Severe combat disadvantage for AI

[rdouglass]

quote:

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Originally posted by Nitram Draw:
The first shot/move is a BIG advantage in WP combat but not so big in other types. If you take out the AI leader ship on the first shot in a WP battle you get two shots/moves without return fire. This can decide a battle....

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Forgive my ignorance (I have been playing this game for quite a while now), but how DO you determine the AI fleet leader??? There are some good AI's out there now and with a few bonuses and stuff, they (AI's) can and have become quite respectable opponents...(contrary to some other Posts).

[Nitram Draw]

Unless you memorize the formations I have no idea how you tell which one is the fleet leader. Maybe you can tell by watching the AI move. The first to move is the leader, I think.
I have destroyed the one I thought was the leader and seen the AI freeze a number of times. Hopefully this is something that can be changed in a future patch.

[Suicide Junkie]

The leader has a blue fleet tag, rather than a red one... just like your own fleets.

[capnq]

This entire discussion seems to be ignoring weapons range. Whoever moves into range first is going to get first shot.

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Cap'n Q


The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the
human mind to correlate all of its contents. We live on a placid
island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was
not meant that we should go far. -- HP Lovecraft

[Nitram Draw]

I agree except in WP combat where you start at close range.

[PsychoTechFreak]

All right, we've got two situations which I think would need a change in combat handling:

1) Cloaked ship enters a sector of ship whithout the appropriate scanner, discloakes (or is it uncloakes?) and surprisingly attacks the other ship.

-I would like to see a close range battle with the first shot given to the ex-cloaked ship. Or even better would be if the ship could enter the combat screen with cloak remaining, and just when it shoots a weapon it should uncloak, like: sneak to the blind ship, uncloak, FIRE... (like in MOO2).

2) Not cloaked ship (for cloaked ship, see 1.) comes out of the wormhole, another ship waits at this side of the wormhole.

-Close range battle, ok. But who should get the advantage of the first shot? Maybe the wormhole-traveller would be more surprised by ships waiting on the other side with laser banks unlocked and targeted to the exit of WH. Or maybe the defender of the WH would be tired, already waited some months w/o any wormhole activity, turned his ship towards the sun, hypnotized... and BAMM, attack from the buttocks...

[Nitram Draw]

Maybe an initiative roll could be made for warp point combat or just random choice.