[Mobhack]

Charles22 said:

Thanks DRG, I thought I had read something like this before, but couldn't recall it for the world. You do, however, see how in this case it's thinking is not well founded. Perhaps it's propensity to have a HE shot which penetrates at a 2, has just been terribly unfortunate in this case. I have not seen a single two hit in any of these PIZVB HE shots (at least 80 rounds fired), but maybe a couple of 1 damaging shots, if indeed it would had hit the top they might damage.

the sample in the hack bit of code I have, measures five (5) thousand actual hits - and generates an average result, rounded to integer. Average for that gun HE, is 1, best is measured in passing - no count of whether there were 1 at 5 best, or 15. (more like 5 in 5K shots I believe though!). But at that range, the L24 average HE round gets a 1, and the AP gets 0. So a HE round goes down range.

And I have done some * damage to a few Nazi panzers of the little types (Mk1 and 2s) in my ongoing WW2 LC, a section of A9 CS tanks have happily blown more than just paint off such, and also killed little Italian tankette thingys not worth a 2 pounder round. Not very reliable though, better way to kill an italian tankette is the Ethiopian way - charge with spearmen and manually flip the thingy on its back like a tin turtle..

The funny thing is, I thought I was imagining things on another front. I am in a delay against the Poles, something very unfamiliar to me. When on the attack against the Poles, as usual, the short ranged AP shot (actually the computer making adjustments as you explained)of the 75L24 is hardly noticeable, but if a defensive action it hurts very badly. It just so happens an entire sector of my front's sole AFV presence was nothing but PZIVB's which made this even more profound. But the weird thing is this. The Poles act as though they're going to run you over with all that armor, and then, mysteriously, as though they saw your OOB's, they halt, or dance around, pretty much a hex out of reach of the AP shot. They did the same thing with the 37L48's on the PZ38's I have elsewhere. They know when that AP shot is going to go just to the level where it gets that one more point of damage and will stay beyond it (though in hte PZIVB case it as a matter of avoiding the AP altogether). It's really quite hard to believe. It causes something of a change in tactics, particularly since standing still unlike as in a assault battle, gives me no defensive advantage, to then advance at least one or two of the tanks up so that some penetrating shots can hit the front units. Pretty wild.

I have never seen anything like that, and there is no AI code which "measures danger" like that.

Likely, it was in a tizzy trying to meet some other criteria (objectives or whatever) or had passed beyond the command radius of the platoon, and was trying to get back there, if the commander was still mobile. (There is now a small attempt to close on the command unit in that case, unlike the original SP code which did not care if a platoon was splattered all over the map and so in danger of being out of CC).

Though I don't like them waiting just beyond the AP shot like that, I have seen some other AI behavior which is quite unbelievable, but very good nonetheless. For example, I had a platoon of flame thrower engineers guarding what has become the central part of his attack, in some woods. I had a spread where there was only one engineer that would likely face the enemy alone. He destroyed the first two units (AFV's) that tried to get in there. Not a single units has tried to go there since. Rambo and then some; he's got them scared!

Again- they don't do that. However if your unit is now known about then they may be going somewhere else, or an objective nearby has flipped, or they have decided the hex entry cost is too much (with wrecks in it now) and have gone around another route. Or are simply hanging back as there is now a random choice if enemy is known, to close - the original SP 'tin lemming' code simply charged the objectives with anything that could move, regardless. Our AI code has a little subtlety built in.

One last thing. Isn't it true that the opfire flitering isn't available to the AI? That's too bad if true. I feel somewhat gamey by using it if the AI does not, but it is a great system noentheless, or at least the conceot is, as whether it's gamey or not, I am at least doing a little experimenting with it. It's so a powerful feeling to be able to tell your opfire pretty much what to do in all circumstances, which if it worked for the AI too, makes for quite a decisive edge in gameplay between this product and SPWAW. I guess at least PBEM guys will have a field day wit it.

Have you had much feedback on the filtering, does it seem to work for the human players very well?

Thanks again.

The AI has its own criteria for firing opfire - which is built into the same code you have, if you let your troops fire opfire unfiltered.

The AI will use the opfire filtering - if a scenario designer has set it for the AI. Scenario designers can now set 'fire sacks' etc. This does not matter if you have the CD or not - the scenario is still playable if designed with opfire filtering, if the player is a free game user. Ditto - your units may have opfire filtering set by the scenario designer - that is why the free user has the ability to enter the opfire filtering screen, but no ability to do any setting of data apart from cancelling it, if you want to go to regular fire algorithms.

Some scenario designers have expressed a desire to make some AI defensive scenarios that utilise the feature.

In MBT - I use it often, to e.g. filter my ATGM to only go for the targets of interest (slot the T-72, but ignore the T5X and APCS and little scout cars). In both games, I find it useful to set up my tanks and ATG to ignore grunts beyond a few hexes, and shoot armoured stuff only (the accompanying infantry can opfire the soft and squishy stuff - I want my Valentines to put 6 pounder AP into the P3 and P2s only thank you very much !). Actually - if I have no scout cars and halftracks about, I usually filter out the P2s as well, they can run around and be annoying if I only have valentines, and I can use them for target practice one the Mk3s are toast.

I rarely use the circle of interest - that might suit a scenario designer making a specific kill sack - but have used it in MBT as a 'kill any armour coming out of that wood where the road exits it' tactic, when I knew the wood was full of loaded APC and a few tanks after an air strike had spotted them, and I was prepared to ignore the few tanks I knew were off to a flank as irrelevant for now.

Cheers
Andy