New Release's Effect on AI

posted on January 11th, 2010, 2:20 am

First off i just want to say, the new interface look is very nice, especially with the ability to drag/select larger fleets, so in that regard well done. However, ive noticed the AI seems to have lost all its teeth, it doesnt attack in mass much anymore, or keep you off balance, let alone expand very fast. I faced a Borg AI opponent in a 1on1 on a larger map, and i beat it so quickly, it wasnt even able to make a single cube. In the previous version of the game, the AI seemed very realistic, and very challenging on any map, especially against a borg opponent, you would have to play a near flawless game to have any chance, and with the other races, they seemed very balanced as to their race abilities and characteristics, hopefully this will be addressed, i do find the new interface features quite nice, but ill have to roll back to 3.07 version to find any single player challenge.

thx

posted on January 11th, 2010, 2:55 am

I think the Borg AI may have been fixed so that it doesn't cheat as much as it did in 3.0.7. I know the old AI had a tendency to make absurd fleets of Cubes in no time.

posted on January 11th, 2010, 3:22 am

I have to admit the Borg are not nearly as hard to fight anymore, but the Dominion seem to have gotten even more teeth. I think it all depends on certain conditions (the map maybe?) in regards to how the AI plays out.

posted on January 11th, 2010, 4:00 am

hmm, im not sure, i know ive played several maps, and map types, and the result has been the same for me for each race, i win far easier than before, its not very challenging at all, but thats just my opinion, and as regards to the borg cheating in the previous version, that may be but there is always "cheating" involved to make any AI more difficult, but it felt like you were facing  the borg realistically, and they were still beatable if you played a perfect game, just doesnt hold any real challenge now playing as or against any race

posted on January 11th, 2010, 4:03 am

are you playing with unlimited resorces?

if you are the AI dosen't usualy know what to do with that! but never fear! there is a way around if that is the problem. let me know, if it is the problem I can post the solution.

posted on January 11th, 2010, 4:35 am

no im not, i play with the default starting resources, and always on merciless difficulty setting, i think the build order templates for each race have been altered in this version, or its simply a conflict with all the new material, but ofc im no expert, i just notice a large dropoff, on the max difficulty lvl

posted on January 11th, 2010, 4:55 am

You know I would try playing different races besides just Borg.  Maybe you have already but you only mentioned Borg. 

  I've played against both the Klingons and the Feds and even on Hard I was met with an excellent Challenge.  The AI even knew how to retreat when a battle was going poorly for them.

  Try some of the other races and some different maps! 

posted on January 11th, 2010, 9:24 am

the ai is also optimized for "tournament situations", that means for maps with all player slots taken. its harder for it to achieve victory if the map is very empty. sadly the armada AI is quite static, we are working on it

posted on January 11th, 2010, 10:59 am

Yeah, I played a round on Blue Amber.  Sure, the rommies didn't send a big armada at me.  They launched a 5 screen long stream of ships at my base that gathered up just outside, and then swept over it like a tide, while the Klingons did the same thing on the other side.  I watched 4 Tac Cubes get turned to paste in seconds.

So at least on Blue Amber, they seem plenty aggressive and nasty.

posted on January 11th, 2010, 2:16 pm

Hmmmmmm........ I wish I could adjust the AI. Once I get 3.1 up I'll try to make a more agressive AI.

[Actium]

posted on January 11th, 2010, 4:51 pm

Last edited by Actium on January 11th, 2010, 4:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.

the dom AI now does thbat what the borg ai did before ... had 3 screens full of heavy cruisers or bigger ... that was not really funny 

On the other side it looks like the Fed and Rom AIs can be crushed easily but mostly because i swapped to play dom by now. Havent have alot tries against Klingons and Borg so far.

posted on January 11th, 2010, 5:00 pm

i tried klingon vs romulan and they seemed a lot stronger than previously, and their fleet seemed more organised and smarter. their attacks were less sporadic.

posted on January 13th, 2010, 12:28 am

I have played a bunch of games against the Federation Hard, Dominion Hard, and Klingon Hard.

Klingon and Dominion have both taken a serious step up.
Federation hard... builds way too many ship yards to use. Both the most recent games I've beat it at have involved them having 5-6 shipyards for 2 or 3 moon sets repectively. I think its taken a fair jump backwards.