Does anyone else try to play with a \"high\" AI bonus
 

In playing against the AI, I have more or less mastered the "Hard difficulty, medium bonus" player setting in an otherwise normal game (14-20 races, large galaxy, connected wormholes). The other night I tried a game with 14 races (all of the TDM modpack races) set to hard difficulty and high bonus. I have played three games now where the AI has started right next door (bad), and had sever LC's by turn 15 or so (worse). In the third game I am barely hanging on in the face of some super advanced Alien tech levels and huge fleets.

Does anyone out there play at this level with any degree of success? Or is "high" ai bonus as impossible as it seems?? Just wondering...

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Follow the Golden Rule:
"He who has the Gold makes the rules.."

Re: Does anyone else try to play with a \"high\" AI bonus
 

As a newbie to this genre,I've played solo three times:low, medium and high bonus and won all three (it was pre-1.19 patch though). On high bonus, I got way behind on score but hung in there and eventually came back to win. I was amazed as I didn't see how even the AI could lose with that advantage. I haven't played the AI since but I am in a PBEM game. Human opponents are much more fun--it is a different and much more interesting game.

Re: Does anyone else try to play with a \"high\" AI bonus
 

Oh yeah. I feel your pain. The TDM races on high are EXTREMLEY tough.

I tried it for several games and got my butt beat every time. I play small quad with high number of AI, so they are always "right next door".

I don't think I ever even managed to colonize outside my home system.

Doesn't feel good when you are defending your homeworld with 3 frigates and 20 sattelites against a fleet of 15 LC's.

I got to where I was happy just to drag it out a few more turns. Came up with some interesting strategies for delaying actions, and fighting retreats, but never was able to turn the tide and go on the offensive.

Geo

Re: Does anyone else try to play with a \"high\" AI bonus
 

I play on medium bonus sometimes when I'm feeling like a really tough game but high bonus just seems too painful (I prefer to play with the mod pack races and they are very strong at high bonus).

Re: Does anyone else try to play with a \"high\" AI bonus
 

I haven't used any of the modded AIs (yet), only the standard ones. And since I first installed way back at v0.24, I don't think I've ever played a game where I did not give the AI a high bonus. The fact that my favorite type of game uses a large cluster map with not all warps connected (you literally get 10-12 clusters of systems) probably makes it a bit easier on me, since I will usually only have one easily conquered AI in my home cluster, and I can get a fair tech lead before I or one of the AIs opens a warp.

Re: Does anyone else try to play with a \"high\" AI bonus
 

I think the most important thing to keep in mind about the AI is that it doesn't have the capability to seek out and destroy your forces and systems wherever they may be--as is present in a game, for example, such as StarCraft.

Instead, the AI slowly expands, and if you happen to get in its way, then it tries to swat you like a fly. But it is extremely easy to halt the AI's expansion into your part of the galaxy. Then, you can build up your forces at your leisure and crush the enemy if you so desire.

If you play a high bonus game and start right next to one or more AI's, then the AI is going to immediately start expanding into your home system. In that case, you are going to have a very tough time of it. On the other hand, if you start at least a couple of systems away from the enemy, your probability of success is much, much better as you might be able to prevent the AI from trying to expand into your part of the galaxy. If they don't claim one of your systems, then they won't fight over it.

Re: Does anyone else try to play with a \"high\" AI bonus
 

I usually play at high difficulty and medium bonus with a low to med number of AI races, no neutrals, in a large galaxy. I set my default large map to 220 systems. That way the AI can expand a bit before I show up, usually this makes for a tough fight. I am also using some of the mod races..

One thing I do like about playing a high difficulty and a medium bonus is that the AI tends to keep just ahead of the humans in ship sizes and technology. The games seem more balanced.

Re: Does anyone else try to play with a \"high\" AI bonus
 

I have tried and lost 3 games with the bonus set to High. With the map editor I separated the AIs to make sure I have some space and am trying another high bonus game again. I am on turn 115, and in 18th place (out of 20) with 5 neutrals. A very challenging game.

Re: Does anyone else try to play with a \"high\" AI bonus
 

I always play with high bonus. I play with a large quadrant with 10 to 15 computer opponents - usually hand picked from the TDM ModPack. If there is an AI next door and he finds me early, he usually attacks continuously so that I don't have time to do anything but defend. The construction bonus means that the AI can build one warship per shipyard per turn - more than I can defend against. If, however, I have a little room to colonize and time to research, I'm usually strong enough to defend by the time they find me, and I can eventually win.

Re: Does anyone else try to play with a \"high\" AI bonus
 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Nitram Draw:
...
I wish there was a way to adjust the affects of the bonus. The bonus resources are a nice help to the AI, espescially in a high tech game, but the research and intel bonuses are really hard to overcome.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

One thing you can do is to let them spend more empire creation points than you use yourself, possibly manually editing the extra abilities they have.

PvK