Afrika Korps AI cheating?

[joe6778]

After watching an excellent playthrough of Afrika Korps on Rommel difficulty by Braccada, I tried the same opening moves that he used in the opening scenario of the campaign.

I ended my turn with all of my units outside of visual range of Allied units. However, the AI immediately attacked my fighter with a Hurricane which then revealed my other units causing the nearby Allied ground units to attack my trucks, etc.

This did NOT happen to Braccada in his game- he even moved his units two hexes away from Allied ground units before ending his turn. I surrendered just to see which Allied units could have seen my units, and there weren't any. The Allied tanks have a visual range of two, and I was at least three hexes away from any Allied unit.

This seems to be cheating by the AI. The AI can see all my units regardless of their distance from any Allied units. This really sucks; superior tactics can't win since the AI sees my every move.

Is there a patch or mod that fixes this? I noticed that Braccada played using Rommel difficulty, but my game doesn't have that as an option, which makes me think he used a modded AK.

[milliethedog]

Hi Joe6778,
a quick couple of answers, 1) is AI cheating, no.. If you save a game after your have finished moving , let the AL take its turn observing what will happen, re load your save and let the AL go again you will get the same Al moves or something very different. the more times you reload the more variation you will see. Also if the Al does not see any units it will search for you. it was bad luck not cheating I believe, but one of the guys might know differently. 2) you have to complete the game at a certain level to release the 3 bonus levels of Rommel etc, it is not a Mod.

Martin

[braccada]

One of the nice things about Panzer Corps is that the AI does not cheat. If it does not have vision, the AI does not even assume that there could be enemy units. In fact it even forgets about units, it spotted a turn earlier or will attack multiple times into not spotted defending artillery. That is one of the main differences to a human player.

Sometimes it is hard to figure out, what exactly did uncover your units and several times I needed the help of the community to identify the culprit. Some possible cases are light British tanks with vision range of 3 and sometimes there is an uncontrolled chain reaction. Usually that is started by scouts or the airforce moving in. Yes the AI does scout, too. Especially the airforce will move in and try to locate a target, if it does not see anything. So often it is best to offer targets in order to be prepared. Set traps and if you force the AI planes on a target, all others are passively protected. Keep in mind that units moving in, will scout and the AI reacts to that.

Regarding my game. It is the vanilla version without any changes or mods. Rommel difficulty along with Guderian and Manstein will get unlocked once you have beaten a campaign on Field Marshal (I think at least it has to be Field Marshal). There is a cheat as well, but I prefere to do it the old fashioned way . You will find it in the forum though.

And one more thing. The AI not always does the exact same thing. A strict copy of my game might not work.

EDIT: Sorry, the posting above has been done during wrting. Some redundant info in my post...

[Cerberus51]

I noticed that Braccada played using Rommel difficulty, but my game doesn't have that as an option, which makes me think he used a modded AK.

To unlock the special difficulty levels all you need to do is complete the last scenario of a campaign at Field Marshal difficulty. At least that is what did it for me (you do need to have one of the newer patches to be able to change difficulty level during a campaign). I used the last scenario of Allied Corps "Advance to the Elbe".

The AI does not cheat, in fact it is quite predictable. Allowing the AI to see what you want it to see (and walk into a trap) is something the better players use a lot. I'm still learning the tactic.

[joe6778]

One of the nice things about Panzer Corps is that the AI does not cheat. If it does not have vision, the AI does not even assume that there could be enemy units. In fact it even forgets about units, it spotted a turn earlier or will attack multiple times into not spotted defending artillery. That is one of the main differences to a human player.

Sometimes it is hard to figure out, what exactly did uncover your units and several times I needed the help of the community to identify the culprit. Some possible cases are light British tanks with vision range of 3 and sometimes there is an uncontrolled chain reaction. Usually that is started by scouts or the airforce moving in. Yes the AI does scout, too. Especially the airforce will move in and try to locate a target, if it does not see anything. So often it is best to offer targets in order to be prepared. Set traps and if you force the AI planes on a target, all others are passively protected. Keep in mind that units moving in, will scout and the AI reacts to that.

Regarding my game. It is the vanilla version without any changes or mods. Rommel difficulty along with Guderian and Manstein will get unlocked once you have beaten a campaign on Field Marshal (I think at least it has to be Field Marshal). There is a cheat as well, but I prefere to do it the old fashioned way . You will find it in the forum though.

And one more thing. The AI not always does the exact same thing. A strict copy of my game might not work.

EDIT: Sorry, the posting above has been done during wrting. Some redundant info in my post...

I watched your playthrough for the Persia scenario because I was having such a hard time with that scenario. You pretty much moved your units just outside of the enemy's visual range and they didn't move at all. They certainly didn't search for you. I was amazed. So I thought, this is the way you play the game- just stay out of visual range.

Then I watched your first video, and the same thing happened: you even moved three trucks just three hexes away from the enemy tank units around the town, and only the Hurricane attacked your Stuka. The ground units did nothing.

So that's two of your playthroughs that I watched where the enemy never searched for your units, and you were able to pick and choose your attacks. By the time the enemy reacted, their units were already damaged quite a bit and you were then able to finish them off later.

I've been playing the Panzer Korps games for years, and before that the Panzer General games, and I've never been any good at anything above Colonel. I have read all the strategy articles, the manual, and have played hundreds of scenarios, so I was looking for some strategy tips and I watched your videos to get an idea how others can beat this game on higher difficulties. I even had to resort to the "endscn" cheat code to end the GLC Grand Campaign 1945.

Then I tried the first AK scenario, and my units were decimated on the first AI turn. I'm just not getting how others win on the higher difficulties when I'm struggling on Colonel.

[joe6778]

I watched the full first scenario which played out with a relatively passive AI. The second, Ras el Maduuar, had strongpoints revealing most of your units from the beginning. And even with your units adjacent to strongpoints, they weren't attacked- not even by the strongpoints themselves! So the AI didn't even have to scout out your units- but they didn't attack regardless. Most of the enemy stayed frozen in place which allowed you to attack them at will. It also eliminated the need for you to use prestige to reinforce your damaged units, and gave you a chance to wipe out all the enemy on the map.

In addition, there were two Matilda tanks on the southern part of the map but only one moved to attack a weak recon unit and ignored the rest of your southern force. So it seems that the AI was also very passive in this scenario as well which is very different from my experience where the AI is very aggressive.

It seems the AI reacts very differently in the campaigns I've played. I just can't figure it out.

[hurly]

Perhaps it is quite easy

The AI is afraid of braccada lol
and want to add it is for a reason *fg I would be afraid of him as well.

Come on Joe its a Game and its not on a personal vendetta against you

the weather may change things too, its a significant difference sometimes

then braccadas video is from 2015 so he might have done it with a different version of the game then, certainly not with the 1.30 patch

I played through africa korps almost twice in recent weeks

and can cite that on the caucasus level braccada has to go to Sotschi for the triumph, under 1.30 Sotschi is not a victory hex anymore, instead a spot on top of the mountains, which also was different on another playthrough

In Persia on one of my playthroughs the tank squad that is announced to cross the Tigris never materialized (I think cause I had the bridge pioneers driven away from the river hex already)

Things happen and the game is not always the same

[braccada]

Well, I do not remember the first mission in detail. The others I do. In Ras el Maduuar the strongpoints will attack, if they have decent odds. I protect my units with defending artillery and that often is enough to deterre the AI. Would be easier if it attacked anyways In Persia the US troops in the center hills are set to hold position. So they do not move in to attack, but will attack units in range. The Soviet forces on the other hand will move in and did so in my playthrough as well.

Regarding the 1.30 patch, that did not change gameplay at all. The victory hexes for caucasus are actually random. So you either get Sotchi or one of the mountains.

And in general the AI in AfriKa Korps is rather aggressive. I got actively attacked a lot more than in the Wehrmacht campaign. I think that makes a more dynamic experience with all those counter attacks happening, but as you will see in my videos, that makes the game rather easier. It is much more painful to go for very entrenched positions. You just have to be prepared for those counter attacks. They happen in my campaign as well. Some of them are scripted, some happen on certain conditions and others are triggered by sight. And some units do not move at all. Those parameters are fixed and the same for everyone. The AI has a certrain degreee of freedom though and each game will play out a little different.

@hurly: Ah and by the way. Depending on the difficulty level, some units might not even be there. For Persia I think the tank squads are different on the higher levels. Same is true for caucasus. I did not research that though.

[joe6778]

The videos you produced are excellent, BTW.

Like I said, I'm trying to watch how the experts play and win PK at the higher levels because I'm still struggling on Colonel. Sadly, I'm still not getting it.

[hurly]

Regarding the 1.30 patch, that did not change gameplay at all. The victory hexes for caucasus are actually random. So you either get Sotchi or one of the mountains.

hey nice to know

if thats not asking for a restart when you actually get Sotschi

Top of the Mountains is way easier, close to the end there should be no enemy aircraft left anyway
So move an Alpini on an airfield hex load it in into a glider and drop it on the victory hex

[braccada]

Now I rewatched the first episode of AK and there are some great examples for unit behaviour. The tanks on turn one are most likely set so they attack on sight. Since the British fighter did not find my units, they did nothing. They could not see any targets (note the enemy scout to the left, it could uncover your units without you seeing him). On turn 2 all those units attacked or were busy reinforcing until destroyed. Far from passive at any rate.

At start of turn 5 you can see the light tank rushing in. The fighter spotted a tempting target (truck) for it. The AT gun on the other hand could have attacked the tank to the south. It is either set to hold position or decides not to do anything, because the tank is guarded by artillery. It would get slaughtered anyways. So just by watching enemy movement or lack of it, you can determine quite a bit about the orders of a unit. It is a big difference if you approach units that are set to hold position.

Moreover the order of movement is different on Colonel difficulty. The AI always moves all units of a certain type first and then the next type etc. There are more steps from General level onwards. I do not remember the exact difference, but basically it is more efficient scouting and usage of artillery. So if you want to reproduce the exact results of my videos you might be better of playing on General difficulty.

[joe6778]

I couldn't move up to General since I'm having so much trouble on Colonel. It's not that I can't get Decisive Victories, but I get a lot of units eliminated or damaged and in the latter scenarios I don't have enough prestige to replace or upgrade them.

In the '43 and later Campaigns of the DLC Grand Campaign, the number of enemy units is overwhelming and they attack whether I have ART protection or not.

[captainjack]

since I'm having so much trouble on Colonel.

Keep at it - it took me a while to get my head round what worked.
Terrain, weather, combat mechanics and the benefits of experience and overstrength, surrender etc and prestige management all take some work to use well in a way thet matches your preferred play style.

When I was learning, I used to be way too hasty. Eventually (mostly from reading AARs) I learnt that more cautious approach early on can work, and for me, the big difference was reading the briefings properly and studying the map carefully.