I wouldn't mind having a few AI GVs in town just patrolling the streets. Should be a simple code right?
1. Follow the paths/streets.
2. End of street, turn around and repeat.
3. Tank within line of sight gets shot at.
4. Troops within line of sight gets shot at.
I helped work on a game while back quite close to Close Combat that never got developed, one of the ideas that was implimented was the map was "Scanned" For movable paths, all walls/buildings/trees were marked with a "indestructible" tag - this way the tanks could target buildings, however were not allowed to drive over them - in a sense if it got to a brick wall (a building) it would simply turn and move around it. In theory it worked fine, the Tanks were able to move on their own, now the problem was trying to add basic rules like keeping the front of a tank towards the enemy - didn't always work (50% of time)
the Ai did have some logic to it, for example it would use a variable path drummed up, it would never take the same path once, orders were also not hard to impliment, meaning 1 tank could be attached to a platoon or it would roam separate.
All said and done it still came up far to short as far as the AI was concerned, much as we poured script after script into it, it would still try to attack a Tiger from the front with an M4(75) by itself, even when it did group up tanks to attack it the Tiger was in "defensive" mode in which it would be sitting some 4-800yards away from everything and simply pick off an entire platoon of tanks that tried to rush it.
Whole goal was to focus strictly on ground warfare in a game thats not even 4000 yards long by 4000 yards, you had basic orders like attack, defend, advance and retreat.
Honestly best option is what Titanic said, and add basic tanks in a town setting (where the roads are free to roam and not further) this would be a major addition, I would say they could work on the "Spawn" principle where every 45 minutes 2 tanks spawn for a max of 6? Depending on the countries ENY would factor in the type of tank it gets, whether T34/85 or M4(76). I have absolutely no idea if this can be done, or scripts added for it I am assuming it can considering there already is an AI built in for aircraft.
I helped work on the scripts for the game but it was pretty much out of my league, I have seen recent advances in AI scripting in the past 2-3 years enough I do believe it can be done, one game I play all the time called War in the Pacific AE has some pretty awesome script designs.
The Ai has a time frame when it can execute scripts based on Time and troops available, if a criteria isn't met then it simply cannot run the script. Basically scripts like "Attack Port Moresby" Date start 420501 Date End 420801. Naval Support would be TF 1 or the KB, Airborne could be used or Rear Guards (japanese elite ground combat units).
Mission type: Surface Combat w/ Assault, Sze would be #2 Large - Response type would be Maximum, Trigger base Port Moresby, forward base is Rubaul.
Basically this tells the AI its ok to use elite units, between 05/42 and 8/42 attempt an assault on Moresby using the KB for carriers and protection and a large surface TF to clear the path.
What does this mean? basically if you know your history between 5/42 and 8/42 the japanese AI will make an attempt on it - same for midway etc.
This being said I can see Surface Task forces being made AI as they simply travel to the nearest base to "bombard" and retreat or engage warships.
If a real player occupies a cruisers 8 inch gunner then its disabled for the AI, however its able to act as a task force and do simple tasks.
