Question about the AI

I bought the game just a couple of weeks ago and have been playing it solidly since, it`s great fun.

So far I have played random maps of the largest kind since I like the space and the lenght of the games, and I almost always lose somehow, usuallly by falling behind in the techs. I play at challenging with 7-9 opponents.

In my last game I was playing Yor and got a good start with a 30% tech lead and about 80k money in reserve when the Terrans decided noone would miss my evil empire and attacked. They were larger than me so I rushed together a defense of destroyers, which was how far I had been able to reseach. Since I had seen railguns on some Terran ships I had researched armor, and used the best particle beams to attack.

My teams of 2 destroyers killed the first waves easily, since the Terran ships didnt have shields and they were all firing railguns at my kadmium armor. I was sure that I would get a small break before he came back with modified ships to crush me, but he just kept zerging with the same inappropriate ships for hours, blocking my research and production alot because of the galactic wartax.

At the end of the game (which the Torians won with Ascension) I had lost 34 ships (3 of them destroyers) and destroyed 387 ships, most if not all of these in the defensive operation against the Terrans. My longest surviving destroyer was at level 34 by then and had 123 hp.

You might argue that since the tax and upkeep choked my small economy this Red Army infantry-charge approach worked, but I cant understand why the AI didnt change the Terran gear when it was obvious that he couldnt get in with railguns. If he had returned with some missiles and shields I would have been dead easily.

In addition to this I was treated like a banana republic in the diplomacy screen, since I had only about half the military strength of the Torians and Terrans. However, since I was winning every single fight I was obviously strong enough to be a serious threat, but still they kept blackmailing me as if I was a minor civ, and I could not negotiate peace in any way.

It was a very annoying game....

I haven`t tried the harder settings yet, is there any chance that this sort of thing can be avoided at the highest settings?

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Two thoughts:

1) Did you try any counter-attacks? For example, did you invade any planets of your foes? A couple taken planets often gets an AI to be willing or even eager for peace. If not invasions, then did you scour their planets of defenders? The AI tends to rush build cheap defenders to avoid unescorted invasions. The cost of those repeated rush builds hurts their economy a LOT soon.

2) If you had not researched invasion or engines good enough to mount an offensive, did you try to bribe any other AIs to declare war on those at war with you? You could even try to get one of those at war with you to declare war also on another, but that's risky, as you have to bribe them with something. Even if the other AIs do not actively get into the war with those attacking you, it kills existing treatoes and trade with the ones at war with you, hurting their economy more.

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Quoting ,

quoting post

it`s great fun.
I haven`t tried the harder settings yet, is there any chance that this sort of thing can be avoided at the highest settings?

it is great fun. the answer to your question is no, in a tradition sense. the AI doesn't get smarter. the AI recieves more bonus' to do more of the same. there are ways, at any level, however, to kick their ass.

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Quoting LTjim,

reply 1

Two thoughts:

1) Did you try any counter-attacks?

Wasn`t really possible since I was much smaller than him, and my economy hurt so I was forced to cut production. I had the tech for it but that doesnt really help much when it takes 30 weeks to build a transport. Also he was out of reach and getting a starbase set up between the clusters with him pouring his ill-equipped forces across didn`t seem like such a useful plan.

Diplomacy is really hard when you`re playing Yor, at least it has been when I have tried it. Even the badguys gang up on me.

The main problem wasnt that I lost however but that the AI was so poor, you`d think it would be programmed to adapt the ships to the defence they find:)

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I haven`t tried the harder settings yet, is there any chance that this sort of thing can be avoided at the highest settings?

Not all the AI algorithms are used until the AI is set to level Intelligent (game level Tough). At higher difficulty levels the AIs receives bonues.

If you set the AI to maximum CPU utilization then it will redesign its ships more frequently.

In my last game I was playing Yor and got a good start with a 30% tech lead and about 80k money in reserve when the Terrans decided noone would miss my evil empire and attacked.

When your cash reaches 20,000B you start to receive an economic penalty, so spend cash on improvements or ships to keep it below this limit.

Wasn't really possible since I was much smaller than him, and my economy hurt so I was forced to cut production.

Playing as the Yor in ToA you may place on each planet one Recruiting Center (requires Stellar Fortification) which gives you a 10% economic bonus and a 20% population bonus. Also they may place one Efficiency Center (requires Efficiency Studies III) providing a 25% economic bonus. Researching Efficiency Studies I-V will provide a further 45% economic bonus. Furthermore, the Yor planetary improvements have much lower maintenance costs per output unit. If you enable tech trading or stealing and are able to obtain stock markets from another race then you will really be laughing all the way to the bank!

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