Slitherine

Has anyone had experience with playing the Allies vs AI in Grand Strategy 2.0? I like to win, but the Axis computer player plays incredibly poorly. It is very slow to take down Poland, declares war on minors before it is ready, which just gives the Allies time to move in and beef up defenses, and even declares was on Switzerland, committing the majority of its armored forces into the mountains, which just wastes them. France holds forever, and the game is not even worth playing. Are there any setting I can change in scripts anywhere to help the German play better?

I moved this thread out of the AAR section and to the general section where I feel it better belongs.

By the way I feel the best way to play solo is through hotseat. I started three weeks ago laying out a set of "solo-rules" for how one might accomplish this and create a challenging game but got sidetrack with "life" stuff. When I get some time I plan to revisit this. My "plans", and right now that's all they are, is to create a set of flowcharts and solo-rules for how one could play an exciting and challenging game solo against an axis or allied HOP (Hotseat Opponent Player).

There have been some good discussions about AI improvements in other threads such as viewtopic.php?t=26047 This is not about actually improving the AI itself or asking the GS dev team to change AI code. It's about getting a challenging game from the computer opponent, not hot seat or pbem multiplayer. Some folks just don't get that? Anyways...

I've been able to make some modest adjustments to GS 2 for Allied play versus Axis AI and it seems to play better. Made Switzerland non-DOWable and brought Denmark and Norway in as Axis in April 1940. I also added a few units to the setup; a German tank and tac bomber in Germany and a German and Italian tank in Libya. We can do this by editting the scenario file with a text editor and saving it under another name; e.g., 1939_Axis.

Bern has made similar changes but has noted that partisan activity distracts the Axis AI and the production scripting or whatever fails to adequately prepare for Barbarossa. Here maybe another tank corps or two at start might help. The partisan activity chances can be reduced in general.txt, but this would affect all scenarios and not just a custom mod. Bottom line is there are some things that can be done to improve the solo gaming experience without going into hotseat mode. For those of us actually interested in playing a computer wargame against a reasonably competent and challenging computer opponent.

More discussions about AI and scenario mods to improve solo gaming would be nice.

I would strongly echo the above. I find this to be a great game and would love to see some AI improvements to make the Axis AI viable.

I've had a reasonable amount of success in my latest effort which in addition to what I've mentioned before includes Greece as pro-Axis and Turkey entering the war on the Axis side - gives the Russians a bit more to think about. I've also altered the Italian surrender conditions - currently it is ridiculously easy to get them out of the war thus removing significant Axis strength from the eastern front. Maybe a succesful Iraqi coup would also help but I haven't tried that yet.

The partisan issue needs to be looked at too. In my current test game, by late 1943, the partisan strength in France was actually greater than that of the Axis. They were able to take all of the french ports allowing UK and American troops to waltz in - who needs Overlord ! I've probably got it wrong, but looking at general.txt it would seem there is a 3 in 10000 chance of spawning partisans. If, indeed, this is the case then there's something awry with the appropriate calculation. In one turn, the french spawned three units of partisans. Got to be wrong.

Barbarossa is still the main problem and I believe only AI changes would help here. There is insufficient in the way of German/Italian build up; the bulk of German strength remains in Germany and the minor Axis allies remain on the defensive around their capitals. This seems to be built into the program and cannot be changed by modding so far as I can see.

If the partisan issue could be addressed there is a chance for a good game, however as the economies of the UK and America can be hit pretty hard by increased uboat activity making preparations for an Overlord rather more difficult.

Bern

I disagree about the partisans, I think the spawn rate is about right. Playing the Axis vs AI Allies, partisans form often enough to be a major pain, but are not really dangerous if you take a few precautions.
1) Keep the cities garrisoned. That takes a bunch of garrison units, but you start with a lot from the Seigfried line, and your allies provide a bunch for Russia.
2) Have a mobile strike force to kill the partisans as they pop up. They are usually under-strength, and not hard to kill off. If you kill them as they pop up they will not get out of control.
I like the level of partisans, they are high enough to force a response, but you should not lose control of France to them.
By the way, One thing that should be put into the game engine, or if somebody can tell me how to put it into the options. If a partisan forms on the coast, the current game logic forgets about convoy protection and rushes the British fleet into the channel to give the stupid partisan invasion supply. If you have a sizable air garrison if France, you can bomb them into oblivion. Game logic should be changed so partisans do not attract ship supply attension unless the Allies can achieve air superiority over the channel.

GamerJoe wrote:I disagree about the partisans, I think the spawn rate is about right. Playing the Axis vs AI Allies, partisans form often enough to be a major pain, but are not really dangerous if you take a few precautions.
1) Keep the cities garrisoned. That takes a bunch of garrison units, but you start with a lot from the Seigfried line, and your allies provide a bunch for Russia.
2) Have a mobile strike force to kill the partisans as they pop up. They are usually under-strength, and not hard to kill off. If you kill them as they pop up they will not get out of control.
I like the level of partisans, they are high enough to force a response, but you should not lose control of France to them.
By the way, One thing that should be put into the game engine, or if somebody can tell me how to put it into the options. If a partisan forms on the coast, the current game logic forgets about convoy protection and rushes the British fleet into the channel to give the stupid partisan invasion supply. If you have a sizable air garrison if France, you can bomb them into oblivion. Game logic should be changed so partisans do not attract ship supply attension unless the Allies can achieve air superiority over the channel.

All very well but this thread is actually about playing the Allies against the Axis AI - a completely different kettle of fish. What I am trying to ascertain is whether or not the mechanism for spawning partisans is as intended. If it is, I still feel that it is wrong - again, I would emphasise, for the purpose of Axis AI v Allied Human.

Bern

For the partisan settings and other items in general.txt, it would be nice to have a flag to indicate no AI, Axis AI or Allied AI. Then things could be adjusted for either mode. Could this be a doable enhancement?