Topics

1

AI War / Do resources/energy get more scarce at higher difficulty levels?

« on: December 14, 2012, 01:53:32 AM »

I've read the various wiki entries on the effects of choosing higher AI opponents, but I remain unclear on one thing.  Does the player get fewer resources  -- or less energy -- on 7/7 than, say, on 5/4?  Or, conversely, do units take more resources to build, or more energy to maintain?

I ask because in my current 7/7 game, I am having more trouble maintaining any resource stockpile, and I also have energy problems I didn't have at all in my 5/4 game.  Could it just be that I'm more panicky in my new game and I'm building more stuff more frantically?  LoL.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts on this.

2

AI War / Help with Mark-selection filter

« on: December 09, 2012, 02:52:29 PM »

This filter has always given me fits.  I tried changing the default hotkeys (N plus alpha) to a single keypress, like F1 or a letter key.  It doesn't seem to work.  Must this hotkey have two keypresses?  Ugh.  N plus a number key is just too big a stretch for my hands.

Also, it doesn't seem to matter whether I select ships first and then hit the key, or whether I hold the key while selecting ships.  Which is the proper method?  Select first, then hit key?  Or hold key while selecting?

Thanks.

3

AI War Strategy Discussion / Late-game advice for a newb?

« on: December 09, 2012, 01:53:28 AM »

After a two-year break, I'm enjoying AI War very much.  I figured I'd ease myself back in, start at 4/5 AI (Vanilla/Tank) instead of 7/7.  But just as with 7/7, I'm having trouble taking an AI Homeworld.  Here's my situation:

It's a 60-world map.  I've destroyed all the required CSGs.  AIP is 181; I've destroyed 2 or 3 Data Centers but no Co-Processors.  (I don't hit AIP II until 260 or so.)  I've taken 12 worlds and neutered one more, which is home to a helpful Dyson Sphere.  I got Acid Sprayers for my free ship.  I've unlocked Fighter III, Bomber III, Frigate III, and I have a couple Advanced Factories churning out Mark IVs.  Other tech includes grav turrets, Mk II stasis turrets, Mk 3 crystals, Mk 2 Force Field -- maybe too much defense?  I have a few cool golems, my favorite of which is the Hive Golem, but I have that particular Golem defending a besieged world at a crucial intersection (with 4 hostile wormholes).  I'm nervous about bringing that thru 2 enemy worlds to the homeworld, because the Golem then needs to get to safety after releasing its waspy payload.

 I've also got three fabrication plants, one producing Fighter Mark Vs, another Zenith Electric Bombers V, another Mini-Ram Vs.  I've taken roughly every other world in my path to hold down AIP -- but I wonder if I should've indulged myself and taken a couple more worlds for more knowledge.  I'm now 3 hops away from the first AI Homeworld, and the two intervening worlds have nothing of interest; I've cleaned them out of ships pretty easily. 

But the Homeworld itself is brutal!  I have managed to take out (1) an Ion Cannon, and (2) a guard post in two raids, but that's it.  (Will they respawn?)  My fleet is about 600 ships, mostly Mk III-V; the Homeworld has 300 plus a barracks with another 150, but they're almost all Mk V.  My Mk IV and V ships die fast the minute I enter the system.  I tried bringing a Spire Shield ship with me, but it didn't last long either.  Should I bring along a Mk II forcefield?  I thought about a Mobile Builder for turrets, but that won't work without supply, will it?  (I don't want to put the Homeworld on alert, so I'm attacking from 3 hops away.) 

Should I just keep hammering away, trying to knock down one guard post per suicide attack, lol?  Should I take more territory to get more knowledge so that I can build more ships?  Should I suspend this assault, work my way close to the 2nd AI, and try that one instead?  (Actually, I'm already about 4-5 hops from the 2nd AI too.)  Any general advice on how to pop into a very nasty homeworld system without being instakilled?

Any advice would be much appreciated. 

4

AI War / "Firepower" vs. "Threat" on the resource bar

« on: December 08, 2012, 12:32:41 AM »

Hi all,

I understand the "Threat" meter on the resource bar; it corresponds to the number of ships threatening to jump at me.  (And I can see the same numbers on the galaxy map with the right filter.)  But for grins, I changed my interface option to display "Firepower" in that field, and the number there seems very tiny.  What unit of measure is it using?

For example, with "Threat" selected, I'll see something like Threat:152, but if I switch the display option to Firepower, I'll see Firepower:4, or some very small number like that.  Is that 4,000 or 4 million or something?  Can I measure the amount of my firepower in the same units?

Thanks in advance.  (I did search on "firepower" here, and in the wiki, and couldn't find an explanation.  Apologies if it's somewhere obvious.)

5

AI War Strategy Discussion / Newbish questions about Science Labs, K-raiding, fabricators

« on: December 07, 2012, 12:56:26 PM »

Hi all,

I'm returning to the game after a long break.  I see that knowledge raiding has been changed.  Some questions:

1. How do I build a Science Lab Mk II?  I don't see an option to research it.

2. I dimly recall being able to knowledge-raid with regular Science Labs.  No longer, I gather.  How does one knowledge raid now?  I've read some of the wiki entries about hacking, but that seems to be about grabbing stuff off an enemy ARS.  What if I just want to raid generic knowledge from a hostile system without spending the AIP to take that system?

3. What's the difference between an advanced factory and a fabricator?  I captured one of the latter, and it makes Fighter Vs, whereas the Adv Fac seems to make IV-level ships.  Is that the difference -- IV vs. V?

Thanks!

6

AI War / Qs on harvesters, renaming, story mode & skirmishes.

« on: December 07, 2012, 02:11:10 AM »

I've returned to the game after a long break, and I've bought all the expansions.  Lots of fun new toys!  After losing a Defender game, I started a regular game with settings that are probably too easy for me: 4/5 AIs, Vanilla and Tank.  Some questions:

1. It seems harvesters auto-build now when you take a system.  Is that right?

2. I've figured out to rename my worlds using the "notes" feature, which is great.  Is there any way to build a world with custom names from scratch?  E.g., give the game a list of 80 names when it creates the map?

3. I gather one of the expansions has a story mode.  I might like to try that.  I'd like to try new content before I read "spoilers" about it all.  Anyway, how would I set up a game with story mode, or whatever it's called?

4. Is there a way to set up skirmishes, one unit vs one unit, just to see how stuff behaves?  Maybe that would take some of the fun out of discovery in-game.  Although in-game, I tend to get lazy and just send my huge wad of forces all at once.

Thanks for your patience with what may be obvious questions!

7

AI War Technical Support / Any way to transfer my Achievements from Steam to my local game?

« on: September 27, 2011, 01:43:28 AM »

Hi all,

I played the heck out of AI War a year or so ago, and I earned a few Steam achievements -- surprisingly few, given that I had 90 hours of gameplay!  I unlocked 15/234, or so says my Steam Library.  But my PC died abruptly, and I guess I hadn't made any backup saves -- groan!  At least, I can't find any on the external hard disks I was occasionally using for backup.

Anyway, I've now reinstalled the game on my spiffy new PC, and I had no trouble reactivating and starting again.  But as far as my "local" installation is concerned, I'm a complete newb, with no achievements (and, needless to say, no saved games).  Obviously this isn't a big deal, but it would be nice if I could persuade the game to remember that I've done at least a *few* noteworthy things.  Is there any way to tell the game about my Steam achievements?

A slightly more serious issue is whether the mismatch between my local installation and my Steam achievements will interfere with my accruing new Achievements as I play the game now, from scratch.  I guess I'll find out.

Anyone have any thoughts on all this?  Don't worry, I won't be crushed if the answer (as I expect) is: "tough luck, you should have backed up!"

8

AI War Strategy Discussion / How many resources justify capturing a world?

« on: January 10, 2010, 11:10:17 AM »

Do you all have a "floor" of resources that justifies capturing a world that?  Say, a minimum of 5 total resources or some such?  I have a string of worlds with between 2 and 4 resources in my path, and I'm debating whether any of them are worth conquering.  I do have constant trouble with low resources, so I certainly could use the extra income.

The concern, of course, is that pesky AI Progress meter.  I'm on a 70-world map, I've taken 8 planets so far, and (thanks to data centers) my Progress is 120 -- but I've still got lots to take before I get to the AI, including a half-dozen worlds with Adv Research or Fabricators or Adv Factories.  I don't see many more data centers -- just two big clusters of 4 x Data Center next to each AI homeworld.  I assume I should be budgeting for no more than 20-25 conquered worlds?

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AI War Strategy Discussion / Conquer a planet 4 hops away?

« on: January 07, 2010, 07:43:32 PM »

Is it possible to conquer a planet 4 hops away?  I don't really want any of the systems in between, which are in turn bordered by other systems -- I just want the Advanced Lab on the distant system, and would be happy to abandon the system once I have the lab.  Right now the target system is unaware of me, and it has a pretty small Mk 1 garrison.  And I do have transports, plus a relatively safe beachhead on the first bypassed system.  (In fact, I just launched a successful raid on a Data Center 3 hops away, so I know I can get transports through to the target.)  So I suppose I could load up 500 ships or more and hope I capture it in one go.  But my guess is that the enemy will quickly get reinforcements, and I won't have a space dock nearby because those require supply.  Even a mobile builder requires supply, so I wouldn't even be able to build turrets or support units.  Should I just suck it up and conquer the intervening systems, taking the AI progress hit?  Or try to neuter them?

10

AI War Strategy Discussion / Do you use mobile ships on defense?

« on: January 06, 2010, 12:20:33 AM »

I have the same problem in every game I play (one game at AI 5/6, two games at AI 7/7): I spread my fleet so thin that I don't have a decisive striking force anywhere.  Consequently, I make very slow forward progress -- less than one new system an hour.  I do more forward slowly -- I haven't ever come to a grinding halt or gone "backwards" -- but my games turn into these epic turtles!  My current game is in hour 14 or so, and I'm getting cross-planet raids of 700-800 ships or so every 45 minutes.  (Do the size of CPAs increase over time if you just sit and turtle?  I am sure the answer is yes!!) 

So, what am I doing wrong?  Should I be relying solely on turrets for defense, with maybe a standing fleet at the homeworld?  Should I just accept that I'll lose 2-4 systems every hour to a CPA?  I can't put 70 tractors on every hostile wormhole, can I?  I forget what the cap is on Tractor I's, but I don't have enough to go around.  Should I be researching tractor IIs or laser turrets or something?  I suppose I could drop back down to 5/5 or some such, but I kind of like the challenge I have now, and I'm not really strapped for resources or energy.  I just have trouble deploying my fleet optimally.  And there's a vicious cycle: because it takes me a long time to make a knowledge raid (or to conquer a planet), I gain knowledge slowly, which means my fleet grows slowly.

I don't *like* a slow pace; I want to attack and attack more.  Knowledge raids, ion-cannon raids, data-center raids, neutering raids -- all those things are the most fun part of the game for me.  But I spend half my time defending or rebuilding.  Any general advice?

11

After Action Reports / MAR: "Middle of Action Report" from a newb

« on: January 03, 2010, 12:45:18 AM »

I'm playing my first "real" campaign, having won the tutorial campaign yesterday.  I'm having a blast!  I'm playing with one AI set to 6 (Random Easy) and the other to 5 (also Random/Easy).  Er, does this make my difficulty level 6.5, or what?  I've noticed that people often state their difficulty level as a fraction, not a whole number; how do you calculate it?

Anyway, I've got tons of resources, but I'm progressing VERY slowly, as I am by my nature somewhat pokey and cautious.  After sending multiple Scout IIs to their death, I've finally got one through to one of the AI homeworlds, in the far upper-left-hand corner of the map.  How the heck will I ever get there without sending the AI's Progress through the roof?  I've more or less decided to take the southern, then western, route, as it has relatively little exposure on the flank.  But my starting world (Zitioas) doesn't feel all that secure; it has one friendly world as a "buffer" on either side.  I haven't done any warp-gate raiding at all, because the biggest threat seems to be cross-planet attacks, not warp raids -- but perhaps that will change?  There are gates almost everywhere around me.  The only system without a gate in my starting area is Vinaelub.

Also, I just captured my first Advanced Research, at Ickheae, and started learning from it.  I gather it unlocks one or more ship types.  I'm not certain I saw any message informing me of that, but I do think I have two ship types I didn't have before -- the Raptor and the MLRS.  Is that the sort of thing that would unlock via Adv Research?  Also, is it normal to get two unlocks?  I was picturing some shiny level IV ship!  But I'll take it.

I'm almost tempted to say that this level is too easy for me, as I've consistently had almost 600K resources all along.  But my suspicion is that my cautious ways will be my undoing -- by the time I get to the target area, the AI will be pounding me to smithereens.  Any general advice on how to proceed from here?  Here's the screenshot.  (Oh, and how do you take a screenie -- just PrtScreen to copy to clipboard, then open in Photoshop, as I did?  Also, sorry I don't have a thumbnail; not sure how to make one.)

Edit: made the screenshot smaller to fit the page better.

12

AI War / Planet shortcuts, & other newb questions

« on: January 01, 2010, 02:21:41 PM »

Hi there!  I'm playing the tutorial campaign, and I'm loving it so far.  I don't ordinarily care for RTS games, but this has strategic elements that make it more interesting.  Anyway, some newb questions:

1. Is there a keyboard shortcut that allows you to hop directly to a planet?  Or can I establish such a shortcut, akin to a control-group for a fleet?  Or must one use the galaxy map?

2. Does the AI ever rebuild a structure you destroy?  E.g., a warp gate, or a guard point, or a data center?  Or once you kill something, is it gone for good?

3. A "cross-planet" attack means one that comes thru the wormhole chain, rather than thru a warpgate, right?

4. Is there any way to see a galaxy-wide summary of how many ships you have of each class?  The summary on the right just displays this planet's numbers.  The "stats" contain the totals I've built and lost, but not the totals currently in play.  The galaxy map does include a simple total of all your ships, and some filters to see other ships, but it'd be nice to have something I could glance at quickly while playing.  Ideally, this might involve a "unit" icon on each planet on the galaxy map, with the number of each unit at that planet also displayed -- something like a wargame display.  (E.g., "War in the Pacific" for PC, or "Galactic Civilizatoins II".) 

5. How do you recommend that the player use ctl-groups?  One group per ship class, I assume?  So group 1 can be fighters, 2 can be bombers, 3 can be cruisers, etc? 

6. Also, I struggle a bit with spitting out big blobs of mixed units at my space dock and then trying to organize them into groups without inadvertently sucking in every ship already defending the planet.  I guess one way is to click-drag the group, then click the button at bottom to select just the fighters, then assign them a ctl-group. 

7. On the same topic: I'm having a bit of trouble establishing a rally point outside the current system.  Select dock; choose units to build (and loop); tab to galaxy map; then what?  Left-click on target system, right click on desired point?

8. Once I'm through the tutorial campaign (which is going reasonably well so far), what level difficulty would you recommend?  I've played some RTS games (Warcraft, Age of Empires, a little Supreme Commander), but I'm not usually that good at them because I panic when things get hectic.  Any options you'd recommend enabling or disabling?  I like a challenge but I also want to learn the game without getting too discouraged.