AI Modding: How many ships?

[Litcube]

With the mod I'm working on, ship components can get pretty expensive, so I'm being generous with myself. Right now, around mid game a few of my modded AI's have around 250 ships, and alot of them are pretty expensive.

I ran a few tests on TDM for a comparison, and around mid game, they're pumping out about 150 ships before they cap out, which seems odd, and is probably an anomoly.

In your experience, what's a decent ammount of ships for the AI to have at one time at it's disposal?

Do you think the ammount of ships per fleet is an important aspect to consider modification in an AI? I've noticed that the Space Vikings AI by Rollo creates massive fleets. Very effective.

Any input would be appreciated.

[ March 05, 2004, 03:16: Message edited by: Litcube ]

[TNZ]

What percentage of the 250 ships were warships? I would say that the more warships the better.
If you are worried about the cost of the AI vehicles, try this idea in the AI design creation files. Design the non-warships and bases as small as possible. An example of this in the default game would be to make the Base Space Yard only 500kt at all time. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Name := Base Space Yard
Design Type := Base Space Yard
Vehicle Type := Base
Default Strategy := Don't Get Hurt
Size Minimum Tonnage := 10
Size Maximum Tonnage := 500

[Litcube]

The cost is ok. The player is also hindered in this respect, so I'm not worried.

I'm just curious how many ships you think an AI should have at mid - late game.

What's acceptable?

What's exceptional?

[narf poit chez BOOM]

depends on what type of game you want.

[ March 05, 2004, 05:34: Message edited by: narf poit chez BOOM ]

[oleg]

Originally posted by Litcube:
The cost is ok. The player is also hindered in this respect, so I'm not worried.

I'm just curious how many ships you think an AI should have at mid - late game.

What's acceptable?

What's exceptional? <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Depends what bonuses, if any AI will have in the game. If you mod AI for no bonus game, it will be a pushover. AI MUST have bonuses to compete. But if you aim to say medium bonus, AI will bankrupt itself if someone use it in a no-bonuse game. There is no simple answer, imho.

[Litcube]

Alright. My mistake. Let me rephrase the question.

-=How many=- ships (in numbers) have you seen the AI have on average?

[TNZ]

250 ships is a good number. The maximum number of ships allowed per player in a default game is only 200 ships anyway. Other things to consider are what type of ships is the AI building and how many planets did the AI have at the time. Also what had the AI race in question been doing? Had it been fighting a war or was it just exploring?