AI retreating

from Sins Forums

Hey all, just want to say kickass game.  Me and my buddies ahve been playing it non stop over LAN.  We do have a quick question.  I have been searching the forums and cant quite find anything that matches what we are wondering about.  We have played quite a few games against the computer, varying the difficulty and their behaviors and we still get the same result.  No matter what, when we go up against an enemy fleet of equal or even slightly bigger size, they still turn tail and run.  We cant understand why this happens, EVERY TIME.  I can see if they are waiting for a favorable planet or to get a few more reinforcements, but every time, even their home planet, its a bit ridiculous (i know the homeplanet one is being fixed in 1.04).  Do you know if it will also fix them frunning from every other engagemnt as well?  Right now we have to just warp in a few ships to bait them to get them to attack, then we jump in our main forces, but that shouldnt be the case every time.  I figure at least once in a while they would stand and fight, especially with a bigger force.  Any help would be appreciated.  Thanks.

Mike

16,259 views 17 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top
Maybe the AI is smart enough to know that it's not smart enough, and just runs if the numbers aren't highly in its favor.

That's the developers being smart!
Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top
This was supposed to have been fixed, but alot of people are still experiencing this. In the end it's mostly just the AI doesn't want to lose their fleet, although I've seen them stay and fight at their planets before.
The Political Machine 2024
Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top
This was supposed to have been fixed, but alot of people are still experiencing this. In the end it's mostly just the AI doesn't want to lose their fleet, although I've seen them stay and fight at their planets before.
Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top
It doesn't happen QUITE as often as it did in the last patch, but the AI needs to made a lot gutsier for the epic battles to actually happen, whether or not running is often the "better" idea.
Reply #5 from Sins Forums Top
I cant stand that the AI does that. But seriously can someone tell me what is the Space Ponies thing all about. I know its one of the achievements but how do I achieve it?
Reply #6 from Sins Forums Top
I cant stand that the AI does that. But seriously can someone tell me what is the Space Ponies thing all about. I know its one of the achievements but how do I achieve it?
End of quote


You explore a planet. I just experimented with this tonight (after winning my first game vs the AI! W00!) There are two levels of exploration. I went through both levels for all my planets and rocks. First thing I found was the Space Ponies. Next was faster jumps between star systems, and the last I found was increased antimatter regeneration (10%).
Reply #7 from Sins Forums Top
yes i've noticed that too.

it's all about their flagship - damage that to at least 50% hull and in 99% of the time they will try to run away with the whole fleet.

in my last game i had about 30 ships + 3 capitals agains about 100 enemy ships + 1 cap.
after losing almost ALL my frigates and cruisers I managed to damage their cap ship and they ran away...

they would have easily killed my fleet but instead tried to save their cap ship which didn't work either thanks to my phase jump inhibitor ;)

Reply #8 from Sins Forums Top
Does "hard" difficulty influence this? IIRC, I had a similar case a week or so ago to sirphoenix's, but at hard difficulty, and after losing their capship they stuck around with a fleet of frigates and reamed me badly. Can't remember if it was one of their planets or mine, but I think it was the former.

I agree that the enemy AI doesn't take phase jump inhibition into effect enough in its decisions. Their bombers should be attacking that building, not the hangar, if the fight is at all questionable. Fifty frigates walloping an inhibitor will take it down in no time.

-- Retro
Reply #9 from Sins Forums Top
yes i've noticed that too.it's all about their flagship - damage that to at least 50% hull and in 99% of the time they will try to run away with the whole fleet.in my last game i had about 30 ships + 3 capitals agains about 100 enemy ships + 1 cap.after losing almost ALL my frigates and cruisers I managed to damage their cap ship and they ran away... they would have easily killed my fleet but instead tried to save their cap ship which didn't work either thanks to my phase jump inhibitor
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this reminds me
ever tried making a fleet with your capital ship being the "leader" ???
the capital ship get's damaged so you try to jump out

you select the capital "no other frigates" and order it to jump out..
what happens now is the entire fleet following the capital.. they all got the jump out order (probably due to the capital being the leader.....)

now i got a templorary fix for this... just dont make fleets.... u need em tough... groupjump doesnt work quite as well without a fleet being attached... (same types of ships jump together... annoying when u have 20 carriers that jump ahead .. 5 min later the kodiaks come in....

hope its all fixed in 1.04 :/


Reply #10 from Sins Forums Top
You can select the cap ship and have it leave the fleet for the retreat.
Reply #11 from Sins Forums Top
Yeah I have noticed that it is mostly when you wail on the cap ship in their fleet that they start to retreat. But honestly, I have really yet to see an ai fleet that has more than 3 cap ships, if that. Mostly they are just overloaded with the cobalt light frigate or its version with the other races. I know those are the workhorses of the fleet, but by about 3-4 hours into the game, and I am almost done researching my fleet and cap ship slots, and with the enemy on hard, I would think they would be close to the same. They just dont feel the need for some reason to build them. I find that a fleet with a few cap ships, especially around 6 or so, is just a wrecking ball if you can hang onto your colonies and allow that fleet to attack, but thats just me. I sure hope that they at least fix some of these problems in 1.04. It seems they did take care of the siege frigate problem with the ai, and once this is taken care of, I am sure the ai battles will be straight money. I was allied with a buddy for the whole game until the end, and we decided to break the alliance just because we had 2 bad ass fleets and wanted to see at least one epic battle and not have the other fleet turn tail and run. Bottom line, the epic battles are where its at in this game, imo, and i hope they can fix this issue. thanks for the replies.
Reply #12 from Sins Forums Top
The AI isn't very good yet, but it's gradually being improved through the patches. 2 hours in against an unfair teching AI, you might not see even a single heavy cruiser.
Reply #13 from Sins Forums Top
I know what you mean and its very annoying because I like it when two huge fleets duke it out in excellent grahpics.
Reply #14 from Sins Forums Top
The AI isn't very good yet, but it's gradually being improved through the patches. 2 hours in against an unfair teching AI, you might not see even a single heavy cruiser.
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I find that a lot of times the AI gets to them before I do, though I don't rush them.
Reply #15 from Sins Forums Top
I really really really hope they Fix the CHICKEN AI. Getting very agrevating, ping pong, ping pong

According to the patch notes they did not fix it. Only if they home planet is being defended. If you are attacking the home planet... the game is pretty much over anyways.
Reply #16 from Sins Forums Top
I just finished a small random map against an hard agressor and in my opinion they definately improved it a bit.

he stood up some pretty nasty fights and even attacked me on 2 fronts at once!
didn't run very much, mostly because he outnumbered me 3:1 but my tech was way better than his so in the end I won.
and he lost about a dozen cap ships in this game didn't run either :-)

so patch 1.04 pros:
- AI stays fighting more often
- AI cap ships = no more pussys

cons:
- AI does not put much into research (except for research-AI of course)
- AI targeting still is random... *completely* ignores jump-inhibitors and doesn't take them into account while retreating
- AI doesn't upgrade all planets right - after 5 hours of playing he still had a terran planet with 1500 HP...
Reply #17 from Sins Forums Top
I just lost my first game to the AI since I was a noob after 1.4. It attacked; it reinforced; it never let up, and just when I thought I "might" have a chance, culture turned one of my best planets. I surrendered. (1v1, random 20 planets, random Unfair AI).