Messages

31

AI War Strategy Discussion / Bug stomping

« on: October 03, 2011, 10:37:03 AM »

So, my coop buddy and I tried to start another game last night. Unfortunately, we were wiped out within three waves by swarms of Neinzul combined with Stealth Battleships (and the simultaneous bomber wave didn't help). I've never been able to develop an effective counter to Neinzul swarms, although I've tried the following:

- Fighters (hull bonuses)
- Flak Cannons (area effect)
- Electric Turrets (area effect)
- Heavy Beam Cannons (more or less area effect)

All these things work well against small numbers of the bugs, but I just can't get enough of the stuff out to deal with ~3000 ships. And, obviously, when you're on your first/second wave, you're not going to have the resources for starships of any kind.

So: How do folks deal with large numbers of Neinzul coming in?

32

AI War / Re: Mercs

« on: September 23, 2011, 04:39:49 PM »

Like many others, I'll build mercs if I have a buttload of resources, but nothing to spend them on. The ship cap is pretty huge (something like 400 with high ship caps), and since they're so bloody expensive, you're not likely to reach it. If I do build them, they just go in my general blob.

Also, if you're planning to use them, adjust your "engineers auto repair" threshold, otherwise engineers will ignore these guys.

33

AI War / Re: Human Colony Rebellion-ever seen one?

« on: September 22, 2011, 01:29:42 PM »

Yep. I rescued the colony, and even had it build a couple of their fighter bombers or whatever. Then we all died.

34

AI War / Re: Is the more Open Playground feel of 3.0 making a comeback?

« on: September 20, 2011, 02:15:08 PM »

Every time this discussion about the strong-vs.-weak thing comes up I'm left wondering if I'm the only person who actually now finds it both easier and more rewarding to diagnose which ships are good against which ships.

Easier because I can actually rely on my assessment of "this ship is strong against that ship's hull" - as opposed to "ah, this ship is strong against that ship... hm... it doesn't seem to be doing much against it... perhaps another ship is better... but which one... there are so many... should I just try them ALL...ah, sod it, I'll just use X general purpose ship - or build more!"

More rewarding because now when something new pops up and wrecks my stuff, it feels like a problem which needs solving through a little reliable research; as opposed to the game either simply telling me what to use or blatantly lying to me about it (see above).

Nope, you're not alone. I like the 'armor type' system better too. The old system was very unreliable, and given the number of ship types in existence, I don't see how it would be possible to present the info as was presented back then without making the ship data popup enormous.

35

AI War / Re: Is the more Open Playground feel of 3.0 making a comeback?

« on: September 20, 2011, 11:11:39 AM »

It's less of an "Open Playground" and more a "Series of Interlinked Puzzles". Most of the puzzles can be solved via Raid Starship (i.e. bust open all the guard posts to get the locals pissed, kill them as they trickle into your systems, then send in a mop up force). Sometimes though, you have little kinks - Spire Shield guard post + AI Eye, Raid Engine next door, Counterattack posts, Fortresses/SuperForts. And then there's the global puzzle of "how do I keep AI progress down", which can be solved by a number of mechanics.

As for armor, I also pretty much ignore it when making tactical considerations. Usually, the AI forces are too well-mixed and not well-enough armored to justify taking the time to separate anti-armor ships from my forces.

But, you know what, it's a hell of a lot better than that "shields" mechanic that was floating around way back when. It was "hilarious" when none of my ships or turrets could shoot at the MKIV enemy ships that would show up, because their "shields" reduced my forces' effective targeting range to 0. At least now, my guys can pretend to shoot at the AI ships.

Edit: Hey, anyone remember those horrible "wave multipliers"? Like the Ion Cannon, the Zenith Power Generator and the Golems had? Man, good thing those are gone, 'cause otherwise, I'd never even consider keeping an Ion Cannon alive or capturing a planet with a golem on it.

Focus: There's a lot more variety now than there was in 3.0. That means there are more things to get in the way of how a given player wants to play (again, e.g.: Eyes, Spire Shield Guard Posts, Raid Engines / Alarm Posts/ Counterattack Posts, Core Shield Generators). Sorry the AI isn't just letting you fellas steam roll.

Full Disclosure: I've yet to win a game.

36

AI War Strategy Discussion / Re: Your "must-buy" techs

« on: September 12, 2011, 10:01:07 AM »

Raid Starships II/III - I routinely use them to drastically reduce the combat effectiveness of an AI planet that I'm trying to take over, and only rarely do I send my main battle fleet in until I've done a guard post cleanout. And even when I'm not trying to take a neighbor planet over, I'll still go over and whack the guard posts and any warp gates present.

Scouts II/III - Have you tried getting MKI scouts out more than two or three worlds beyond your territory? Maybe even clean out some Tachyon Guardians on nearby world? Good luck with that. Once I secure an initial group of worlds, I need the info so I can make a beeline straight for the AI homeworlds (stopping off at Advanced Research Stations/Factories on the way). To do that I need large groups of scouts that can survive very many jumps.

Fighters/Bombers II/III - The fighters are to deal with bomber waves and take point on most assaults, the bombers are to deal with things that require bombers (force fields, spire shield posts, astro train stations, etc).

37

AI War / Re: Spirecraft Attritioner usefulness-increase possibilities

« on: September 12, 2011, 09:49:08 AM »

I like them just the way they are currently. Recently, I had a bunch of Parasite/Raptor/Etherjet/Space Plane (in other words, weak, low-HP ships) waves that got completely murdered by a full cap of MKI attritioners, before they could even get close to my logistics command station (to add insult to injury, I also put a black hole machine in that system). I also didn't know they had a use in terms of pissing off everything on an AI planet, but now that I do, I like them even better.

38

AI War / Re: Okay, who's *actually* used the doomsday device?

« on: September 09, 2011, 09:42:52 AM »

Nope, never used the doomsday device. The AIs usually wipe me out before then.

I've never actually completed a game either, mostly because I get frustrated mid-game after the AI waves become unmanageably large and "non-wave activity" causes my defenses to collapse like a punctured submarine. Meanwhile, I've got the 35 hour campaign achievement.

39

AI War Strategy Discussion / Re: Can someone give me an example of appropriate turreting?

« on: September 02, 2011, 05:16:16 PM »

As a frame of reference, whenever I place turrets, I use ctrl-shift-clicks (meaning: groups of five, repeated).

Before anything else: I generally play on difficulty 7. Sometimes, my turrets stop waves. Sometimes they don't. Usually, I need to bring in fleet ships for backup anyway. However, the setup I'll outline generally puts a stop to random small-scale AI incursions that occur between waves or as a result of my raid starships decimating guard posts on nearby worlds.

There are two types of turret setups in my mind - "casual" and "wave defense". The casual setup is meant to blow up the occasional AI stragglers that wander into that system (it'll happen occasionally, regardless of how badly you don't want it to). Put down some sniper turrets for really small groups, and maybe some missile turrets for medium sized groups.

With wave defense, it's all about repeated evaluation. Start with a blob of 25 of each turret. Missile Turrets to do damage, Basic/Laser/MLRS to take fire (they don't seem to do nearly as much damage as missile turrets but they do absorb fire), Sniper Turrets to shoot down long-range jerks. I've also had positive experiences with Heavy Beam turrets and heartily recommend a few of them for wave defense if you can spare the knowledge. As Keith said, put tractor turrets around the hostile wormhole, I recommend enough to capture half an average wave. If the bad guys have lots of Neinzul ships, plop down a bunch of flak turrets too. I occasionally bring in starships (light, maybe flag+) to power up my turrets as well. If you've got the resources, plop down some minefields around the wormhole, and maybe some lightning turrets next to your tractors.

Once you've set up, see if your setup stops a wave. If it doesn't and you have to bring your fleet in, double up on everything and re-evaluate.

Always keep a pair of remains rebuilders on hand to quickly rebuild lost turrets, and possibly a pair of mark 1 engineers, too.

Consider using a logistics command station to slow the bad guys down so your turrets can get more pot shots in, or a military station to translocate them around the system. The best defensive position I ever had in this game was next to a gravity drill with the hostile wormholes on the other side of the system. The AI would lose probably 50-75% of a wave getting across the system, only to be translocated as soon as they got close. And then the mining golem showed up. I couldn't get to it fast enough because of the gravity drill, and then I got so pissed off that I abandoned that game. I'll miss that planet.

You will also want to place specialized turrets in response to the type of ships the AI deploys. Ships that are immune to forcefields and/or tractors? Put down gravity turrets. Snipers? Anti-sniper turrets. Missile ships? Anti-missile turrets. Astro Trains or anything else that fires dark matter shots? Anti-dark matter turrets.

40

AI War / Re: Roaming Enclaves can bite me

« on: August 30, 2011, 02:42:31 PM »

Heh, nice to know the preservation guys give you a little break to start with.

Anyway, yeah, I have enough trouble dealing with the endless AI assaults without random jerks coming in and blowing (irreplaceable) stuff up in my rear echelon. I did mean "Mining Golem" instead of "Devourer Golem" though. I love the Devourer, he's my (very abusive) best friend and keeps the AI ranks nice and thin. The mining golems are just annoying. And yes, the pattern is "if it helps me against the AI even occasionally, it stays".

41

AI War / Roaming Enclaves can bite me

« on: August 30, 2011, 12:25:21 PM »

That is all.

But seriously, do they ever actually attack the AI? I've never seen it. Probably because the ones that do get wiped out very quickly.

Also, do the Preservation Wardens ever attack the AI? Probably not, since the AI doesn't make use of the resource patches. What are the actual rules for when they show up and how they choose their targets?

Anyway, I'm disabling both of these guys on my next game, along with the devourer golems.

42

AI War / Re: How many of you play "Ironman"

« on: August 25, 2011, 09:54:25 AM »

If I played real Ironman as some of you guys are arguing, I would never get past the first two hours of the game. I save before every action where I need to commit a large chunk of my fleet for an extended period of time (e.g. Mark IV world). Also, before every action that will result in large AI counterattack (Counterattack posts, raid engines, alarm posts). If said action results in failure or unacceptable casualties (loss of homeworld assets, irreplacable units) I reload and don't do it. I'm just not that good at this game (or, games in general any more) to do Ironman of any kind.

43

AI War / Re: Poll: MUSAK!

« on: August 18, 2011, 11:15:14 AM »

It's not bad, but I've played the game enough that I just turn the music off and listen to something else streaming off the internet.

But yeah, when you have a game that takes 15+ hours to finish, and you have maybe an hour of music tracks, you're going to get repetition.

44

AI War Strategy Discussion / Re: Early game metal starvation

« on: August 16, 2011, 02:22:03 PM »

In the very early game, I usually run out of resources very quickly. Crystal goes first, but metal is not far behind, as I micromanage and switch to metal-intensive projects when crystal runs out.

And then, I start building starships and turrets, and then crystal is pretty much at 0 all the time.

Next game I play, I'm going to try to just build Mk1 and Mk2 fighters (and maybe some bullet proof fighters as well) early on, then take over some nearby planets while I build my bombers and such.

45

AI War / Re: Okay, who touched the Blade Spawners? Hard?

« on: August 01, 2011, 10:34:11 AM »

Relevant strategy forum post.

I wouldn't mind seeing their guns get toned down a little, but gravity turrets pretty much neuter these things. The general set up is a gravity turret, a bunch of missile turrets to shoot at the spawners themselves from long range, and a few flak turrets to blow up the blades as they come into range.