It's Thursday and time to dole out another Dev Diary to the hungry masses. As promised, this one is about defensive AI behaviour. One of the main issues with the land military AI in HoI3 is its generally aggressive nature. It performs well enough when it has the initiative, but cannot handle dynamic retreats. In essence, it tries to defend everything, to the last man. This is especially visible during Barbarossa, where the Red Army will simply get wiped out and never stand a chance of turning the tables. We have taken several steps to fix this issue:
First, the AI is much better at detecting potential pockets along the front, and withdrawing from them if it does not have the overall front initiative. Take a look at the screenshot of Northern Finland/Kola for an example of this; the Red Army is withdrawing troops from a province that risks getting cut off.
Secondly, we have added a new stance called "Withdraw". This stance analyzes the front and pulls back from provinces if it will shorten the line. However, there are exceptions to the rule; it will attempt to dig in at river lines and fortified provinces. The stance is also useful for players who want to conserve their forces while slowly pulling back.
Thirdly, the AI will maintain a secondary line with reserve troops, about three provinces behind the front. Damaged forces will be rotated out when worn down enough, and fresh troops brought in if available. Additionally, the forces in the secondary line can quickly be thrown into breaches or key battles. The proportion of kept reserves depends on the AI stance. If blitzing, it will use fewer reserves than if it is defending.
Last but not least, the AI will now realize when a battle is lost before its troops actually shatter, and withdraw to the best neighbouring provinces.
The net effect is quite impressive. In fact, the beta testers are now clamouring for an initial organization penalty to Soviet forces, because Germany has a hard time pushing the Red Army back (much less cutting it to pieces) even with the full cooperation of the Axis minors.
Defensive AI is just one of the AI areas that has gotten new algorithms. I will talk more about the AI in later diaries, but next week's entry will be about the new and shiny OOB browser! Stay tuned.
First, the AI is much better at detecting potential pockets along the front, and withdrawing from them if it does not have the overall front initiative. Take a look at the screenshot of Northern Finland/Kola for an example of this; the Red Army is withdrawing troops from a province that risks getting cut off.
Secondly, we have added a new stance called "Withdraw". This stance analyzes the front and pulls back from provinces if it will shorten the line. However, there are exceptions to the rule; it will attempt to dig in at river lines and fortified provinces. The stance is also useful for players who want to conserve their forces while slowly pulling back.
Thirdly, the AI will maintain a secondary line with reserve troops, about three provinces behind the front. Damaged forces will be rotated out when worn down enough, and fresh troops brought in if available. Additionally, the forces in the secondary line can quickly be thrown into breaches or key battles. The proportion of kept reserves depends on the AI stance. If blitzing, it will use fewer reserves than if it is defending.
Last but not least, the AI will now realize when a battle is lost before its troops actually shatter, and withdraw to the best neighbouring provinces.
The net effect is quite impressive. In fact, the beta testers are now clamouring for an initial organization penalty to Soviet forces, because Germany has a hard time pushing the Red Army back (much less cutting it to pieces) even with the full cooperation of the Axis minors.
Defensive AI is just one of the AI areas that has gotten new algorithms. I will talk more about the AI in later diaries, but next week's entry will be about the new and shiny OOB browser! Stay tuned.
