How Intelligent Is the AI?

[Genghis Khan]

How Intelligent Is the AI? In a game like this, AI is everything! It makes it or breaks it. Please be honest.

[Principes Legio]

Overall it is pretty good. It is a little weak in naval activities as it lets its navy get butchered piecemeal. It is also a little weak in deciding when to launch Normandy. It does pretty well on the Russian front, which is the crux of the game

[Genghis Khan]

Okay. Are there difficulty settings in the options menu? I prefer to play against a cheating AI for a good challenge.

[Principes Legio]

Yes, but I dont think they affect the AI. I dont know for sure

[Genghis Khan]

ok, thanks for the replies.

[Bill Runacre]

Hi

The difficulty settings relate to the AI level you'll be playing against, so you can move it to the harder settings for a more challenging game.

[Genghis Khan]

Originally posted by Bill Runacre:

Hi

The difficulty settings relate to the AI level you'll be playing against, so you can move it to the harder settings for a more challenging game.

nice, good to hear. thnx

[GoldenTalon]

Originally posted by Bill Runacre:

Hi

The difficulty settings relate to the AI level you'll be playing against, so you can move it to the harder settings for a more challenging game.

Does the difficulty level make the AI "smarter" or just give it more bonuses?

[PowerGmbH]

Well i would say, nor Axis nor Allied AI invent "new" strategies. i.e. a human Player may think of not invading Normandy, or an Axis Player may prefer to get to the Caucasus via Turkey. so the AI, doesn't invent a new WW2 but it does quite well in performing following an historic background. and for my Surprise the Allied Russian AI is reacting very niceley. I.e. i focused as Axis only on a Southern Advance while leaving the North Front untouched. the AI realized this and reduced severely the Northfront (while it didnt attack either, had too much to defend in the south). So the AI used the resoureces well. Later after caucasus fell, i surprised the AI with a suden advance and it was caught by surprise, yes, after 2 years of a sleeping front. SImilarly in Africa, the British AI brought up all southern African Units up to Nairobi and then Later the remaining to Rhodesia. so it did no simpply stand in the capitals. On the other Side, a Human Allied would maybe have brought some reinforcement from UK or Australia. so while keeping track of historical developement it still shows a lot of adaptation to specific situations.

[Nats]

I have found playing against the Ai to be a challenge on normal difficulty, certainly beating Japan as China is as difficult as it should be.

[Scum]

My .02 - The AI is garbage. Also the AI turns take forever (and I have a fast computer). Play multiplayer!

[Nats]

Originally posted by Scum:

My .02 - The AI is garbage. Also the AI turns take forever (and I have a fast computer). Play multiplayer!

I actually enjoy watching the AI turns but they do take a while. Not as bad as some strategy games though. The Axis AI is beating me in Libya and China at the moment but I admit the Japanese AI should land more troops in China as I am starting to turn the tide, now that I am using some British troops to assist the Chinese (not what happened historically). But the Japanese are very strong navy wise (Ive been prevented from landing troops in China from the sea) and the Italians have practically killed off my entire British Med fleet. So it isnt that stupid.

[Scum]

As you learn the game, you will quickly out pace the AI. Also, watching long replays will get old, at least it quickly did for me.

But there is a great bunch of people in multiplayer, and prior games in this series have shown exceptional staying power. SO as long as you continue to enjoy the game, you should have no problems finding MP opponents.

[Bill Runacre]

Just in case anyone isn't familiar with these, in the Options screen there are settings that will speed up the AI turn.

Under the Artificial Intelligence heading:

- Untick Show Moves/Combat
- Untick Messages (AI Turn)

This will give you a bit more of a challenge too!

Bill

[Silvercourage]

I assume they've been tweaking for many past versions/years but I agree with PowerGmbH that once you've played a couple of times, you'll have a sense for the AI strategic approaches and limits. BUT overall I've been impressed and surprised by the AI at the operational level. Very good/fun. Will give you a challenge the first few times for sure.

I definitely don't think its fair at all to call the AI garbage, but I agree with Scum's second post that multiplayer is always a tougher/funner challenge and will respond better to less traditional strategies than the game's scripted-AI ever could.

For my two cents:
Adding + spotting to AI is the best way to improve AI operational tactics. game timeline stays pretty unchanged. But I feel like it impacts naval combat quite a bit more than land. Naval AI is relentless heatsinking missile and you have to assume it will pick and choose what to destroy. Defending carriers is almost impossible absent six ships surrounding every hex.. Land war just seems smarter/a little more ruthless like a human player would be. The difference is that Naval combat you don't know where the enemy navy is (but they know where you are,) where as land combat is usually a little more frontline vs. frontline with known unit locations.

Adding + money is pretty good because the AI will cover weakpoints and flanks better than otherwise but if you go +20% then it just feels like unit spam vs. good use of the extra money. Draws out longer game.

Adding + experience AI forces you to be more efficient with force composition and your own tactics as breaking through certain chokepoints or stronghold areas becomes almost impossible at some key spots. Harder and draws out longer game because it takes longer to take cities and strongholds.

When I play Allies I add +1 spotting and +1 exp to Axis AI. When Axis, I add +1 spotting and +10% money to Allies.

For me this is about right challenge/fun mix but YMMV. However, if you can find an honest, fun, trustworthy person who won't bail the first time they get a serious setback, and can turnaround their turns in a reasonable time, then that is absolutely the funniest time yet!.

[Nats]

The AI does spend time consolidating and does retreat when outnumbered or beaten. But it also does some daft things like sending out troops to try to capture nearby cities unaided. It is a fun challenge but it definitely could do with improvement in some areas. I have not found this game to be a walkover like many other strategy games I've played.