Mel Chin on Fri, 11 Jul 2008 21:17:53 -0700 (MST)


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Re: [eia] what's our status ? 

The first two patches primarily dealt with fixing bugs and mechanics.
I've attached the "readme" file that lists all the fixes for the two patches for those interested.
They will likely start AI improvements soon but I doubt they'll approach the competency of a human opponent. 

Mel
----- Original Message ----- From: "Kyle H" <menexenus@xxxxxxx> 
To: "public list for an Empires in Arms game" <eia@xxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, July 11, 2008 10:30 PM
Subject: Re: [eia] what's our status ?



   That's a shame about the AI.  We spoke to the designer at Origins, and
he seemed knowledgeable about the game. So I'm surprised that the AI is so hare-brained. And since the release date had been pushed back for 3 years, 
they definitely had time to do it right...  Bummer.

kdh
P.S. The designer did talk about the potential release of updates/patches. 
Mel, maybe you could send the company your playtest notes and ask them to
patch the AI to make it play more rationally.
----- Original Message ----- From: "Mel Chin" <mrchin@xxxxxxxxxxx> 
To: "public list for an Empires in Arms game" <eia@xxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, July 11, 2008 9:49 PM
Subject: Re: [eia] what's our status ?



I've played a couple games so far and here is my take on it:

1. AI is far too easy to beat. The difficultly levels only allows the PC
to
"cheat" by providing them extra $ and manpower during the econ phase.
The AI does some really stupid tactical things that makes them either
reckless to the point of suicide or passively sitting in their capital
turn
after turn with no actions.

2. Rules - the game is much more Empires in Harm than regular EIA. If
you're
expecting to play classic EIA, think again.
   a) The naval system is totally EiH with heavy ships, light ships and
transports.
   b) The Russian infantry corps lose all their cavalry components.
   c) Many of the current minor countries have been split into smaller
components (Hesse, Wurttemburg, Saxony, Hanover, etc).
   d) There are only three new political combinations (Poland, Ottomans,
CotR) and none of the others (Italy, Bavaria, Westphalia, Naples).
   e) There are no combined moves: instead, allies lend their corps for
their allies to use.
   f)  Insurrection corps can appear/move anywhere in Austria.
   g) No achieving/losing dominent power status.

3. AI tends not to surrender unless its capital is taken (and most of the
rest of the country) and it's army is wiped out.

4. There is diplomacy with minors in the game: you can influence and ally
with minor countries through diplomacy and $ can be spent to improve
chances.

5. AI usually makes little sense with its DOWs. For example, Prussia will
DOW Austria, Spain, Turkey and Britian for absolutely no reason in 1805.
The AI players will usually NOT get together and gang up on the stronger
MPs
(like France, Russia or Britian).


This is just a brief summary. There's probably more that I left out.

Mel
----- Original Message ----- From: "Kyle H" <menexenus@xxxxxxx> 
To: "public list for an Empires in Arms game" <eia@xxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, July 10, 2008 1:10 PM
Subject: Re: [eia] what's our status ?



   During this lull, let me take the opportunity to advertise the new
Empires in Arms computer game that was released recently by Matrix Games. 
JJ and I have been waiting for this game to be released for about 3
years,
so we're excited to finally get our hands on it.  I haven't really had
time
to test it out yet, but here's what I can tell you.  It supports hotseat
and
PBEM games (but not LAN/network games). It is a blend of Empires in Arms 
and the online variant "Empires in Harm".  You can play any country you
like
and set any number of countries to computer AI at three different levels
of
ability (Easy, Medium, Hard).  Unfortunately, it does not seem to have
pop-up tutorials for new players. So learning the interface might take a 
bit of trial-and-error plus thumbing through the bulky rulebook.
JJ and I each paid $60 for it at Origins. We were told that customers 
could order a physical copy or simply pay to download the game directly
from
their website. I believe the website is www.matrixgames.com (but if not, 
a
Google search should come up with it pretty quickly).
   Again, I haven't really had time to playtest it, so I can't vouch for
the quality of the game.  But since you're all veteran EIA players, I
thought you might be interested in hearing about it.  (JJ and I have had
our
eyes on the game for a while, and even we didn't know it was available
until
we saw it at the convention.)

FYI,

kdh
----- Original Message ----- From: "Joel Uckelman" <uckelman@xxxxxxxxx> 
To: "public list for an Empires in Arms game" <eia@xxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, July 10, 2008 9:09 AM
Subject: Re: [eia] what's our status ?



Thus spake "Mel Chin":

I think just Turkey



I'll try to get my turn out before I leave for Chicago in the morning.
--
J.
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Attachment: readme.rtf
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