Newbie co-op vs. AI... Help!

[Intimidator]

Send me your game-file (and emp-passwords) and I can take a look and let you know. (always like it to see how other people setup and play)

Intimidator

intimidator5@hotmail.com

[ July 31, 2004, 09:25: Message edited by: Intimidator ]

[narf poit chez BOOM]

I dunno. Try weapon platforms. I'm just an amatuer and I don't play much anymore. Only things I can think of to suggest is weapons platforms - which I've never had to use, because I only went up against a TDM ai once and it was optimized for short-term battle in a large galaxy - and intelligence, which I always turn off. So, uh, I would have no idea how you would use these effectivily.

[PvK]

Well y'know, the difficulty of tripling all point values, being described as "Medium", is amusing if you think about it in a certain way. I'd be glad there was still challenge in that mode of play, and reflect on whether you really want to know, before asking for more ways to beat the AI than you already have.

Nonetheless, three main types of answers come to mind, without giving anything away:

* Expand faster than the AI does.
* Learn what the AI does and doesn't do, and exploit that more.
* Team up with your human allies in ways the AI doesn't.

PvK

[Syllogism]

We (I'm the other player) aren't looking for a magical trick to destory the AI instantly, just a few hints so that we actually can have a game that is a challange ( note that, to me, a challanging game is one in which victory and loss are uncertain for much of he game.).
As it stands, we're geting ripped apart by medium ( not too fun to lose by turn 40) or are shreading low bonus AI without breakign a sweat.

a slightly more detiled description of our basic stratigy woudl be:

1. expand heavily (both towards for unified boarders and away to ensure as much territory as possible)
2. continue to expand and build up insustry/research until we contact the ai
3. defend chokepoints
4. once we'rre strong enough, start whittlig down the ai with our (hopefulloy) superior fleets.

Basic fare for a game of ths type, really.

Defensively we're using misile/pd ships as the core of the fleet (especially me since my beams are nearly useless pre talisman) and using them to hold chokepoints. The problem is that they build larger, more technologically advanced flets ( that while slightly less well optimized are generally more then up to the task of obliteratign us)

Should we be working with a different stratigy? like rushing t fighters for defense or mines?
should we just rush he ai ( somehow)?

[Colonel]

well i could always be wrong and this could be hard coded but couldnt you just modify the diffcult level so medium was in between what it is now and easy level, just a thought

[Will]

Well, if you manage to get past turn 40, try this.

Build a bunch (7 or 8 should be good) of small attack/raid fleets. The fleets should be around 7-10 ships strong when you're about equal to the AI in tech. Be sure to train them, make them as fast as possible, and use trial-and-error to find what balance of firepower/protection you are most comfortable with. Also experiment with different setups of formations and weapon layouts through the fleet (eg, if you normally have 2 PDCs per ship for Battle Cruiser and above, for your raiding design, cut it to one and insert a modified Version that has only one normal weapon, and is loaded with PDC enough to compensate for the others; may or may not work for you, but try it). Include a supply ship to extend range, minesweeper to get rid of any mines that may be thrown up, etc.

Once you have these fleets ready, raid your nearest AI rival's territory, in multiple places. The AI (much like a human) has some trouble handling attacks from many places at once. Your goal in these raids is not to capture AI territory, or even to significantly damage anything. You want to go after small fleets and lone ships, once in a while going after a small planet with little to no defenses. The point of this is to decrease happiness in the systems, which will cut back on AI resource production. So, while your fleets are disrupting, you're hopefully holding the AI at bay in your buffer systems, and your own territory is safe, so you can build the *real* attack fleet. After ten turns of the disrupting fleets doing their work, most likely around 15-25 of the original 50-80 ships will be left, and you should have a nice 50 ship fleet ready to do the real conquering against a weakened enemy.

This should work out, but I haven't actually played in a while, so... YMMV.

[Renegade 13]

Originally posted by Colonel:
well i could always be wrong and this could be hard coded but couldnt you just modify the diffcult level so medium was in between what it is now and easy level, just a thought

Unless I'm severely mistaken, this is hardcoded.

As for the original question, well I'm not qualified to answer, seeing as how I still have difficulty against the AI's on medium bonus sometimes (although I don't have an ally). That is what makes the game so much fun, you're never sure if the AI's going to come at you and beat the **** out of you.