I think the AI cheats a little

[dmm]

I would swear that during a battle the AI's ships manage to hang on to their weapons until the bitter end much more frequently than they ought to, if components are destroyed in a random order. I haven't kept records or done any statistical analysis, so maybe I'm subconsciously skewing the data by only remembering the annoying data points. Has anyone else noticed this, or looked into it?

[Daynarr]

You will have to trust me on this, the AI does not cheat in tactical combat.
I had quite a number of situations where I would take all of the weapons on the ship without taking any other components in the process. But I do remember that feeling when I play some game that uses random number generator (like RISK) for a long time. After a while I would get the feeling that random number are not so random. It is not real. Just like you said, you are looking only at the bad points.
Also, there is one more thing. Larger than normal weapons mounts have greater damage resistance and may go down Last.

[Seawolf]

Simple answer... AI does not cheat. One of the reasons I love this game..

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Seawolf on the prowl

[Baron Munchausen]

I think the AI cannot help but cheat in certain ways. These would have nothing to do with tactical combat, though. The AI is actually very bad at tactical combat. Did you ever play the old, old Versions of Empire? The AI units would always move to intercept you even if you sent your units by some round-about way to attack from a different direction. It's very difficult -- maybe impossible -- to code an AI that doesn't use the complete knowledge of the game contents. I bet the SE4 AI also uses knowledge of other players' ship locations without having gained it by "proper" means. I've occasionally seen fleets move into a system and take up position to attack, then turn around and leave when I swooped in a transport and dropped some WPs on the colony they were threatening. Can you see the contents of a planet without attacking? Apparently the AI can, unless this was just coincidence.

[Taqwus]

Hmmm. Might be coincidence, given how strangely it sometimes acts (like routing low-supply ships through a black hole sector...)

I've gotten my fair share of lucky hits in tactical, as well. Had a battle Last night, a nice simple one between my BC and an Eee DN, and my first hit (phased polaron ) took out their Combat Sensors III. Dang, that's sweet.

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-- The thing that goes bump in the night