British Army Destroys itself in Winter

[vaalen]

I am playing "A few acres of snow". It is fall, 1757. I have taken fort William Henry and Albany.A huge British army moves up to Mohawk camp, two areas south of Fort William Henry.

I brace myself to defend Carillon. The British army is so large, that when I mouse over it, there is not enough room on the screen to see all the units. There are three separate armies in that area.

The snow falls. The British stay in Mohawk camp. They stay there without moving through the whole winter, and most of their army dies. when the snow lifts, the few units they have left have lost most of their men.

The British have no troops left, they can do nothing. and a great campaign is ruined.

This must be a bug, or the AI is brain dead about winter. either way, can Ageod fix this?

[arsan]

Strange... AI behaviour in winter was much improved on one of the latest patches (1.04c i think)
You don't mention what version you are using... its the latest one?
Which setting do you use (attrition, activation, AI settings)??
Posting the saved games and log here so someone at AGEOD can eventually take a look will surely help

Regards

[Siekster]

I agree.... the AI's winter behavior has improved tremendously....

Is it possible the British Commander wasn't activated for a couple of turns?? I've had my fair share of that... being caught in the wilderness in the winter due to a British General's low Strategic rating.....

[vaalen]

Strange... AI behaviour in winter was much improved on one of the latest patches (1.04c i think)
You don't mention what version you are using... its the latest one?
Which setting do you use (attrition, activation, AI settings)??
Posting the saved games and log here so someone at AGEOD can eventually take a look will surely help

Regards

I was using 1.04c, which was the latest non beta patch.

AI settings are normal, I do not give the AU more time.

Attrition is normal - no attrition for a non moving unit.

Activation was at the highest setting - no movement if the activation roll was not made.

Unfortunately I do not have a save game that shows the problem, as this occurred over multiple turns.
I do remember the following:

The British had three armies in Albany camp starting November, 1757. They had a lot of supply units. They stayed put all the way through April, 1758. (6 months)

By April, all the supply units were gone and all but 6 badly depleted combat units and a number of generals were gone.

The weather was snow for the entire six months.

I know the British had some stupid generals - but even the dumbest of them would not have done this. not for 6 months.

It is all very well that the AI's winter actions have improved - but this is the worst I've ever seen.

All I can think of is that perhaps the AI had problems with the fact I had taken Albany. Also , the Iroquois had joined me soon after I took Albany.

Would giving the AI more time have prevented this?

[arsan]

Hi Valeen
In case you don't know, the game automatically keeps up to 24 turns saved as backup.
Check your saves directory. If you have not completely deleted the campaign they should be there.

Some comments
Hardened activation can lock inactive stacks in place, leaving them at the mercy of the snow until they can activate again. Even a human can be put in dire straits with this. The AI more so.
On the recently released beta pacth
http://www.ageod-forum.com/showthread.php?t=14137
Lodilefty has tweaked the hardened activation parameters so low on supply stacks don't became locked.
I think that by using this optional setting as the French on 1755 campaign you are compromising much more the AI Brits than yourself as your leaders have high strategic ratings while theirs are worst and you are mostly on the deffensive.
For my experience, the Ai can play a decent French on 1755. But taking the offensive as the British on that wilderness terrain is a logistical challenge even for a human. On WIA big armies are very hard to supply.
With hardened activation its should be worst.

Not sure if giving the AI more time will help much, but certainly it wont be bad for her.
As well, giving her some small bonus on activation and detection can improve his performance.

Regards

[vaalen]

Hi Valeen
In case you don't know, the game automatically keeps up to 24 turns saved as backup.
Check your saves directory. If you have not completely deleted the campaign they should be there.

Some comments
Hardened activation can lock inactive stacks in place, leaving them at the mercy of the snow until they can activate again. Even a human can be put in dire straits with this. The AI more so.
On the recently released beta pacth
http://www.ageod-forum.com/showthread.php?t=14137
Lodilefty has tweaked the hardened activation parameters so low on supply stacks don't became locked.
I think that by using this optional setting as the French on 1755 campaign you are compromising much more the AI Brits than yourself as your leaders have high strategic ratings while theirs are worst and you are mostly on the deffensive.
For my experience, the Ai can play a decent French on 1755. But taking the offensive as the British on that wilderness terrain is a logistical challenge even for a human. On WIA big armies are very hard to supply.
With hardened activation its should be worst.

Not sure if giving the AI more time will help much, but certainly it wont be bad for her.
As well, giving her some small bonus on activation and detection can improve his performance.

Regards

Hi Arsan,

I really appreciate your taking the time and trouble to reply.

So it was the hardened activation.

It seems that the problem will be fixed with the new patch. I'll wait until they fix the crash bug before I try it.

I would have thought that France would have been harder to play given the vast disparity in numbers. Thanks for increasing my understanding. I will play as the British for now.

Best regards,

Vaalen