Work is continuing on the new Goal-Oriented Action Planning (GOAP) based AI rework for Europe in Ruins, and we've finally reached a point where we think it's worth showing some of it off!
The video below is a full 2v2 comp-stomp using the current v0.2.7 WIP build, with two human players taking on a Hard Wehrmacht AI and Hard Panzer Elite AI.
The biggest difference with the new AI is that it is starting to actually build a picture of what is happening around it instead of simply reacting to whatever happens to be directly in front of it. It keeps track of friendly and enemy forces, remembers enemies it has recently encountered, has a better understanding of what different units are good at, and uses that information when deciding what it needs and what to send into the fight.
A lot of work has also gone into deployment and reinforcement planning. The AI can decide what kinds of units it needs, plan reinforcement waves, recognize different types of anti-tank and support options, and handle some of the more specialized EiR deployments such as airborne and glider units. It is also getting better about where units come onto the field and how they move into the battle instead of simply sending everything straight toward the middle of the map.
We've also made quite a bit of progress with unit cohesion, scouting, support weapon movement, safer deployments, battlefield awareness, and how the AI reacts as a fight changes around it. Armor in particular is starting to look considerably better than it did earlier in development. That said, this is still very much a work in progress.
The game also showed us several areas that still need work. There are units and unit types that the AI doesn't really know how to get the most out of yet, and its fallback, retreat, and general handling of units that are damaged or getting into trouble still needs improvement. Tank behavior has come a long way, but there is still plenty we want to improve there as well.
One other thing this testing has made pretty obvious is that a number of our existing AI companies need to be rebuilt or adjusted to be more competitive. We can keep making the AI smarter, but it still needs to be given a good company and the right tools to work with. And there is still a lot on the roadmap. Some of the bigger pieces coming up include deeper territory and victory-condition awareness, better understanding of dangerous areas of the battlefield, dedicated behavior for support weapons, light vehicles and AT guns, better use of terrain, LOS, cover and buildings, stronger coordination between groups of units, and better preservation of units during longer fights. So this definitely isn't meant to show off a finished AI. It's really just a look at where the project is right now and how far things have come so far.
Things are starting to look pretty nice! So stay tuned as we work to get this new AI ready for release in the coming months. And in the meantime, we are also planning for the future of EIR with the upcoming release of COH 1: Definite Edition. But more on that later!