Re: The Rage Collective Version 1.0
 

Q: Thanks for the catch on the general file!

Daynarr: Good point on the politics. They really don't seem like a race that should ever make a partnership.

Re: The Rage Collective Version 1.0
 

Emp. Zodd had a good point on a machine race not being suseptic to plagues. However, I would think that they would be highly suseptical to Computer Viruses, computer weapons or Radiation type bombs or weapons. These would attack their processors or whatever they use. Just some ideas mac

Re: The Rage Collective Version 1.0
 

I am almost ready to release Rage 1.1 that addresses the issues that have been brought up here.

I have two questions:

1) Does anyone know how to get the AI to demand surrender? The rage had the Norak down to just their homeworld, with more than 10 times the number of points the Norak had, and they never issued a demand for surrender. After several turns they diverted enough of a fleet from attacking the Phong to glass the Norak homeworld, but they never asked for surrender. As I read the politics file, they should have started asking for surrender when their point total was twice that of the Norak. (Or do they only ask once, long before the other race would be prepared to surrender - if it came early enough, I might have missed it?)

2) I have tinkered around with the .emp files to see if I could give the "Mechanoid Race" characteristic to the Rage to make them immune to plague (as discussed in this thread). I can't justify the expense in the 2000 or 3000 point files, since my goal is maximum competitiveness, but I could do it in the 5000 point file. The question is, is it worth it to spend 1000 racial points to give them "Mechanoid Race" in the 5000 point file instead of further bumping up some of the basic characteristics?

Any thoughts or opinions on these would be greatly appreciated. I would like to package up the Rage 1.1 in the next day or so (perhaps even this evening, depending on how much time I have).

Thanks

Re: The Rage Collective Version 1.0
 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Alpha Kodiak:
1) Does anyone know how to get the AI to demand surrender? The rage had the Norak down to just their homeworld, with more than 10 times the number of points the Norak had, and they never issued a demand for surrender. After several turns they diverted enough of a fleet from attacking the Phong to glass the Norak homeworld, but they never asked for surrender. As I read the politics file, they should have started asking for surrender when their point total was twice that of the Norak. (Or do they only ask once, long before the other race would be prepared to surrender - if it came early enough, I might have missed it?)
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Why would they start asking at twice their enemy's score? I think the lowest setting for an AI to accept the surrender demand is 5x or 10x (i.e., they'll only surrender when the opponent is 5 to 10 times stronger). Maybe the setting for requesting a surrender should be higher, maybe around 10x or 11x...

Re: The Rage Collective Version 1.0
 

About your second question... well, I like more the competitive races, instead races with a coherent RP. Select the the "Mechanoid Race" will be a waste of points.

Re: The Rage Collective Version 1.0
 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by DirectorTsaarx:
Why would they start asking at twice their enemy's score? I think the lowest setting for an AI to accept the surrender demand is 5x or 10x (i.e., they'll only surrender when the opponent is 5 to 10 times stronger). Maybe the setting for requesting a surrender should be higher, maybe around 10x or 11x...<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I agree that it doesn't make sense. I'm wondering if I am reading the politics file incorrectly (didn't modify this part from the default). It has a score percent of 50 for sending a demand surrender message. As I understand it, that means it should send the message if the score of the target is 50% of the senders score. Before I change it, I wanted to see if someone could enlighten me on what is going on.

Re: The Rage Collective Version 1.0
 

If I think about it, i can't recall that I ever saw the AI demand surrender! Did anybody else??
About your second question: I never choose the mechanoid trait, because I think it is rather easy to research the medical technology that protects you against plagues. But you must give the AI a ship design with medical bays, otherwise he will be helpless against plagues even if he researched the medical technology. But if the AI has a ship with a medical bay, he will send it to the plagued colony.

Re: The Rage Collective Version 1.0
 

1) You can't do it by modding. It is something that AI never does and is hard coded. I am surprised that you guys never noticed it before. I thought that you were flooding MM mail with these reports on AI that doesn't use about half of the diplomatic options even if they exist in their politics file. http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/ima...ons/icon12.gif

2) My vote is 'no go' for Mechanoid. It is nearly useless for 1000 points and the people that really want to have RP before competitive game can change that themselves.
On the other hand, I have included 2 types of emp files for all my moded races. First type with the default roleplaying characteristics and the second with the settings for greater challenge playing with and without intel. You can try that approach as well.

Re: The Rage Collective Version 1.0
 

1.) Daynarr it is quite rare that I get into a situation where an AI empire would reasonably demand me to surrender http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/ima...ons/icon12.gif.
But seriously: thank you for this information.

Re: The Rage Collective Version 1.0
 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Daynarr:
1) You can't do it by modding. It is something that AI never does and is hard coded. I am surprised that you guys never noticed it before. I thought that you were flooding MM mail with these reports on AI that doesn't use about half of the diplomatic options even if they exist in their politics file. http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/ima...ons/icon12.gif

2) My vote is 'no go' for Mechanoid. It is nearly useless for 1000 points and the people that really want to have RP before competitive game can change that themselves.
On the other hand, I have included 2 types of emp files for all my moded races. First type with the default roleplaying characteristics and the second with the settings for greater challenge playing with and without intel. You can try that approach as well.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yeah, I've often wondered why the AI doesn't go begging for gifts when it's low on resources. It will occasionally ask for tribute, but it seems to only realize it can do so once. I'm guessing that it has a "level sensitive" check of some sort. When it sees that it has crossed the threshold it will ask for tribute. But if it remains above the tribute level it will not ask again. I've never seen it ask for surrender. And there is another opportunity for some trickiness here, too. Some AIs ought to pull the MOO trick and surrender to someone else just to spite you. http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif

I must disagree about the value of the Mechanoid ability. The AI is just about clueless with Medical Bays even though I've added medical science to the research queue. There's no type for a "Medical Ship" and I don't want a bay in every ship of a class. So, when plague events hit or some nasty hooman uses bio-weapons, the AI is helpless. Admittedly, it should NOT be... http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif but it is. This makes an AI invulnerable to that particular trick. Not having to research medical science to defend yourself is an advantage, if a small one.