quote:
Originally posted by Krakenup:
In the TDM-ModPack 1.72 Version of the Rage, they seem to be reluctant to build shipyards except at the Homeworld. In one game, I snuck in the backdoor and glassed their Homeworld, and they were dead in the water. They had a dozen system empire but couldn't build ships. In the following game, the Rage were stuck behind a line of damaging warp points. They managed to get a few colony ships out, but without shipyards they were sitting ducks. They couldn't even repair the warships that got out.
That was one problem they had in that Version. They also didn't build colonizers as fast as they had in previous Versions. In the 2.1 Version (released in TDM Modpack 1.75, as well as elsewhere), I think you will find that they are building more space yards, as well as more colonizers, hopefully without sacrificing early defense too much.
Damaging warp points are still killer to the Rage, as well as to most AI, I think. I usually reduce the probability of black hole systems in my games to almost nil. The problem is that the AI will send a fleet of ships through the damaging warp points, losing ships and supply. Then it decides it needs to resupply, so it sends the fleet back through the damaging warp points, losing more ships. After the fleet is repaired and resupplied, it sends it back through the damaging warp points and the cycle repeats. I've watched the Rage send dozens of ships spiralling into black holes over and over again.
Long story short, removing black hole systems from the mix helps the AI immeasurably.
As for the Rage, check out the new Version, I think that you will find them much improved.