What now????

[Baron Munchausen]

The AI is getting better at tactical combat but still flubs now & then. It's programmed to fire missiles & then run away, for example, but occasionally runs TOWARDS the enemy it just fired at instead of away. Duh! I've slaughtered more than a few Jraenar ships because of that goof. The latest beta, as the info file posted in another thread here states, is supposed to have improved tactical combat. I've got to get into contact with some major rivals in my new game and see how it goes now. I did have one serious contest with a neutral that I stumbled across shortly after starting the game. They were in the adjacent system, and even though they only had 20 turns or so start they were suprisingly tough.

[Taqwus]

One improvement would be if the fighters didn't go tearing off towards the enemy until all were launched, or other ships on the same side do. Going piecemeal is a good way to get diced... especially against a PD-heavy fleet, because PD now targets a finite number with high precision (an alternative: PD fires w/ fairly low probability to hit, but for EVERY incoming seeker/fighter). But for now, fighters are much more potent massed, and with a keen eye on enemy PD count.

If it could hide its attitude, it'd also gain a bit methinks; right now, once your score hits 500k+ (possible to do quickly even w/ a single armed ship, if you go econ-happy), you know that you still haven't tripped 'evil empire' status until they go Murderous -- and once they do, you still have a few turns warning methinks. Add an Intel op to discover their "true" impression if need be; you may *think* they like you, but... I'm also tempted to think that the racial traits maybe should be hidden, which would slightly help AIs since people are much better at deducing a possible playing style from the traits...

I suspect the AI may not analyze ships as often as it should; saw a fleet running around w/ Org-6 weapons, and a ship that I'd captured and gave to them, that IIRC had Org-10 weapons. Hyper-plasma V, anyway, versus the much worse Lightning Ray III. Something to check for whenever it receives a ship that's a gift, or it captures one. A bit odd, since analyzing for a new tech is usually a plus. If it doesn't have any tech you can't learn (e.g. you've gotten a ship w/ WMGs and a Talisman, and you're not religious... might actually want to keep it, then), then it's almost certainly a plus, unless you're absolutely, critically low on resources and you'd prefer to scrap it.

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-- The thing that goes bump in the night

[AJC]

The latest AI in the beta code is doing much better - much more aggressive and much better organized. MM is working hard on it - and it is starting to come together. The next patch to the public should make alot of people happy.

[Jochen Schmidt]

I´m happy to hear, that MM is working on the AI. Perhaps, the whole discussion could be avoided in the future.

Greetings to all!

Jochen

[Jubala]

Jochen, no matter how good an AI get's there will always be an Überplayer somewhere that can beat it and that will complain about the AI being a pushover while the vast majority of mere mortals are being ground into dust by the same AI.

But still, it's good to hear the AI is being worked on. I don't consider myself an Überplayer but so far it's been kind of a pushover for me.

[Edit] Fixed some spelling. Strange I can edit after this long.

[This message has been edited by Jubala (edited 13 December 2000).]