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Post by admiral on Jul 20, 2016 11:21:17 GMT -6
I wanted to create a thread for talking about the command system (Admiral, rear admiral, captain, etc) and the AI.
i, for the most part, really love it.
I plunged into "Admiral mode" immediately, thinking it would be very hard (I thought they were difficulty levels, not command levels like they actually are) and because it was the mode that the game was supposedly "meant" to be played in.
I control my flagship and hence, my flagship's squadron, but other than that I just manage the roles of the other squadrons and launch a flotilla attack every now and again.
What makes this amazing is that RTW is the first game where I've actually felt in command of something. In most other games, you're stuck micro-managing every single tank or plane, and often I ask myself during battle, "Wait, shouldn't this be a decision for the pilot to make, or the platoon commanders?"
Beyond this frustration, I also forget to micro-manage some units, leading to disaster.
In RTW, however, I find that controlling a fleet of 40 ships just as easy as controlling a fleet of 4 ships. They have very specific roles that they're usually automatically (and correctly) assigned (I almost never change ship roles), and changing those roles requires 4 clicks.
The AI is the same as the enemy, so I never feel as though I'm at a disadvantage by letting them take over.
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Post by marcussmythe on Jul 20, 2016 14:10:48 GMT -6
I usually play on Rear Admiral, but I will agree that more than any other game I've played, I feel comfortable letting the AI 'do its thing' with parts of my forces. Other than its regrettable tendency to run too fast with ships that have hull breaches, but this is (I think) something it only does when in contact with the enemy.
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Post by axe99 on Jul 20, 2016 15:31:09 GMT -6
Aye, I think the command system in the game is great  . Like Marcus, I also tend to play on rear admiral, so that I can manually stop my ships sinking themselves from speeding too fast with flooding, but beyond that I let my ships follow orders. Works really well, if sometime frustrating/entertaining early on when the battle line can get itself all tangled in knots (this isn't a criticism - it's great to see the battle line behave organically, instead of like it's being controlled by omniscient robots)! |
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Post by director on Jul 21, 2016 3:13:19 GMT -6
Agreed about the AI. When I was a youngster (back in the 80s) I wrote up a Basic game to emulate tabletop naval wargame rules. I could never crack the kind of formation-following, mission driven AI that RtW has - it is a really fine achievement. Even really fine naval combat games like Action Stations couldn't keep ships in formations.
Some of my favorite games were from SSG and had a similar approach but with land warfare. You commanded the higher level formations by picking missions (attack toward this objective, or defend that one) and by assigning support elements (put the corps artillery reserve with the 3rd division) and the computer ran the lower level elements for both sides. So (for example), playing Gettysburg, you might command a Union corps to defend an objective only to see the AI advance some elements to better ground, or launch a counter-attack you wished they hadn't (or sometimes, brilliantly, that they did). It leveled the playing field with the AI and let the human player have the delicious frustration of trying to deal with incompetent (or overly aggressive) lower-level officers.
Like Axe, I appreciate the occasional "Oops! They went that-a-way" moment when I flip my flagship into a racing turn and the next division misses the signal...
I would like a little better algorithm for picking the flagship, and I would like to be able to set cruisers and destroyers to more flexible roles (like using cruisers as DD flotilla leaders).
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Post by davedave on Jul 21, 2016 9:05:18 GMT -6
Another voice to say that the AI in this game is frankly utterly brilliant, one or two minor quibbles aside.
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Post by thatzenoguy on Jul 21, 2016 10:03:24 GMT -6
My one gripe is...
Enemy BB's are close with DD's.
My BB's are close with DD's.
Mine will never attack, even with orders for a flotilla attack.
Theirs will aggressively enter zones of fire from countless capital ships, and fire off torpedos...
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Post by srndacful on Jul 21, 2016 11:46:06 GMT -6
Chalk up another vote of approval for the awesome AI & realistic C3I in this game (at least in Admiral's mode: haven't played in any other)
P.S. Realistic C3I as in: Chaos, Confusion, Cowardice & Incompetence - don't let anyone tell you otherwise. |
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Post by admiral on Jul 21, 2016 13:22:16 GMT -6
Chalk up another vote of approval for the awesome AI & realistic C3I in this game (at least in Admiral's mode: haven't played in any other)
P.S. Realistic C3I as in: Chaos, Confusion, Cowardice & Incompetence - don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Did you get that C3I acronym from somewhere else? It's pretty awesome. |
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Post by cleveland on Jul 21, 2016 16:51:07 GMT -6
I love it as well.
I do wish that there was a little more fog of war in Admirals mode. You see what your scouts see, it's like having a window view that the admiral never had.
Also, you can drive your ship like a car, constantly changing direction, sure there's a chance a ship or two may miss the signals but imo changing course was a huge deal and not to be taken up lightly.
Great game though, looking forward to what happens next.
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Post by oldpop2000 on Jul 21, 2016 16:59:51 GMT -6
Chalk up another vote of approval for the awesome AI & realistic C3I in this game (at least in Admiral's mode: haven't played in any other)
P.S. Realistic C3I as in: Chaos, Confusion, Cowardice & Incompetence - don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Did you get that C3I acronym from somewhere else? It's pretty awesome. It comes from the US Navy and stands for Command, Control, Communications and Intelligence. You can expand on his with Chaos, Confusion, Cowardice, Incompetence, Stupidity and Recklessness or C4ISR which is the real definition plus surveillance and reconnaissance, if I remember.  |
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Post by srndacful on Jul 22, 2016 2:42:03 GMT -6
Did you get that C3I acronym from somewhere else? It's pretty awesome. It comes from the US Navy and stands for Command, Control, Communications and Intelligence. You can expand on his with Chaos, Confusion, Cowardice, Incompetence, Stupidity and Recklessness or C4ISR which is the real definition plus surveillance and reconnaissance, if I remember. I'm more inclined to replace Stupidity with Sackville-ness (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Germain,_1st_Viscount_Sackville) as the latter seems to encompass more types of fails than the former.
That "... someone keeps sending me these messages ..." part is why I still can't decide if he was jealous, malicious (saboteur) or just really stupid ...
Edit: in case anyone wants to read the account: www.kronoskaf.com/syw/index.php?title=1759-08-01_-_Battle_of_Minden
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. Like Marcus, I also tend to play on rear admiral, so that I can manually stop my ships sinking themselves from speeding too fast with flooding, but beyond that I let my ships follow orders. Works really well, if sometime frustrating/entertaining early on when the battle line can get itself all tangled in knots (this isn't a criticism - it's great to see the battle line behave organically, instead of like it's being controlled by omniscient robots)!
