AI Design Mod Release(7-15)

[seawolf]

Oh, and an update for the mod in general, the AI seems to be struggling with sloped deck designs after 1920, so I'm gonna have to convert them all to their equivalent AON, otherwise, the mod is working fine.

For an example, the AI will take a battlecruiser like 1047 or Scharnhorst and convert it into AON, without changing the belt armor, so I need to make changes to those designs

[generalvikus]

seawolf

With 13.5 or 14 inches on the belt, I'd say that Scharnhorst's armour would be sufficient even if changed to the AoN scheme. It's annoying that it does that, though, since it makes a hell of a lot of difference, and it's hard to make a design work with both schemes.

So, is it the case that the AI will convert sloped deck to AoN, but not the other way around?

Just spitballing here - would it be possible to move the AoN unlock date beyond the end of the game, while the nations which used AoN (UK, USA, Japan, etc.) start with it unlocked? That might work in a 1920 ./ 36 start, allowing some AI nations to keep using sloped deck, thus making their historical designs more viable, while the player retains the choice. No good for a 1900 start though. 

EDIT: Alternatively, for a 1900 start, could you reduce the selection chance to 0% while giving it as a free tech to others? 

[seawolf]

Sept 10, 2020 19:37:27 GMT -6 generalvikus said:

seawolf

With 13.5 or 14 inches on the belt, I'd say that Scharnhorst's armour would be sufficient even if changed to the AoN scheme. It's annoying that it does that, though, since it makes a hell of a lot of difference, and it's hard to make a design work with both schemes.

So, is it the case that the AI will convert sloped deck to AoN, but not the other way around?

Just spitballing here - would it be possible to move the AoN unlock date beyond the end of the game, while the nations which used AoN (UK, USA, Japan, etc.) start with it unlocked? That might work in a 1920 ./ 36 start, allowing some AI nations to keep using sloped deck, thus making their historical designs more viable, while the player retains the choice. No good for a 1900 start though. 

Scharnhorst actually has a 320mm ~12.5" belt like Bismarck

The AI, past a certain date, seemingly like 1930, will start converting sloped deck ships to AON, this is really a problem when some BC have a ~9" belt, and some ships that should have great armor like Bismarck and Scharnhorst suddenly have bad armor.  Additionally, if a design has narrow belt, it will just but a flat deck over it which kills the AON designation as well.  I just need to make everything past 1920 flat deck for it to work.

Last idea's worth a try but would also prohibit those nations from having things like aircraft carriers

[generalvikus]

Well, if we're talking about a historical designs mod, then I don't mind jettisoning the Graf Spee so Germany can keep all its historical cruisers and capital ships - that seems like a good trade-off to me. But why is that the case? A carrier needs a flat deck but doesn't need an AoN armour scheme, does it?

Wikipedia says of the Scharnhorsts,

"The armored belt was 350 mm (14 in) thick in the central portion of the ship, where the critical areas of the ship were located. Forward of the "A" turret the belt was reduced to 150 mm (5.9 in), which tapered down to zero at the bow of the ship. Aft of the rear gun turret the belt decreased to 200 mm (7.9 in), and eventually tapered down to nothing at the stern."

Are you sure that's wrong?

[dsilva44]

As for the gun caliber issue, about the only solution would be to modify the save file manually to remove the higher caliber guns from the AI players until a later timeframe where it becomes more historical. unfortunately that means having to do alot of extra work to fix something the devs should have let be as it were before.

And as for having to adjust for the AI changing to AoN, I guess that realistically the only fix is to go with either an average of the thicknesses or the largest thickness (whatever your preference is) and use that as the belt thickness in an AoN configuration just to make the AI use something that won't be completely overpowered. I wish the game would just use existing designs, and maybe build modified versions after the use of the existing design first.