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Well, if PI fail to build a AI capable of managing the german units on the eastern front, how the heck would it be able to manage the russian army on the same front being potentially several times larger by unit count.

This is a major issue, I sure hope that the AI can handle this or single player mode will really stink.

That is also why I'm inclined to believe that the AI actually can pull this off and that the Theatre HQ AI can take objectives assigned by the player and not only decide which subordinated HQ is best suited for the task but also forward the objectives to the concerned HQ.

We shall se how the game plays and the AI cope with this. Even if the game may be buggy (it's like a PI tradition) I do not believe they would market the AI as they have done if it could not handle one of the core pillars that this game rest upon.

You have read about its capability in this dev diary, so why do you believe that the eastern front could not be managed by a AI?
 
Mm, yes, and Italy controlling the Balkans by September 1940 would be ... odd.

Also, an almost 100K maxed out amount of fuel after all those campaigns, I'd say the resource numbers still need some large adjustments, in this way Italy would be a great prize for Germany to seize, not to befriend :D

Johan said that the screenshot was from King's ahistorical game, so it is possible.
 
Here's a question I've been wondering about:

Say the AI is planning an invasion of England, and I am the UK. Suppose I have a decent network of spies in mainland Europe; will I be warned of an impending invasion? Or is this something the player has to figure out themselves (somehow?) To me, it just seems that this style of play lends itself to espionage and would make the game world seem more realistic.
 
Hmm, The battle of the Great Sand Sea..


Awesome!

I don't think provinces will be impassable anymore, they'll simply be given zero infra, and thus will cause armies to move at a snails pace in and out of them and starve them of supplies while they are there. Which is historically accurate.
 
(I have just read the DD and the last part of the thread.)

The italian AI taking Malta is nothing new!!

In my few games of world domination (as Germany) after the Mediterranean is closed and the Allied Navy destroyed, Italy always takes Malta, (although it takes a long time to make the move).
 
It will be "interesting" to see how German AI can handle Götterdämmerung scenario without any help from player..

I would expect the AI to be very Hitlerian in its approach to that situation. IAW it will try to defend everywhere, not be able to conceive of a strategic withdrawl on one front in order to concentrate forces to throw the Allies back in the sea, then turn back on the Soviets to try to restore the Eastern front (the only possible strategy).

One reason the AI in HOI2 was hopeless is it only could see the here and now, could not see moves in the future. On a chess board there are only so many possible moves, a computer can be programmed to calculate the best choices. In HOI2, there are thousands of variables and no pc can compete against that. If HOI3 basically is controlling both your forces, in other words at the tactical level, then you have no advantage over it except grand strategy. Reminds me of the old SSG games of the 90's, wonder if this system will be an advanced version of those games. Overall the theater aspect is a fantastic leap forward, it simulates the way WW2 was fought.
 
Hope AI will not be only smart enough to attack province with all the forces but also will be smart enough to avoid losing planes if province is highly anti-air defended.
 
(I have just read the DD and the last part of the thread.)

The italian AI taking Malta is nothing new!!

In my few games of world domination (as Germany) after the Mediterranean is closed and the Allied Navy destroyed, Italy always takes Malta, (although it takes a long time to make the move).

Yes but this is just a demonstration of how the ai on it's own put together an invasion force including I believe paratroopers in an airborne element to help with the invasion. The AI also assembled a fleet and assigned air units to the attack. A complete combined operation.

In HOI 2 while taking Malta is still possible it would only normally occur if as you said the med is closed and the Royal Navy totally destroyed.
 
If you give the AI an order to take London and the forces he have to his disposal i vastly lower than needed, how will the AI react? Will he try to attack London with the small army he have or inform you its not possible?

Do you set a time for the attack or do the AI decides when he feels ready?.
If the later option- do that mean he will not carry out the invasion if the example above is true?
 
shouldn't the AI be better at overall strategy thanks to the theatres and the ability to specify goals? It should be able to decide to send the bare minimum to certain farflung, less important theatres or even give them up (if things go very bad in other theatres)

like give up ethiopia and north africa and eastern front as italy if allies land in italy/balkans in sufficient numbers

of course I can see how it would try to defend both western and eastern front with equal zeal in a scenario like gotterdammerung but again such behaviour could be programmed I think like focus attention on the important front which is easiest to beat first but not at the expense of total collapse of the other equally important front
 
Johan said that the screenshot was from King's ahistorical game, so it is possible.

I understand, I just hope the threat level of all neighbours went up so much they mobilized. Ahistorical indeed should be possible of course, but they were not done for a reason, if that is missing I'd say some further tinkering needs to be done. The Balkans were all in the famous Balkan Pact, exactly to resist such threats but initiatially to keep Bulgaria from wanting revisions in borders, an attack on any of the members (Yugoslavia/Romania/Hungary/Turkey) would have meant a great destabilization which would have had grave consequences. I don't know how the game went obviously, but not being allied and the great strain Mussolini wanted to press to Hitler not to get into a war and that Italy was far from ready from any war, does put some questionmarks on the way you can just invade your neighbour, Albania was another case and small fries, Greece was not done until the war had broken out. Just saying it should, even for dictatorships, come at a very high prize and very uncertain outcomes to declare war on your neighbours.
 
Hey I'll be right back everyone. I need to go to the hospital. I think my jaw broke when it hit the floor!

I actually used that as a pick up line once... worked pretty well. :D
 
Giving the responsibility of such a huge front to one HQ would be insane I presume. Correct me if I'm mistaken, but an HQ can handle one objective at the time. How could you order the AI to encircle hostile troops in the Pripets, establish a strong bridgehead in front of Kiev, get to Moscow before snowstorms, cut the supply road of Leningrad, and many others? So many things have been said, so I think only gaming experience will tell.

I think that if one HQ can have one objective, then you could in theory order every division to have a different objective. That could be used easily for encirclements. Give every korps their own objective and command personally armoured forces. You circle, AI supports.
 
You'll take care of politics and issue death threats to your armycommanders if they fail you. And if it gets really boring you'll start using your brilliant strategigal and tactical military genious and start to move entire armies between theatres without consulting AI first. The you sack AI because it failed to capture it's objectives ;)
 
I think that if one HQ can have one objective, then you could in theory order every division to have a different objective. That could be used easily for encirclements. Give every korps their own objective and command personally armoured forces. You circle, AI supports.

If you give every division its own objective, then you just go back to the principle of HoI 2. But it's true that giving objectives to Corps or Army Corps would allow tou to follow you own strategy, without dealing too much with every aspect of every single battle.

But I hope the AI is not as intelligent as it has been said previously, otherwise the war aspect of the game would be put aside. It would be tempting to leave warfare to the AI and to focus on production, diplomacy, etc.. , which are not the best part of the game (to me).