AI and planet destroyers?

[Q]

Has anybody seen the AI using planet destroyers and if yes did he destroy enemy colonies or just randomly empty planets??

[Rollo]

Yes, I have seen the AI use planet destroyers. And yes, they go after enemy planets. Problem is: the AI send the ships without escort. So I am not sure if it is a good idea to have a normal AI use them. Of course, if the planet destroyer is a huge 10000kT space worm that can defeat whole fleets by itself, that is a different matter .

Rollo

[Q]

Thank you Rollo for your answer.
You seem to have the same idea as I, because I created the new vehicle type "deathstar" which is a slow but huge ship of 5000kT, that I want the AI to use as planet destroyer. Of course the idea is the one of Star Wars and I would only special AI empires make use this ship.
It's main weapon is the tectonic bomb for the destruction of the planet but a lot of PDC, shields and armor and some ordinary weapon for defense should make it a quite powerful threat.

[Ed Kolis]

Or you could take a cue from MOO2 and mod a "Stellar Converter" that functions not only as a planet destroyer but also as a regular weapon as well.

[AeoN2]

Originally posted by Ed Kolis:
Or you could take a cue from MOO2 and mod a "Stellar Converter" that functions not only as a planet destroyer but also as a regular weapon as well.

Am I the only one that missed the old MOO1 Stellar Converters in MOO2? There is was a very high tech, VERY long range weapon with good damage, and no planet destroying capability. Always my favourite weapon in MOO1... in MOO2 I preffered the Gauss Cannon.

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AeoN2
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Error in line 1,32*10^21, do you wish to debug reality?

[Alpha Kodiak]

I too have seen the AI use planet destroyers against enemy colonies, and yes, the big problem is that they don't escort them. It can be effective, though if the target world is not protected by ships, fighters or drones, and the strategy on the planet destroyer is "Don't get hurt". As near as I could observe, the planet destroyer enters the sector with the planet and combat ensues. The planet destroyer runs for the corner, and the planets defenses are unable to do anything to it. After combat ends, the planet destroyer can destroy the planet.

While it is probably mostly a waste, it does give the AI yet another twist, and it can be a surprise to even a human player if they are not paying close attention to their entire empire.

[Taera]

Or even better - many AIs go to dreadnoughts quite fast. Program the AI to build attack ships with the tectonic bomb by making it research DN, armor, shields, sensors&ECM, weapons, engines, and only then the tectonic bomb.
It would be rather a surprise to the enemy if they're attacked by... 30 ships 10 of which are capable of destroying a planet.

But hey, will the AI use the stellar manipulations on ship marked as ATTACK SHIP?

[Baron Munchausen]

I certainly made sure to mod my AIs to research cloaking before they researched Stellar Manipulations. It's just basic sense to cloak something as obviously dangerous as a planet killer or a star destroyer. And anyway, as others have noted, the AI is not smart enough to give them an escort, so the cloak is essential for AI operations. So far I've not had the misfortune to fall far enough behind an AI to get attacked with cloaked Stellar Manipulations before I was able to setup sensors to detect them.

[Krsqk]

Not only will the AI not use stellar manip on Attack Ships, it will only use the specific type of manip which the ship type indicates. I created a test component which included all the flavors of stellar manip, but they wouldn't use them until I created a separate design for each use.

[Taera]

Thats bad because it would be great if the AI used the stellar manip good.
Oh well. dont forget the game is based on multiplayer.