106 Alpha

[Lennartos]

Hi there

For those eager to check the progress of 106 out, here is a current build.
link


changelog:
AI will now build infra in limited amounts in key resource/IC provinces
AI will now refrain from assigning higher skill commanders to GAR
AI will now avoid assigning ARM/MEC/MOT to garrison duty
The "delete_unit" and "switch_allegiance" commands now work properly. Added "when = [percent]" clause
for automated deletion or switching of set percent of nations' land/naval/air corps.
Added extra texts for "delete_unit" and "switch_allegiance" commands with extra "when" clause
Updated "delete_unit" and "switch_allegiance" commands in "event commands".txt
Hungary now becomes a puppet of USSR when it surrenders to it
A Lend Lease event now correctly gives rather than takes metal from USSR
Fixed an error in loading moddir savegames
Fixed an error when attempting to host a multiplayer game from a savefile
Corrected received sum of money by UK in Lend Lease event
Countries annexed will no longer count towards espionage priorities
Treaties with start date set after the scenario date will be ignored
Fixed misaligned "send to escorts" button for destroyers if they have a modded attachment limit higher than 1
Further AI leader assignment improvements
Leader promotion is now FREE!
AI now properly promotes leaders on the spot when needed
Germany AI places more emphasis on mobile units
Naval AI now only selects Destroyers and Escort Carriers for ASW missions


As always, please report any bugs or issues so we can give you the best support.

 

[Amallric]

Garrisons still automatically going VoV and taking their whole unit with them?

AI will now build infra in limited amounts in key resource/IC provinces

Wouldn't it have been easier to just allow the modders to designate the relevant provinces in the ai files?

 

[Beagá]

Looks good Lennartos, but huh... what means the phrase "Leader promotion is free"? Also what about Germany? Do they finally build smartly instead of having 0 MP in 1940?

 

[Beagá]

Well Ok I´m giving the patch a try (it´s just over write old files to make it work, right?).

Playing as the UK (the best benchmark country there is) and seeing Germany build orders, I must say things are still broken. May 1939... and 160 MP left. Usual idiotic infantry runs, and 700 IC needed for upgrades... SU is fine.

 

[Radu]

Garrisons still automatically going VoV and taking their whole unit with them?




Wouldn't it have been easier to just allow the modders to designate the relevant provinces in the ai files?

Unless I am mistaken, that works. But this is in the case where the AI is left of in his own. Again, if the AI ignores Infrastructure build preferences, let us know. What was fixed was when the AI is not given specific instructions.

 

[Radu]

Well Ok I´m giving the patch a try (it´s just over write old files to make it work, right?).

Playing as the UK (the best benchmark country there is) and seeing Germany build orders, I must say things are still broken. May 1939... and 160 MP left. Usual idiotic infantry runs, and 700 IC needed for upgrades... SU is fine.

Can you post that savegame and point out more specifically what's wrong? On the one hand, having under 10 Armored divisions ready by Sept 1939 as Germany is 4 more than historical. In all,having a military of about 100 divisions by September 1939 is also within historically plausible bounds. But 160 MP left if the Wehrmacht size is close to historical, that might be a problem.

P.S. : Do note,again, that the Heer was indeed infantry-based. Maybe 10% of all German divisions were motorized in 1939. Also, the Heer, though possessing some well-equipped and well-led formations, was not 100% modern. Units using 1939 equipment and divisional organization served well into the '40s. To be able to keep an armed force that is both modern and large is a vanilla "bad habit", as is the assumption that Germany had its units upgrade faster than USSR is another VERY bad vanilla habit tied to the fact that the standing army slider is a Frankenstein monster akin to what Naval bombers are.

Naval bombers are represented by *patrol planes* (read "sea recon") with appropriate range, but their firepower matches the medium torpedo bombers like the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsubishi_G3M.

The standing army slider is a similar botched job. A standing army ( i.e. lots of active battle-ready units,not reserves ) does not exclude a conscript army. The USSR during the Cold War had a standing conscript army. Similarly, one can have a non-standing army ( i.e. mostly reserves ) and still be manned by professional volunteers. The vanilla slider is a completely botched job, one I hope to remedy one day. To make it worse, it induces the perception that Germany/Japan somehow "magically" adopted newer equipment and organization schemes faster than,say USSR. Which is absolute nonsense, the USSR did not shy away from cranking out the newest,best tanks and infantry weapons it could afford. It was VERY quick to drop the BT-5/7 series and adopt the T-34 once it entered production.

P.S.S. : Rant over. Some things in vanilla just don't make sense.

 

[Radu]

Looks good Lennartos, but huh... what means the phrase "Leader promotion is free"? Also what about Germany? Do they finally build smartly instead of having 0 MP in 1940?

It means take Manstein and press promote and see what happens.

 

[fradeharschde]

Have you done anything about the inability to play via LAN?

 

[Beagá]

There you go. Terrible isn´t it? And it´s something that happens also in 1.5

No infra spam so far, BTW.

 

[Atruejedi]

Great to hear development of AOD continues. I began to believe the project was being abandoned because of the silence of the devs (to my knowledge) after 1.05 was released! I'll try to give this a few runs this weekend, and this is definitely encouragement to work on SMEP

 

[Radu]

Have you done anything about the inability to play via LAN?

If you mean the savegame issue, it's fixed.

 

[unmerged(50895)]

Wonderful, simply wonderful. The garrison issue solved, gotta love it. That one has bugged me since forever! Will test if I find some time to play!

Just one question:
AI will now avoid assigning ARM/MEC/MOT to garrison duty

How about HQ's????

 

[Beagá]

I wonder if anyone has the same problem as I do vs Germany... it´s funny I´ve seldom see the infra spam people complained so much, but to me the german situation is much more nasty. Also, all majors build IC at the start except them - is it WAD?

Oh and smarter aircraft use by the AI would be nice.

 

[Radu]

@PanzerMike What about them? The AI doesn't really build them, nor does it prefer to particularly assign HQs to garrisons. Not that it really knows how to use them from what I've seen.

A note, by "avoid" I mean "Avoid". It doesn't mean "never", neither should it.

Up to say 25% of mobile divs left behind,particularly if they are understrength/obsolete is WAD. But more of that, or those divs being modern and full strength, that's a problem.

@Beaga What you see is what you get (changelog). Or should be getting, let us know if any of the stuff in the changelog isn't happening. Anything and everything else is for the next patch. Yes, there will be a next patch, and likely more.

EDIT : In all honesty, an overhaul of the AI scripts beyond tackling severe issues like GER infantry spamming is not likely to happen. What you are likely to see are fixes for hardcoded stuff that modders can't touch. But as far as the campaign goes, because so many things are inherited from vanilla HOI2, especially AI scripts that are not exceedingly well polished, you are better off seeking comprehensive mods. ( *cough* like CORE *cough* )

 

[unmerged(50895)]

@Radu

I sometimes see the AI use HQ's as garrisons. Seems like a waste.

If the Ai builds them at all I don't know.

I have asked on this forum a few times already if the AI knows how to use HQ's at all. The devs never answered that one.
I suspect the AI doesn't know how to use them.

 

[Tegetthoff]

@Radu:
How is the AI currently using research funding? Is it running at 100% or a lower value (I have posted this elsewhere but have received no answer).

 

[Radu]

@Radu:
How is the AI currently using research funding? Is it running at 100% or a lower value (I have posted this elsewhere but have received no answer).

The AI tries to fund research fully, 100%.

 

[Tegetthoff]

Any way to change this? The AI breaks itself funding research at 100%. 75% is usually optimal.

 

[Amallric]

btw I've seen Lennartos stating otherwise(50% funding)

 

[Radu]

Not something I know that came up, but if the AI collapses into itself due to mismanagement of the expenses sliders in AoD, please report the bug and preferably include the savegame.

I apologize for any disinformation, btw. Indeed I have a 1937 Switzerland hands-off save where the German AI can indeed sustain a 100% research pace. If it weren't capable of auto-managing its sliders, I'm pretty sure it would have been reported.

But again, if the AI does indeed have problems with the expenses sliders, report + savegame is the way to go.