Is the AI bad? Do people play against the AI?

[unseen4ce]

Do people play this against the AI. It seems the AI is bad on hard.
Is it just me or is there some setting I am missing?

[loudman2]

The vanila AI is largely regarded as a doormat - and really is not much of a challenge to anything other than new players.

There are several AI alternatives which dramatically improve that aspect of the game. The baseline is the Sorian AI, which is imbedded into Forged Alliance Forever, but the FAF communty is home to some other alternative AI as well - including Dilli and Uveso. While the focus of the FAF community is mostly PvP it's worth a look
http://www.faforever.com

While not a part of the FAF package, The LOUD Project deals not only with a massively revised AI, but a significant overhaul of the code base to greatly improve mid and late game performance with large numbers of units. The project is squarely aimed at those who prefer playing against the AI and want a deeper experience. You can find out more about it here
https://www.moddb.com/mods/loud-ai-supreme-commander-forged-alliance

[unseen4ce]

^Thanks a lot for the info!

[Swagmaster Love 🇪🇺]

Every AI that ever was and ever will be implemented is bad until we see true self-teaching AI implemented in strategy games - which is SoonTM 8)

Give it some time. :)

[Migromul]

if you like to steam-roll (like I do), You can have trouble with certain AI. I only play against the AI, since I can restart, if things go wrong, without annoying my opponent... (and none of my friends play this game, sadly.)
I think, there is some difference between the implemented vanilla-AIs. There is also a siginficant difference depending on the map you use. I find land-only-maps much more difficult than ocean-maps... And I find it much more difficult to play without using at least the 2x resource-mod (which is implemented ingame.) I don't use any 3rd party-mods... yet.

The main reason, I still play this game, is, because, there is no other rts with base-building, which uses all warfare (sea, land, air) in such a great way, and can be played against the AI.

If anyone knows one, I'll listen. it must have: Sea, including submarines! Air: preferable direct-control, and Land, of course. But the units should be individual, not "place-holders" (like in emprie earth.) AND it should have very large maps (at least the 40x40-size of this game...)

[unseen4ce]

I am more of a turtle then steam roll.

[loudman2]

The map, and how well it's marked for the AI, play a huge role in determining just how well a game against the AI will go. Aside from that, most of the Vanilla AI including Sorian rely upon AI profiles (Rush, Tech, etc.) to determine their basic behavior. Unfortunately, none of those AI are actually 'aware' of what's going on out on the map to control their response in any meaningful way. For the large part, most of them will simply hurl their units, without much consideration, at the largest target they can find. This is great for turtle players obviously, but not much of a game in the long run.

When I began construction of The LOUD Project AI, we wanted to deal with all those issues, and create a dynamic AI that could not only adapt to all geographic considerations, but could change dynamically with how the opponents were playing. We also wanted a competitive AI that didn't require massive cheat levels to do so. If those ideas appeal to you, then you should consider The LOUD Project. There's far more to it than an AI, being focused upon performance, balanced for all arms operations, and deeper gameplay, but we do feel it is a truly different AI experience for all those who prefer a good match against an AI that actually does some thinking, and isn't just following a script.

[Honorable_D]

Enjoying the LOUD mod. A few issues I have noticed:

T4 AA SAMS use smaller artillery models? O_o

GIGANTIC SWARMS OF T3 AIR SUPERIORITY FIGHTERS!

An Aeon LOUD AI sat in it's base, rung with huge amounts of T3 spider bots and tanks...did nothing with them. They just sat around the whole game and never attacked. Granted, this game had no Support Commanders and no Air Transports.

[loudman2]

Not the intention at all. The purpose was to provide an AI that has a higher degree of deterministic possibility - so it's never the same twice. Whether it's turtling or rushing an exerpimental, or whatever, we wanted to build an AI that could respond appropriately, and do it with the scale that the game promised from it's release - and do it with a minimum of advantage than previous AI.

There is, I suspect, a far larger community of FA players who play almost exclusively against the AI, or with a few friends against the AI, than there are PvP players - and not that it matters in the slightest - but the PvP community is well served by FAF - and we wanted to cater to those who felt the AI was not getting the attention it deserved. The choice, ultimately, comes down only to you and the enjoyment you get from it.

[unseen4ce]

I plan to try Loud, it is a large download. I will get to it soon.

[Starbug]

If you don't wish to install faf to benefit from ai additions, you can independently install the sorian AI.

I only play Vs the computer and the sorian mod makes a tremendous difference.

[blake.brown40]

The LOUD project receives regular updates, just not save game compatable so be aware. My computer is old and 32 bit windows 7 1.34 g ram available after all is said and done and barely runs anything post medieval 2 total war. The LOUD mod totally altered my play experience! On 40kX40k maps the whole map will be swarming with activity. The rocket and artillery duels are rediculous! They were using 12+ Continental dropships to attack me last night. Very fun! And the devs on the LOUD discord are really helpful and responsive! I like to post battle descriptions and get reviewed. Good clean fun all around.

[Red Spot]

Use FAF and set the timer on campaign missions. See if you can handle that, most that I have played with can not. Or play a game with me on FAF knowing you want it more difficult ... I'll trigger the next part of the mission asap and see if we can survive the incoming onslaught... :)
Custom campaign missions in FAF, mostly a lot more difficult than the regular stuff.

[aldi99]

LOUD is great. FAF is rigged.

[Civic]

It's really unfortunate that standard AIs (Sorian or variants) are quite ok / moderately easy, and then there is the stupid cheating AI which is just silly.

[loudman2]

To be fair, the original AI is pretty simplistic, and while Sorian is an improvement over that, it's only marginally better. In truth, those AI didn't get the kind of development they needed, to be effective in many aspects of the game - being not much more than scripted responses to the most primitive actions.

I've been working on LOUD for almost 10 years now - and the single biggest reason that those original AI underwhelm (and this continues to haunt the FAF AI as well) is that they haven't tried to give the AI the information necessary to understand the units - or the map - so that it can actually adapt to changing situations. Once you start doing this, the AI can formulate not only better responses to what's happening on the battlefield, it can start thinking ahead, in every possible sense.