Post by vonfriedman on Apr 9, 2022 11:52:58 GMT -6
Returning to playing this SAI campaign I once again appreciated it, with its phases of searching for the enemy and the effort to concentrate one's forces in the number and position the most favorable in order to obtain a success in battle. Equally challenging is the effort to escape from a trap or an unfavorable situation.
However, there are some aspects that I would like to see improved in a desirable future release of the game.
Historically, the Hochseeflotte always took to the sea at full strength and, if we exclude the mistake made by the British on the occasion of the Scarborough Raid, so did the Grand Fleet.
In the campaign game, on the other hand, operations involving a relatively limited number of big ships are relatively frequent. For example, if the objective requires you to reach a certain point with 4 BBs, you can be almost certain that the AI will not set a trap with the bulk of its available forces, but will send a comparable number of its own BBs out to sea. The human player, even making use of the reduced operating cost allowed for the "emergency activation", can however deploy almost all his forces and thus easily defeat the AI opponent.
Furthermore, the campaign game tends to be less interesting and historically not very credible in the later stages of the campaign, when the AI, despite the losses suffered previously, continues to send small groups of its remaining ships on semi-suicide missions (e.g. bombardment of the British east coast with just some CLs or even DDs).
Regarding the improvements, with minor game s / w changes some objectives could be changed to indicate "maximum strength" instead of X Capital ships or BBs. As for the change of strategies induced by a situation of clear numerical inferiority, certain sweeps or certain bombardments could be abolished when the force gap exceeds a certain level and they could be repaced by raids of light and fast forces against merchant traffic.
In conclusion and as a general rule, the AI game strategies should be able to gradually adapt to the changing situation.
However, there are some aspects that I would like to see improved in a desirable future release of the game.
Historically, the Hochseeflotte always took to the sea at full strength and, if we exclude the mistake made by the British on the occasion of the Scarborough Raid, so did the Grand Fleet.
In the campaign game, on the other hand, operations involving a relatively limited number of big ships are relatively frequent. For example, if the objective requires you to reach a certain point with 4 BBs, you can be almost certain that the AI will not set a trap with the bulk of its available forces, but will send a comparable number of its own BBs out to sea. The human player, even making use of the reduced operating cost allowed for the "emergency activation", can however deploy almost all his forces and thus easily defeat the AI opponent.
Furthermore, the campaign game tends to be less interesting and historically not very credible in the later stages of the campaign, when the AI, despite the losses suffered previously, continues to send small groups of its remaining ships on semi-suicide missions (e.g. bombardment of the British east coast with just some CLs or even DDs).
Regarding the improvements, with minor game s / w changes some objectives could be changed to indicate "maximum strength" instead of X Capital ships or BBs. As for the change of strategies induced by a situation of clear numerical inferiority, certain sweeps or certain bombardments could be abolished when the force gap exceeds a certain level and they could be repaced by raids of light and fast forces against merchant traffic.
In conclusion and as a general rule, the AI game strategies should be able to gradually adapt to the changing situation.
