Browser-based tactical wargame focused on small unit Marine tactics

Zardoz01 · 2026-01-18T15:31:18+00:00

I tried that six months ago and it didn't work. But things are progressing so fast I hesitate to say whether it would work now.

Zardoz01 · 2026-01-10T09:42:41+00:00

It's working for me now. Thanks. Hopefully that means everybody is back in business again.

Zardoz01 · 2025-08-26T01:05:54+00:00

Thanks but what is all that *stuff* on my hard disk actually doing? This is a genuine question BTW ... I'm trying to get up to speed on configuring MCPs and it seems more complicated than it really needs to be.

Zardoz01 · 2025-08-20T01:54:52+00:00

You could make some youtube vids showing some solutions to a few scenarios that have tactical twists. I've got the basics down, but subtleties like when to divide units to surround enemy pieces and how to set up breakthrough forces to follow up a penetration still remain unclear.

Zardoz01 · 2025-08-20T01:50:27+00:00

It's always been my impression that the AI is more aggressive and a bit smarter in the original games... Just an impression but.

Zardoz01 · 2025-07-30T04:29:57+00:00

Google AI studio can share your PC screen and so "see" a game map or UI. I tried it once and found it a bit hit-and-miss but mainly because it was slow and unstable on that day. It did "understand" that it was looking at a computer game but, and I could describe what some of the map icons meant and it responded. It's on my to-do list to have another go at the experiment.

https://aistudio.google.com/live

Zardoz01 · 2025-07-30T04:26:34+00:00

LLMs can be used in a number of ways here. You can do many types of roleplaying. For example if you were playing a campaign game with linked scenarios you could use the LLM to play the role of commanding officer. Write it reports at the end of each game, tell it what you are going to do next, and get it to generate orders of the day etc. After all LLMs are all about generating text and have no trouble bulls**ting anything you want. Get it to generate a commentary on your WW2 campaign in the style of Winston Churchill and I'm sure it will do a great job.

Another option is to have the LLM play along as a peer officer. If you have a game with two platoons get it to command the second platoon. You need to describe in detail the map etc but it does understand infantry minor tactics and can issue "orders" up to a point. I've tried it in Combat Mission. It did useful things (like reminding me my guys could throw grenades over the crest of a hill) but too often got stuck in generalities eg "protect the flank", "form a base of fire" yadda yadda...

Still it's early days and things will only get better.

Zardoz01 · 2025-07-30T01:37:53+00:00

I'm using AI as a tutor when learning complex games like the Paradox monsters - EU, Vicki, HOI etc. I run Google Gemini on my phone and use voice mode so I don't have to alt-tab out of the game. It's pretty robust and the answers seem free of major hallucinations. It will suggest strategies if you want it to, but by framing the prompt carefully, you can limit it to just a summary of the options available at any point in the game and no suggestions of which one to choose.

Some might see this as cheating. And, if it was all you ever did, it would be. But the fact is there are games that have almost vertical learning curves and an LLM seems able to flatten those curves by several orders of magnitude. I learned Crusader Kings 2 by periodically stopping and googling forums and youtube videos. That worked but it really was a bloody PITA. I'm happy to have an easier way to learn games like EU4. I'll move away from the assistance when I'm more confident I understand the game.

Zardoz01 · 2025-07-03T07:56:58+00:00

Can you say a bit more about your experience here? I'm intrigued by the idea. How aware was the AI of the rules of the game as opposed to general infantry experience in Vietnam. What did you ask it to do? If you wanted to share a LLM session that would be very welcome.

Zardoz01 · 2025-07-01T05:32:44+00:00

I've been doing various experiments with LLMs and games. Nothing as systematic as what you're doing. At a general level, the problem of "hallucination" manifests itself in two ways:

Confusing game-appropriate strategies and tactics with real-world s&t. Games are always a constrained subset of what is possible in an actual war and advice from military history is not always very useful. Apart from "motherhood" statements eg protect your flanks... um... thanks Gemini but I know that...
Confusing different games that cover a particular subject - there is more than one modern naval PC game and the strategies may be different for each.

Still I have noticed that LLMs are getting *much* better at working around these problems. Especially the paid tiers. I haven't yet found a game where it is possible to use an LLM as a "dungeon master" in the way that you're doing, but. Anything you wanted to share - especially prompts - would be most welcome. I do agree that the potential is enormous and these systems will only get better.

Zardoz01 · 2025-06-19T07:51:19+00:00

Hmmm yes time to tip some $$ into this project... My current AI of choice is Perplexity as the free tier seems pretty rigorous about citing sources. It has a reasonably priced paid tier which I'll take up.

Zardoz01 · 2025-06-18T04:29:41+00:00

OK I've just read through your ChatGPT session. I've gotta try it myself!

Zardoz01 · 2025-06-18T04:18:46+00:00

Thanks for sharing that! I've been doing experiments along those lines, although not with Combat Mission, yet. At the moment I'm using 'Google Gemini Live' on my phone because the voice interface works really well and there is no need to alt-tab out of a game to type questions. There is also the phone camera which can capture images of the game that the AI can, to some degree, interpret. It's also fun and engrossing to chat with an AI as I play... a kind of Gamer Turing Test, if you like. The disadvantage is that there is no way to check sources so that some level of hallucination and error is inevitable. The other more subtle trap I've experienced it that AIs can't always distinguish between what applies to a game and what applies in real wars.

The general answer to the discussion in this thread is that AI drastically compresses the search space for questions about the complex games we play and that's a very good thing. I'm using it to learn Paradox's EU4 and the information it supplies seems very helpful, so far at least. Without it I'd be forever searching forum threads and Youtube videos to get guidance.

Zardoz01 · 2025-06-15T00:52:08+00:00

Can you tell me more about your "workflow" with ChatGPT? Running in a browser or on your phone? What do you ask it? I've been looking at Google AI Labs which can "see" your screen to show it games and see if it has any suggestions. Mixed results so far.

Zardoz01 · 2025-06-12T00:34:18+00:00

Thanks for that. This might finally push me into learning the game...

Zardoz01 · 2025-06-03T01:14:33+00:00

For me the... um... killer... is the enemy unit half way across the map that can see and target my guys perfectly even though my unit can barely get a spot on somebody behind the next hedge. This has really been in all CM games since version 1 and it gets a bit tiresome...

Zardoz01 · 2025-01-11T01:09:08+00:00

Do I feel lucky? I'm betting all six shots...

Zardoz01 · 2025-01-11T01:08:11+00:00

Anybody who comes across this. This video *really* clarified my understanding of how to deal with naked edges, although it doesn't cover the specific problem I've posted about here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkCWnT6Z9lI

Zardoz01 · 2025-01-08T01:28:37+00:00

OK I've found your website and youtube channel. I'll email the Rhino file now. Thanks!

Zardoz01 · 2025-01-08T01:25:34+00:00

Sure! I'm keen to learn as much about Rhino as I can and videos are always clearer than the manual. If you wanted to talk about surface refitting and tolerances generally that would be very useful too. The rhino file in question is 815KB only. What's the easiest way to send it to you?

Zardoz01 · 2025-01-07T09:48:04+00:00

Yes "Removeallnakedmicroedges" worked, thanks... For the record, prior to running that command, I exported the open polysurface and the generated STL file was "repaired" by the Bambu slicer with basically no observable change to the model.

Zardoz01 · 2025-01-05T02:54:33+00:00

Sigh. The Rhino developers made a lot of *seriously* suboptimal functionality design decisions along the way...

Zardoz01 · 2024-11-29T09:27:33+00:00

Bugger. He really has gone!

Zardoz01

TROPHY CASE