pinehilljoe
Staff Sergeant
I've been playing Avalon Hill's Victory in the Pacific (2nd edition) against Claude, Anthropic's AI, and it has worked better than I expected. I spent many hours playing the game in high school. I find solitaire play hard to stay with now, and a face-to-face opponent isn't always available. Here's how I do it.
The setup. I run the game in VASSAL on my PC and move all the counters for both sides. Claude plays Japan and I take the Allies. Claude has the rulebook and both Orders of Appearance, and keeps its own notes on the game between sessions.
Hidden moves. VITP depends on not knowing where the other side's patrols and raiders are going. Before I reveal my moves, Claude seals its choices in writing, so it's committed before it sees mine. Then we compare, and I place the Japanese counters as ordered.
My orders. I enter my patrols, air units, amphibians, raiders and carrier targets in a small spreadsheet created by Claude, with drop-down menus. That keeps my typing to a minimum and stops units going astray. Claude also checks for any of my ships showing at sea that I haven't declared.
Dice. Claude rolls all the dice by computer, but only when I say "go." Before every roll it reads back each attacker and its target, so we both know what's being rolled.
Screenshots. I send a screenshot after each phase. Claude checks the board against its records, catching things like stale markers and units in the wrong area, and saves each picture to the game's folder.
Rules. We play the standard rules with optional rules 19–22. When a question comes up, Claude looks it up in the rulebook before answering, and our rulings are written down so they carry over to the next game.
The extras. After each turn Claude writes an after-action report in a period voice: a Cronkite wire dispatch, an Ernie Pyle column, a diary entry by Admiral Ugaki, and Spruance's report to Nimitz. At the end of each game we write up lessons learned, drawing on old articles from The General as well.
Results so far.
Attached are a couple AAR's from the games.
The setup. I run the game in VASSAL on my PC and move all the counters for both sides. Claude plays Japan and I take the Allies. Claude has the rulebook and both Orders of Appearance, and keeps its own notes on the game between sessions.
Hidden moves. VITP depends on not knowing where the other side's patrols and raiders are going. Before I reveal my moves, Claude seals its choices in writing, so it's committed before it sees mine. Then we compare, and I place the Japanese counters as ordered.
My orders. I enter my patrols, air units, amphibians, raiders and carrier targets in a small spreadsheet created by Claude, with drop-down menus. That keeps my typing to a minimum and stops units going astray. Claude also checks for any of my ships showing at sea that I haven't declared.
Dice. Claude rolls all the dice by computer, but only when I say "go." Before every roll it reads back each attacker and its target, so we both know what's being rolled.
Screenshots. I send a screenshot after each phase. Claude checks the board against its records, catching things like stale markers and units in the wrong area, and saves each picture to the game's folder.
Rules. We play the standard rules with optional rules 19–22. When a question comes up, Claude looks it up in the rulebook before answering, and our rulings are written down so they carry over to the next game.
The extras. After each turn Claude writes an after-action report in a period voice: a Cronkite wire dispatch, an Ernie Pyle column, a diary entry by Admiral Ugaki, and Spruance's report to Nimitz. At the end of each game we write up lessons learned, drawing on old articles from The General as well.
Results so far.
- Game 1: Japan conceded after Turn 7, with the Allies at +15.
- Game 2: an Allied victory, at +25 after Turn 8.
- Game 3: ended by agreement after Turn 6, Allies +8. In that one Japan's early +15 lead vanished once its carriers were traded, and leaving the Royal Navy alive in the Indian Ocean cost Japan the game.
Attached are a couple AAR's from the games.
