AI and AACW 1.10d

[richfed]

Just finished playing my second full campaign [April '61 - 2 theater] as the CSA versus Athena. Strictly "vanilla" version. All settings of consequence were on the default, I think, with the exception that I give the AI more time.

First game was a Confederate victory in late January, 1864. It was a very strategic game, and I must admit, I caught all the breaks. Athena is much better over the last few patches. One strange thing in this game was that the Union moved their capitol to NYC - virtually abandoning DC. I didn't really feel I was pressing DC very hard at that point.

Second game is the one of interest, as it might point out where the AI is still deficient. The Union came out like gang-busters. They were all over me before I knew what hit me. One entire corps was annihilated early on. Several times, I had brigades - large brigades - destroyed while still forming up. I was wasting manpower badly and consequently had to keep raising money to pay high bounties for more troops. It was a mess. The Shenandoah Valley was constantly disrupted by the Federals. Huge fores amassed at Harpers Ferry and DC/Alexandria, keeping me from any serious offensives in the East. The Union made a strong amphibious landing at Norfolk - which I had reinforced just prior with a division and coastal artillery to go along with Huger and the Norfolk garrison - and another at Wilmington, NC. The had a prolonged siege of Norfolk, and relatively quickly took Wilmington. Then they went inland and took all the cities on line with Raleigh. It took me 2 years to reclaim NC. The siege of Norfolk ended abruptly, when the sieging force suddenly withdrew. It was a gift, as Norfolk was deteriorating. The Feds also captured Petersburg with a strong force, causing me to keep a very large force in and around Richmond. A.P. Hill, E. Porter Alexander ... a couple of others ... killed!

In the west, I was faring much better, taking Bowling Green, Louisville, and Lexington with a 3 division Army under AS Johnston. Another Army, under Joe Johnston took Cairo. Arkansas divisions were forming to invade Missouri, and eventually hook yup with Johnston at St. Louis. Then, POW. The Feds drove me back to Nashville with a series of assaults, and the Arkansas crew was being eaten up by lack of supplies after we took Springfield, MO.

Really, I was reeling and it was all I could do to keep my forces from disbanding.

That is where the AI was exposed. I don't know what she was doing, but she never followed up to capitalize on her advantages. My troops were thin and weary and the rate of inflation had passed 50% and was rising quickly! My morale had fallen into the low 80s. I was able to carefully and slowly get strong enough to take DC - after much raiding behind their lines and tearing up RRs galore. About the same time, in the West, St. Louis fell. It was mid-summer, 1864, and the VICTORY screen appeared.

Don't get me wrong, it was a great game that I thoroughly enjoyed playing. It's just that with all their superiority in manpower and supplies, how could I out gun them in the end? It was all I could do to muster enough troops to do so. Where were their reinforcements? They had the advantage and could have crushed me if more divisions were formed and sent to the front. Instead, I noticed the forces at DC were less than earlier, so, I attacked them in force. How could they allow me to take DC at that stage of the game?

The second game was a victory just a few short months later than the first. Yet, it was MUCH more difficult to achieve.

Anyway, if the AI could just SUSTAIN advantage ... what a game this could be!!!

Love it!

[bigus]

@ Richfed.
I wonder if you play with the difficulty settings bumped up a little.
I bet this would make it even harder. It would be interesting to hear a post game report on this.

Bigus

[richfed]

Bigus, I will do just that when I start my next game.

Meanwhile, I just completed a 3rd Campaign with 1.10d.

Pretty much, same result. CSA victory [by morale] in mid-'64.

I suffer from a McClellan-complex, and tend to be conservative and defensive in my game-play. Perhaps, I could end these affairs earlier if I was more aggressive, I don't know.

In this third game, the Union AI had huge Armies/Corps - 4 or 5 of them [2000+ power each], in northern Virginia. Also, a strong force in the west under Grant. It's doing a very good job of organizing itself.

But, it seems to lack the punch to follow through. In this game, in early summer 1864, it left me a hole in which to attack DC with my entire Army of Northern Virginia. It had one stack at Harpers Ferry. One at Winchester. One at Fredericksburg. One at DC [outside], plus a force inside. The first 3 stacks were all sieging divisions I had inside those towns. It left a huge gap for me to exploit. Big battle at DC. Game over.

Therein lies the problem. It needs to better protect DC and continue to build forces and send them to the front. I had relatively weak forces at Richmond and Petersburg - Army of the Potomac & Corps - but it chose to besiege divisions further north, rather than to engage my main force and move toward Richmond.

A little more tweaking, Mr. Pocus!!

[Offworlder]

Well I played the Grand Campaign as the Union and was amazed at the Confederate offensive power. They struck in 61 as soon as their army formed up, throwing my forces under Mc Dowell in disarray. Simultaneously they struck at Harpers Ferry and then spread out, taking cities as far apart as Pittsburgh and attacking NY! Thankfully I was given a break when a few divisions under Hooker retook Harper's Ferry and cut of the CSA supply routes. Their armies had to retreat in winter with the anticipated results. Seaborne assaults on Norfolk and around New Bern were immediately counterattacked by sizeable CSA forces too. And now Lee has just halted my advance on Richmond (led by Burnside) at Fredricksburg... ironic huh?

In the centre I had the same story happening with 2 forces hitting Evansville and then proceeding north, while the second took Louisville and then went for Cincinatti. I was lucky to have Grant organising a Corps there, but the conquest of Kentucky is taking ages!

In the west a lot of raiding took place but again I was saved by Lyon and a Missouri division from a large strike force on St Louis.

Admittedly I was playing on hard settings but the CSA surprised me with their aggressiveness. The new patch surely has made AI very offensive minded.

[bigus]

Therein lies the problem. It needs to better protect DC and continue to build forces and send them to the front. I had relatively weak forces at Richmond and Petersburg - Army of the Potomac & Corps - but it chose to besiege divisions further north, rather than to engage my main force and move toward Richmond.

A little more tweaking, Mr. Pocus!!

The Devs came out with some new commands about a week ago that can be used to make the AI concentrate more on specific regions.(ie: Washington).
I'm trying to test them with the smaller scenarios. They seem to work O.K.
Hopefully someone can implement these into the Vanilla Campaign scenarios.


Bigus

[Daxil]

Admittedly I was playing on hard settings but the CSA surprised me with their aggressiveness. The new patch surely has made AI very offensive minded.

Yeah, almost too offensive minded. Controlled recklessness is sound strategy, just plain recklessness is suicidal. IE invasions deep into the North right when the game starts. I mean, I don't mind those attacks - they keep you off balance - but they should be toned down bit if coming from the side on the strategic defensive, and certainly not be suiocidal.

[bigus]

The AI is good.

Bigus

[Offworlder]

Problem is that after the initial strikes, the AI has a great problem in recruiting fresh formations and the North can steamroll Virginia, even with McLellan. They bypass your forces in Harper's Ferry, thus leaving themselves without proper supply lines. Also its easy to understand which way the AI will go- Pittsburgh and NY. So using internal lines its easy to confront the AI which at most could win a Pyrrhic victory.

[bigus]

Problem is that after the initial strikes, the AI has a great problem in recruiting fresh formations and the North can steamroll Virginia, even with McLellan. They bypass your forces in Harper's Ferry, thus leaving themselves without proper supply lines. Also its easy to understand which way the AI will go- Pittsburgh and NY. So using internal lines its easy to confront the AI which at most could win a Pyrrhic victory.

Thats why I think the new AI commands can be a great tool for scenario construction, Even the campaigns. You can make the AI focus on a certain region or regions.etc.

see this thread .......

http://www.ageod-forum.com/showthread.php?t=9752

Bigus

[Gray_Lensman]

deleted

[Jabberwock]

Thats what I like about these commands ... they're dynamic. If you achieve objective A, emphasize objective B, and lower the emphasis on A (but not to the point of abandoning it).

It will take a lot of tweaking and patience to get the first few right, but what a payoff!