The Operational Art of War IV

[jomni]

Well in Sengoku Jidai there is an AI that functions well in a generic skirmish battle. But we scripted scenario specific AI plans for historical scensrios to convey historical behavior and set some alternate plans to make things interesting.  The scenario will still work well without this as per skirmish. And many user made scenarios (in Pike and Shot) didn't have AI plans.

[Grim.Reaper]

the whole ai discussion confused me since i thought all prior versions were like that and was not something new with this release.

yeah, but it was praised with a lot of improvements.
the top-notch military simulation that every wargamer needs marketing sales pitch

A closer study of the information shows that is about new naval warfare , supply and some other tweaks (that's were the better AI may get assumed by old customers) and UI artwork,
as whooping TOAW 4  not TOAW 3.1

i will watch some fresh Let's Plays first and wait for a sale (or my coupon)

sure but to be fair none of their marketing indicated specifically any change to their approach with scenarios and ai settings and they have been very transparent with posts prior to release on what was changed if purchasers took the time to view.

i am not at all trying to sell the game, it may not be the best game ever but just was surprised that people assumed something the developer never said and became angry demanding a refund.

[RyanE]

I think sometimes this is why ninja marketing is a better approach to launches.  Someone not connected to the devs mentions they hope something shows up or a certain thing gets done then its off to the races.  All that pre-game content goes unread and then on release, but are screaming their disappointment to the gods because they assumed that feature was in the game.

A brand new game probably needs a full marketing push, but an update of an old classic I think is better off being quiet until launch.

[Geezer]

TOAW IV scenario list by dev recommendation for solo, PBEM, or both:  http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=4378959

[RyanE]

This OP has some serious issues...

http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=4378472

I mean the guy has made no effort to even think about what he is doing.  This is one of those times I thank the lord I never went into game development.

[JudgeDredd]

TOAW IV scenario list by dev recommendation for solo, PBEM, or both:  http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=4378959

You were ninja'd on the previous page

Hey guys, here is a list of all the scenarios, grouped by their designers' recommendation on how to play (AI or PBEM, or both):

http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=4378959&mpage=1&key=&#4378959

[JudgeDredd]

This OP has some serious issues...

http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=4378472

I mean the guy has made no effort to even think about what he is doing.  This is one of those times I thank the lord I never went into game development.

Well - there' does seem to be a (an increasing) lack of understanding and even restraint. Jumping right away to "I WANT..."

It almost fits in with the thread going on in Religion, Politics and Flame Wars called "The lesser of two evils"

[ArizonaTank]

This OP has some serious issues...

http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=4378472

I mean the guy has made no effort to even think about what he is doing.  This is one of those times I thank the lord I never went into game development.

Finding the scenarios is just slightly...just slightly counter-intuitive IMHO.  So I give him a slight kernal of truth.  But the guy didn't need to go off the rails.  I wish people would do some thinking / checking before they explode all over social media... 

[Tamas]

Well in Sengoku Jidai there is an AI that functions well in a generic skirmish battle. But we scripted scenario specific AI plans for historical scensrios to convey historical behavior and set some alternate plans to make things interesting.  The scenario will still work well without this as per skirmish. And many user made scenarios (in Pike and Shot) didn't have AI plans.

To be honest, I think the development team, (and I), got a bit too used to TOAW3 conventions of indicating scenario particularities in the briefings, and how the game's community was familiar with those.

It seems like TOAW4 is drawing in new blood though, which makes me very happy. I can understand some concern on their part when first hearing about the "pbem only" thing and a wish for clearer information on that, even if I found some of the forum reaction a bit blown out of proportion.


Also part of this "issue" is that several of the "PBEM only" scenarios play quite nicely in single player, because the default AI can make a decent enough job with it. It is hard to introduce a simple uniform "should I bother with this one" indicator for players, when we have almost 300 scenarios, two sides each, with vastly different levels of scale and scope. But we are looking into how to make one. :)

[JudgeDredd]

Rather than specifying PBEM only, etc - which does suggest no AI - perhaps having a flag to say "Enhanced AI" or "Standard AI"?

[Tamas]

Rather than specifying PBEM only, etc - which does suggest no AI - perhaps having a flag to say "Enhanced AI" or "Standard AI"?

Yeah, possibly. Something to replace the old TOAW3 convention.

[Rayfer]

Rather than specifying PBEM only, etc - which does suggest no AI - perhaps having a flag to say "Enhanced AI" or "Standard AI"?

Great idea....makes it much more understandable.

[mikeck]

These people on the Matrix forum couldn't be bothered to mess around with things for a few minutes before going on and declaring the game is broken and that it does not have an AI single player. Did not even bother to ask or to click the little button on the bottom that selects the mechanism. Nope, just jump right on the forum and ask for a refund declaring they've been robbed

[Jarhead0331]

Glad to see I'm not the only asshole on the internet. 

[Al]

These people on the Matrix forum couldn't be bothered to mess around with things for a few minutes before going on and declaring the game is broken and that it does not have an AI single player. Did not even bother to ask or to click the little button on the bottom that selects the mechanism. Nope, just jump right on the forum and ask for a refund declaring they've been robbed

No kidding.  Felt like telling that doofus to just set it to"AI vs AI" since it seemed he couldn't figure anything else out on his own.

Speaking of AI, it regularly beat me in TOAW3 so I expect to be subject to the same in 4.  The graphics and UI have been cleaned up and with the number of scenarios and the $40 price couldn't pass it up.