PzC AI

mrblonde1 · 08-07-2020, 06:23 PM,

Hello, everyone. I used to play a lot in Eastern Front II JTCS. Recently I bought PzB Kursk and PzC Smolensk 41. How is the AI in these games? Can it handle the full campaign in Smolensk 41?

CheerfullyInsane · 08-07-2020, 07:39 PM,

Short answer, no.
I mean, there are scripts for all the scenarios, and the AI will move towards those set objectives, but that's about it.

As much as I love the games, the AI is rubbish.
It's OK to play against to learn the systems and how they interact.
It also does semi-well with short scenarios (say, 10 turns or less).
Anything longer than that it simply breaks down, and any semi-competent player will run rings around it.
And a situation as fluid as Smolensk '41 is a recipe for disaster.

The JTS games are multi-player only IMO, certainly when it comes to campaigns.
Either as PBEM or playing yourself in hot-seat mode.

CountryBoy · 08-07-2020, 08:22 PM,

Yep, for very small scenarios the AI will do, but not the larger ones. PBEM is the way to go. Plenty of willing opponents here on the boards.

Outlaw Josey Wales · (This post was last modified: 08-25-2020, 08:07 AM by Outlaw Josey Wales.)

Pbem is the better way to go. Playing the ai or hotseat against yourself, sucks. Hotseat is like a board game with no opponent. You always know what the other side is up to. Unless, you have another person to play with. Then, it would only be a short hop to pbem. Figure what your turn rate would be and advertise for an opponent. If that doesn't fill your void, go for more games until it does. Win or lose, you will have lots of fun and won't regret it.

The ai does not have the ability to change it's mind. Man doesn't need to keep trying to develop it, essentially creating another race when we already have the problems we do with the ones we already have. Computers were designed to be a human supplement to make some things easier, not do everything for you making people even lazier.

**Mr Grumpy** · (This post was last modified: 08-08-2020, 04:49 AM by Mr Grumpy.)

In a club that tries to promote PBEM games against another human you won't find much positive comment about the challenge of playing the AI and that is not biased comment, as a game mechanics learning tool the AI is great but as an opponent it comes up well short of any sort of challenge...... Wink

But don't let that put you off buying some titles, if you like playing the AI and you are aware it's limitations then go ahead and have some fun, at least you are guaranteed to win! Big Grin

mrblonde1 · 08-08-2020, 05:56 PM,

Thanks for the answer. I'll play a little bit with AI to remember what and how. Both games seem to be similar to JTCS but I've not played it for probably 20 years. If I find more time, I'll look for opponent here

pokeytrev · 08-09-2020, 03:28 AM,

Playing yourself in hot-seat is actually a lot of fun, but granted not as much fun as a live opponent. I have to disagree with others that say it's not very fun because you know what you are doing. Indeed, knowing what you are doing and constructing a counter action on the other side can teach you strategies and act as good drills for playing against an opponent. I will say that small scenarios probably aren't going to work as well as larger scenarios.

76mm · 08-09-2020, 09:44 AM,

(08-09-2020, 03:28 AM)pokeytrev Wrote: Playing yourself in hot-seat is actually a lot of fun, but granted not as much fun as a live opponent. I have to disagree with others that say it's not very fun because you know what you are doing.

I agree with pokeytrev, I play hot-seat against myself all the time, and enjoy it. But I play only the full campaigns, which are often very large, so it is difficult for me to remember exactly what I'm trying to do against myself!

Sure, it doesn't have all of the surprises of playing against another human, but at the same time I can play through a campaign much faster than I would be able to play via PBEM, even though I'm playing both sides!

**Mr Grumpy** · 08-09-2020, 07:59 PM,

I think that is fair comment, if you don't want to go PBEM or AI then hot-seat is a perfectly good option. Wink

Aaron · 08-19-2020, 12:46 AM,

Being 1 who has played with the AI and have done a good job of it the AI is not smart. Commands are manually put in for a unit of any size but the smaller the unit the better the AI will be but still stupid. It can't act on its own.

For example, take a unit on a road which has a 90' corner in it and place a command to move around the corner on Turn 1. There's a very good possibility the unit will try to drive threw the woods and take 3 turns to get there instead of staying on the road so then I set it at the corner for turn 1 and then from the corner on Turn 2 which still wastes a turn but keeps it out of the woods.

Now take if effect a fixed unit with a variable release on the same road, it has 25% chance to release turn 1 and order is set for turn 1 but unit doesn't release it don't move. Let's say it doesn't release till turn 5 so now it's using it's AI command from turn 5 which wants it to move 30 hexs away so it drives off into the woods for 7 turns anyways and can never catch up to its original plan u had for it. Then just setting locations for the unit to go becomes a guessing game after awhile because how to give a order to move here on turn 30 when your not sure where it will be on turn 29. lol

Just wanted to give some insight on how the AI is, it can't react, it can't even stay on a road at times. Hope all is helpful and everyone has a little more knowledge today.

Aaron