Want a challenge in SEIV?

[Str8_Gain]

quote:

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Originally posted by Nitram Draw:
Does using no warp points force the AI to use stellar manipulation items?

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I regularly play games with No Warp Points, Finite Resources, AIs set to High numbers and Difficult. So far, I've stomped the AIs every single time, even with giving them a low or medium tech bonus. I'm playing the stock Version 1.27. They never use stellar manipulation in any games I've played. They regularly beat me to Stellar Manipulation level 3, but refuse to build a simple ship to take advantage of it. I've tried to change the default AIDesignCreation file to change this, but to no avail. Meanwhile, I build a simple ship based on a Frigate hull with GQRI and not much else, and am expanding like crazy while the AIs sit in their systems, foolishly use their resources up, and then just wait to be conquered.

[raynor]

Play on high bonus. Then, they actually build the SM ships. They still don't use them. But at least they build them.

[Str8_Gain]

quote:

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Originally posted by raynor:
Play on high bonus. Then, they actually build the SM ships. They still don't use them. But at least they build them.

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But what sort of design do they use? I've taken a peek at their designs, and they're all based on Cruiser hulls, with lots of shields, armor, and some weapons. As a result, that annoying message "Insufficient Technology" always pops up. Meanwhile I build a simple SM ship and use other bigger ships to protect it when I open warp points to unexplored systems. By the time they get the tech to build their Cruiser SM ship, they've run out of resources, since they flatly refuse to build the necessary storage capacity to save them up to pay maintenance.

I'll give it a try though, and see what happens.

[Taqwus]

Also, in a clustered quadrant (255 systems, clusters, not all warp points connected), the AIs still don't appear to be creating warp points even 'tho I *know* they have the resources and the technology to do so.

It's well over turn 300, my travelling fleet has seen enemy DNs with pretty much maximum combat tech backed by numerous planets... and not one warp point creator among them.

As it is, I'd say that to make it harder, you want the highest connectivity possible -- partly because of the SM issue, but mostly because a person can adapt to the low connectivity and can maximize resource production, research and intelligence while the AIs still go for combat techs that'll be long obsolete by the time of first contact, and won't help nearly as much as, say, Monolith IIIs in the long run.

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-- The thing that goes bump in the night

[Nitram Draw]

Yep, I haven't seen the AI do much with the SM techs either. I turn it off when it is just me and the AI. In a hot seat it gets tricky but the AI is again at a serious disadvantage.
The only solution I have come up with is to make the SM items VERY expensive and the components VERY large. It helps for a while in my hotseat games.