question about campaign...
 

If I wanna keep my force small, like using half of given points to form up my core army and never use support points. Will AI do the same? or it'll also use half of the points, along with its support points?

Re: question about campaign...
 

Player 2's points will become a ratio of Player 1's expended points depending on the engagement as per help file(not 100% sure). As for the support points I have no idea.

Re: question about campaign...
 

From the help file...

The important bit, how much you have left to buy toys with. Player No 2's points depend on what player No 1 spent, and are multiplied or reduced depending on the battle type, if Player 1 is assaulting and spent 2000 points, then Player 2 will have rather less than 2000 buy points when it is his turn to purchase.

Note, even if player 1 selected max points, but only spent 2000 of that, then that 2000 will be the basis of player two's point allocation and not the max points.

Exception, if player 2's points are not set to XXX in the preferences screen he will get the value set for player 2 in the preferences screen regardless of player 1's buy.

The AIs force is always dependent on the size of the players force. If you intentionally use a small force then the AI will have a small force as well. Scaled to the battle type Defend = larger, Assault = smaller, Meeting Engagement = similar. Unless you actually set Player 2s purchase points as it mentions.

Re: question about campaign...
 

As to if the AI really has a separate number of "main force" and "support" points or just one total number of points ... it is sort of irrelevant.

The AI will always use any/all points it has available.

That said, the number of points the AI has is dependent on the points actually used by the player to purchase their core + support units, modified by the mission.

i.e. the AI will have less support points available if it is defending and more is it is assaulting.

Re: question about campaign...
 

Everyone has their own preferences in force creation but if you are trying to stay small...

Don't buy Engineers, Scouts, or transports in your Core. All of them are likely to get blown to hell. Buy them with Auxiliary points.

Re: question about campaign...
 

Good idea to give the AI MORE points,it's very easy to beat otherwise...

Re: question about campaign...
 

Hmm, I wonder if the giving more points to the AI (ie set number of points) works for campaign games too. Never tried it.

Re: question about campaign...
 

Got to agree about the transports. They are very handy for meeting encounters where both sides are advancing, but on many other scenarios they can easily end up just providing extra targets for the enemy.

As for engineers, in WWII campaigns I have found it quite useful to have a platoon of them in the core force. In that environment they can be quite useful for dealing with tanks, bunkers and enemy infantry with their flamethrowers and satchel charges, and if they come with an LMG they can also be used as ordinary infantry when necessary. But once you move into more modern times, engineers tend to become less useful outside actual assault scenarios.

As for scouts, my auxiliary scouts often end up having rather limited life expectancy. However, at times I also tend to take some scouts in my core force and employ them more carefully, thus providing them with a chance to obtain experience (and thus hopefully improving their spotting chances).

Re: question about campaign...
 

No. We keep telling folks that the points (and air strikes) settings (in the preferences) for campaign games make absolutely no difference whatsoever once the campaign is started. Except that the P1 points setting there is the maximum for his possible initial core buy.

User campaigns - points and air strikes are set by the campaign designer, of course.

In a campaign game the AI has (your_cores_value + any_points_you_spent_on_support_troops) * the battle type ratio.

Varying the AI force size is what the AIAdjustpercent INI file variable was introduced for, all the way back in ver 3.0.

Game Guide->Playing a campaign, scroll down to the big box in light green describing it.

Try 125 for a bit of a challenge (125%).

Cheers
Andy

Re: question about campaign...
 

I like to have one core engineer squad per infantry company.
They're very useful vs dragons teeth, and in modern battles vs Taliban/Mujahadeen for dealing with IEDs they can be invaluable.