30-09-2004 20:07									#1
	AI missiles targeting battleships and carriers? Support Apolyton or Terrorists Win

Apparently (which I can confirm after a few tests) the Civ2 AI loves to mass produce cruise missiles only to lob them at two specific units: the battleship and the carrier. (other units are apparently not targeted at all by the cruise missiles)

Has anyone determined which attributes determine this behaviour? - Meaning which unit stats and flags (perhaps specific slots?) are important to achieve this effect, for missile units, as well as targeted naval units? - Unit costs, missile flag, other flags?

Any help will be most appreciated!

	30-09-2004 20:44									#2
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Found out it isn't slot-based, since the carrier stats can be copied to another slot, and that slot will be targeted as a carrier. But apparently the AI won't attack a carrier on land with a missile, while one at sea earns an attack right away.

	30-09-2004 20:51									#3
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They probably attack expensive sea units.

And they aren't 'mass producing' them so much as 'magically materializing them' on their cities

	30-09-2004 22:34									#4
	Support Apolyton or Terrorists Win

I believe that N35t0r is correct in linking the value of a target with the probability that AI will attack it.

In Red Front, there are minefields whose defensive strength (IIRC, D=30+) makes it suicide for anything to attack naval units within them. As long as the Soviets only had stacks containing a few units (cruisers, destroyers, transports with troops) in the minefield, the Germans ignored them.

However, once a stack contained ~10 or more units, German battle cruisers and aircraft would attack them at every opportunity. Actual attacks by submarines were very rare but they were definitely attracted by the stacks. Cruisers and destroyers never attacked. Unquestionably, the AI was very selective in what it attacked.

I used the large stacks as a reliable means of cheaply getting rid of enemy battle cruisers and killing off the aircraft that were being spawned every turn. Also, the submarines attracted by the stacks were easier to kill off as they also tended to form stacks of multiple units.

The above observations were made in the course of 5+ games of RF 1.4 and 1.5.

	30-09-2004 23:53									#5
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Captain Nemo did a detailed write up of the experiments he did for Second Front on this forum. The type of target is directly related to it's shield cost. I can't recall the other factors, but the reason battleships and aircraft carriers are both hit by cruise missles is that they cost the same to build.

	01-10-2004 04:53									#6
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Brian is correct. There is a ratio of missle cost/prod cost of target. I'm not sure what the numbers are, but that is the nature of the formula.

The strategy guys will probably know this stuff by heart. Go ask in that forum.

	01-10-2004 09:42									#7
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Its definitely realted to missle cost/target cost but its not only sea units which are targeted. In dominion war land units are attacked too. I think it sums up the cost of all units so that is why transports are often targetted.

There is also the factor of an enemy stopping right next to a submarine carrying a missle like in ZWK. Some one once mentioned this here years ago in realtion to spear throwing greek units?

	01-10-2004 14:02									#8
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Thanx a lot guys. It springs to mind, that the naval guns in my Armada scenario did attack land units (musketeers), with a cost of 16, the same as a standard battleship. I'll do some more experiments to work out a working scheme.

Perhaps the cost to cost ratio is a more generic mechanism that determines which units the AI will attack, in general?

	01-10-2004 16:17									#9
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I suspect that missile availability and probability of success also figure slightly into the equation. In EA a missile portrays an irregulars unit. Individually these irregulars can only knock off a few hp's off their favorite (expensive) targets. When few in number they tend to dance around these targets. Then when several are available, they attack one after another.