Slitherine

Hi, I'm thinking about buying Battlefield Academy - but PURELY for solo games against the AI. So... I was wondering how people rate the AI? My only previous purchase from Slitherine was Field of Glory, which is great for multiplayer but has an AI which is IMHO rather less than impressive (I'm trying to be polite here ). Any thoughts gratefully received...

Thanks, Jay.

The game is designed as a single player game from the ground up so all the missions are hand crafted to give a really good single player experience.

Multiplayer is also great if you like it but there is a huge amount of value in the single player.

The Missions are all built by hand and so the AI knows exactly what it has to do and when, which is very different to the random maps in FoG battles, which the AI has to cope with. So basically yes the AI will perform very well - to be honest the game is probably a bit on the hard side.

The AI does the usual kind of movement, attack and defend if left to its own decisions but the AI is scriptable so it depends on the scenario designer. I have only played multiplayer a little and mostly play vs the AI.

I would rate it better than most for vs AI play.

Amen to Ian's comments from an experienced wargamer here. It's a great game for solo play - real world tactics a must. I am getting my butt kicked and learning alot as I go along. Lots more free user scenarios (desert fox, world war I) for download that I think are vetted for good play first as well. I will buy a second copy to play on Mac when the version is available soon (I hope!).

michael

The AI vs solo is well worth it You will enjoy this game and the current expansion package!

I think there are a few issues to address in the AI...I've made some maps where all enemy units are set to 'capture the nearest VP' and also 'Seek and destroy', and I find them hiding with their tails turned at the other end of the map! The AI also makes stupid decisions (like not to attack when it knows a threat is present!)

Multiplayer is much more fun than the campaign, although it can take time for your opponent to take their go!

I find the solo play very good. Some of the scenarios are very hard which is enjoyable. Thumbs up from me.

Designing single player missions is quite difficult and very time comsuming as the AI needs to be scripted to do the right thing and behave the right way but all the missions included in the game have been set up. Its a combination of programmer time and desigenr time. There are always things that the AI is not going to be great at and part of the game design is to ensure we never create scenarios that put the AI in positions it can't deal with, but this is not something that anyone outside the dev team would really know!

Thanks to everyone for taking the time to reply. I'm convinced! Now, where's that credit card...

I would agree the AI on BA is very good.

The AI on FOG is NOT!

If anyone fancies enhancing the FOG AI I shall be happy to get my copy out again and give it a go...