Thanks for the update

[Mobhack]

Well if you "discover" a gamey tactic to flog the AI with, and decide it is not fun - then stop doing it!....

Any human opponent who pegs you as a human-waver will invest in artillery ("steel rain"), tripod MMG and AGL teams, CS tanks with the emphasis on HE bangs over AP, etc in subsequent games.

The human wave melts like an ice cream in Hades, provided the opponent is expecting it.

It might work once on a pure tread-head tank combat only focussed type who is not particularly well equipped with HE chuckers and grunts. And really only in close terrain - the wave is not good on a featureless desert or steppe for example. Also most humans will have some ammo resupply as well, unlike the AI.

And in any case - the next edition will require 2 free MP available to assault. That works against a force advancing on an armoured opponent somewhat, especially for WW2 where there is a lack of ranged infantry light AT weapons. (It removes the rally back to OK status rinse and repeat assault tactic that allowed a unit with no MP left to assault several adjacent vehicles). Oh - and failed results can cause a retreat with a casualty inflicted on the team.... Emplaced unseen infantry is still unhealthy for armour to bump into though.

[Mustang]

You're right, buying a full force of snipers and ATGMs would be no different. I'll also give you that I exaggerated in my first post. I set my entire force to autodeploy/AI control and laid back hitting "end turn" over and over, and now I'm finally starting to lose.

The sheer numbers of infantry aren't even that much of a problem. The problem is artillery misuse combined with the fact that their humvees and Bradleys lunge headfirst into my RPG barrage rather than hang back and engage sensibly. If I was playing against a human player who didn't shell their own forces a third of the time then I think things would be a bit more even.

Ultimately it comes down to artillery placement being a really hard thing for the AI to do without the old SPII code that just forced it to throw everything at the player's center of mass. AGLs and MMGs will not necessarily have long range shots to stop the hordes on the jungle maps I've been playing.

And in any case - the next edition will require 2 free MP available to assault. That works against a force advancing on an armoured opponent somewhat, especially for WW2 where there is a lack of ranged infantry light AT weapons. (It removes the rally back to OK status rinse and repeat assault tactic that allowed a unit with no MP left to assault several adjacent vehicles). Oh - and failed results can cause a retreat with a casualty inflicted on the team.... Emplaced unseen infantry is still unhealthy for armour to bump into though.

Glad to hear that you're still working on the game. Personally it annoys me when I mean to click "end turn" and accidentally hit "end game", but I guess that feature is supposed to work against my clickfest tactics.

Requiring two free moves to assault sounds like a good idea. However I don't think it would make much difference because most units need to retain pretty much all their shots with zero suppression in order to assault.

edit: Getting the AI to use ammo resupply would help it fight better as well. The ammo truck is the most underpriced unit in the game.

[Miketee10022]

Thanks for your insightful comments, and for Mobhack's excellent reply.

I too have brought up the idea of the AI using ammo resupply. I think it comes down to the fact that this would take a LOT of complex coding to accomplish, if it were achievable at all. What I do in my scenarios is to use static AA and arty, and put an ammo bunker right next to them. That's at least a partial solution.

If the programmers are at some point ever able to lick the ammo resupply for mobile units, they would - of course - earn my undying gratitude, along with that of many others too, no doubt!