I asked this question on the Steam forum and GIJoe597 was kind enough to copy over a post he had from this forum. Which contained some detailed guidance on the effective use of the AI. I've listed the 10 key lessons I learned from this post below and wondered if anyone has anything to add.
Note: Item 10 is a bit vague but I'm assuming that as the Combat Frontage of a province is 10 and a Brigade occupies 1 frontage (2 for Armour without the Spearhead research) So the maximum number of divisions that can occupy and fight effectively in one province is going to be around four. (e.g. 3 x 3 = 9 + 1) That being true, as a rough guide, I'm thinking that the spacing of Army objectives ought to be about 1 x Province per Corps. e.g. An Army with 5 x Corps should be assigned a front of 5 x Provinces. That's a slight overkill but will mean that the army has some divisions in reserve that can replace front line units, or act as follow up or blocking units.
- Use AI Control at Army Group or Army level depending on the width of the front being coveredc. Use Army level AI on wider fronts to limit intermingling of units and Army Group for smaller fronts.
- Define Theatre boundaries carefully and give them narrow but shallow areas.
- Do NOT include areas that do not need defending in a Theatre. e.g. Rear Areas; Allied Territory, Boundaries with Allied nations.
- Assign Rear Area's and borders with Allies to separate Theatres and keep them on Manual Control to stop any units deployed there from being moved by the AI.
- Assign TAC Air Units to appropriate Army Group or Army HQ's if they are to be used as ground support for their specific mission, assign them at Theatre level if you want to use manual control as Theatre HQ's should not normally be automated. Alternatively, if one wants to automate strategic air missions then create a TAC Air HQ attached to a Theatre HQ and assign AI control to it for automated independent strategy missions.
- INT and CAS Air units should be assigned to the Army HQ they are required to support.
- The AI will tend to use Air units attached to an Army HQ for ground attack missions.
- Occupy captured objectives with units under manual control to prevent the AI moving them and remove the objective from the Army HQ which captured it so that it does waste its own units trying to defend it.
- The AI will tend to use Air units attached at Army Group HQ for interdiction and installation strikes.
- Set limited near-term (e.g. nearby) Army HQ objectives. Keep Army HQ objectives spaced out so that armies do not obstruct each others movement or deployment.
- Redraw Theatre boundaries as necessary to remove captured rear areas from the front line and replace them with Rear-Area defence Theatres on manual control to manage the static defences.
Note: Item 10 is a bit vague but I'm assuming that as the Combat Frontage of a province is 10 and a Brigade occupies 1 frontage (2 for Armour without the Spearhead research) So the maximum number of divisions that can occupy and fight effectively in one province is going to be around four. (e.g. 3 x 3 = 9 + 1) That being true, as a rough guide, I'm thinking that the spacing of Army objectives ought to be about 1 x Province per Corps. e.g. An Army with 5 x Corps should be assigned a front of 5 x Provinces. That's a slight overkill but will mean that the army has some divisions in reserve that can replace front line units, or act as follow up or blocking units.
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