Here's my overall philosophy about SP
In my personal opinion, AI should no longer be seen as a training ground for playing online. Sure you could learn to fly better and bot pilots do fight similar to humans compared to other bots, sure you could learn to familiarize yourself with tanks, aiming etc, but then, the gameplay is so completely different, it must be said that SP/COOP is an alternative way of playing FH2
Whereas humans play essentially as a 'collective solo', sneaking and hiding, bots play more in the open as a group, with AT guns and mgs permanently manned to form defensive lines, infantry moving up against their target, relying as much on their numbers as their 'skill' and weapons to overwhelm the enemy.
I would actually say, SP/COOP plays more at peace with the layout of the map, and frankly more in line with what WW2 would have felt like... albeit, I'd want them to learn how to tea-bag just for shits and giggles
In the end, whereas CQ is totally based on skill of the player, SP/COOP, surely having this aspect with some rathe stubborn bots, is more of a show of logistics, with each armies war machine pit against the other and idealy playing according to history... But that's where the player comes in
The kind of work I want us to do in SP/COOP specifically is to give a complete alternative to the CQ scene. A reason why I specifically wanted to see Artillery firing at all times and at the limit of its range is to get the complete experience.
Bots, unlike humans don't care for their solo existence but being 'robots' they do as they are told, and what I'd want us to tell em is to do things as close to reality as the game would permit: Stuka's flying high and diving sharply,
Tank standing at range and blasting away with HE at Static defenses, mgs at infantry and AP at other tanks. Infantry would move, stopping only to take aim and fire, mgs proning at the limit of their range to give cover fire, getting up and moving in and doing it again.
AT infantry would move in more cautiously, dashing up to tanks and trying to take them out while their focus is else where. Aircrafts would strafe infantry and light vehicles and try to eliminate other fighters doing the same thing as well as clearing the skies of divebombers and such.
Scout vehicles would move in fast and cause havok on infantry formations and emplaced positions, engaging tanks only if there is the remotest chance of dealing damage to them, using their speed to get clear before it can retaliate
APCs will mechanize the infantry attack, them getting in for cover, getting out close to their
target while giving covering fire.
It always warms me when I see elderly people enjoying the game and I always wish our efforts meet thier particular preference - After all, it being WW2, being like me, CQ qould seem rather unsatisfactory in frequent play, and I can imagine its the same for them, and more so since I can imagine it being close to home
Some aspects I'd love to work better regarding this philosophy:
1/ Artillery firing at its full range
2/ More deadly strafing runs
3/ All units doing precisely what the commmander ordered, improving tactical play for humans
4/ Bots being able to obey players orders in totality, with players even able to get bots to follow them in the event an objective would best be capped by numbers...
5/ Bots being able to dash more
6/ Stukas steeper dip-diving
7/ Tanks perfected in thier motion: Firing from range HE as far as they would fire AP, and moving in once the target is eliminated or to get a better shot - This is partly there thanks to Leagion
8/ Bots using all mgs more, especially deployables, so players can set up mgs and have bots cover them while they move in, like they can for mortar
9/ Armored cars and scout cars focusing on Infantry as they should, and less on tanks
10/ Bots seeing a tank and instantly laying down a mine before engaging with something else
11/ One time use of smoke by tanks before agressively using HE or AP, and not using smoke on underpowered targets like APCs and light guns
12/ Light tanks not going toe to toe with heavier tanks but engaging them as they move fast to their own targets, or moving at in a radius around the heavy while engaging it rather than driving right up to it
13/ PZIIs engaging at range and not stopping in their fire as they do now
14/ Bots being more senstive to sound, especially for static guns
15/ AT riflemen using their guns at the limit of their range, like mgs, both to snipe and take out tanks, presenting themselves as small targets, perhaps not firing at heavy tanks at all
16/ Using AP mines when bots see enemy infantry in the exact same way they would AT mines
17/ Less tunnel vision
18/ Bots being biased to use more abundant weapons than scarce ones so bots think rifles are better against infantry than mgs and engineer kits against tanks than AT kits, for immersion
19/ A better communication system that can get bots taunting engaged enemy, audibly communicating across the battlefield
20/ Multiple speed on vehicles that allow mechanized forces to move in unision and speeding up either when engaged or when close to their target
21/ More balanced use of ordinance, with planes always flying, guns always manned and tanks at the rear always being brought to the fight so that the map layout and the vehicle's mechanics are more of a tactical factor than luck
22/ Commander AI that can tell his men to defend a key point on some maps without it having been under a threat first
23/ Commander being able to use artillery assets, perhaps at key points in a battle, and not because a flag is being capped
24/ Bot idling
What impresses me about what we have
1/ Bots use of the APC, especially the Hanomag, with bots fightnig in and around it
2/ Bots use of static guns
3/ Mortar use
4/ Plane handling
5/ Clivewill's AIX Stuka mechainics
6/ Planes dropping bombs
7/ The hope for artillery
8/ Infantry logic and range, save for any afore-mentioned gripe
9/ navmeshes, especially for newer maps
10/ The nebelwerfer
11/ Spotting
12/ Minimalized use of grenade launchers.. Once upon a time, you couldn't take cover without being hit with one for doing so
13/ Accuracy of bots - Quite cruel, but seemingly more 'realistic'than CQ
Maps that seem to bring these perfectly in are Totalize and alam Halfa and Purple Heart Lane, bringing out the beauty of the maps themselves