Hi, just started a game on severe/normal, and in turn 8 a Draguul Frigate explored a System I had a Scout. In the combat I coud see it had a xp star, a shield and a improved cannon. In turn 9!!! The next turn the system was colonized out of nothing from them. In turn 13 another frigate used to have 4 xp stars and they declared war. I understand that the KI has some advantages but this is awefull if you have another race near you.
Hi, on Severe the AI starts more developed than the human player, which includes some more initial technologies. The initial frigates of the Draguul start with regular crew experience, due to their Warlord special ability, therefore the 1 XP star you witnessed at turn 9. On the Severe difficulty, the Draguul start with expert ship support infrastructure in their homeworld, which allows them to build ships with the Elite crew XP level (+1 than usual due to their Warlord special ability) which grants 4 stars. So, by turn 13 the homeworld produced that frigate you saw with 4 stars. As for the colonization in turn 10, I assure you they used a colony ship to colonize that world. You probably couldn't see the contents of the fleet they had in that system due to basic scanners, and in the battle encounter only military ships participate, so you probably only saw the frigate. On the higher difficulty the AI starts more advanced than the human player but I assure you that the AI doesn't cheat. So, there are no free or "ghost" colony ships, no free crew XP for ships or anything like that. After the game starts, the AI plays by the same rules as the human player, following what was defined in the game setup screen. Starting near the Draguul can be a challenge, especially in the higher difficulty levels. However, you already know more or less what to expect from them, unless you can convince them to play nice via diplomacy deals. Other races will tend to be less aggressive. You can always try to defend your borders with them well, and try to make friends with any other races that may happen to be nearby. If you still find it too challenging, then perhaps you could try reducing the difficulty level to Hard, and see if that works better for you. That or you could reduce the aggression modifier in the new game setup screen by one level. If you want more time to develop until you bump into another empire you could always increase the distance between star systems a bit, or consider going with fewer players.
If you have another race near you on harder settings... you're in a bad spot. Be nice, accept tribute if you must, and get a credible fleet up fast, even if it consists of un-shielded ships. If the AI sees that you don't have much of a fleet, you're toast, especially with certain races. P.S. Play with the numbers and customize the difficulty if you need to. Don't want them having a 150% construction rate, manually alter it. The game, while written very well with a potent AI, can be beat. In fact, you may say that this game is so well put together, that it has inspired me to learn "how to throw up in color" That's a private joke for @Adam Solo . Happy hunting
My bad... though you must admit my own description is more action oriented Yes, it's been quite enlightening, though it's reduced my available free time for on-line activities and games. As I have a specific purpose in mind, it made the most sense to start with Python, I'm a month in now, and while I was intimidated at first, I'm way past that now.
