[Baron Munchausen]

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Originally posted by dmm:
Some stupid things about the diplomatic AI:
1) If you blockade a planet and demand it as tribute, the AI always gives it to you, with all facilities intact and a population that's not especially unhappy about it.
2) If you blockade all of an empire's colonies and destroy all of its ships, it ALWAYS agrees to a demand for surrender, regardless of how you've behaved. Shouldn't it at least try to negotiate for protectorate status, or even subjugation? And shouldn't some races simply refuse to surrender to others, even if it means annihilation?
3) The AI never takes desperate cooperation measures like trading Colonization techs or surrendering to each other, even in the face of a ruthless conqueror who's taken over 1/2 of the galaxy (i.e., me). Or if it does do this, it waits way too long.

Because of these facts, I _never_ destroy an enemy colony. Also, I especially target biologically dissimilar races for assimilation, because they add to my collective ability to colonize other worlds. (We are the Borg.) Example: I'm an O2 Rock race. I blockade a colony of H2 GasGiant people, which is given as tribute next turn. Suddenly I can colonize all those H2 planets in my systems without using domes. Later I force the H2 GasGiant empire to surrender, and I get GasGiant colonizing ability (not to mention 2-8 billion H2 breathers). Unless the AI totally gangs up on me, I'm now unstoppable in the long run. (Resistance is futile.) Now I turn my attentions to CO2 breathers, or Ice colonizers. Using this strategy, I can conquer the entire galaxy in less than the demo's 100-turn limit, and lose less than 20 ships (if I use tactical combat).

p.s. Obviously this strategy would not be so successful in an Advanced Tech game, but then you lose the fun of researching tech.

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All of this will change, considerably, in the next release. Hopefully the next demo will be out soon. You'll find many changes, especially in the AI.