AI commentary

from Sins Forums
I think that the AI is pretty advanced already, but there are some elementary issues that annoy me about it.

for instance, the AI never seems to understand when to stop sending in reinforcements to a long dead battle, once I've crushed their fleet, enemy units continue to trickle in at one ship every minute, minute and a half. its not exactly... smart, in my opinion.

also; AI likes to attack unimportant, easily replaced items (like a mine) over harder, dug in, military targets (like a fighter bay). I think AI priority needs to be slightly adjusted.

finally; a focus-fire toggle, ships of similar attack strength should have a toggleable setting to have them focus on one target after finishing off another.
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Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top
This has probably been mentioned somewhere... I'm admittedly not read up on all the forum threads...

But I basically agree with the premise of what you're saying... the enemy AI would probably be best adjusted in a manner consistent in nature with what you've said -- but I would also like to see (more) AI customization for the player's units. Having the attack modes is a step in the right direction, and possibly even ideas like the "Stances" in other RTS games -- but I feel it would be nice to be able to set things like target priorities or "rules of engagement" (either for single vessels, groups, grav wells, etc).

The way I imagine it would be that every vessel has its ROE that determine attack range, whether to attack first, to persue, etc -- and these things can be set either specifically by the player on a per-ship basis (and possibly locked?), or can be set en masse by the playing indicating group or gravwell-wide settings. Or perhaps if a 'governor' feature is introduced, the governor "controls" that aspect of the ships in his area (or under his command). The "defaults" would be along the lines of what's already there, and would probably be basically sufficient, but the option to configure would be great.

I understand that the introduction of some of this might over-complicate a part of the game; however, if it was implemented in a simple but effective manner (like many of the controls are already), I feel this could be a nice touch to increase the player's control over his empire.
Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top


for instance, the AI never seems to understand when to stop sending in reinforcements to a long dead battle, once I've crushed their fleet, enemy units continue to trickle in at one ship every minute, minute and a half. its not exactly... smart, in my opinion.



I find the AI almost always retreats at any threat, that's what makes phase inhibitors so useful.
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Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top
for me they make intelligent retreats. they pull out if its certain that they cannot win, but if they have a significant chance at victory, they'll take it.
Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top

for me they make intelligent retreats. they pull out if its certain that they cannot win, but if they have a significant chance at victory, they'll take it.


Thats also my experiance after the new patch
They sometimes tryes to run thru my grav well, and heads directly to my main planet.
Not always the best option, as some of the AI ships will get destroyed, traveling thru a guarded grav well.

But i was surprised, how well the AI could calculate how good a chance, it has to win a battle. Cause i sent in a Dreadnaught and some frigat support. I also had another fleet (a kol and a few frigs) cleaning some systems from pirates. But i had the fealing i really need it, cause the AI really pumps frigats into one of my systems.

They destroyed my dreadnaught and a few frigats. Then the "kol" fleet arrived, and at the same time my carrier that was just constructed.
At this point i could see i was about to win, but so could the AI

I dunno if they changed anything to the AI intelligence, or its just because it cant phase jump thru a grav well anymore. But anyways, it has become smarter to my experiance. Though i havent tryed a longer game, so i cant tell if its the same in the endgame.

But IC keep up the good work
Reply #5 from Sins Forums Top
When playing on hard ai (all map sizes) I have found that I am always rushed by a flagship and frigate fleet from 2 or 3 opponents which head straight for my homeworld ignoring anything in the way. This means I can always whittle down the numbers with base defenses en route and take out their flagship before it reaches its destination. The remains of the enemy fleets then carry on, reach their destination and turn around as they have no hope of winning even though I can always finish them off on their way back. They then do this again and again. I find this annoying as it happens almost every game for me and is completely pointless as it does almost no damage to me and I can then simply mass my standard small fleet (1 of each capital ship, 10 kodiaks which have never lost me a battle so far) and wipe the floor with all my opponents planet by planet.

It becomes more interesting when attacking another star system as they tend to have 1 or 2 opponents with alot of massed ships still alive, but by then i own my star system completely and can overwhelm them.

It would be nice to see a more methodical attack from the ai as well as an attempt to regroup and halt my advance when I attack as I can usually just attack, colonise (i love the akkan btw) move on, attack, colonise etc.
Reply #6 from Sins Forums Top
as i thought it is better to have to travel through the grav well. than around it

now the ai and players have to have enough ships to get through the defenses of two grav wells even if they are just running through
Reply #7 from Sins Forums Top
but thats the point; its too easy to simply run through otherwise.
Reply #8 from Sins Forums Top
but thats the point; its too easy to simply run through otherwise.


i know i am the one that brought it up in one of my threads