Why are the Eee the most dominating AI?

[Owlman]

Seriously, it always comes down to me and the Eee at the end of the game. In my latest game, I ran into them very quickly and I have been fighting them for the entire game. Despite me whuppin' their ***, they still control a little under half the galaxy. It is always this way, even when my college roomate plays. What makes them so powerful?

[geoschmo]

Two things. Ancient race and Gas Giants. That's not to say these two things would give a human player any kind of absolute advantage, but I think they are invaluable for the AI. They help cover some of the AI deficencies.

They don't waste resources early in the game on exploration ships. They get a jump on the nearby colonizable planets. Yes, sometimes the ancient race can be a hinderance because they send colony ships too far out, but I think on balance it's better than not having it.

The Gas Giant is good because with fewer planets that are larger, there is less micro managment needed to balance the resource needs of the empire. And it's usually easier to defend, at least for the AI. A human can do equally well with any of the planet types, but I believe that the AI does better on average as a Gas Giant race.

Geoschmo

[dogscoff]

Also, the EEE are just so damn friendly. They get happy happy treaties with lots of other AIs and get loads of free trade and research.

Also, that thing about sending out colonisers so far (due to being ancient race) means that they probably make contact with other races a lot more quickly than your average AI.

[oleg]

I hate EEE for this. Every time I make a partnership treaty with AI, sooner or later it will get (sometimes third party) partnership with EEE and I end up with galaxy map. It really kills the enjoenement of discovery and on my computer I changed EEE' ancient trait to advanced storage . Just to keep my games fun as long as possible

[DirectorTsaarx]

Just a note; in my experience, the EEE don't do so well in an "unconnected" game. It might be that they have trouble with being able to see the entire galaxy, but not be able to reach desired systems immediately.

The other thing to note about the EEE is that they like the high-energy weapons; so if you fight them early on, they may be stuck with ripper beams & therefore have the disadvantage of short-ranged weapons. Once incinerator beams or wave-motion guns are available, they're a lot scarier (especially with the new extended-range & combat bonus mounts on weapon platforms).