Personalities
A personality can be chosen for the computer opponent on each side. A personality is a setting fixed without looking at the board, and all it passes down to the layers below is a set of coefficients: how hard to press, how much to value terrain, and so on. On the same board with the same objective, a different personality produces different operations and a different way of fighting.
The personalities
- Auto — Reads the situation and switches among the types below by itself (see the end of this page).
- Average — The baseline. Every coefficient is at its standard value.
- Cautious — Restrains its attacks and stays on good ground. Keeps a strong reserve and is slow to give ground. When ahead, it consolidates.
- Aggressive — Presses through. Less attached to terrain, it puts advancing first; the reserve is thin and most of its forces go to the front.
- Delay — Avoids contact and uses terrain to slow the enemy’s advance. Withdraws readily to preserve its forces.
- Seize — Takes victory hexes by actually occupying them. It presses less than Aggressive and yields less than Cautious.
- Maneuver — Seeks encirclement in preference to a frontal contest. Encircling attacks count for more, and fast units move to the flanks.
- Ultra-Cautious — Cautious taken further. Even when narrowly behind, it consolidates what it holds.
- Berserk — The coefficients are those of Aggressive. The difference is that the drive-forward order applies without exception: even a lone sentry on an objective goes forward. The only exemption is the escort of a unit whose loss ends the game.
- Incompetent — The coefficients are those of Average. However, every Default On routine of the strategic and operational layers is switched off, and its moves are erratic. It fights the enemy in front of it, but has no plan as an army.
Coefficients
| Average | Cautious | Aggressive | Delay | Seize | Maneuver | Ultra-Cautious | Berserk | Incompetent | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aggression multiplier | 1 | 0.7 | 1.25 | 0.5 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 0.7 | 1.25 | 1 |
| Aggression ceiling | 1.5 | 0.75 | 1.5 | 0.7 | 1.1 | 1.5 | 0.75 | 1.5 | 1.5 |
| Weight on terrain | 1 | 1.6 | 0.7 | 1.8 | 1.2 | 0.8 | 1.6 | 0.7 | 1 |
| Share held in reserve | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.25 | 0.15 | 0.15 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.2 |
| Contact avoidance | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Encirclement multiplier | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2.5 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Willingness to withdraw | 1 | 0.3 | 1 | 1.5 | 0.6 | 1 | 0.3 | 1 | 1 |
| Response to enemy intent | 0 | 0.15 | -0.15 | 0.15 | 0.05 | 0 | 0.15 | -0.15 | 0 |
| Force ratio sought on the main axis | 2 | 2 | 1.5 | 2 | 2 | 1.8 | 2 | 1.5 | 2 |
| Holding a lead | 1 | 1.8 | 0 | 1 | 1.4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 |
| Margin at which holding begins | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
- Aggression multiplier and ceiling: the multiplier applied to the strength of its attacks, and the upper limit.
- Weight on terrain: how much it values standing on good ground.
- Share held in reserve: the proportion of forces kept back.
- Contact avoidance: above zero, it keeps its distance from the enemy.
- Encirclement multiplier: the strength of moves aimed at encirclement.
- Willingness to withdraw: near zero it holds to the last; above one it withdraws readily.
- Response to enemy intent: when positive, it defends the sector the enemy is heading for; when negative, it attacks all the harder there.
- Force ratio sought on the main axis: the ratio of forces against the enemy that it wishes to assemble on the main axis.
- Holding a lead: how strongly it consolidates when ahead on victory points.
- Margin at which holding begins: 0 means only when strictly ahead, 1 even when level, 2 even when one point behind.
How Auto switches
With Auto, the opponent first reads, each turn, whose side time is on, and then looks at the ratio of forces to choose a type.
| Situation | Type chosen |
|---|---|
| The enemy has been destroyed | Aggressive |
| It loses unless it breaks the enemy | Aggressive; Maneuver when inferior, or when a smaller share of its units than of the enemy’s can act each turn |
| Holding is enough to win | Cautious; Delay when inferior |
| Ahead on projection, but the enemy still has a way to reverse the result | Seize; Aggressive with overwhelming superiority, Delay when inferior |
On boards with no turn limit, the choice is made on the ratio of forces alone.