Most CM players are aware that the A.I. is poor in attack. It is basically an unguided missile unresponsive to changing situations. There are a number of ways for (historical or hyterical) scenario designers to smarten up the attacker a little all of which may be unhistorical but give the 'appearance' of historical game play. The main problem we need to overcome, or rather 'intercept', is clever players causing the A.I. to abort through use of simple flanking counter-attacks and even with tiny responses like snipers. Yes! A single sniper from a flank can completely derail an A.I. attack.
1. Increase the attacker's parameters. e.g. make green German units veteran instead, led by elite leaders and set everyone's motivation to high. The idea here is to give them the moral fibre to 'keep going'.
2. Place static isolated MGs and snipers in locations around the map to intercept potentially disruptive moves by the player. Keeping these static is important because they are units over and above the normal OOB of the attacker in the scenario. They must therefore not be used in the actual attack. They are just back-catchers or go-betweens between the actual attack and disrupters.
3. Increase the scenario time. How did this decision come about? Hours and hours of play-testing every possible disruptive move that the player could make. Besides helping to determine the deployment of elements named in #2 above, it also helps you decide how to 'pace' the advance of the attackers (see next).
4. Pacing the attack. Intuititively is seems that Maximum Assault would be the safest way to attack a position. Unfortunately, in the face of a dug-in or sheltered enemy, this order has a tendency to abort any following forward movement and just stay in place and fire forever. So what I do is this; First Maximum Assault & Active over a short distance. Then remain in place for 'x' number of minutes. Follow-up with a Quick and Hide or Quick and Active over a short distance. Alternate the foregoing. This will keep you shooting and advancing in the face of opposition if it is necessary to capture a location. This of course, takes times and thus the reason for the longer scenario time in #3 above.
5. Bombardment. If a pre-attack bombardment occurred historically, do not be shy to use it and overdo it! Due to the very random manner in which the A.I. allocates assets to pre-attack bombardments, this is an excellent way to randomize the starting strength of the player's defending units. Even a three-howitzer (105mm) bombardment with full ammo can have very little effect or at most a moderate effect against a 'dug-in' defender. So be generous with the number of guns and ammunition.
6. As a last resort - increase the number of attackers. I don't like to go to this extreme as it is too far off the historical path for my liking.
Just a reminder - I am dealing with 'historical' scenarios and not with hypothetical.
1. Increase the attacker's parameters. e.g. make green German units veteran instead, led by elite leaders and set everyone's motivation to high. The idea here is to give them the moral fibre to 'keep going'.
2. Place static isolated MGs and snipers in locations around the map to intercept potentially disruptive moves by the player. Keeping these static is important because they are units over and above the normal OOB of the attacker in the scenario. They must therefore not be used in the actual attack. They are just back-catchers or go-betweens between the actual attack and disrupters.
3. Increase the scenario time. How did this decision come about? Hours and hours of play-testing every possible disruptive move that the player could make. Besides helping to determine the deployment of elements named in #2 above, it also helps you decide how to 'pace' the advance of the attackers (see next).
4. Pacing the attack. Intuititively is seems that Maximum Assault would be the safest way to attack a position. Unfortunately, in the face of a dug-in or sheltered enemy, this order has a tendency to abort any following forward movement and just stay in place and fire forever. So what I do is this; First Maximum Assault & Active over a short distance. Then remain in place for 'x' number of minutes. Follow-up with a Quick and Hide or Quick and Active over a short distance. Alternate the foregoing. This will keep you shooting and advancing in the face of opposition if it is necessary to capture a location. This of course, takes times and thus the reason for the longer scenario time in #3 above.
5. Bombardment. If a pre-attack bombardment occurred historically, do not be shy to use it and overdo it! Due to the very random manner in which the A.I. allocates assets to pre-attack bombardments, this is an excellent way to randomize the starting strength of the player's defending units. Even a three-howitzer (105mm) bombardment with full ammo can have very little effect or at most a moderate effect against a 'dug-in' defender. So be generous with the number of guns and ammunition.
6. As a last resort - increase the number of attackers. I don't like to go to this extreme as it is too far off the historical path for my liking.
Just a reminder - I am dealing with 'historical' scenarios and not with hypothetical.
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