Topics

1

AI War / Compilation of text problems Mark III

« on: May 15, 2013, 09:03:26 AM »

Just a heads-up to all that I've started a new compilation of text problems at Keith's request: Mantis 0011485.  Feel free to add to it, or suggest here and I can add.  I think it makes life easier for the devs to consolidate them like this, plus it helps avoid duplicate reports.

Does anyone know if there's a way to close old Mantis reports?  Mantis 9307 is already done, and Mantis 6523 was long ago made redundant by intervening changes.

2

AI War / Are Sniper Turrets now dumber?

« on: May 05, 2013, 07:23:23 PM »

Sniper & Spider Turrets:

• Bonuses from 5x vs CloseCombat, 4x vs Medium, 4x vs Polycrystal, 6x vs UltraLight => 5x vs same types.

So previously, Sniper Turrets got a higher attack bonus against Raid Starships (UltraLight hulls) than most other ships.  I think that meant they would tend to auto-target Raid Starships ahead of most other targets based on the usual logic about maximising damage (not certain because I used to target them manually).  And that's what you want, as Raid Starships are incredibly dangerous, and their radar dampening, immunities, and high armor mean Sniper Turrets are one of the few defenses that are effective against them.  But now, Sniper Turrets get the same bonus against Raid Starships as against a variety of other common targets.  So do they still preferentially target Raid Starships, or have we inadvertently made them "dumber"?  Would it be worth slightly increasing their bonus vs. UltraLight hulls to improve their "intelligence"?

3

AI War / New stuff on the wiki

« on: January 10, 2013, 11:20:44 PM »

In a flurry of procrastination I made a couple of new tables on the wiki.

The first shows how many light and heavy modules the Champion ships can mount.  Can anyone tell me the missing numbers for Zenith and Neinzul Frigates?

The second shows which modules are compatible with which racial techs.  It's missing Photon Lance, Nanosubverter, and Rail Cluster (not to be confused with Rail Cannon).  Can anyone tell me whether those are light or heavy modules, and their compatibilities?  Both tables could use some prettying-up, and the square-root sign should be replaced with something better.

I also made a Glossary with some abbreviations and terminology I thought might be confusing to newbies (or vets, for that matter).  Suggestions for changes, additions, a better name, or anything else are welcome.  It's linked under Player-Created Strategy Resources from the main AI War page.

4

AI War / AI War for Liddle Peeple?

« on: October 14, 2012, 07:18:59 AM »

So there's a certain Liddle Person in my life who's intelligent beyond his years, computer literate, and likes games.  Mummy, after hearing me repeatedly raving about the magnificence of AI War, suggested Liddle Person might play a game of AI War with me.  At first I thought that's impossible - the game is far too intricate for a five year old to understand, let alone succeed in.  But then I realised Ancient Shadows introduces a new kind of play that just might work.  He couldn't manage an empire, but controlling just one powerful ship might be within his abilities.  He'd still need a Big Person to read most text and help him understand scenarios, but I think he could help with defense, join in attacks, neuter planets, and maybe even earn scenario rewards.

I've thought of some game settings that might be suitable.  It should be a smallish galaxy (maybe 40 planets), with a planar layout (one of the orthogonal maps, probably), no superweapons (would detract from the Champion's power), few or no minor factions (same reason), maybe simple ships, and Liddle Person would have more hitpoints due to a 200% or 300% handicap. 

This thread serves three purposes.

Has anyone tried playing AI War with a Liddle Person?  Did it work?  I guess playing with a non-gamer friend or partner might be in some ways similar.

Any other ideas for customising the map appropriately?

And for the Dev's, has there been any thought of using the player-who-controls-one-unit thing as a selling point, expanding this game's appeal to include the partners/friends/liddle peeple in the lives of the regular players?

5

AI War / New spreadsheet comparing Mark I ship caps

« on: September 16, 2012, 09:03:52 PM »

Now that all the Ancient Shadows bonus ships are out, I've made a new user-friendly sortable spreadsheet comparing caps of important Mark I player ships, including fleet ships, starships, turrets, Neinzul Enclave drones, and a few others.  This time single- and multi-target DPS values are listed separately.  I've added a few novel analyses, including a crude estimate of overall combat effectiveness for each ship type, and a "glass cannon factor".  Details within.

Older versions are available here.

Version 2 fixes DPS values for Plasma Siege Starships and (I think) Zenith Siege Engines.

6

AI War / Ship descriptions that don't accurately describe the ship

« on: August 19, 2012, 12:16:53 PM »

Just a heads-up that I've compiled a list of problems in ship descriptions on Mantis, here.  If anyone has noticed any more, it might save developer effort to add them to this report so they can all be dealt with together.  Alternatively, note them here and I can add them.

Most of the problems exist because the ships have been tweaked over time, but the descriptions still reflect their original state.

7

AI War / Enable Ancient Shadows in an existing game

« on: August 19, 2012, 11:11:47 AM »

I'm sure I remember reading there's some console command that will enable Ancient Shadows in a save-game from before it was released.  I realise all you get is the modular forts but... I want those forts!  If someone could provide a link or explanation I'd be grateful.

8

AI War / Bombers and command-grade hulls

« on: April 02, 2012, 05:34:53 PM »

This probably puts me in the minority, but so far I've tried to avoid researching higher marks of triangle ships whenever practical.  Instead, I wait to see if I can acquire bonus fleet ships with overlapping roles and upgrade those instead.  My reasoning is that (1) I can get Mark III & IV ships without spending 2500 knowledge on the Mark II upgrade; and (2) bonus fleet ships are intended to be 30-50% more powerful than triangle ships.   I'd imagine the devs would be pleased I've chosen this strategy, as maximising variety is one of the design goals. 

But something just happened that may forever change my plans.

*MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD*

In the first exo-wave of a 9/9 2-homeworld game with Golems (hard) and Spirecraft (hard), I met my first Hunter/Killer.  Part of what makes these beasts so nasty is their command-grade hull type.  This renders them near-immune to most turrets (all but heavy beam cannons get a 0.1x damage multiplier), plus there are literally NO starships or bonus fleet ships that get a bonus against command-grade hulls.  The only ship I've found that does is the humble Bomber.

I think that in any game with serious exo-waves, H/Ks will be one of the more likely ways I could lose.  This means I'm all but certain to research higher marks of bombers, rather than hold out to see whether Space tanks/Chameleons/Electric bombers/Raiders/Bombards become available. 

So, I'm wondering whether there's any special reason no bonus fleet ships get a bonus against command-grade hulls?  I ask because giving a triangle ship a niche that no bonus ship can meet, and therefore encouraging players to always upgrade a particular triangle ship at the expense of upgrading a bonus fleet ship, seems contrary to the design goal of maximising variety.

9

AI War / Using special forces guard posts in your favour

« on: February 03, 2012, 08:35:59 AM »

One tactic I've been using is keeping alive special forces guard posts on worlds I've captured.  Apart from the small AI progress saving, the advantage is that it seems to cause the AIs to spend reinforcement points wastefully: when reinforcing a planet in which a special forces guard post is their only ship, all they get is a few dozen fleet ships.  I can rapidly obliterate those with 20-30 turrets built with the special forces guard post just outside their range, and/or with captured ion cannons. 

The problem with this tactic is that it's very easy to lose these "hostage" special forces guard posts to your own or allied ships.  Culprits so far include:

* Human resistance fighters
* Zombie fleet ships from my botnet golem
* Sniper turrets I forgot to put back on low-power
* A newly-repaired artillery golem, which fired the instant it came online (I couldn't see any way to prevent that)

Apparently dyson gatlings also destroy special forces guard posts (Mantis), and of course I can't use FRD on planets where I'm keeping a "hostage" post.

Two questions:

(1) Am I correct in believing the spawns I see around my "hostage" guard posts are costing the AIs reinforcement points?

     If not, that renders my tactic invalid and my second question redundant...

(2) Is there any way to globally prevent friendly ships auto-attacking special forces guard post?

     It's actually surprising to me that they do - it seems inconsistent with the way they treat all other AI progress-costing structures I've encountered so far.

My latest game is difficulty 9/9 against a Turtle and a Shield Ninny, so I'm sure you can appreciate I want to use any tactic to thwart AI reinforcements I can