Section Leaders:
Fionn Kelly & Madmatt

Artificial Intelligence Improvements

To discuss the Artificial Intelligence guiding the computer's movements in Combat Mission one must first understand the intricacies of Combat Mission's AI and realized that many preconceptions carried over from other games must be left by the wayside if one is to understand the AI's actions.

Firstly it is helpful to realize that there is no such thing in Combat Mission as a singular all-ordering AI controlling the computer's soldiers and vehicles. Rather there is a complex interplay of 3 separate AIs, each sufficiently specialized to excel at a particular level of combat.

The three levels of AI in Combat Mission are as follows:

1. Operational AI: This level of AI generates the general strategy for the AI's troops. It decides whether to advance through the forest on the hillsides on either side of the valley or to use the road running along the valley.
   
   

2. Strategic AI: This level of AI takes the general "intent" of the Operational AI and examines how best to move the troops along the road or through the forests so that they arrive at the suspected enemy positions in a co-ordinated and combat-effective manner
   
   

3. Tactical AI: This level of AI is basically reactionary. It determines the reactions of units to enemy actions and gives the individual squads and vehicles their unique reactions to enemy fire and/or threats.
   
   

It is important to realize that the Tactical AI used to govern individual unit reaction to enemy action or threats is ONLY activated during the Action Phase and applies exactly equally to both the computer's units and the human player's units and thus it is the only level of AI which is activated during PBEM play against another human. 

The Strategic and Operational AIs never come into play during a human vs human game since they are the actionary levels of the AI which are responsible for planning ahead and co-ordinating strategical moves. The best way to visualize the levels of AI is to ascribe each a rank and outline its thought processes and levels of responsibility.

The Operational AI is best thought of as the Battalion Commander. The Operational AI looks at the overall battle-map and decides on which flank its main force will be concentrated, identifies tank-friendly country and potential choke points. It then contacts its company commanders (the Strategic AI) and informs them of its various decisions. It informs the Strategic AI which companies will advance on the left and which will advance on the right, it informs the Strategic AI to use its infantry to clear the way ahead of the supporting tanks and informs the Strategic AI where it believes the enemy will defend if he is present. The Strategic AI looks at each company and the company's end-objective and, using map analysis, works out how to work the company forward slowly in platoon-sized bounds from cover to cover. The Strategic AI sets up its organic machinegun and mortar teams to cover the march of the rifle platoons from long range and, when satisfied with the soundness of the various movement plans for the various companies hits the "Go" button and generates the Action Phase.

As the Action Phase unfolds the Tactical AI controls the reaction of the various squads to danger and threats on a squad by squad and vehicle by vehicle basis. As units come under fire the game engine is constantly working to determine if the amount of fire the squad is subjected to is sufficient to cause casualties or cause the unit to break. The game engine determines the effects of enemy fire by calculating the amount of incoming fire, the clearness of the shot, the amount of cover the friendly unit is in, the presence of nearby friendly units, the overall course of the battle, the course of the battle in the immediate vicinity of the targeted squad, the presence of friendly HQ units, the experience level of the friendly squad, how near it is to the nearest cover, how near it is to its intended destination, whether the intended destination will provide more cover and protection to the unit than its current or previous location. By mixing all these factors together the Tactical AI can come to a decision as to whether or not the squad under fire continuous onto its target, drops prone and prays or runs back to the rear crying for its collective mama. 

At the end of the Action Phase the Strategic AI takes a look at the situation and reports the locations of the individual companies, platoons, squads and vehicles to the Operational AI. The Operational AI looks at the losses sustained during the previous turn, overall losses so far, number of troops remaining, locations of friendly forces, fields of fire of friendly forces, strength and disposition of identified enemy forces, estimated strength and disposition of unidentified but glimpsed enemy units, any patterns in the enemies actions over the past few turns etc. The Operational AI utilizes all this data to determine if there is a sudden lessening or strengthening of resistance in any sector and will give orders to the strategic AI ordering forward reserves, changing the posture of units in contact with the enemy, ordering a local retreat to a more defensible location or ordering the attack to continue and pinpointing which enemy units it wishes the Strategic AI to concentrate on destroying.

The Strategic AI then looks at these orders and determines if they are feasible or not. If it is ordered to attack with a beat up Green Volksgrenadier platoon it is more than likely that it will simply call the Operational AI back and tell it to leave its dreamworld and re-examine the tactical realities of the situation. The Operational AI will then either order the Volksgrenadiers on the defensive or divert more reserves to this sector of the front to bolster it and allow it to attack once again. The diversion of reserves will necessitate the tweaking of orders all along the front since those extra reserves have to come from somewhere.

When the Strategic AI is given sufficient forces to attack it will do so in as effective a way as possible given the constraints of the situation. Sometimes time is short and manpower is plentiful and the Strategic AI will order a frontal assault on the enemy position in the sure knowledge that with time being so short it is justified in trading lives for time. At other times the Strategic AI is low on manpower and has ample time and it will conduct wide sweeping maneuvres and fall on the flanks and rears of your positions which it has pinned and identified using units to your front.

The Strategic AI is more than smart enough to know that it is suicide to order Allied tanks into a head to head shooting match with Panthers and Tigers and therefore it can often be seen using multiple vehicles to race along covered avenues to try to get flank shots on the German heavy tanks relying on numbers and speed to achieve kills. The AI is smart enough to co-ordinate its artillery and infantry attacks closely and to hit you hard while you are still reeling from its first punch. I think it truly shines as a tank commander though. I have, many times, lost many, many tanks to a single AI-controlled tank. I remember one memorable occasion I lost 8 Shermans to a single Hetzer which used hit and fade tactics to ambush my push along a fogged-in forested valley. It would race into sight from my left flank, fire an AP shell, then discharge its smoke canisters and reverse out of view before my Shermans could get a shot off in return. When I would send my tanks out to hunt it down they constantly ended up driving into its sights singly and being dispatched by shots from the front and side. Eventually I cornered it in a little forested cul-de-sac from which it could not escape without passing by a platoon of 4 Shermans. I charged it with the four Shermans, feeling confident that they would be enough to dispatch the plucky little Hetzer but lost 2 of my tanks before I finally got it. In the end I had to stop my advance there and then and settle for a draw versus the AI since only 2 Shermans out of the dozen I started with were still functional. The AI only had 2 Hetzers and a few infantry against me.

In short it is generally a pretty good foe. It isn't a Deep Blue but it comes up with a good plan and executes it intelligently and in a co-ordinated manner. It is eminently beatable so long as you keep your head about you but the minute you get over-confident or lackadaisical you are heading for the ass-kicking of your life. I've lost count of the number of times I've had that "last enemy tank" wipe out half my force because I got overconfident and didn't do everything slowly and by the book like you're supposed to. In short it's a pretty good opponent to play against and it definitely will help prepare gamers for the cut-throat world of PBEMing although you should always remember that human opponents are bound to be more cunning than even the most devilish AI.

AI's In Action!

The Allied 75mm-armed Sherman has cunningly raced into position behind the bocage and fired at the rear turret of the rightmost Panther (thus ensuring the survival of the Allied infantry platoon and tank platoon which the Panther had been happily butchering.. All Allied vehicles near the road in the picture have already been knocked out). Note the Panther to the left of the Sherman

The Strategic AI decided that its best bet was not to try and face me in a head-on knife-fight since I would, inevitably, get the first shot and had a high chance of getting a side turret penetration. Therefore it decided to accelerate away and work around the rear of my Sherman, moving through a gap in the bocage (since German tanks at this time can't pass through the bocage as US tanks can). As it moved it Machine gunned a weaponless jeep and nearby infantry before slewing into position to pump rounds into the ass of my Sherman.

Fortunately for me I was wise to this maneuvre and had set up an M8 Greyhound and 2 more Shermans in ambush positions at various angles. 8 hits later a 37mm round from the M8 destroyed the Panther and gained the M8 crew some BIG medals.

So, as you can see, the AI in CM, as we've been saying for some time really does try to come up with smart ways to come at you and will often come at you from an unwelcome direction."