I really hate the new "bottleneck/blob punishment" mechanic

[superking]

on the other hand, it would make neutering said AI system very fiddly since AI numbers on the planet will be kept proportional to your own by the eye command station 

[Suzera]

on the other hand, it would make neutering said AI system very fiddly since AI numbers on the planet will be kept proportional to your own by the eye command station 

Exactly the problem with making them worth 15 or 20 AIP and replacing CSs. It means the game becomes pretty one method again. In this case, turtling. Better to replace warp gates with them and make them 5 AIP.

[zoutzakje]

I don't think this is such a bad idea at all. the more challenging chris will make the game for us, the more I will enjoy it. Of all the strategy games I've played I've never found one so challenging as AI war.
The new mechanic could use some balancing of course, golems shouldn't get to 10k+ firepower all by themselves (though I doubt the extra ships would make much difference for me, considering the low difficulties I still play on ). but I'm sure that's something there will be worked on in the future.
but overall I'm just happy chris and the arcen staff is still putting new stuff in the game, wheter it's something good or bad.
you don't see that often... getting weekly patches for a game that's been released more than a year ago. That's pretty much the main reason I bought Tidalis too, coz I like you guys
so keep up the good work

[Moo]

on the other hand, it would make neutering said AI system very fiddly since AI numbers on the planet will be kept proportional to your own by the eye command station 

Exactly the problem with making them worth 15 or 20 AIP and replacing CSs. It means the game becomes pretty one method again. In this case, turtling. Better to replace warp gates with them and make them 5 AIP.

If they replaced *some* command stations only, rather than all, would that work better?

[Suzera]

You mean some like the 3/4+ of planets there are now?

[Vinraith]

You mean some like the 3/4+ of planets there are now?

That's difficulty scaled.

[superking]

the AI eye could be rebalanced to replace command stations on AI planets where it seeds,

You mean some like the 3/4+ of planets there are now?

That's difficulty scaled.

its more like 1/4 on difficulty 7.6

[NickAragua]

Ok, I played a little bit with the patch, and I haven't seen any unusually large extra AI threat come out, and I've got a full cap of Mark I and II ships of all kinds plus a bunch of mercenaries and fabbed MK V cruisers. I'll see what happens once I capture that MK IV factory + human rebel colony planet (twofer!)

[x4000]

From the patch that will come out in the morning:

* The experimental anti-bottleneck/anti-giant-fleet from the last version was problematic and on shaky logical ground to begin with.  It was an interesting brief experiment, and thanks to everyone for bearing with us and sharing your thoughts whether you loved it or hated it.  But this is one mechanic where trying to fix it is likely to just spiral out of control, and we'd rather devote our time and attention to more promising avenues.