Stupid AI, drop the damned troops!!

Rollo · #1 August 16th, 2001, 04:36 PM

Yes, I know. From the situation you described I assumed the dreadnought would not live long enough to drop its troops. My bad. Besides that you should set the troop transport as fleet leader. This way it will move first and will probably drop the troops before the dreadnought. Also you should put a small weapon on the transport to get it to stay and finish the sats after the capture(only PD will cause it to run away). After the planet is captured and the DN still lives and has its troops still loaded, do not expect it to battle the sats. It will run away, because it is a "troop transport"

.

quote:
The problem comes from another of the AI's strange behaviour.

Actually this behaviour is consistant with what I have mentioned in my earlier post. After the dreadnought drops its troops it is not a troop transport anymore, but a warship again. This will cause the "real" troop transport to go into hiding and wait for the weapon platforms to be destroyed...

Rollo

Rollo · #2 August 16th, 2001, 04:39 PM

Whoops, I was offline typing.

Rollo · #3 August 16th, 2001, 04:59 PM

"What happens if you use Rollo's method but with *no* troops on the DN?"

If you put no troops on the DN, that will make the troop transport (TT) wait. The DN is just a warship with a cargo space.

"Would it make a difference changing the fleet leader and/ or formation? (ie make sure the troop ship gets there first.)"

Yes, that is a good idea.

"Failing that get some more troops on the DN and hope they can take the planet."

IIRC the problem is that CW doesn't have enough troops to fill two ships.

"Or... reduce the shields of the dreadnought so that it's just tough enough to soak up all the enemy fire, but gets damaged / slowed down / destroyed before reaching the planet and dropping it's troop. (Getting desprate now)."

Should work. As I said before, I was thinking the DN would get destroyed in the approach anyway.

CW, if you don't find the DN/TT combo satisfactory, the best thing (if possible) would probably be that you build/refit two DN/TT hybrids. Both should have:
A) enough troops to capture the planet
B) enough shields so that at least one will reach the planet
C) one small weapon and some PD to finsh the sats

Rollo

[edit]typos

[This message has been edited by Rollo (edited 16 August 2001).]

Kadste · #4 August 16th, 2001, 05:00 PM

Rollo,

In one of you Posts you mentioned
"In one of my tests with an AI that captures planets, a planet was glassed only moments after the capture by the sats that were still in orbit."

Is this AI posted. It would make a tremendous difference to my (and I think to most of our) games if some AI's had this capability.

I searched the Scenario/Mod Archives and did not see any Posts by you. If it is not post it, can you? If it is posted, can you point me to it.

Thanks,

------------------
Never Give up, Never Surrender!

dmm · #5 August 16th, 2001, 05:02 PM

quote:
Originally posted by CW:
I've [got] to admit the AI in this game is one of the worst I have seen.

1) I've seen a LOT worse, and for less complicated games. Most of the challenging AIs cheat, which I hate. Certainly, SEIV's AI is aggravatingly stupid at times, but I don't see that as the main problem here.

2) The problem, in this particular case, is arising because you're trying to capture a planet by _exploiting_ the weak AI! Ironic, isn't it? Admit it, you'd never capture that planet with that fleet against a human opponent. He'd go after your unshielded troop transport as soon as it came into range and would blow it to pieces with one salvo. And he would ignore your "shield ship." The AI would be good enough for the job if your fleet were good enough to capture the planet from a human opponent.

3) Your (probably human) opponent has set up his planetary defences (defenses?) in accordance with known AI behavior. Sorry, but you just have to deal with it. That's the game. The hard-coding that insists on destroying weapons platforms before landing troops was probably put in at the request of some poor slob who had his heavily-defended planet stolen from him by someone who tricked the AI into ignoring troop transports. Ditto with the "one drop per combat" rule.

4) You should feel lucky. You've got a 50/50 chance of capturing a planet that you've got no fair expectation of capturing. The planet owner is the guy who should be complaining!

Rollo · #6 August 16th, 2001, 05:05 PM

Kadste, thank you for your interest,
the AI is for the Space Vikings shipset that dogscoff is doing (btw, how are the gfx coming along?

). Both the AI and the ships are still "under construction". I can send you the AI files if you like. Then you can check it out and give me some feedback for improvements.

Rollo
[edit]typos and additions

[This message has been edited by Rollo (edited 16 August 2001).]

Rollo · #7 August 16th, 2001, 05:11 PM

quote:
Originally posted by dmm:
4) You should feel lucky. You've got a 50/50 chance of capturing a planet that you've got no fair expectation of capturing. The planet owner is the guy who should be complaining![/b]

good points dmm,
just let me answer to one of them: if the planet owner is reading this, he will probably adjust his defenses anyway. just build some sats with ionic dispersers and enjoy the fireworks

.

Rollo