Friendly DD AI

[Deleted]

Hi, I have a problem. A big one at that. My DDs are useless. Their AI uses them in a completely wrong (*), requiring me to constantly micromanage in a very annoying way.
*: when enemy needs DD screen, AI moves between my and enemy line and screens their ship. When they need torpedo suicide attack, their DDs do that. When they need to counter my attack, their DDs do that.
When I need DD screen, my DDs scatter all over the map or run away entirely. When I need a DD suicide attack, they zigzag towards enemy line so slowly that enemy pre-dreadnoughts run away faster (and I also have to conduct such attack manually). When enemy DDs start their attack, my DDs run away as fast as possible. 
Is there any way to set up a more aggresive (or at least less cowardly) DD AI? Asking because in almost all my battles almost all my DDs are only good for nothing.

[w2c]

Well, firstly I want to see if you're aware of the flotilla attack orders you can give to encourage your DDs to more aggressively try to move in to strike when possible? You're a regular here, so I'm assuming you do but you never know.

Secondly, as you mention pre-dreads, I'm going to assume you're referring to the early years where you observe this behavior. I've observed that what you're describing does improve over time, largely due to improvements in torpedo technology I believe, though it's possible it's partly a result of DD size increasing so the added bulk makes them more confident. But while getting successful torpedo attacks off early can be a struggle, it does become markedly easier over time as your technologies allow for it.

As for the differences you're observing in your fleet as compared to the AI, I'm less certain. It's always been my opinion that my DDs would screen me similarly to the way they do for the AI if it wasn't for the nature of the way I tended to move my battle lines. I tend to be the aggressor in these engagements, so my DDs tend to trail behind and away, only moving more forward when enemy DDs start moving too aggressively against me. As the AI is usually moving away from me relatively speaking, their DDs tend to position themselves between them and my DDs which are just waiting for an opportunity to strike. I can't say for certain on this point as it's possible the AI may just be programmed to behave differently, but I've always believed the difference came down to me handling my battle lines differently than they do and so their destroyers behave differently around that movement.

But again technology really does help with this in my experience.

[Deleted]

Nov 19, 2021 16:00:52 GMT -6 w2c said:

Well, firstly I want to see if you're aware of the flotilla attack orders you can give to encourage your DDs to more aggressively try to move in to strike when possible? You're a regular here, so I'm assuming you do but you never know.

Secondly, as you mention pre-dreads, I'm going to assume you're referring to the early years where you observe this behavior. I've observed that what you're describing does improve over time, largely due to improvements in torpedo technology I believe, though it's possible it's partly a result of DD size increasing so the added bulk makes them more confident. But while getting successful torpedo attacks off early can be a struggle, it does become markedly easier over time as your technologies allow for it.

As for the differences you're observing in your fleet as compared to the AI, I'm less certain. It's always been my opinion that my DDs would screen me similarly to the way they do for the AI if it wasn't for the nature of the way I tended to move my battle lines. I tend to be the aggressor in these engagements, so my DDs tend to trail behind and away, only moving more forward when enemy DDs start moving too aggressively against me. As the AI is usually moving away from me relatively speaking, their DDs tend to position themselves between them and my DDs which are just waiting for an opportunity to strike. I can't say for certain on this point as it's possible the AI may just be programmed to behave differently, but I've always believed the difference came down to me handling my battle lines differently than they do and so their destroyers behave differently around that movement.

But again technology really does help with this in my experience.

My DDs tend to always keep the core of my fleet between them and the enemy fleet. And no, its not just the issue of the pre-dread era. I´d even say that its even worse in later era, as my fleet needs its DD flotilla to be slightly further in order to counter enemy DD torpedo attack, yet my DDs are still always behind my BBs.