Atraikius, please read.

[Atraikius]

Rollo

- I would like to hear any comments you might have, I find that they help a lot in finding problems, or possible problems a lot faster than trying to find them myself.

- I don't consider the armed colony ships my idea to steal, I had read some comments on placing napalm bombs on them while I was still testing them. As for the items I found that hadn't been worked out, like initially getting the AI to capture planets, I'm happy to see that someone is taking advantage of it, because it makes all of the time and effort I spent worthwhile.

- Typically, I use a large map with the default 100 systems setting, and then manually select 20 of the toughest races, with High difficulty, and low bonus. I think this gives the AI a 'worst case' setting, while still allowing enough room for expansion. (Plus, with all of the hostile races I normally find that I have enough of a struggle in the early part of the game due to multiple wars, that I'm not even in the top ten until well into the game)

[Atraikius]

- I went to the armed ships myself because I was getting sick of seeing the AI picking off each others lone colony ships, so I got rid of the typical cargo component and cut back the speed on thier initial colonizer in order to fit in a DUC, and later on had them switch to warship hulls so that they could fit even more weapons and defenses on them - found it very amusing to watch a dreadnaught sized colony ship that was armed as heavily as most battleships pound through three enemy systems in an early test game, but reduced them down to BC size due to the time for construction. I wanted to keep them as big as possible to keep with the Orky feel though.

Also, I normally pick 1 starting planet to keep the research slower (tried three once, and had the orks hit me wiht a fleet of BB's while I was still researching light cruisers), and I quit using the high bonus after I started testing the orks because they would max out thier number of ships way to soon.

[Rollo]

Master Belisarius and Atraikius,
I had to cancel my test, because the map was so bad. The Aquilaeian didn't have any systems to settle without running into me or the Vikings. The Vikings started off next to a black hole (always a killer for the AI). I never got to see any Orks because they were cut off by black holes as well (no, it was no ancient map).

I started a new game with medium mid-life galaxy, 3 planets, no intel, 20000 resources, low tech level, medium tech cost, 2000 race pts, and medium number of players plus neutrals. I also modded the quadrant file to get rid of black holes (should thought of that long ago).

Guess what happened: I started off in a system with three planets to colonize and three warp points leading out of it. Fair enough, so I build 3 colonizers right away. On turn 2 or 3 the orks show up on my eastern warp point. They don't look friendly, so I quickly build some missile sats and later some scouts. I send one scout to the south and encounter an Aquilaeian home system. The other one I send to the north and find the Viking home system! This is really weird. I am sqeezed right in the middle between the AI that I want to test with no room to expand...
This could be quite interesting , if you want I can email you the savegame (you just need the .gam file, right?)

Rollo

PS: Anybody want to place a bet who will kill me? My money is on the orks, they have already declared war on me and start sending ships over (I guess they can sniff weakness from systems away). Lets see how they can overcome my (pitiful ) defenses.

[Master Belisarius]

Yes, please send me the *.gam file to jlperyr@adinet.com.uy.

And I bet for you! I always bet for the human player!

If you believe that are going to lose, then, research mines and deploy them over your planets/colonies (you don't need a mine layer to do that). Sooner or later, the AI will have the capability to remove your mines (for example, the Aquilaeian attack ships had mine-sweepers), but will give to you the time to crush them.
Of course that this is a unfair strategy against the AI... but at least is not a cheat!

[Rollo]

Yes, of course I would win (I think ). But the point is, I want to lose and see who will beat me . So I am playing a little bit dumb.

One thing a have noticed already. The Vikings are probably too nice. I have hardly done anything to the politics and anger files or whatever dictates AI behavior, because I don't quite understand them yet. Maybe I look at some of the other AI races and see where the differences are. I have focussed on research, design and construction so far.

Rollo
[edit]
PS: I sent you the savegame. What's .uy ? Maybe Uruguay?

[edit, again] Do'h ! Just look into the profile, dummy .

[This message has been edited by Rollo (edited 20 August 2001).]

[Master Belisarius]

quote:

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Originally posted by Rollo:
Yes, of course I would win (I think ). But the point is, I want to lose and see who will beat me . So I am playing a little bit dumb.

One thing a have noticed already. The Vikings are probably too nice. I have hardly done anything to the politics and anger files or whatever dictates AI behavior, because I don't quite understand them yet. Maybe I look at some of the other AI races and see where the differences are. I have focussed on research, design and construction so far.

Rollo
[edit]
PS: I sent you the savegame. What's .uy ? Maybe Uruguay?

[edit, again] Do'h ! Just look into the profile, dummy .

[This message has been edited by Rollo (edited 20 August 2001).]

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[Atraikius]

Rollo - could you send me the save game also?
I only check my work email recently, so please send it to robert.engvall@medtronic.com

BTW, I had to make the Orks so they would always try to be at war since I made them Bloodthirsty. One of the consequences is that they will always declare way on the first race they encounter. If you happen to have them use a fleet of Kamakaze ships on you, could you please try to write down any details that you can think of, I narrowed their use down to only when the race is in a defensive status, but I am still seeing some inconsistancies that I believe may be because they are only used in either a long term defense or a short term defense but not both.

[Rollo]

Hi Atraikius,
you (should) have mail.

Rollo
[edit] deleted old post

[This message has been edited by Rollo (edited 21 August 2001).]