think the map is a bit small for how many units you end up fielding, and things get a bit cramped and there is a bit of micromanaging needed to move units around each other, which normally wouldn't be a problem for an aerial battle, but because this is really 2d space, it becomes a bit of a headache. Also, AI should fully control the AA ground units (it only has them in defense mode, it never attacks with them on the British side), and there should be about half the total number on the German side than there currently is.
Overall, I think this is a scenario that had a lot of work put into it, and is well worth checking out. There will be a LOT of luck involved, not the least of which will involve whether you end up with a hung AI or not, which likely depends on where units end up being concentrated on the battlefield.
I look forward to checking out the authors other maps!
Or perhaps the info is in the screenshots?
