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First of all, admins, I know the strat forum is not really a place to post bug reports, but as they are a direct result of the testing of the extreme scenario "Last stand at the Alamo" (see the thread 'testing the Alamo' for further info), I hope you'll not move it out of here. It would be nice to keep these threads close to each other.
Most of these bugs are of the AI, or could mean possible improvements / complaints about how the AI handles things. Saves are available on request, but as I have to wade through 50-odd saves to find them again, not too many requests please. I'll update when I find more of these, as I'm fairly certain more will surface. This is such an extreme situation, and as we are keeping a close look on the AI to make sure it stays playable (e.g. not being overrun by 600MIs and 300MAs in one turn when you only have 40 MI and 10 MA to hold them off), several weird things are noticed.
1. Stealth bombers / fighters are shot down way to often
In the two first tests, all of my stealth fighters and bombers were shot down on their first attempt to bomb jet-protected territory. This is not a simple bad-luck-with-the-RNG, I'm talking about 4 fighters and 2 bombers being shot in the first turn, twice (in the two first betas). The third time, when the fighters were modded to have extra bombard power, they survived, but I still lost the bombers. This is way too often compared to what intercept chances would suggest.
It might be that there is a hidden mechanic at work, but as this is undocumented, and highly annoying please look into this. I have heard the same complaint from other testers (Vel), but haven't seen any other reports of other games on this.
2. transports on convoys will attack subs in their way
I had an instance where a transport and her destroyer encountered a sub in their path on auto movement. It was already a questionable decision of the destroyer to attack the sub, and yes, the destroyer got killed in the process (regular destroyer against a elite sub, IIRC). This may be no bug, but any human would move the destroyer on tile up/down, instead of proceeding on the original path.
However, right after that, my now 2HP sub got attacked by the fully loaded transport! Through shear luck, the transport survived, but there is no way an attack of a 1 attack vessel against a 4 defense sub is rectified, and certainly not when the transport is loaded with what I expect to be a combination of MAs and MIs. The same RNG God that let me keep my sub was on the AI side this time, and the transport succeeded... only to be destroyed by a closeby ship in the next turn.
3. AI artillery is not used on offense, even if there are plenty around
In the setup, the Russians are given plenty of RAs. As we all know by now, these will not attack the human player, and this in itself can be considered a serious flaw. However, as Vel was making sure there were enough RAs so that all the defensive roles would be fulfilled, the Russians had additional RAs fortified idle in the middle of their territory, exactly where Vel had placed them. These were not used offensive, and were not even used defensively, while there was ample opportunity.
4. 4HP elite units will retreat from enemy territory, 1HP units will attack when next to human
Another thing that is strange to say the least: in the game a few of my fortresses got overrun by German MAs / MIs. When bombarded so they will lose 1 HP, they will retreat no matter the possible uses. I saw 4 HP MAs retreating en mass, while there was a 1 HP MI city within reach. In itself this is an easily exploitable AI tactic, made only worse because if you have a unit next to a damaged MA, it will attack, against all odds. I saw a bunch of 1 HP MAs attack a MI fortified on a fortress on a hill. No way they will win this.
5. units will load onto transports en masse
In the quest to get into impossible situations, the MT V gives each AI some 200-odd MAs and MIs, over 20 transports, and let the human fend this off with his initial 40-some MIs and navy. Risk based analysis would suggest that when you see the human navy is the stronger one, movement over land is preferred instead of coming by sea. But, the Russians in this game will invariably load all that they can onto transports that take an estimated 15-20 turns to reach the human coast, while going over land (attacking a chokepoint) would only mean a movement of 3-4 turns. Our solution was of course to diminish the amount of transports the Russians are given, but it should decide for itself that the land based approach is preferred instead of risking 20 turns over sea when the human navy is stronger then their own.
More to come when I spot it, I saw some very strange movements of AI troops as well (like the time when one of my conquered fotresses got mysteriously abandoned, a troop of 7 MIs just left, leaving 1 MI and 1 MA behind. I don't know where they were heading, so can't post it as a point were the AI can improve)
DeepO
Most of these bugs are of the AI, or could mean possible improvements / complaints about how the AI handles things. Saves are available on request, but as I have to wade through 50-odd saves to find them again, not too many requests please. I'll update when I find more of these, as I'm fairly certain more will surface. This is such an extreme situation, and as we are keeping a close look on the AI to make sure it stays playable (e.g. not being overrun by 600MIs and 300MAs in one turn when you only have 40 MI and 10 MA to hold them off), several weird things are noticed.
1. Stealth bombers / fighters are shot down way to often
In the two first tests, all of my stealth fighters and bombers were shot down on their first attempt to bomb jet-protected territory. This is not a simple bad-luck-with-the-RNG, I'm talking about 4 fighters and 2 bombers being shot in the first turn, twice (in the two first betas). The third time, when the fighters were modded to have extra bombard power, they survived, but I still lost the bombers. This is way too often compared to what intercept chances would suggest.
It might be that there is a hidden mechanic at work, but as this is undocumented, and highly annoying please look into this. I have heard the same complaint from other testers (Vel), but haven't seen any other reports of other games on this.
2. transports on convoys will attack subs in their way
I had an instance where a transport and her destroyer encountered a sub in their path on auto movement. It was already a questionable decision of the destroyer to attack the sub, and yes, the destroyer got killed in the process (regular destroyer against a elite sub, IIRC). This may be no bug, but any human would move the destroyer on tile up/down, instead of proceeding on the original path.
However, right after that, my now 2HP sub got attacked by the fully loaded transport! Through shear luck, the transport survived, but there is no way an attack of a 1 attack vessel against a 4 defense sub is rectified, and certainly not when the transport is loaded with what I expect to be a combination of MAs and MIs. The same RNG God that let me keep my sub was on the AI side this time, and the transport succeeded... only to be destroyed by a closeby ship in the next turn.
3. AI artillery is not used on offense, even if there are plenty around
In the setup, the Russians are given plenty of RAs. As we all know by now, these will not attack the human player, and this in itself can be considered a serious flaw. However, as Vel was making sure there were enough RAs so that all the defensive roles would be fulfilled, the Russians had additional RAs fortified idle in the middle of their territory, exactly where Vel had placed them. These were not used offensive, and were not even used defensively, while there was ample opportunity.
4. 4HP elite units will retreat from enemy territory, 1HP units will attack when next to human
Another thing that is strange to say the least: in the game a few of my fortresses got overrun by German MAs / MIs. When bombarded so they will lose 1 HP, they will retreat no matter the possible uses. I saw 4 HP MAs retreating en mass, while there was a 1 HP MI city within reach. In itself this is an easily exploitable AI tactic, made only worse because if you have a unit next to a damaged MA, it will attack, against all odds. I saw a bunch of 1 HP MAs attack a MI fortified on a fortress on a hill. No way they will win this.
5. units will load onto transports en masse
In the quest to get into impossible situations, the MT V gives each AI some 200-odd MAs and MIs, over 20 transports, and let the human fend this off with his initial 40-some MIs and navy. Risk based analysis would suggest that when you see the human navy is the stronger one, movement over land is preferred instead of coming by sea. But, the Russians in this game will invariably load all that they can onto transports that take an estimated 15-20 turns to reach the human coast, while going over land (attacking a chokepoint) would only mean a movement of 3-4 turns. Our solution was of course to diminish the amount of transports the Russians are given, but it should decide for itself that the land based approach is preferred instead of risking 20 turns over sea when the human navy is stronger then their own.
More to come when I spot it, I saw some very strange movements of AI troops as well (like the time when one of my conquered fotresses got mysteriously abandoned, a troop of 7 MIs just left, leaving 1 MI and 1 MA behind. I don't know where they were heading, so can't post it as a point were the AI can improve)
DeepO
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