OOB unit organization

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tonystowe
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OOB unit organization

Post by tonystowe »

I have read other posts concerning this issue and they have not answered these questions. This is a two part inquiry:

First, I am curious as to how the programmers approached the games current system of troop selection, deployment of those troops, and the location chosen for military bases.

While playing Africa in a World game I found it very interesting in the deployment of the troops as well as the troops placed in Reserve and their locations. This bewilderment was consistent with air, ground and naval forces. In this scenario the units were scattered throughout the continent with no apparent rhyme or reason (that I could I see) and the major threat areas (Middle East and Europe) was lightly defended in terms of time/distance for me to have to redeploy my forces in the event of hostilities.

Second, is it possible for the AI to understand the general structure of a military organization (that may be selected during game startup - I suppose)? The selected organization would instruct the AI in how to best deploy the select troops.

For this question I envision a player selecting an organization in terms of a Brigade focused army, Division focused army, etc. Using Africa as an example, the AI would determine that the southern tip of Africa is by no means under any initial threat and minimize deployments in that area. However, the borders with Europe and moreso with the Middle East would stand out as having significant threat potential and demanding a much greater concentration of troops. Not on the border, mind you, but deployed within a reasonable 2-3 day movement.

In closing, this game is very challenging and I am finding myself appreciating the detail put into this product. Kudo's to the developers!!

Tony
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Post by Balthagor »

Glad that you’re enjoying the game, we certainly do! :)

To your first question – It is actually the scenario designers who figure out what troops to place in what map. We have access to a number of resources that indicate the current military equipment for each country. The data for actual placement location is less detailed and also less important since troop rotations can change between now and 2010. We usually used common sense within a region for where to place the units. We did however keep the troops within their original territories. In your example of Africa, if you take the World map and cut South Africa as a new player within the continent, you should find that you have all the South African forces in your newly defined territory. All the forces at the top of the map are consistent with Libyan and Moroccan forces.

For the second question I’m not sure I understand. All forces are preplaced before the scenario starts. We are exploring ideas for future development that might allow players to control some of the initial deployment but that is a ways off still.

If what you’re suggesting is unit hierarchy in the terms of battalions an divisions, this has actually been discussed many times on the forum and I can find you some links to those threads.
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Post by Balthagor »

Chris Latour
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tonystowe
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Post by tonystowe »

Balthagor,

Thanks for the link and I will post my two cents in there on this subject.
tonystowe
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Post by tonystowe »

I wanted to make one more statement on this subject.

Even if you all could make the game such that allows the organization of the separate BN's into Brigades, Divisions, and Corps - How would you instruct the AI to build the higher echelons as it was meant to be organized?

Echelons above BN allow for more combat support units in terms of AT, AD, Intel, etc and a healthy dose of combat service support units such as mechanics, medics, etc (hospitals, etc).

I suppose I can see the AI putting 10x M1A5 BN's together and heading to my capitol. In my games today I did see limited AI understanding of using mech infantry, AT, and artillery. Its problem was that it could not mass its combat power in order to breakthrough my lines. I also seen the AI conduct a two axis attack on my troops that almost broke my lines, but I somehow held the lines.

Later

Tony
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Post by Balthagor »

tonystowe wrote:Even if you all could make the game such that allows the organization of the separate BN's into Brigades, Divisions, and Corps - How would you instruct the AI to build the higher echelons as it was meant to be organized?
This is one of the issues we never found a solution for and one of the reasons why hierarchy is not in the game :D

We had some ideas on this IIRC, but haven't looked at the notes in a while...
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tonystowe
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Post by tonystowe »

I realize that heirarchy has already been explained many times but I am still interested in knowing the possibility of attaching 3x Tank, 1x Inf, 2x Arty, 1x Msl, 3x Supply, 4x Mortar BN's all into one unit.

. . ..
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Post by India 51A »

tonystowe wrote:I realize that heirarchy has already been explained many times but I am still interested in knowing the possibility of attaching 3x Tank, 1x Inf, 2x Arty, 1x Msl, 3x Supply, 4x Mortar BN's all into one unit.

. . ..
I may be wrong but I believe this is not possible due to the 7 unit stack limit.

It's a long time since I was testing the beta, so forgive me if I'm way offline. :-)
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Draken
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Post by Draken »

India 51A wrote:
tonystowe wrote:I realize that heirarchy has already been explained many times but I am still interested in knowing the possibility of attaching 3x Tank, 1x Inf, 2x Arty, 1x Msl, 3x Supply, 4x Mortar BN's all into one unit.

. . ..
I may be wrong but I believe this is not possible due to the 7 unit stack limit.

It's a long time since I was testing the beta, so forgive me if I'm way offline. :-)
India, you're right.

Tonystowe, glad to see another advocate for hierarchy here!

Have you played TOAW in any of its version?
What do you think of this idea?
tonystowe
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Post by tonystowe »

Draken wrote:
India 51A wrote:
tonystowe wrote: India, you're right.

Tonystowe, glad to see another advocate for hierarchy here!

Have you played TOAW in any of its version?
What do you think of this idea?

What is TOAW? Let me know and I will check it out as well.
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