report

I was in a meeting today with some Defence officials and when I mentioned about an option to do 3D maps they said “Oh No, we don’t want them.” You just can’t please everyone. ;)

report

All the games are surprisingly approachable. Learning the subtleties takes a few months/years, but the delegation system means you can mount competent attacks almost immediately. Just find an HQ, select an order type (probe, attack, move, etc.) and destination, and you’re away. Child’s play.

@JeF. Thanks for sharing the lecture. Your wargamer.com forum post was what piqued my interest.

@Dave. It’s great to hear 3D maps are on the agenda! With those and a few polygonal panzer-shaped counters I reckon AA could conquer the world.

report

“I should’ve picked up Highway to the Reich when I saw it for 20 bucks at my local EB.”

I hope Dave doesn’t mind me pointing this out, but you can get Highway to the Reich for $15 at NWS Online. This is the boxed version with the printed manual. Of course, it’ll be close to $20 with the shipping. If you’re worried about being overwhelmed, just set aside some time for the tutorials and you’ll be fine.

report

Thanks for sharing this with your readers.
I’m another fan boy and beta tester of the AA engine. And occasionally the creator and maintainer of the website where the presentation is hosted.

I’m not posting any more links to game stuff : my website tells it all. :-)

Take care,

JeF.

report

Go ahead. Take the plunge. You won’t be dissappointed. But don’t trust me alone. Check out the many awards won by COTA and the generally outstanding reviews it received.

report

cheers for the response – your ideas sound pretty interesting – I’ve been looking for a decent strategy fix lately – pity there isn’t a demo out for COTA, the five minute video was pretty interesting in itself.

report

Thanks for the publicity mate, but I can do without the boffin monicker. ;)

Brainwashed,

It always raises a chuckle in me when I hear people talk about “recent advances in AI”. When I was doing a contract for Defence in 1992 I was introduced to a whole group of scientists ( real boffins replete with PhDs ) who were all working on the latest AI theory. They asked me what my approach was going to be. I told them I am going to build an expert system ( ie rule based ) based around a system that models real world decision making in a hierarchical structure – ie I was going to model reality and eschew abstraction. They all laughed. That group was abandoned long ago as nothing meaningful was produced from it. Defence are now looking at our engine as a concrete way forward.

I agree that scenario specific scripting is never ever going to provide a challenging AI opponent beyond the first few plays. Once you know the approach/options the AI will take it becomes predictable and easy to beat. Even if a number of conditional options are provided, a scenario specific scripting engine cannot cater for all the possible permeatations, and these are numerous on the battlefield.

That’s why our approach is to design an AI that is “generic” – ie one that has situational awareness and can assess, plan and react to the situation it confronts regardless of the scenario, terrain, weather, opposing and friendly forces. By and large we have succeeded with this approach. There will always be plenty of room for further improvement, but we have at least built a foundation on which we can blaze the trail.

I would also like to add that not all wargames can be criticised for their poor user interface ( UI ). We have received high praise for ours. Sure we would like to spruce things up with a nice 3D map etc, but in terms of user functionality I think some of those so called “modern” games could learn a thing or too.

It is true that we do not have a current demo available for Conquest of the Aegean ( COTA ) – our latest title on sale. However, we will be putting out a demo for our new upcoming title, Battles from the Bulge ( BFTB ). Check out these links:

COTA website: http://cota.matrixgames.com/

COTA Forum: http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tt.asp?forumid=123

BFTB Forum: http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tt.asp?forumid=414

In particular, the “New Stuff” thread on the BFTB forum is worth a look.

report

report

report

None the less, good appreciations from the three of you.

report

Some of these developers should try to expand their scope a bit and play some modern games, perhaps they could learne then how to integrate a easy and clear interface, fast and easy controls and how to show information and proper feedback to the players without need of artificial methods.

report