American Civil War Game Club (ACWGC)

Questions:

How does the A/I sense the enemy, for example seek and attack when the A/I Value is in either 3 or 4 or something other than 2? Thiss method appears to be alot easier than writing an entire script, but which method makes the A/I smarter.

Also, what multipliers change when the advantage is increased? I assume this does affect the A/I?

regards,
RE Daley
ANV

Brig.Gen. R.E.Daley
1st Corps of the ANV
3rd Calvary Divsion,
3rd Brigade
"We are the Midnight Riders"

Follow-up question.

When A/I Value is other than 2 and using no script, and using a value of 3 or 4 for attack mode. Does the A/I go after or recognize objectives?

thanks,
RE Daley

Brig.Gen. R.E.Daley
1st Corps of the ANV
3rd Calvary Divsion,
3rd Brigade
"We are the Midnight Riders"

My experience is with the old Battleground series, but the newer HPS titles are likely similar.

I have found a combination of scripts and a value of 3 or 4 to work best, but it depends on the situation, especially the length of the scenario. For shorter scenarios you may be able to get away with no scripts, but the AI will almost always be a bit clumsy in the attack.

If you use scripts and you want the AI to follow your scripts to the "T" use the value 2. Otherwise the best is to use scripts and 3 or 4.

Yes, the AI will go after objectives, and try to destroy units in it's path.

Richard Simonitch Cadet, Union Military Academy

I have been doing some research on AI Scripts in the HPS games for a future addition to the ACWCO Engineering pages. Don't know much about the BG system but here are some things I learned about them in the HPS games.

From the Editor Help file notes

"If an A/I Value different from 2 is defined for one or both sides, then the Flags value will be important. A value of 1 indicates that the A/I should not commit the entire side to the Attack or Defense, but should only commit forces based on opportunities. A value of 0 will cause the A/I to commit the entire side to the Attack or Defense."

I have not finished my testing on this but I can tell you for sure that if the AI value is set to 4 and the flag is set to 0 the AI will completely ignore any defensive scripts. I wrote a script calling for one dug in group to defend one flank while the remainder of the army attacked the other flank. When I attempted to test this one I was surprised to see the AI moving units from their breastworks and trying to cross a river to attack. When I looked at the Header Dialog I discovered the AI Value was 4 and the Flag 0, apparently I had forgotten to set them when setting up the scenario. So if you're going to use a 3-4 AI setting I suggest you set the flag to 1.

I also have not yet tested to determine if the AI will follow scripts at all if the value is set to anything other than 2 and the Help files are not completely clear on this matter.

Regarding scripts however the Help file does state that

"An A/I value of 2 indicates that the side should not initiate any A/I orders on its own. This value is best used when A/I Scripts are going to be defined for the scenario."

I have found this to be true. If units without scripts are attacked the AI will move them but if they are left alone they will sit in place and do nothing other than fire at opportunity targets. According to the Help files there is a way around this, the No Order script order.

"No Order - this Order should always have the objective (-1, -1). This Order indicates that the organization should not move or fire except as a response to an attack on itself. However, if a Brigade has this Order and its leader is currently mounted, then the A/I considers that Brigade to be "in reserve" and may automatically order it to defend a threatened Objective."

Once again I have not tested this one yet.


Gen. Ken Miller
AoP

Thanks guys,

I write quite a lot of scenarios but just can't get the AI to be any smarter. I'll have to write some short scenarios to see the AI go after objectives. I am familiar with the flags and values.

regards,


Brig.Gen. R.E.Daley
1st Corps of the ANV
3rd Calvary Divsion,
3rd Brigade
"We are the Midnight Riders"

Gen Daley,

A couple other things I want to mention.

You can write scripts for any level of command from army to regiment. I've found that the lower the command level the better the script is followed. For smaller scenarios you will want to write your scripts at the regimental/battery level. For larger ones I would recommend no higher than brigade/battalion level. It seems to me that the higher the level the slower the AI operates, I haven't figured out why but it appears that at regimental levels it moves faster.

Also don't count on the AI using column movement to move troops around. There does not appear to be any sense to when or why it changes into line but I've written scripts to move a brigade some distance only to see half of it move in column down the road and the other half change into line and move through the woods.

Gen. Ken Miller
AoP

Thanks Ken,

One thing for sure, nothing beats a good old human opponent!!!!

regards,

Brig.Gen. R.E.Daley
1st Corps of the ANV
3rd Calvary Divsion,
3rd Brigade
"We are the Midnight Riders"