peterk1
Member
Hi Guys,
I haven't posted here (or played ASL) for quite a while but I pop by every now and then to see what is going on. Something happened recently that has got me thinking about solo ASL again. Have any of you tried out the solo system just published for the Conflict Of Heroes game? It's a card driven AI, where the deck is prepared ahead of the scenario. It also has a very nice way to generate unit placements. And I've been thinking whether something like this could be used to finally have a good way to play some of the great standard ASL scenarios solitaire.
Things I like about the CoH system:
o At the beginning of the scenario, you drop all the counters for the AI's OOB into a cup. Suspect markers are placed in a bunch of good setup locations. When one is revealed, you draw a unit counter from the cup. What's nice about this is that you can easily and quickly get a reasonable set-up for a standard scenario. In a custom solo scenario you can limit the possible OOB for a more consistent experience between different sessions/users than is possible with standard SASL. If you want, you can even have more units in the cup than Suspect markers, to add a tiny bit of variability to what will actually show up. You can also have different cups (a cup for heavy weapons in upper floors; cups for different buildings/set-up areas; locations for leaders). If you want the possibility of dummy Suspect markers, a dr before pulling a counter from the cup does the trick.
o The order in which AI actions are resolved is driven by cards and not the fixed left/right north/south in SASL and it leads to a much more intelligent ordering of actions. Important actions tend to get performed first very consistently. As an example, if the AI has a large killer stack meant for Prep fire, then it will almost always lead the turn, before a sniper can wreck the stack or kill the leader.
o The action that a unit attempts is context sensitive and not driven purely by a random DR. Each card has 5-6 possibilities on it and you read from top/bottom until you find an action that applies.
o AI movement is categorized into low risk / normal risk.
o The deck is prepared ahead of the scenario and can be massaged as the scenario progresses in response to how things are going. In CoH, if you inflict a large number of enemy casualties, they will lose Command cards and the AI side will progressively become more predictable and less aggressive. In ASL, for Guards Counterattack for example, you could remove a lot of the "prep fire" cards on the last turn to get more movement if the AI still has to take a building for the win. If the AI has the win, you could take out all or most of the movement cards to make it stay put and defend.
o You don't need to give the AI a huge numerical advantage for a challenging game. About half of my plays have had the German/Russian fairly evenly matched.
I've had a ton of fun with this thing in the last 2 weeks and was just wondering if anyone else has played it and also thinks there are possibilities in the ASL world for such a system. I like CoH, but I miss playing ASL, but I don't think I can play the normal solitaire module any more.
I haven't posted here (or played ASL) for quite a while but I pop by every now and then to see what is going on. Something happened recently that has got me thinking about solo ASL again. Have any of you tried out the solo system just published for the Conflict Of Heroes game? It's a card driven AI, where the deck is prepared ahead of the scenario. It also has a very nice way to generate unit placements. And I've been thinking whether something like this could be used to finally have a good way to play some of the great standard ASL scenarios solitaire.
Things I like about the CoH system:
o At the beginning of the scenario, you drop all the counters for the AI's OOB into a cup. Suspect markers are placed in a bunch of good setup locations. When one is revealed, you draw a unit counter from the cup. What's nice about this is that you can easily and quickly get a reasonable set-up for a standard scenario. In a custom solo scenario you can limit the possible OOB for a more consistent experience between different sessions/users than is possible with standard SASL. If you want, you can even have more units in the cup than Suspect markers, to add a tiny bit of variability to what will actually show up. You can also have different cups (a cup for heavy weapons in upper floors; cups for different buildings/set-up areas; locations for leaders). If you want the possibility of dummy Suspect markers, a dr before pulling a counter from the cup does the trick.
o The order in which AI actions are resolved is driven by cards and not the fixed left/right north/south in SASL and it leads to a much more intelligent ordering of actions. Important actions tend to get performed first very consistently. As an example, if the AI has a large killer stack meant for Prep fire, then it will almost always lead the turn, before a sniper can wreck the stack or kill the leader.
o The action that a unit attempts is context sensitive and not driven purely by a random DR. Each card has 5-6 possibilities on it and you read from top/bottom until you find an action that applies.
o AI movement is categorized into low risk / normal risk.
o The deck is prepared ahead of the scenario and can be massaged as the scenario progresses in response to how things are going. In CoH, if you inflict a large number of enemy casualties, they will lose Command cards and the AI side will progressively become more predictable and less aggressive. In ASL, for Guards Counterattack for example, you could remove a lot of the "prep fire" cards on the last turn to get more movement if the AI still has to take a building for the win. If the AI has the win, you could take out all or most of the movement cards to make it stay put and defend.
o You don't need to give the AI a huge numerical advantage for a challenging game. About half of my plays have had the German/Russian fairly evenly matched.
I've had a ton of fun with this thing in the last 2 weeks and was just wondering if anyone else has played it and also thinks there are possibilities in the ASL world for such a system. I like CoH, but I miss playing ASL, but I don't think I can play the normal solitaire module any more.