Game question.

[stormbringer3]

I have Birth of America and I liked the game, but I found it frustrating that the AI liked to march it's armies all winter and take large losses due to attrition. Since this game has had many patches and upgrades, does the AI still have that winter issue?
Thanks for any opinions.

[lodilefty]

IMHO it's better, but not "perfect"

[stormbringer3]

Thanks for your quick reply. For me, the winter attrition in BoA eventually became a game breaker. Since you say it's better, do most of the players consider it satisfactory in the current state?
Thanks again.

[Durk]

Not sure if you mean BoA or BoA2 = WIA. Makes a minor difference.

The game is very satisfactory with winter attrition. One factor which makes all the difference, travel with supply wagons. The other is that live players must follow the historical pattern of finding winter quarters.

I would suggest trying to play without the AI, either you take both sides or play via PBEM. I think you will find this makes this game work splendidly in winter turns.

[stormbringer3]

Durk,
Thanks for your info. I'm talking about BoA2. Unfortunately, PBEM is not a good option for me, I have to use wireless internet where I live and the data plans can get real expensive. So, I only play vs. the AI. I played Avalon Hill, etc. boardgames vs. myself for decades, so playing both sides in a PC game doesn't really appeal to me. What I'm trying to figure out is that if the AI in BoA2 wouldn't lose as much of it's forces in the winter as in BoA, this could be a good purchase for me.

[Durk]

AI is pretty much the same in both versions.
You could reduce the consequences of winter attrition in the options. Option one. This would let AI off the hook for winter offensives a bit.
I am right there with you in the Avalon Hill boardgame play. I have packed all these games away. After many fond days of play.
Option two: Playing against yourself in Aegod games is different for this reason, both side have their turns executed at the same time. This is a nice difference from the move, roll the dice and change sides of board games.
AI will never satisfy real play. While Ageod has as good an AI I have played, just not up to snuff vs my own moves.
Incidentally, I play via wireless internet.

[Hobbes]

I've made a couple of scenarios for WiA and tested them a lot through winter turns. A few months ago I emailed Pocus to complain that the AI was plotting too many winter moves only to see the next turn that she had decided to go for caution and move all her units inside structures (the trigger was once they had taken a small amount of hits from poor weather). So it seems to me now that the AI has improved in this respect - but it would be interesting to know if players still find a problem with AI aggression in winter.

It can also come down to the design of the scenario as scenario designers should also change the AI settings so she is less aggressive in the winter.

For a scenario where there are no problems try Pontiac's War (if you play as the British) as most Indian units are locked into winter quarters come late fall

Cheers, Chris