KG_Jag
05-04-2006, 10:49 AM
This is for battle and operations designers who are working on AI friendly scenarios. It is from the Mad Russian and posted at the Proving Grounds. He also shows up at SZO from time to time. Here is what he says:
"The AI gets more comment than any other part of CM. It does this and it doesn't do that.
CM was well established when I finally bought it. CMBB was already out.
Another thing that was well established is that the AI cannot attack.
Now being a late comer to the scene I took that statement to be true. But it isn't.
The CM AI can and will attack! Under the right circumstances. I found out about this by accident. I was playtesting what I thought was going to be a H2H scenario. I was playing the attacker and just for grins decided to see what would happen if I played the defender. What happened was the AI beat me. It beat me because I wasn't ready for it to fight. The rest is kind of history. The KC series of scenarios was born from that one and alot of other vs AI attack scenarios since.
Here are the basics for making a vs the AI scenario:
* Put the AI units as close to the player units as you can and still have them out of LOS. The AI moves slow. The shorter the distance it has to move to engage the better.
* Don't over tax the system. Use a reasonable number of objectives. I try to use 3. You can have as many flags for points as you want, just have them in as few locations as you can.
* Don't get tricky. vs AI battles should be pretty straight forward for the AI to follow. No over the river and through the woods type of stuff. Grandma will be hungry waiting for the AI to get there.
* Don't make the map too big. 1000 x 1000 or SMALLER is pretty good sized for a vs the AI map. Remember that the AI is slow to advance.
* You can bring in reinforcements anytime you like and it is a good way to continue the AI's momentum. You can bring in reinforcements in areas that you maybe wouldn't for a H2H game. Remember to bring them in as close to the action as you can to cut down on travel time.
The BIGGEST tip I can give you is to PLAYTEST, PLAYTEST, PLAYTEST!!!!!!!!
You as the designer need to KNOW what that scenario will do. If you don't you feedback will more than likely be negative. Playtest them work out the kinks and your scenario will get rave reviews! It's not really that hard to get the AI to attack but few people seem to have found that combination.
Hope this helps your scenario designing skills.
Good Hunting.
MR
(modified 12/07/2005 06:04:40 by Mad Russian)]]
......
"The other thing that should be done is to give the computer a bonus when fighting the AI so it will act more like a human player.
I have a disclaimer that I put in all of my vs AI scenarios. It is this:
Add computer experience bonus relative to the experience you have as a player. Good player +1, above average player +2 and very experienced player +3.
Feel free to use this in your scenario briefings. You should always test your scenarios at least at a +2 CEB. If you are playtesting it for H2H play you should use a +3 CEB and then it should be pretty easy to beat.
Hope this helps.
Good Hunting.
MR "
The link is here:
http://www.the-proving-grounds.com/tip_results.html?sku=355&keyword=ai%20attack
"The AI gets more comment than any other part of CM. It does this and it doesn't do that.
CM was well established when I finally bought it. CMBB was already out.
Another thing that was well established is that the AI cannot attack.
Now being a late comer to the scene I took that statement to be true. But it isn't.
The CM AI can and will attack! Under the right circumstances. I found out about this by accident. I was playtesting what I thought was going to be a H2H scenario. I was playing the attacker and just for grins decided to see what would happen if I played the defender. What happened was the AI beat me. It beat me because I wasn't ready for it to fight. The rest is kind of history. The KC series of scenarios was born from that one and alot of other vs AI attack scenarios since.
Here are the basics for making a vs the AI scenario:
* Put the AI units as close to the player units as you can and still have them out of LOS. The AI moves slow. The shorter the distance it has to move to engage the better.
* Don't over tax the system. Use a reasonable number of objectives. I try to use 3. You can have as many flags for points as you want, just have them in as few locations as you can.
* Don't get tricky. vs AI battles should be pretty straight forward for the AI to follow. No over the river and through the woods type of stuff. Grandma will be hungry waiting for the AI to get there.
* Don't make the map too big. 1000 x 1000 or SMALLER is pretty good sized for a vs the AI map. Remember that the AI is slow to advance.
* You can bring in reinforcements anytime you like and it is a good way to continue the AI's momentum. You can bring in reinforcements in areas that you maybe wouldn't for a H2H game. Remember to bring them in as close to the action as you can to cut down on travel time.
The BIGGEST tip I can give you is to PLAYTEST, PLAYTEST, PLAYTEST!!!!!!!!
You as the designer need to KNOW what that scenario will do. If you don't you feedback will more than likely be negative. Playtest them work out the kinks and your scenario will get rave reviews! It's not really that hard to get the AI to attack but few people seem to have found that combination.
Hope this helps your scenario designing skills.
Good Hunting.
MR
(modified 12/07/2005 06:04:40 by Mad Russian)]]
......
"The other thing that should be done is to give the computer a bonus when fighting the AI so it will act more like a human player.
I have a disclaimer that I put in all of my vs AI scenarios. It is this:
Add computer experience bonus relative to the experience you have as a player. Good player +1, above average player +2 and very experienced player +3.
Feel free to use this in your scenario briefings. You should always test your scenarios at least at a +2 CEB. If you are playtesting it for H2H play you should use a +3 CEB and then it should be pretty easy to beat.
Hope this helps.
Good Hunting.
MR "
The link is here:
http://www.the-proving-grounds.com/tip_results.html?sku=355&keyword=ai%20attack