Lord_Valentai
Member
I acknowledge that this might be flogging a dead horse, but I've been having issues with the AI for a long time and thought I'd mention them.
After reading 'To the Gates of Richmond' I decided to play Campaign Peninsula again. One scenario that impressed me was the 'Confederate Offensive Begins' where the Rebel army masses south of the river and Jackson comes through Richmond. Regardless, it's a 117 turn scenario with a lot of potential.
But I ended up giving up within 8 turns. Why? On the first turn the entire northern army formed column and charged. They ploughed into abatis, into swamps, into forests with cavalry. The V Corps charged south (where there were no bridges or fords) and disrupted itself in the swamps. Meanwhile the Union artillery, still limbered, rushed me. Five batteries in 3 turns moved to the crest of Garnett's Hill, in contact with my ready troops, and got massacred. Next General Richardson's cavalry escort with the general charged through a forest against an entire brigade supported by artillery and was wiped out.
The thing is that within 8 turns I'd caused 1400 casualties for the loss of 50, destroyed or uncrewed 30 cannon and captured 5 suicidal generals. So I gave up, since it'd be an endless massacre.
I once ran the 407 turn Peninsula campaign AI vs AI and it ended with both of them sitting in a swamp 5 miles from each other and causing 800 casualties total (of which McClellan was one when he charged the entire Rebel army with his escort).
This is not a new problem in these games. I buy them because they're great, historically accurate and tactically interesting. But I don't have the time or inclination to play against a human, and every time the AI just cuts out the fun.
In Chickamauga the AI marches into the woods and gets lost there for the entire game.
In Antietam the entire Union army decides to move to Middle Bridge and cross there in a big mess.
In Vicksburg the AI decides that charging into a Bayou is a great move and becomes 90% disrupted.
My point is that the AI works only in battles less then 10 turns on a tiny battlefield. The rest of the time it just turns the game into an uneven slaughter.
What's the point of this message? I don't know...just frustration really that these games are pretty useless for single-player unless you like slaughtering a dimwitted AI opponent.
After reading 'To the Gates of Richmond' I decided to play Campaign Peninsula again. One scenario that impressed me was the 'Confederate Offensive Begins' where the Rebel army masses south of the river and Jackson comes through Richmond. Regardless, it's a 117 turn scenario with a lot of potential.
But I ended up giving up within 8 turns. Why? On the first turn the entire northern army formed column and charged. They ploughed into abatis, into swamps, into forests with cavalry. The V Corps charged south (where there were no bridges or fords) and disrupted itself in the swamps. Meanwhile the Union artillery, still limbered, rushed me. Five batteries in 3 turns moved to the crest of Garnett's Hill, in contact with my ready troops, and got massacred. Next General Richardson's cavalry escort with the general charged through a forest against an entire brigade supported by artillery and was wiped out.
The thing is that within 8 turns I'd caused 1400 casualties for the loss of 50, destroyed or uncrewed 30 cannon and captured 5 suicidal generals. So I gave up, since it'd be an endless massacre.
I once ran the 407 turn Peninsula campaign AI vs AI and it ended with both of them sitting in a swamp 5 miles from each other and causing 800 casualties total (of which McClellan was one when he charged the entire Rebel army with his escort).
This is not a new problem in these games. I buy them because they're great, historically accurate and tactically interesting. But I don't have the time or inclination to play against a human, and every time the AI just cuts out the fun.
In Chickamauga the AI marches into the woods and gets lost there for the entire game.
In Antietam the entire Union army decides to move to Middle Bridge and cross there in a big mess.
In Vicksburg the AI decides that charging into a Bayou is a great move and becomes 90% disrupted.
My point is that the AI works only in battles less then 10 turns on a tiny battlefield. The rest of the time it just turns the game into an uneven slaughter.
What's the point of this message? I don't know...just frustration really that these games are pretty useless for single-player unless you like slaughtering a dimwitted AI opponent.