Veterans First?

posted on September 16th, 2009, 5:26 pm

I'm wondering if when two enemy fleets clash, should ships automatically target ranked up ships? Like if you had a veteran Tavara with some Warbirds clashing with your sovies. Shouldn't they target the ranked up ship first? Not only would it make it harder for both humans and AI to preserve ships but it can also balance out to where someone wins the game because every attack they pull off the ranked ships happen to be the survivors.

Is it possible? You know, like a 'targetpriority' code or somethin like that where ships naturally shoot the ranked ships first? Just an idea.

posted on September 16th, 2009, 5:29 pm

So ignore the lower ranked Battleships in favor of the higher ranked Destroyers, ect?

posted on September 16th, 2009, 5:29 pm

Well tbh it isn't the best idea. Usually the best ships to target first are the weak destroyers, that way you keep chipping away at firepower and everytime you kill one it gives you a little extra breathing room.

If you target a veteran, they just act as a damage sponge and if your ships die too quickly you will inflict far less damage than you could have done.

posted on September 16th, 2009, 5:39 pm

I agree with Unleash Mayhem...

posted on September 16th, 2009, 5:56 pm

May be, but I noticed that, when using a fleet of the same class of ships, the AI tends to target the less ranked first. I find that is a mistake.

If I have a flight of four B5 Carriers, two with two goldbars, one with one, and one that just came out of the shipyard, the last one is the first to be targeted. If I lose it, I only need to get to the shipyard and build another one. If I lose any of the goldbar ones, it will take quite some time to level up a replacement.

Not always targetting the weakest is the best tactic.

posted on September 16th, 2009, 5:59 pm

I think I remember someone saying it goes by Value rather than rank. Either the lowest Offensive or Defensive Valure first.

posted on September 16th, 2009, 6:07 pm

Yeah, currently they definitely try and go for the lowest value ships.

posted on September 16th, 2009, 6:47 pm

It is a valid tactic to reduce the number of aggressors in the quickest way possible... but it does make sense that more powerful ships will do more damage so you may want to eliminate them first, but typically they just can't be taken out as easily.

posted on September 16th, 2009, 6:51 pm

Stronger ships do more damage per shot, but weaker ship are more common and their combined weapons can be worse. Go for the strong one and the smaller ones will wear you down while it absorbs damage, go for the weaker ones and when you finally kill them all you may be too weakened to take out the big one.

I say just leave it as it is...

posted on September 16th, 2009, 6:56 pm

To quote Khan: "So much the better".

It takes some more effort to rank up the newcomers, but prevents the loss of the really "expensive" already ranked up ships.

Yeah, leave the AI as it is...

posted on September 16th, 2009, 7:32 pm

To quote Khan: "So much the better".

It takes some more effort to rank up the newcomers, but prevents the loss of the really "expensive" already ranked up ships.

Yeah, leave the AI as it is...

indeed, 

posted on September 16th, 2009, 7:37 pm

The only time it annoys me is if I've made some Monsoons into Veterans, and the computer isn't shooting at them.  They get a massive amount of durability for such a little ship, but relatively little firepower.

However, getting the computer to pump payload (mostly ineffectually) at them is hard. 

posted on September 17th, 2009, 12:25 pm

This is why I want higher ranked ships to be a high priority target, because if ships don't go for them than there is nothing stopping someone to have a thousand r5 ships on the map.

I think the current system is horribly flawed.

posted on September 17th, 2009, 12:35 pm

tactic wise the most efficent way to counter fleets is to focus your fire on the vessels with the lowest hitpoints, that way you will both inflict damage, and reduce the damage you receive. Thats why the ship-specific AI follows that pattern, and i dont see a flaw in there

posted on September 17th, 2009, 12:42 pm

There is supposed to be a balance in here... i think it seems imbalanced where no one attacks the ranked ships first. Maybe have multi-target weapons focus on them, I dunno. But it should not be easy at all to try in preserve a well ranked Phalanx or Descent, computers should at least look smart by tring to get rid of these if ever possible.

Because without a countering effect like this to make preserving an experienced ship harder, there is nothing stoping someone from having an entire map swarming with r5 and r6 ships!