[jowe01]

Well, first of all, the AIs in Stars! do not cheat. However, they are REALLY deplorable adversaries. Nevertheless, Stars! is meant to be a multiplayer game and has the necessary functionalities (e.g. battleviewer). SE4 is basically a single player game so far, and as such, I have to say I am rather disappointed with the AI so far (though it does perform some basics rather well). After easily beating the AI three times in a row on highest difficulty and with maximum AI advantages, I feel I must share my grief with you on this message board (and maybe with Aaron who might read this and decide to fix some of it ?).

Though I also feel that SE4 is a great game as far as the general concept and its diversity are concerned, it lacks heavily in terms of challenge. Given that it is poor as a multiplayer experience because its most interesting part, the battles, cannot be played tactically and there is not even a battleviewer, the gamer will usually find himself plotted against the AIs. But alas, the latter do not really represent a challenge, even if the human player does some role-playing and does not use its option to his maximum advantage. What's wrong with the AI ? :

It is a sissy! The AIs are too treaty happy and do not pursue their goals as they should. I do find it very suitable, that AIs enter into treaties with you, however, they do not sufficiently defend their interests while we are allied. My ships enter their borders, I establish colonies in their space, I attack their other allies… all these things should lead to higher anger levels and thus finally to the end of the treaty. I do not find these elements in the AI anger file. The AI anger file should be extended, maybe the whole algorithm should be revised.

It has Alzheimer ! The AI forgets everything. It time and again runs into my minefields and never sends a sweeper. It does not seem to remember my fleet concentration ("Hey, what are those 10 cruisers, 2 carriers and 3 troop transports doing in the black hole system on my border. Mmmh, never mind, probably only on a Sunday afternoon walk." ) It does not learn from its defeats but continues attacking the same superior fleet with single ships. The AI should get some kind of memory, remembering "dangerous areas", "potential attack fleets", etc.. It also should simulate every battle in advance. I am not saying it should cheat, but its simulation should be based on know designs and components (given the known tech levels of my human adversary, how would I, the AI, build those battlecruisers ?).

It did not take its "Lebertran". At least it has a serious problem focussing on a strategy. That is to say, it does not have a strategy. Its fleet rushes from one part of its empire to the other and never follow through an offensive. Last time, 5 AI battleships entered my homesystem (I did not worry their approach, thought they were on a Sunday afternoon walk), attacked the nearest colony, annihilated the 34 million people on the planet and then…withdrew, without molesting my undefended homeworld. Things like these happen all the time. The AI should fix some priority strategic targets and then follow through on them. Secondary threats and opportunities should either be ignored or be met with secondary fleets. Major threats and opportunities (like my undefended homeworld) should however lead to a temporary change in strategy.

It did not watch the first Star Wars trilogy. Jesus, it does not realize that fighters are the ultimate attack weapon if the big, bad death star is not properly equipped with point defense canon. My complain is actually twofold:
Firstly, the AI does not properly react to the human adversary using lots of fighters. Lately, one of my light carriers single-handedly defeated 7 AI battleships (on tactical). With only one point defense canon, they could not take down sufficient fighters before they were blown into space dust. Here the AI should adapt its design. If the human adversary continuously uses large Groups of fighters, more point defense canons should be included on the standard design or the AI should build anti-fighter ships (with lots of PD and emissive armor). In that context, could anybody provide an explanation of the Default_AI_DesignCreation.txt file ? I do not understand what a lot of those entries mean.
Secondly, the AI does not seem to use fighters sufficiently to make advantage of their enormous potential. It should be much more biased in that direction. This point can be extended to other powerful defensive, offensive and economic means: why does the AI never use minesweepers? Why does it not lay more mines itself ? Why does it not build dedicated, cloaked surprise fleets (but mixes cloaked with uncloaked ships) Has anybody ever seen the AI build a ringworld ? etc., etc. …

It has a suicidal tendency. Very often, they AI sends single ships within the reach of my fleets, which never stand a chance against my forces. This obviously is an invitation to attack them and thus take the out one by one. Not very smart…

O.k., sorry for the long post, but I had to share these grievance with you. Now if anybody wants to take my place on the couch…