[Warlord Adamus]

Iv'e been testing the AI performance and my results are now varying a bit. The first game I described (I think you quoted it from the other thread Zodd), all of the AI players quickly outpaced me. The settings were no neutrals, mid-life large galaxy (250 systems) low bonus and lots of players..

This was a vanilla game without any mods other than the Darlok, EA, and Sergetti races. Surprisingly enough the Phong were the top players, though I think the EA could have taken them if they really wanted to..EA was second, and as I took control of them for a few turns I was really impressed. Planets were being converted left and right, fleets with large numbers of carriers (full with mostly advanced tech fighters) were flying about. If I got into a war with them it would have been difficult.

The Darlok were ranked 3 or 4, somewhere in there. They mostly used smaller ships but were as advertised, a headache intel wise. Constantly harrassing everyone with comm mimics (I hate that op) and other intel attacks. Their designs were solid and they were building a whole lot of spaceyard bases for some reason.

The Sergetti, being at war with the Darlok,EA,and Phong were pretty much screwed to begin with but they seemed to be holding on at around 5 or 6th place. They cloak ALOT, and I didn't notice any other race stock or otherwise doing so quite as much. In fact the only reason I think they were holding on is because their cloaked DN's were ripping into the Phong, and Toltayan worlds.

The cryslonite were pretty weak, but they started in a corner next to a black whole. Everyone else I met after destroying the cryslonite early, were pretty surprising. The stock races were competing well, and the AI was really targetting planets as a priority. Excellent game ! Wish I would've finished it.

Started a new game with same settings but no bonus this time, galactic edge and it was pretty dull. I was in first place pretty much from the start, outpacing everyone. I'm gonna end it and see if there was something else I did to get such a hellacious performance out of the first game.

"If you set the AI to low bonus(2x),don't you think that might be too much of an increase now that no bonus is tougher?"

Answering this if I may, low bonus seemed just about perfect. If you're really determined to say "forget roleplay i'm gonna glass everyone" then I'd say medium bonus is nice. And if you enjoy playing the catch-up game for the entire game High bonus is still the way to go. I wouldn't change it.