New to the game and Overwhelmed. Any hints?

Dogberry · #1 May 27th, 2002, 05:26 AM

If the AI doesn't use the Ministers.. then what does it use ? I assume the production bonuses are across the board.. resources, research.. intel .. everything . This might explain why the AI demolishes the capacity of a planet so quickly in Finite Resource Games. My guess is that this production multiplier wiould be of marginal use in certain respects unless the productivity of each planet.. orbital yard .. etc. was also increased, as the bonus points, especially minerals.. would be "lost in space" .

If this is true... the "natural" storage capacity of the AI ought to be doubled or tripled, from that of the human player.

Dog

capnq · #2 May 27th, 2002, 09:53 PM

Quote:

My guess is that this production multiplier wiould be of marginal use in certain respects unless the productivity of each planet.. orbital yard .. etc. was also increased, as the bonus points, especially minerals.. would be "lost in space" .

If this is true... the "natural" storage capacity of the AI ought to be doubled or tripled, from that of the human player.

Actually, I think it's more common for an AI to stall on production because it can't pay any more maintenance. The bonuses make it take longer before this occurs.

I don't actually know which ministers are turned off; I'm just repeating what I've seen posted here. My first guess would be things like the Population minister, so on the lowest difficulty, the AI wouldn't shuffle population around, for example.

Dogberry · #3 May 28th, 2002, 09:21 AM

Capnq.. this is what I have observed. Many of the AI's "mining" planets & its Homeworld are at 0 minerals .. while it's observable fleet consists of a half dozen light & regular cruisers, a couple of pop transports & a orbital yard or 2. I easily keep a fleet 4 or 5 times the overall weight of the AI & none of my main mining planets are zeroed out.

It might well be that the Finite Resources Game is sort of an AI killer itself.

Dog

oleg · #4 May 28th, 2002, 02:57 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Dogberry:
It might well be that the Finite Resources Game is sort of an AI killer itself.

Dog

Yes, AI can not play Finite resources at all.
The main problem is that there is only one set of AI files which is used in all possible game setups. Since SE IV AI is tuned to "normal" resource game, it follows the same route even when you play "finite" and swiftly runs out of resources. No AI should ever be used in any finite resources game, IMHO.

Dogberry · #5 May 30th, 2002, 10:06 AM

Oleg..Took your advice & that of others here & started a new game w/ regular resources & moderate AI bonus & the difference is striking. You are really under the gun if you know that eventually your opponents will be coming at you with twice the weight & what's worse, twice the tech, if you sit still for too long.

Think that I will scale back to low ( x2 ) bonus though. X3 just shoves your game a long to the point, where your choices are limited & you are forced to be real agressive.

Really looking forward to the TDM mod, when I get to it.

Dog

[ May 30, 2002, 09:08: Message edited by: Dogberry ]

Perrin · #6 May 30th, 2002, 07:45 PM

Here is a mid to late game hint. Especially useful before going to war. Start building ships in your ship yards. When they are only one turn from completion click the queue on hold button. This will stop the yard from using recourses but you will be one turn away from a finished ship if you need it. Great for replacing battle losses.