Battleplan Shuffling?

[AegonTheUnready]

I have a battleplan with a frontline two provinces wide. The offenive line is to take two provinces. I have eight divisions assigned, all 8 are 18 CW. There are no enemy divisions currently occupying the provinces. I click on Activate Order.

Now, if it were me, I would simply march 4 divisions into each of the two enemy provinces. But the AI, in it's infinite wisdom, starts marching 3 diviisions sideways and 3 divisions backwards. Gah! "Just GET ON WITH IT!" I start yelling at the screen.

This happens all the time with my battleplans. The AI pisses away half its forces in pointless marching back and forth, instead of simply moving forward and attacking.

AM I doing something wrong? or is the Battleplan AI just this useless?

 

[aprogressivist]

The Battleplan AI is that useless, unfortunately. Even if you don't activate the plan and micromanage your attack, the AI will constantly reshuffle units to balance the front according to whatever its weird algorithm is.

 

[Adrized]

Yep, division shuffling is a big problem.

 

[Meglok]

AM I doing something wrong?

Unlikely, unless there are supply issues. You didn't say where this battle was located so that might be why the ai is shuffling.

or is the Battleplan AI just this useless?

But yes, the battle planner is that useless and broken. I usually just set the plan up pre-war in single player to get the bonus and then wind up canceling the plans out of sheer frustration over the ai idiocy once the war starts. And it happens every time in every game, no matter how many divisions the ai has assigned to a front.

There is a reason imho why you don't see PDS doing single player Let's Play videos despite about 80% of the games played being single player. Multi-player games won't show the ai deficiencies as much as one player vs the computer does.

 

[Stolen Rutters]

But yes, the battle planner is that useless and broken. I usually just set the plan up pre-war in single player to get the bonus and then wind up canceling the plans out of sheer frustration over the ai idiocy once the war starts. And it happens every time in every game, no matter how many divisions the ai has assigned to a front.

I am starting to do something similar. I start a plan to get a large group of units heading to the front, then cancel it before they get there.

I start an defending army with a border defense plan, then cancel it while my mobile divisions attack. As the front moves, I will take my border army and reset the border defense. Once everything starts moving forward I cancel the battle plan again. Rinse and repeat. I don't have to allocate individual units along the front (except for my armored army) and units won't shuffle when they get there.

 

[fabius]

The Battleplan AI is that useless, unfortunately. Even if you don't activate the plan and micromanage your attack, the AI will constantly reshuffle units to balance the front according to whatever its weird algorithm is.

Yes, it needs major work, or a MAJOR RETHINK.

My biggest issue with it now, even above the micro hassle it causes me is that it Gimps the AI opposition.

 

[Dalwin]

It is a little better at going forward if you set it to aggressive. Unfortunately when set to aggressive it is also better at grinding your units to a pulp when it meets a strongpoint.

 

[pedrito_elcabra]

My personal favourite is my one province with 4 divisions bordering the enemies' 2 provinces without any, and the battleplan sending all of my 4 divisions into one of them while none to the other, only to then pull 3 back to my initial province and entrench one in the newly taken one.

Does it all the time.

 

[Madzai]

It is a little better at going forward if you set it to aggressive. Unfortunately when set to aggressive it is also better at grinding your units to a pulp when it meets a strongpoint.

I learned it the hard way that setting AI to aggressive leads to the situations where AI start issue "tentacles-like" order i.e. force units to move behind enemy line. Looks good? But after a couple of provinces units just stop allowing enemy to cut it off. Last time in my Japan game AI managed to loose 2 (out of 6) of marine Divs (with LARM) against 4 Australian one (some basic Inf and Cav) simply because he forced those two Divs two march around those 4 Divs and then they simply stop, allowing AI to cut them off and attack them, while my other 4 constantly move around doing nothing. So you either have absolute superiority over enemy and a ton of Divs. or don't use Aggressive (unless you babysit those Div, that basically defeat the whole purpose of using AI).
If you use blitzkrieg order it even more catastrophic. I once saw the single Mot Div. cut India in half basically travelling from Calcutta to Mumbai(actually to the Norse from Mumbai but it doesn't matter) while other 19 Divs assigned to this Order flock around Calcutta doing basically nothing with zero intention to help with Blitz. And to add insult to injury that single Mot. Div decide to travel back to Calcutta over the GBR-controlled Arabian Sea. I facepalmed so hard that my face hurt for 3 days strait.