Well it would appear to me that German print magazines don't know what they're talking about.
I coded the AI, it doesn't cheat except at the highest levels where it gets more money/bonuses. But we've never claimed that the game doesn't "cheat" at the highest level. The user manual is pretty clear -- at "Intelligent" the AI is playing its best game, with the same bonuses with the same abilities as the human player. That's where the test should be done.
And independent user can find out for themselves. Just run the game with the cheat parameter, set the AI to "intelligent", that's the highest level it goes without cheating. Hit Ctrl-U, and watch. It's not rocket science.
This test could even probably be done with the demo version. So it doesn't require someone to buy the game to prove their claim is incorrect. The AI does not send colony ships to planets that have not been scouted except when it guesses at which point it's just as likely to send it to a poor planet as a good planet.
It should be noted that not one of these reviewers contacted us to let us answer their allegation. This whole incident sours me on supporting the German market at all. A real reviewer - i.e. a professional - would have contacted us before printing such an allegation. It doesn't speak well of the German media.
