SOLVED AI TROOP INVASIONS

Atraikius · #1 November 2nd, 2001, 01:07 PM

Sinapus - I believe it was Rollo and MB that ran into that problem, found it had to do with the AI acting differently when it started as a player controlled race, and then had all the AI turned on for it compared to starting the game under computer control.

MB - I had only tried the transport ships in the beginning and they would just sit there or try to attack alone - so I swithed to a warship style thinking they would be included in fleets if the AI thought of them as warships, which worked. Wasn't too worried about the loss of cargo space, had been finding that with a 5-10 bonus in ground combat, about 150 - 200 small troops with 2 ground cannons 3, and some armor can typically take a planet with no defending troops with a pop. of about 2000. A cruiser or battle cruiser with cargo 3 can easily cary that many.

AJC · #2 November 2nd, 2001, 04:12 PM

The Capture planet strategy hasnt been changed from the stock Version. I dont have a saved file - although Its easy enough to recreate this behavior. It does it every time.

I wonder if the Drop Troops ability is affecting the way troop transports behave. I have not removed that from the transport ship yet. I will do that tonite after work and post the results.

Rollo · #3 November 5th, 2001, 07:46 PM

quote:
posted by Sinapus:
Wasn't there something else mentioned about invaded planets not being set to use the individual ministers as well? (As in, nothing ever gets built there and such...)

Yes, the AI will not use captured items, if you play as a human with full minister control. You have to turn on the ministers for the captured stuff to work. If the AI is a computer player there is no problem.

quote:
posted by Atraikius:
I can't remember if Rollo or M.B. had got either the Vikings or Aquilians to use transport troop ships in fleets, but when I was first getting the AI to invade planets I was finding that in order for a troop transports to get included into a fleet it had to be designed with a normal hull instead of one of the transport hulls.

I also use normal hulls for the Viking troop transports for various reasons. I can see why it would be a problem to get transport hulls included into fleets. First, they take longer to fill. Second and more important, they are slower than normal hulls. I have seen many times where a troop transport with the "Join fleet" order is chasing a fleet to get included. Well, if they are slower they don't have a good chance of catching up.

quote:
posted by AJC:
Problem was the fleet didnt try to soften up the planet at all, instead the fleet of warships stopped 1 square away from the target planet and then ran away. Then the transport went in all by itself without support of any kind and got wacked in the first few turns of strategic combat... How do we solve that problem?

Did you watch the combat replay in detail? Can you describe the ships behavior a little bit more, what did the warships do exactly? Without knowing any better, this sounds to me like: 1) warships move in to destroy weapon platforms, 2) warships get damaged and have no weapons left, they retreat. 3) troop transport tries to charge the planet with weapon platforms still intact (it does that, if there are no ships with weapons around. If it survives and takes over the planet, the WPs will be taken over as well). 4) troop transport gets whacked as well.

Perhaps, this is what happened. Can you recall that?

quote:
posted by AJC:
The Capture planet strategy hasnt been changed from the stock Version. I dont have a saved file - although Its easy enough to recreate this behavior. It does it every time.
I wonder if the Drop Troops ability is affecting the way troop transports behave. I have not removed that from the transport ship yet. I will do that tonite after work and post the results.

And, any more luck this time?

I hope I could help a little bit,
Rollo

AJC · #4 November 5th, 2001, 10:45 PM

Well this time I got better results - and at this point I am not sure if it is because I removed the drop troops ability, I am starting to wonder.

One thing I am finding is - the stock Default_AI_Construction_Vehicle file does not create enough troops and troop transports to trigger the AI to invade with troops. I have found so far that if I have at least 100 troops, laying around on various planets, and a troop transport - the ai will begin preparing for invasion and eventually try.

This time the Troop transport did assault the planet with the entire fleet!
Fleet Still lost though.

In the previous test, I had changed the design of the troop transport to contain the drop troop ability as suggested. Thats when the transport Broke away from the fleet completely -
The fleet of warships returned to my homeworld - and the troop transport continued onwards to attack the planet all by its lonesome...

[This message has been edited by AJC (edited 05 November 2001).]

Dracus · #5 November 6th, 2001, 02:05 AM

So if we mod the AI files to force them to build 100 or more troops then a transport do you think they would use it to invade?

Rollo · #6 November 6th, 2001, 02:40 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Dracus:
So if we mod the AI files to force them to build 100 or more troops then a transport do you think they would use it to invade?

Yes, they would. It is probably a good idea to use a standard hull rather than a tranport hull for the troop transport. Also don't forget to research troops and weapons

. Check out the files of the Aquilaeian, Orks, and Space Vikings on how they build troops and what kind of designs they use.

Rollo

AJC · #7 November 6th, 2001, 08:00 AM

yes but be careful - building more troops upsets the number of warships being built - I have found that you have to make changes to several of the vehicle construction rates..
Also as Rollo stated find away to research troops and smaller weapons very early in the game , around turns 2-3 .

anyway here are the changes I have made so far to the troops and transports build rates( I didnt include the changes made to the other vehicle builds)- I am still working with those- but I have gotten the AI to use a transport with 100 troops in a planetary invasion, repeatedly.

AI State := Infrastructure
Entry 13 Type := Troop
Entry 13 Planet Per Item := 10
Entry 13 Must Have At Least := 100
Entry 14 Type := Troop Transport
Entry 14 Planet Per Item := 60
Entry 14 Must Have At Least := 2

AI State := Prepare for Attack, Attack
Entry 11 Type := Troop
Entry 11 Planet Per Item := 30
Entry 11 Must Have At Least := 100
Entry 12 Type := Troop Transport
Entry 12 Planet Per Item := 20
Entry 12 Must Have At Least := 2

AI State := Prepare for Defense, Defend (Short Term), Defend (Long Term)
Entry 12 Type := Troop
Entry 12 Planet Per Item := 20
Entry 12 Must Have At Least := 50
Entry 13 Type := Troop Transport
Entry 13 Planet Per Item := 0
Entry 13 Must Have At Least := 1

[This message has been edited by AJC (edited 06 November 2001).]