I attacked the Sulak at Igiabdit a few turns later. My forces consisted of 4 Destroyers, 1 Cruiser and 1 Battleship, (16 SSP) against 2 Frigates, 3 Cruisers and 4 Battleships (34 SSP)… I destroyed the enemy fleet while suffering no losses save for a captured Frigate. This instantly dropped the Sulak behind the Nova in the rankings as I have damaged their military significantly while also taking their colony. My own position was obviously strengthened further. With several choices in front of me, I have opted to mass forces at Eanope and will strike more AIs soon. I already feel confident enough to fight 3-4 of them at once… let’s see how it goes.
Stick a fork in them, they're done. here I am at war with everyone save the Bugs. I've visited mass destruction indiscriminately and also Captured Nova Prime. The AIs have tried to counterattack, but my forces are too advanced and numerous for that to do anything more than slow me down a bit. I'm freezing this save and calling it quits, I'll ramp up the difficulty to maximum allowed and play one for fun now.
Yes, I'd very much like to see that! I have yet to see a report of someone beating the game (full win - either conquest or diplomatic) in Emperor/Impossible, especially on the bigger maps. I guess you probably did it before, but was it with the latest version? I think your report would be very helpful to learn how the AI really is at max difficulty, so we could improve it, as well. I think we could also think in launching the challenge on the Steam forums, although we could wait a bit until we improve the AI a bit more And after we take care of the "Support Ships" exploit. We could broaden the challenge for everybody, and ask for AARs after 1.0.4 perhaps. Emperor/Impossible vs 6/7 races on Huge. No charismatic trait. Fixed tech trees and perks. Few events perhaps. That would be interesting to see.
Very well, this is a setting I struggle with more often than not. I will start it tonight, just give me a couple of days, (if you can) before releasing 1.04 Honestly, even the severe/Emperor can give me trouble from time to time...this should be quite interesting.
1.0.4 will still take a few days, if it will be released this week. Most probably only on the weekend or shortly after, it's my current estimate. So, please take your time. I know it can be a big challenge. Still, as important as seeing if you can beat the game, is to collect notes on the AI so we can see where the best opportunities for improvement may be. A Viceroy/Impossible session would also be interesting to have. However, I suppose you'd find that setting quite approachable for an experienced player such as yourself? Thanks!
