Detection of Weapon Platforms

[Krakenup]

How does the AI tell if your colony has a weapon platform defending it? I have had the AI zig-zag through my defended colonies to get to the one undefended colony at the back of the system, blow it up, and zig-zag back out. I have had the AI make a beeline for an undefended colony, and then, when I built a weapon platform, turn around and go back. How does the AI know? Can I tell if an AI colony has a weapon platform without going into tactical combat?

[DirectorTsaarx]

That's kinda weird - I haven't seen the AI do anything that intelligent. In fact, in my current game, the AI is sending ships against BOTH planets in the system bordering his empire; and didn't change tactics much when I built weapon platforms.

[Suicide Junkie]

With longrange sensors, you would be able to see platforms & anything else in storage.

Does the AI have these devices on board? Or on a cloaked Satellite in your system?

[Krakenup]

quote:

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Originally posted by suicide_junkie:
With longrange sensors, you would be able to see platforms & anything else in storage.

Does the AI have these devices on board? Or on a cloaked Satellite in your system?

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No, this was fairly early in the game - around turn 50. I switched to human control to see if I could see what he saw. He had no scanners or sensors in the system, and I couldn't tell what was on my planets. I thought maybe there was a capability that I didn't know about. I learn something new and useful in this forum nearly every day, and I was hoping that this would be one of those.

[Suicide Junkie]

I don't suppose that the platform icon is visible beside the planet pic, along with the race icon.

[Krakenup]

quote:

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Originally posted by suicide_junkie:
I don't suppose that the platform icon is visible beside the planet pic, along with the race icon.

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Not that I can find.

[Miles]

quote:

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Originally posted by Krakenup:
How does the AI tell if your colony has a weapon platform defending it? I have had the AI zig-zag through my defended colonies to get to the one undefended colony at the back of the system, blow it up, and zig-zag back out. I have had the AI make a beeline for an undefended colony, and then, when I built a weapon platform, turn around and go back. How does the AI know? Can I tell if an AI colony has a weapon platform without going into tactical combat?

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I have seen something like this. I played a sequence of games where I started with the complete tech tree. If I didn't defend my planets, the first AI ship in the system would glass them.
Then I changed my build pattern to:
1st turn, emergency-build small mines.
2nd turn, launch the mines and build yard-bases.

I have never had an AI step on one of these planets until much later in the game. Even if I don't build any ships, they don't attack the planets.

Maybe it is just chance.
Maybe the AI is looking at the difference in our scores and deciding to leave me alone.
Maybe the AI knows somehow that the planets are defended.

Miles

[DirectorTsaarx]

The AI can see the launched mines and the shipyard base; of course, without attacking they can't tell it's just a shipyard base. So it still doesn't explain how they seem to know if you have WPs on a planet...

[Miles]

quote:

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Originally posted by DirectorTsaarx:
The AI can see the launched mines and the shipyard base; of course, without attacking they can't tell it's just a shipyard base. So it still doesn't explain how they seem to know if you have WPs on a planet...

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Good point. It must be the bases that are scaring them away. Are you sure that they can see launched mines? I thought that they were cloaked to level 5?

Miles

[DirectorTsaarx]

Oops. You're right about the mines. Forgot that detail (and I had just run into a minefield, too, and didn't think about the fact that you can't see mines until you either set them off or sweep them).