Conflict of Heroes

[Wodin]

I hear he AI is pretty poor so this means I shan't be buying. I can't commit to multiplayer games. If or hopefully when I hear the AI has been improved and it gets some praise I will then buy. Some games a good scenario maker will get the AI to do great things like in CMBN however I'm not sure this is the case here.

All in all for me personally there is little due out that I'm really excited about, only projects along way away like Panther east front game and Combat Mission east front. Oh and also Ageods Rome game has me alittle interested as I fancy an ancient warfare game which is an era I've never bothered with before. Whoops forgot I have slihg tinterest in the enxt Close Combat game but I need to hear if they;ve increased In survivability to CC2 levels, also interested to see what the new engine game plays like, again thats years away.

I have my own game design idea regarding a fantasy setting with a unique combat aspect combining a top down Napoleonic boardgame look with a sort of hands off mechanic. Based on shapes\formations\orders\skills\weapons\armour\training\dicipline\leader skills.

[Bison]

Good games tonight online.  1-0-1  not too shabby, but I got in some really lucky pre-planned artillery strikes that turned the tide toward the Russians very early in the second game and gimped the German advance.

[Keunert]

How about some of you would take the time to da a pbem aar? that would be great.
i am really on the fence about this one. mainly because of a lack of time.

[meadbelly]

I hear he AI is pretty poor so this means I shan't be buying. I can't commit to multiplayer games. If or hopefully when I hear the AI has been improved and it gets some praise I will then buy. Some games a good scenario maker will get the AI to do great things like in CMBN however I'm not sure this is the case here.

All in all for me personally there is little due out that I'm really excited about, only projects along way away like Panther east front game and Combat Mission east front. Oh and also Ageods Rome game has me alittle interested as I fancy an ancient warfare game which is an era I've never bothered with before. Whoops forgot I have slihg tinterest in the enxt Close Combat game but I need to hear if they;ve increased In survivability to CC2 levels, also interested to see what the new engine game plays like, again thats years away.

I have my own game design idea regarding a fantasy setting with a unique combat aspect combining a top down Napoleonic boardgame look with a sort of hands off mechanic. Based on shapes\formations\orders\skills\weapons\armour\training\dicipline\leader skills.

I'm surprised to hear that some are complaining about the AI. It's stronger on the defense than on offense, but I have been pleasantly surprised by reactive tactics to my own, and some unpredictably offensive moves. It's a rather challenging AI in my opinion, and I sense it will do a much better job prepping the player for online play than most computer AIs.

I suspect that complaints of AI may be more than a little informed by the staggering number of tactical options available to any given piece at any given moment. Clever human players -- of which I am unquestionably NOT -- can really work to take advantage of this plethora of options. A computer AI can not offer the same grasp of complexity and nuance.

I'd put the Conflict of Heroes AI on par with Command Ops: Battles from the Bulge, although I have a much longer sample size from the latter.

[meadbelly]

The boardgame itself is something I like to compare to ASL, but without all the overhead. This game does a decent job of making a turn-based tactical game into a nearly real-time game without lots of fuss.

I think LB has hit on what makes this game special. It has found a sweet spot between compelling tactical play and simplicity in the ruleset.

There's a certain pen and paper rpg that I am tremendously fond of that could benefit from finding a similar sweet spot. 

[bayonetbrant]

I hear he AI is pretty poor so this means I shan't be buying.

Just out of curiosity, where are you hearing this? 
Everything I've seen - and most of what's been discussed here - is that it's a competent AI.  Maybe not a world-beater, but certainly not a negative overall for the game. 
Do you have online reviews/discussions you can link to?  Or were you just chatting with your mates about it? 
No issues if you've heard negatives; it's just that they run counter to what others have said so I think we'd like to see both sides of the story if you can point us that way.

thanks :)

[Bison]

How about some of you would take the time to da a pbem aar? that would be great.
i am really on the fence about this one. mainly because of a lack of time.

I'll see if I can put something together.

[Bison]

I think the AI is as good if not better than about 90% of the wargaming AI.  Long term after you've learned the system inside and out, it's effectiveness will be reduced.  However if you use the difficulty levels which gives some bonuses to the AI like extra AP, CAP, more quality units; it still provides an very stiff challenge.  Also the randomness that the dice roll adds to the game is really a great mechanic that disrupts the best laid plans and the smartest human tactican in his tracks with a low roll or the AI rolling high. 

[Svend Karlson]

How about some of you would take the time to da a pbem aar? that would be great.
i am really on the fence about this one. mainly because of a lack of time.

Until the MP AAR comes along, you may like to read this. It a combination of review and AAR, lengthy but readable and educational (about the game!)

http://www.oneguytoomanygames.com/2012/05/conflict-of-heroes-awakening-bear.html

[Bison]

Multiplayer AAR is located here: http://grogheads.com/forums/index.php?topic=1495.0 

You better read the damn thing Keunert.  I spent a good hour of my life creating it!

[MikeGER]

I think the AI is as good if not better than about 90% of the wargaming AI.  Long term after you've learned the system inside and out, it's effectiveness will be reduced.  However if you use the difficulty levels which gives some bonuses to the AI like extra AP, CAP, more quality units; it still provides an very stiff challenge.  Also the randomness that the dice roll adds to the game is really a great mechanic that disrupts the best laid plans and the smartest human tactican in his tracks with a low roll or the AI rolling high.

+1

here is a little CoH AI anecdote
last WE i played MP with a local wargaming buddy (the one i digital donated COH to his 50th birthday) It was 2 rounds of Partsian of course as a short test with switching of sides. when i played the Ivans and the battle begun i saw his 2 LMGs in the open and was already grinning about that easy prey... when his very first move was playing that 'paralysing' Action Card on my Maxim-HMG (which is key to the Ivans defense) and kept it silenced (and me busy with all kind of rally attempts ;-)) with his two LMGs until its destruction.
later on the phone I said "very smart move with this Action Card' and he responded: "i learned it from the AI, who did it to me when i was familiarizing with CoH"... i was kind of stunned!
(he had set up those LMGs in the open out of purpose! ...not as a Partisan-map newbees fault) 

[Keunert]

Great Bison, reading the aar i got the impression the germans would smack you and was surprised how you managed to keep em off.
sounded like a close one.
thank your for ther aar.

[Bison]

No problem Keunert.  If you ever end up getting the game, the gauntlet is thrown for some multiplayer matches.

[Bison]

reading the aar i got the impression the germans would smack you and was surprised how you managed to keep em off.
sounded like a close one.

Well let me tell you what.  I honestly thought going into turn 3 that I was toast.  I was down to three units and one was all but lost.  Seriously if he had a few better rolls, he would have wiped me from the board.  The dice rolls are one of my favorite factors in the game.  There is no real math probability that predetermines the outcome like you have in most wargames.  Here even if you only have 8% to hit, but no other options to use the AP take the shot.  Sometimes the dice are good to you and you hit.

[Wodin]

I hear he AI is pretty poor so this means I shan't be buying.

Just out of curiosity, where are you hearing this? 
Everything I've seen - and most of what's been discussed here - is that it's a competent AI.  Maybe not a world-beater, but certainly not a negative overall for the game. 
Do you have online reviews/discussions you can link to?  Or were you just chatting with your mates about it? 
No issues if you've heard negatives; it's just that they run counter to what others have said so I think we'd like to see both sides of the story if you can point us that way.

thanks :)

Over on the Matrix forum. Since then I hear there are scripts that modders can play with. First link states users saying the AI is poor, the other two hint at it.

If it's as good as Command Ops which has the best out there then I take my hat off. I just don't want to buy it then fly through the scenarios beating them first time out.

http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=3102781

http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=3104722

http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=3103911