Recently I suggested to a player at steam some harsh difficulty levels to give him a challenge…and Adam Solo returned the favor. So here we are once again, to see how I fare, (and how the AI behaves) at maximum difficulty. The setting is as follows. Impossible for the AIs (advanced start) Emperor for myself Standard tech and culture Few events Custom race for me (+1 science, +1 production, +.5 money, suspicious) with only a single racial bonus, Armistice (it might come in handy) I restarted the game when my first attempt gave me a rich human world (heavy g) in my home system, as that shouldn’t happen, but with seven races total, (six stock and my custom), it is possible that the Humans were nearby and I benefited as a result. The game began with my race spawning moderately off center of the map and I began with my usual moves. Unlike my last session however, I made contact with an AI on turn 49, the Nova. They instantly asked for tribute… and I gave it to them as my military is a joke. Luckily, that pleased them and they offered a trade treaty right after that which I accepted. I’ve hired Jelly for my Homeworld and fulfilled his request for an econ cap, I also found credits at Terronda which I used on the Militia cruiser a short while later. The cruiser is a rust-bucket, but having it may keep the AI from pouncing too early while I am still weak. I also managed to hire the Sarla and set her on my largest world, which unfortunately suffers from tidal lack and reduces my maximum population there. By the time I got my survey ship and explored the systems in range, I was short on cash, (the aforementioned Cruiser), so once I finished exploring I scrapped the survey ship so I can Hire Rakka. There was one more noteworthy event that allowed me to go up a culture level, I used it to get to the middle of the wealth tree and secured my finances by doing so. Now , I’m constructing a colony ship for a planet in my home system, and that will help once it comes on-line. I’m still behind the Nova according to the graph, (except for military, the Cruiser again), but I’m focusing my research laser tight. If all goes well, I’ll attack them before they can arm.
I’m struggling already with this one. I ran into the Draguul a little after turn 100, and the Sulak and Humans after that. The lizards attacked without a declaration of war and I beat them back, destroying one of their Cruisers in the process. I’m listed as fourth place right now with the second most powerful fleet (2 Cruisers, 1 Destroyer, 2 Frigates), but I just haven’t had enough time to build up. I need to finish the colony ship under construction at my HW and colonize Miloruta before someone else grabs it, that system cannot be allowed to go to an AI. After that, I need more warships so I can try and counter attack the lizards, luckily the Sulak just attacked them so I should be able to damage them.
Good luck! I started a campaign tonight as well with similar settings. I'll start an aar tomorrow night to report on my progress.
Good. I resumed the game when I got home and shortly ran into the other AIs. In this session, it is the Sulak and Humans who are up for the council vote. I took a strictly defensive posture and waited things out, expanding slowly both with a new outpost and a new colony. My fleet was boosted but only by a few units as I’m rushing military tech in order to produce highly advanced ships. I have a surprise for the AI if I can just stay low key a while longer. The Draguul are getting their lizard butts kicked by the Sulak, and even though they turned down my initial overtures for peace, they eventually proposed it themselves. I accepted I signed trade treaties with my cousins the Humans and with the Lava heads, I need to keep everyone happy just a while longer…one big happy family
I tried to get to around turn 220 while staying at peace, expanding my empire by colonizing several more worlds within my territory and creating a couple of outposts as well. The goal was to research enough tech to build the kind of ships that tore through the AI in the past. Unfortunately, on the same turn that I completed the last research required, the Sulak Attacked at Epleuls. The good news is that my older obsolete ships were able to fend off the attack and I now have an enemy to focus on. I have some assault ships ready to go, and as soon as I can refit/construct additional ships those swine will pay. Oh, that surprise for the AI I mentioned, Adamantium Armor
My offensive began a short while later and I struck at Seon. There were three colonies there, 2 human and one Sulak…so I declared war on the humans as well. I captured all three colonies and added them to my realm, burning through a few assault ships in the process. Both The Sulak and Humans attempted numerous counterattacks, some with the larger ships found in ruins… but my ships destroyed them easily. Between my new colonies and the destruction of several vessels, I’ve jumped in overall ranking from sixth to third. My game is similar to the experience I had in severe except that I have fewer ships and the AIs are better developed, still, I can win this. The strategy now is to conquer colonies in a clockwise movement, using Seon as a starting point, and continue till I reach Ashberry, at that point war with the Nova will come. In the meantime, my only worry is the council vote and the Nova who have taken the Human’s place in the running. I will seek a quick peace with my cousins since they are now fighting the Nova, and I want to ensure they can focus on them exclusively. I don’t want them distracted by a war with me and the Nova benefiting as a result. I’ve taken no losses yet, and it isn’t due to my armor, the AI ships are lacking numbers and to a lesser degree, punch.
Going deeper into this, I can confirm some of what @aReclusiveMind found Some AI ships are well equipped, I ran into one with nightmare missiles... but the end result is something like this I've gotten downright cocky now, taking on vastly superior forces and winning the tactical battles The strategic situation is a bit slow as I'm running out of assault ships and can't build war ships fast enough to garrison my conquests. Luckily I picked up Hyperdrive from one of my now 3 enemies (at war with the Sulak, Humans and Draguul), and that increases my mobility tremendously
I'm starting to see better ships from the AI Adam, class VIII shields, Nightmare missiles and some excellent direct fire weapons. The problem they are having now is lack of numbers, I've been constantly reinforcing the theater while they've been steadily losing ships. It may be slow, but I continue to wrest territory from them. I haven't had any combat issues, and I faced fighters from an enemy station, they launched a single squadron so everything seemed right.
Ok, this is great feedback. This tells me the 1.0.1 changes to the AI were effective but not enough. A small tweak should get you bigger AI fleets coming your way in 1.0.4 \Edit: By the way, how many ships and of which class do you usually see the AI sending your way when they attempt an invasion, say mid and then late game?
In this particular session? I’m afraid the Sulak are no longer capable of serious offensive action and the Humans have avoided me for some time. I can give you an aggregate view from all my sessions, (and I’ve had several) on 1.03 though. The AI mostly conducts raids undertaken by one or two ships, usually ranging in class between Destroyer and Battleship. Considering that I play the game in pretty much a natural pace, this is normal for around turn 200, (plus or minus), when I usually go on the warpath. The AI deftly withdraws from these raids unless it has an advantage (I forgot, or was unable to defend their target) Serious invasions are easy to spot, they will be conducted by 5-8 ships and there will be Battleships involved as well as some smaller classes. Again perfectly reasonable for the time frame of when I’m at war. But these are few and far in between. As mentioned in another post, assault ships always hold back at a nearby system, if the AI wins the battle, the assault ships then move in. In my opinion what is holding them down is the overall lack of ships. At around turn 200, it is doubtful that any AI has more than a dozen or so warships, possibly less if they’ve already been at war with another AI. This is where the fewer but more important ships philosophy hurts them. When all you have is 12-15 ships, losing a handful can be devastating. On less than impossible, where I have the ability to build up moderately quicker, the AI is hard pressed if I can match their overall numbers at the start of a conflict. If I manage to pull off a surprise attack, and destroy even a few of their ships with an initial strike, they don’t seem capable of coming back from it. Even in my current session, the only thing slowing me down is the distance, amount of space I have to occupy, and constant need for assault ships. Perhaps at this point, the AI should be attempting to produce ships and concentrate for an attack, maybe they are even doing it and I just don’t notice as I can attack at will without fear of being repulsed. Interestingly enough, in my current session the Sulak are allied with the Nova, If they coulsd somehow get them to enter the war and come to their defense, I would instantly lose the initiative and be forced to cease my offensive… in plain terms, I would be in real trouble. Not only has this not happened, but the Nova actually gifted me a Cruiser a few turns ago. So unless you can get the Ai to become more militaristic, perhaps you could explore ways of having their allies or friends come to their aid. Quantity Adam has a quality all of its own, the AIs just don’t have the numbers for anything but a slow steady demise when faced with a player that has become acclimated to ISG
That is important feedback to have, thanks. So, by raids you mean attacks on relatively poorly defender worlds, like outposts? Your usual response is to concentrate a defense fleet and neutralize the raid, or are they attempting to raid a system that already had too many defenders for the raid to be successful? On the invasions, you say they are fairly sparse and few, that the AI doesn't bring enough number of ships and that assaults usually wait in another system before the invasion. Have you see assaults also in the actual invading fleet of the AI? The assaults, and bombers, should accompany the warships if an invasion is to be attempted. Let me know.
They pounce on anything left un-defended. If a system has both a colony and an outpost, and there are no defenders, they will attack the outpost and take it. This situation is dangerous as it gives them deeper range for follow up. They will attack undefended colonies, or colonies that only feature an orbital base and attempt to destroy the base, sometimes they succeed. And they do attack well defended systems as well, usually firing a volley or two and then withdrawing before they can be destroyed. Even this serves a purpose as it keeps a player off balance. I have never seen assault ships accompany a true strike fleet. I have been defeated by a strike fleet and seen the assault ships arrive a turn or two later, had my own relief force not arrived on the same turn, the colony would have been lost. I have seen the AIs swallow other AIs whole, numerous times, whatever they are doing, it is working for them and they obviously invade. The Sulak colonies at Seon and Lau are inhabited by lizards, these are worlds they conquered from the Draguul I have not seen them raze colonies, but I have faced numerous colonies with planetary shields, both in this session and the others I played in 1.03. I needed bombers to destroy the shields before I could invade, I trust the AI had similar experiences. Judging by the fact that the AI factions can conquer worlds in the latter stages of the game, I am positive they are using bombs, otherwise they wouldn't be able to take worlds from other AIs
This part is strange, I'll have to look this up to see what's going on. Assaults should accompany warships when an invasion is to be attempted, and not just wait somewhere else. Sure, it can work too, but let me see what's going on. By the way, good news on the few numbers issue. The problem is that the algorithm was giving too much weight to shields, armor and engines. We know the AIs usually have great shields and armor but poor weapons, this was making them susceptible to think the odds were good but actually, the armor and shields were not really helpful when all you have is fusion beams and nuclear missiles. I'm going to address this and they should commit more forces now.
That's fantastic news. Ultimately having too little offense just makes them bullet sponges, not threats. That is what I have seen in my later turns. The AI has a lot of ships, tons of armor, shields, and structure to fight through, but they can't even get through my shields most of the time. They lose their entire fleet and I lose nothing. The battles take awhile, but I know the end result before it starts. This makes the battles feel like more of a chore than a joy to fight.
The commitment to engines is helpful. I have had hard times when the AI ships were clearly faster than my own. Try to ensure that they don't lose this as it gives them excellent capability on the operational level.
Yes, more often than not, that is the case, but not exclusively so. I now have the Sulak with class 8 shields and very good weapons facing off against my class 5 designs with phasors but poorer missiles. The problem is that by the time they started to field these designs, I had a commanding numerical advantage at the front lines
