[platoon_michael]

One of the worst things about the AI can be it's deployment.

Putting an AT Gun in the middle of a forrest isnt going to do any good.
And thats not something anyone is going to be able to edit..

[mooxe]

Thats another massive knock against the AI. The AI deployment is a chronic problems that spans every game. So the question to Simtek then is, are you working on improving AI deployment?

[Stwa]

The best soultion I can think of    

Go with CCMT, where there are no anti-tank guns.  

[mooxe]

Haha... I was about to say - The solution is not to remove ATGs. Seriously though it affects all units.

[southern_land]

So you play the grog rules and subject your side to the same?

[platoon_michael]

[schrecken]

Interesting voting in deployment poll

I wonder why people have been playing the game for 10+ years... or don't ppl on this board know what satisfactory means? (it is a word with more than two syllables)

[ronson]

[mooxe]

[davidssfx]

AI deployment is terrible ... but it's not their fault.
The AI is actually pretty smart, but they are not given enough cues during the deployment phase of the game.

There may be a solution to this problem ... but I'm not sure if it's possible to code it into existing Close Combat.
The solution is another layer of "victory locations" (VL) that is used to cue the AI towards defending or attacking locations of value on the map.
Until recently, I thought it was impossible to have the German AI (at Brecourt) deploy their howitzers historically correct ... meaning in the right locations and pointing the correct direction. But, by using victory locations and deployment zones in the specific combinations ... the AI deploys nearly exactly where I want them to.
The four German howitzers needed to be placed in certain locations along a tree line and point towards the bottom of the map. In order to accomplish this ... a single deployment square was used in each location and then turned into VL's. Then a single American VL was placed in a specific place in the field and several other deployment squares (surrounding the VL) were needed to complete the task. Now 90% (plus) of the time, the German howitzers deploy exactly where they were historically and pointing the right direction, even though there are other deployment zones further back on the map.
But the problem is ... the American victory location doesn't make much sense, because it is in the middle of a field. Therefore I noted that the American human opponent has to deploy in another available deployment zone further away. And this scenario doesn't work when commanding the German side. Nevertheless it does prove that the AI can be manipulated to deploy strategically with special use of victory locations and deployment zones. Also note: if any more American VL's were used ... the whole thing fell apart and didn't work.

There may be two ways to do it:
1) Have another layer of "victory locations" for deployment
2) Code some kind of element into the map that determines its greater value and relative need for being defended of attacked.

Either way, if it is possible ... it would be best to be able to decide if the special area needed to be attacked or defended.

David

[platoon_michael]

Its been awhile since I played H2H its not that I dislike it,it just seems difficult to either find someone who shares the same time frame when im online or dedicated to finishing a GC.(myself included)
I do not find single battles worth playing.

The AI however is there when I want and doesnt bother me everytime I get online when im not interested in playing.

Other than deployment the other dislikes from the AI is that they don’t run away when they are overwhelmed in terms of fire power, they just take it on the chin until the whole squad is dead.
Seems to me if a 7 man Rifle squad looses 4 of it's men the other 3 should make some kind of attempt to fall back or bring up some kind of support.

[Stwa]

There must be a very wide gulf between player abilities here at CCS. I have lost the last 6 missions I played to the AI. He shoots up my squads and teams whether they crawl, walk, or run.    

I think CCMT is a little more friendly with the deployment thing. I have seen (for the most part) good deployments from the AI.  

But also, we try to restict where deployment can occur. We never use giant contiguous deployment spaces. We never put VL's on buldings. We rarely use rough terrain areas for deployment, etc.. We don't use a lot of vehicles, and as I mentioned earlier, anti-tank guns are not an issue.

We use either 6 or 8 VL's on maps with an area of 625 deployment tiles.

And if you looked at the CCMT select maps I put in the gallery, forests are usually pretty thin, with a wide space between each tree, allowing even vehicles to move about them. Not to mention, this would conceal a gun, but allow a nice ambush as well.

So, overall, I am very happy with CCMT and AI deployment. Really, I can't even think when I had something really crazy happen. Usually I just hit begin, and sort things out when I start moving stuff.

Also, I have teams run away all the time, when they get shot up. They can loose a single buddy, and they don't really run, but they start walking away to some "other" destination. The won't follow orders, and since they are standing up (walking), they too can get shot.

And besides, you can always give the AI 99 Helo strikes, to even the odds up a bit.  

[Surtur972]

Personally, I think the AI in CC5, at least, is just terrible...not only is deployment nonsensical, but the computer's insistence on moving head-on into heavy fire until his teams are wiped out, as well as near-paralysis on attack (or in Meeting Engagements) are pretty pathetic.
I compare the AI to that of the original Medieval: Total War, which came out I think only a year or so later, and which similarly calls on the AI to manipulate a few handfuls of units of slaved-together sprites (16 units in MTW vs 15 in CC5), and the MTW AI, while still no great shakes, performs roughly similar tasks much more competently (e.g., it will pull back units that are suffering heavy casualties from enemy fire, attempt flanking manuevers, etc). The game designers really just dropped the ball in this respect--the AI was pretty atrocious even by the standards of nine years ago...vetmods are a semi-solution, but it would be nice if one could just get a basic level of competence from the AI.

[CSO_Talorgan]

[Bordic]