Slitherine

I started this game about a week ago against the AI.

I'm playing the Allies.

AI is playing the Axis with a Moderate Axis advantage (the middle setting).

It's May of 1943, and frankly, I'm not doing too well!



I have taken all of north africa except Algeria, and liberated France. The AI has not ignored this. It has sent a few units to oppose me, and those units have cut quite a swath, due to their tech superiority.

But Moscow has just fallen, and the Russians are in deep deep, uhh, borscht.

Overall, I'd say the AI has played fairly well, certainly better than some accounts have represented it to be.

Oh yes, the Allies have won the battle of the Atlantic, though it was a semi-pyrrhic victory.

Overall a very tense and enjoyable game. I'm going to play this one out to the bitter end.

**edit**
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Yes, medium advantage is suppoed to be a challenge, glad you are enjoying it!

OK, it's October 1943 now, and the Russians are fighting a desperate last-ditch action in front of Perm.

In the West, you might say things are looking much better for the Allies...




You might, but if we open the upgrades option, you can see the problem...

In the end, the AI just failed to protect Berlin well enough.

But there was NO stopping it in Russia. I was impressed with how well the AI worked the flanks and went after the weak spots when attacking.

Well done,
but this happens a lot.
The axis hammers perm, regardless of the allied enemy at the gates of Berlin.
So all you need to do as Russians is stall, engage, and hang on. US & UK then power on straight at Berlin... there is little resistance. The all german units disolve, and Italy is left high and dry.
gotta fix the scripts!

It does look like the AI needs to allocate more to defence of its homeland. We'll look in to this but we're just about to rlease teh first patch and dont want to hold it back to investigate this issue.

Well, Iain, the AI is much better than some people are giving it credit for.

This was the first time I have actually seen that victory screen, (new patches in beta kept interrupting before I finished a game), and I feel much better qualified to review the AI now.

The AI did respond to Allied offensives. As soon as I invaded the Med coast of France, the AI sent a single Motorised corps to oppose me, and that single unit inflicted 15-18 "steps" of loss on my technologically-inferior ground units, even though I had uncontested air superiority.

As I approached Paris from the south, the AI sent another single Motorised corps to oppose me, and again that single unit cut quite a swath through my units before it died.

Once I crossed the border into Germany, however, the AI stopped sending any units to defend, although existing garrisons remained in place and received replacements. Perhaps most disturbing, units which had been deployed around Berlin were shipped to Russia.

Also worth noting is the fact that the AI sent its entire Luftwaffe to Russia, allowing the western allies uncontested air superiority over europe. This in spite of the fact that the USSR never had more than the two zero-tech air units it started with.

**edit**

You know, I just now actually looked at that victory screen for the first time, I mean looked carefully with the trained analytical eye that I'm supposed to posess, as opposed to glancing and going "yeah, buncha GI's damn glad the ****ing war is finally over"

Notice how they are arranged, alternating between helmets and campaign hats. The men in the helmets are clearly American grunts, (snuffies, gun bunnies, line doggies, etc) no mistaking that look, not from a mile away

But note the men in the campaign hats are in a different uniform, with those bloused, baggy pants that look almost like jodhpurs, longer jacket more tightly cinched at the waist, and some have what appear to be medals on their chests.

Are they Russians? They do sort of have that look about them...

Yes, they are Russians.

To represent an Allied victory.

possum wrote:Once I crossed the border into Germany, however, the AI stopped sending any units to defend, although existing garrisons remained in place and received replacements. Perhaps most disturbing, units which had been deployed around Berlin were shipped to Russia.

That is in fact one AI bug that is preventing the AI from doing its work and is going to be fixes for the patch. The AI does not consider its local situation when being assigned to a offensive mission. It will be fixed so that it only goes on offensive mission if the nearby area is secured which mean the unit around Berlin will stay put and then instead will be assigned for protect mission in France.