Questions/RFCs from a newbie

neofit · #1 April 15th, 2002, 10:02 PM

Hey, that was quick! Thanks!

quote:
Originally posted by Suicide Junkie:
[QB]First off:
I believe the default "AI difficulty" setting is medium.
You will want to set this to High.
When on medium or low, the AI just turns off some of it's minister functions, high uses them all.
This setting does not induce any cheating on the part of the AI

Good, I will restart a game right away.

quote:
Next, the AI bonus.
This is a multiplier for all the AI resources, and is "cheating" for the AI.
It goes something like:
None: 1x multiplier
Low: 2x
Medium 3x
High 5x
Most players set this to Medium for challenge once they've got the hang of the game.

Hmmm... I think I'll leave this one for the future

quote:
2) Fleet experience adds with ship experience.
Fleet experience is completely separate from ship experience.
If you have an Elite "Alpha Squadron" fleet, and a newly formed "Newbie Fleet", and you swap all of the ships, you will end up with Elite ships in a newbie fleet, and newbie ships in an Elite fleet.

So, if I got it right:
Ship A got 10 Fleet exp + 5 ship exp. I put it in another fleet, with ships that have no exp at all. In this new fleet, ship A will still have its 5 ship exp bonus, plus its 10 fleet bonus since it fights in a fleet an not alone? So even if I have a single ship I should create a one-ship fleet so it uses its fleet exp in a solo fight?

quote:
5) You found a "neutral" race. You probably need to have over 10-50x its score before it will surrender.

Oh, so it is the score difference that determines the ability to subjugate then?

quote:
Many races have also been modded to never surrender, especially the TDM races.

What is a TDM race?

quote:
Most players do not use neutrals in their games, because of the fact that they limit themselves to one system, and are basically pushovers with free technologies to capture.

How do you capture technology? Through Intelligence? [I have only researched up to level 1 - no spying, didn't find much use besides slightly damaging enemy ships] Through ship capture? Or any other means?

Thank you.

Edit: bad quoting

[ 15 April 2002: Message edited by: neofit ]

Suicide Junkie · #2 April 15th, 2002, 10:18 PM

quote:
Ship A got 10 Fleet exp + 5 ship exp. I put it in another fleet, with ships that have no exp at all. In this new fleet, ship A will still have its 5 ship exp bonus, plus its 10 fleet bonus since it fights in a fleet an not alone? So even if I have a single ship I should create a one-ship fleet so it uses its fleet exp in a solo fight?

Example time:
"Alpha Squadron", a fleet, has 10% experience.
"Furious Wombat", a ship, has 5% experience.
"Newbie fleet", a fleet, has 1% experience.

When F.W. is a part of alpha squadron, it fights with a total of +15% to attack and dodge rolls.
This applies even if the ship breaks formation.

F.W. is separated from the squadron and goes off on his own.
It now fights with only a 5% bonus.

F.W. joins a "Newbie Fleet". It now fights with a 6% bonus.

All of the other ships in newbie fleet are destroyed or leave.
F.W. still gets a 6% bonus, even though it is alone.

F.W. leaves, and the fleet is disbanded (no ships remain). The 1% fleet experience is lost forever.

quote:
Oh, so it is the score difference that determines the ability to subjugate then?

Yes. The AI files have someting along the lines of "Only accept surrender if they are X times my score."

What is a TDM race?
TDM is the initials of the three founders of a great AI package.

You can find the TDM modpack on your CD, but there might have been an update since then. Check out the Space Empires:IV AI Races/Ship Sets Thread in shrapnel's upload area.

Technology can be captured by intel ops, or by using boarding parties (ship component), or by trading.

Krakenup · #3 April 15th, 2002, 10:24 PM

quote:
Originally posted by neofit:
What settings can I modify to make the game a bit harder, not too hard of course

If you set the difficulty below High, you are crippling the AI. Set that to High and add some bonus. You may want that at High also. In addition, you may want to use the TDM-ModPack or other mod races. Most of them are quite a bit more challenging than the stock races.

Your strategies seem to be good, but, when the AI starts putting PDCs on its ships, your CSM fleets are goners. You might want to use PPBs (requires Physics II) in the midgame.

quote:
Oh, the questions:

1. I didn't notice my ships gaining experience in combat. Then I found an old year 2000 post on this board saying that ships don't gain exp for firing missiles.

I think that's been fixed. Ships just gain experence slowly.

quote:
2. What is the difference between Ship experience and Fleet experience?

They are separate and additive. If a ship leaves a fleet, it keeps its ship experience but loses its fleet experience. If it joins another fleet, it gains that fleet's experience.

quote:
3. What is the difference between the 'Move' and 'Attack Commands'?

If you are already on the enemy fleet or planet, you can use the Attack Command. Otherwise, they are the same.

quote:
4. Is there a trick to speed up population growth, besides constantly ferrying people between planets that are at/near maximum and the less populated ones? Besides making the population happier through gathering military facilities in the sector and building Urban Pacification Centers? I have found a Climate Control facility and have yet to assess its use and usefulness. From what I read on this board there are also some kind of 'atmosphere changing' facilities along the research tree. Anything else?
What is the max population growth rate one can have? Mine was 20% (which in fact is 2% if you do the math) on an Optimal planet with Jubilant population , can it go higher?
Is it possible to ferry population between two planets with indigenous population from different races?

I think you got most of the tricks. Growth rate can go higher than 20%, but I don't know the maximum. Yes, you want to match the planet's atmosphere with the population.

quote:
5. How to subjugate a race?

It all depends on the relative score and the race settings in the politics file. Turn on the "See scores of all players" option. For most races (and all the neutral races - the ones with the simple flags and limited to one system), you need ten times their score to get them to accept a surrender demand. Score depends on their tech levels, production, ships, and bases. So all you have to do is destroy all their ships and bases and station a ship over (blockade)
each of their planets to drop them to minimum score. If your score is ten times theirs, they will accept a surrender demand - unless, of course, they require 30 or 50 times their score or if they will never surrender Like some of the ModPack races.

neofit · #4 April 15th, 2002, 10:26 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Taera:
Welcome to the forum Neofit!

[quote]-Play with high number of AI enemies.

How do you change this? I can't find it anywhere. On my first campaign there were 8 players (as displayed during the AI turn) on a Medium-sized quadrant, the next one there were 13 on a Small-sized one, and I haven't changed any parameters to that effect.
Besides, I thought that the more enemies there are, the less resources each one of them will have.

quote:
-Remove Neutral Empires by unchecking the "Generate random computer controlled Neutral Empires"

Ah, so there are 'regular' empires that will develop normally and hopefully attack, and neutral empires that never do? Thanks.

quote:
For the races part, i reccommend you to download the TDM-ModPack. Its a MOD which will enchance the AI difficulty greatly - many good modders put a lot of time to design a challenging AI.

So that's what a TDM race is then?
Hehe, just found "TDM-ModPack_Gold.zip" on the Gold CD. I was not willing to mess around with Mods until I get to know the game. This Version is 3.00, is it any good or too old?

quote:
It does not matter how good do you play, if the AI is a decent one soon enough your missiles tactics will be countered by greater PDCs and shields and engines. And then you'll get hit.

So maybe training, better missiles, and good sensors will see us through? With the advantage I seem to have in research and resources so far in the game, I think my missiles, electronics and speed will always be above those of the AI. Need to try on Hard Difficulty setting.

neofit · #5 April 15th, 2002, 10:37 PM

Also, is there a use for subjugation? If I need to be 10 times as strong, wouldn't it be better to simply capture its planets and get 100% of the resources instead of just 40%.
Maybe in the endgame, when capturing planets becomes very costly against a technologically advanced empire?

Suicide Junkie · #6 April 15th, 2002, 10:39 PM

Along with the "AI difficulty" and "AI bonus" settings, there is "Number of AI Players"

Low Medium and High define a range of numbers.

Lots of AIs can also encourage infighting along with the resource shortages, but too few can leave you alone long enough for you to build up an insurmountable lead.

Wardad · #7 April 15th, 2002, 11:35 PM

Now you know why we play with modded AI. I wish I had my files here with me, but it's probably too early for the NEWBIE to learn to edit AI scripts.

I toughen up the stock AI by requiring them to have more Colony ships. I also expand their limit on research and intelligance points. They will build more of those facilities. (Stellar Manip requires lots of research points). I also have a better AI file for building facilities and another for choosing planet types (mineral, reseach etc..).

Maybe one of the other guys could recommend some MODPACKS with tough AI.

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INCOMING!!! another damn upgrade!