[DirectorTsaarx]

Originally posted by The High Gryphin:
Reguarding "Sporting"
At the beging of the game we are on equal foottings with the designers of the AI.
If we want the added defensive bonus the way the AI is given it, then that is the time to take it. In doing so we make the same tradeoffs that the designer of the AI had to make.
During the game, the AI is unlikely to take advantage of a Training Faciity if it does build one.
At that point it becomes, FMPS, (For My Play Style), unsporting to use them.
That said, I must conceed there are many things a human can not avoid doing that the AI can not / will not do.

Well, given that at least one of the FREE cultures provides offensive and defensive bonuses, there isn't much of a tradeoff at game setup to gaining those bonuses. I don't use those cultures, nor do I "buy" gains in those fields mainly to avoid having that (rather major) advantage over the AI's that don't use those gains either. However, I'm not willing to completely cripple my playing by not using a training facility to give my warships an equal footing with an AI opponent that DOES have the combat bonus advantages.

And I agree about it being difficult to avoid doing things the AI has trouble with; after all, I don't (and most other players probably don't) generally limit my research and/or intelligence production to 100,000 points, or create mining colonies on planets with low mineral resource values, or put resource bonus facilities on planets that can only hold a maximum of 2-3 facilities.

Of course, I also only play SE4 for 4-6 hours a week (on average; some weeks I don't play at all, and others I manage to play a couple hours a day). So I'm a little more willing to take advantage of the AI than other people, simply because I want to maximize my enjoyment during my limited gaming time.

Having said that, I still try to allow the AI to keep up by giving the AI at least medium bonus, expanding my colonies MUCH more slowly, and spending most of my time and resources on infrastructure rather than combat.

Another point (a bit more on topic): against the AI, I'd probably avoid the tactic of building multiple ship training facilities in the same sector. Forcing my ships & fleets to spend up to 7 turns in training before engaging the enemy preserves a LITTLE challenge, since it gives the enemy that much more time to build/send fleets into my systems...

And a final observation/question - do planets get an offensive bonus? I had a couple of legendary (40-50% experience) ships in an elite (25-30% experience) fleet that got completely mauled by some weapon platforms (the weapon platform mounts with extended range really help the AI defend planets). Ships that rarely got hit by spaceships were being hit by more than half of the planet's weapons.