How do I make the game hard?

[God Emperor]

Tomwhalen,
Give my Research/DesignCreation and Klingon/Romulan mods a try! I suggest that you use the TechAreas file which allows point defence and destroyers at game start.
In my recent games, the Klingons and Romulans have been quite a handful
- eg on turn 21 I had to fend off a fleet of eight Klingon destroyers who had a marginal tech edge. My eight (plus 4 WP's)took him down (I lost four ships destroyed and three wrecked) but it was a most unpleasant encounter.

I would be really appreciative of any feed back you may have!
Regards,

PS: I usually play with low bonus, high difficulty settings.
God Emperor

[This message has been edited by God Emperor (edited 22 March 2001).]

[raynor]

There are quite a lot of things the game lets you do that the AI isn't using yet or very well. I would recommend getting a mod that removes black holes. The AI doesn't seem to handle these very well. Next, I would voluntarily restrict what technologies you use. Definitely, don't build or close wormholes. I think that is the number one way to easily defeat the AI. In the early game, mines are pretty potent against the AI so you might restrict yourself from using those. Don't use mothballing as the AI doesn't use mothballing. I haven't seen the AI use troops much so you might restrict yourself from using troops.

I love to play tactical combat. But I realize now that I'm getting a HUGE advantage over the AI that way. For the best challenge, you have to only play strategic battles.

Play on high difficulty with high opponents, no neutrals and set the bonus to medium. I highly recommend playing a 5000 point game against the Xi'Chung Expert that is part of the TDM_ModPack. Of course, don't use any race points yourself. If you want, take Will's suggestion and minimize all yours as well.


[This message has been edited by raynor (edited 22 March 2001).]

[Sabre21]

This is what I have found to work very well. I use a large galaxy, 250+ stars with 20 empires..no neutrals. I have modded the set up so that all planets are huge with each system having 2-3 rock oxygen and each planet with a minimum of 100 resource types each. I reduced the probability of black holes to 1% and create AI races with 5000 points, including plus ups in maintenance, research, mineral production, and usually advanced storage techniques. I have also increased the use of organics and radioactives in producing ships and facilities. This forces me to balance out production of the 3 resources and not just concentrate on minerals. As for the game I use hi bonus and hi diff settings. I also use Mephisto's modpack..I really enjoy those Darloks. With this type of setup, the AI has no problem with a lack of resources or room for expansion. Usually by turn 50, I have seen empires with nearly 100 colonies and over 1000 ships..some even had nearly 4000...ugh. Plus with the latest AI upgrade, I actually see the different races beat up each other pretty hard, even eliminatng a few. I have never been able to achieve better than 5th place and am usually around 10th. I also dont do any cheap shots early in the game like placing mines or satelites on enemy homeworlds.

Hope this gives you some ideas

Sabre21

[raynor]

Sabre,

My mind absolutely boggles at the concept of the AI with 1000 to 4000 ships each. How long does it take to process a turn by the time one or more AI's have 1000 ships?

BTW, I wonder if the AI should be adjusted so that they defend more systems when playing in a 250 system game? I think I saw somewhere that they only defend 3 systems at a time? I wonder if that is enough in a 250 system game. With 1000 ships, I certainly think they *might* be able to defend (at least) one more.

[Suicide Junkie]

For a real challenge, try the Pirates mod.

As a pirate, you can't build (and don't start off with) ANY planet-based resource extractors. First thing you should build is a remote-miner escort
You also can't build or retrofit colony ships. Basically, your economy will be based on remote mining and ship capture & scrapping.

Note that there are some restrictions on the choice of racial traits that you must set yourself.
- no reproduction / no environment resist.
- no Psychic tech.

[Puke]

I think the pirate mod should disable the self destruct device, or at least take it off of all the AI designs, or reduce the number that use it.

[Suicide Junkie]

Why? That would reduce the challenge. All you Pirates have to do is shoot the ship until it can be captured (no SDD, no Shields)

Note that it is very OK to use tactical combat in the Pirates mod. The AIs will still do well, and if you try to play strategic combat, you're toast.