AI Surrenders?

Wow I was excited about improved surrendering but that's a bit too much. Hopefully a bug?

-Phalnax

The AI surrenders a too early now, it's a bit better if you play with locked teams. They won't run away so easily from fights though, so it's a bit schizophrenic behaviour. I kind of miss those times when they fought to the last construction frigate.

rant deleted

From my observation the AI tends to surrender rather quickly once you have beaten their main fleet. I think this is premature and I hope that they will include a "no AI surrenders" option like the one present in GalCiv 2.

I agree with the thought that AI's surrender too soon.  Previous to the Entrenchment patch we had a round where 3 of my friends and I were going up against 4 AIs (1 hard 3 normals).  One of the normals was crushed to oblivion as normal.  The hard had a huge fleet but wasn't engaging the forces we used to attack him, choosing to instead race us to see who could blow up the other's empire first (a race he was going to lose).  When he did lose that race, the two other normals surrendered.

Now sure, at this point it's a 4 on 2, and our combined empires owned 80% of the map with each of the normals being down to only 2 or 3 planets.  Their defeat was inevitable.  That said, they each had large fleets with multiple capital ships that could have still done some damage or made us fight tooth and nail over what worlds they had.  This would have been more enjoyable.

It's neat that the AI surrenders, but maybe I just don't like how it does.  Perhaps there could be some sort of message preceeding the "Win" screen telling us the AI surrendered instead of a "SUPRISE YOU WIN!" "(wait... what?)" sorta thing.  Or some sort of indicator the end-game graphs indicating surrender instead of annihilation? Perhaps there could also be an option to turn off AI surrendering if we want to beat the AI to a bloody pulp?

The AI definitely surrenders too early now!

I was playing a free for all against 5 AI (FFA), a mix of hard and normal. I allied with a Hard AI, and was battling two normal AI on two fronts, when I discovered that two of the AI (one of the normal AI I was fighting and one hard AI on the far side of the system) had surrendered (or considered themselves defeated) -- broken glass in the diplomacy screen, no longer available for alliances, no longer allowed as a pirate target.  Each controlled multiple planets and had a small but respectable fleet, with multiple cap ships left.

The game went on as there were two other "live" AI's.  But both of the surrendered AI's could still have been factors had they not surrendered.  One had requested an alliance with me shortly before surrendering, and I was considering breaking my alliance with the Hard AI to team up against them with one of the weak normal AI's.  Although the "surrendered" AI's still had planets and ships and would fight if attacked, they stopped spending credits, building ships, etc., and could not form alliances any more.

Whatever the frustrations with the AI not surrendering until the last contruction frigate was dead when it was the last opponent in a game (and I never really minded it), it makes no sense for a live AI with planets and a fleet to surrender/die when the game is continuing with other AIs anyway, and it could fight on.  In Civ IV, an opponent continued until its last city was taken, and I would prefer that for the AI also (especially compared to the current premature surrender).  Having an AI surrender when the game is not over, is just frustrating and takes away options for the human player, and at least when the losing AI is not the last surviving AI in the game, should never happen.

When it is the last surviving AI, I would still prefer it to continue to fight all out unitl I destroyed its last planet, but at least there I can see that some others might disagree.  IMHO the cure is far, far worse than the original problem.

I have seen this as well.  In several games the Ai (unfair) surrendered upon the destruction of its main fleet, this despite having more income and planets than me...

I think the current AI is just too easily depressed.  A major battlefield reversal, and it jumps off a bridge.  Maybe if it saw a counselor, and  took a few prozac, it could find a way to pull back, make a new plan, regroup its forces, promote a new admiral to lead its fleet, make a new alliance or two,  and not wreck the game.    

I'm thinking more along the line of Stalin-style purges.

Yeah, I've started getting annoyed at the computer surrendering. I'll often do "keep playing" but they don't put up much of a fight afterwards.

It's just not very satisfying to "win by default" or what not. I want to crush their very souls.

Perhaps they could "fix" this by having the AI "surrender" but not be defeated, and as a player, you can choose whether or not to accept the surrender, or grind them into dust.

yeah, just today, i was playing 8 player ffa, and when i destroyed the first 4, and had half the map to go, the other 3 all surrendered. that was no fun  

Yeah, the AI definitely surrenders too quickly in Entrenchment 1.01/Sins 1.15.

I dealt it a severe blow early on as I got two, maybe all of its capital ships while assaulting one of the AI border planets... but it still had several much better developed and defended planets, no other enemy than me and *zap* - it surrendered. For no apparent reason, I will still need to devote quite some resources to mob up the remains of the AI empire!

I hope they fix this soon.

I think that it would probably work if in a multi-AI FFA, the AI never surrenders (and neven is considered "dead" - how can it be dead if it has a fleet and multiple planets? -- but this seems to happen all the time) unless it is the last AI in the game.  Until then there is no point to an AI surrendering.  Its not like its feelings can get hurt from being irrelevant, or it has anything more fun to go do. So long as the game is continuing, even a weak AI that has not been wiped off the map should have to suck it up and keep playing as best it can. 

This already seems to happen with locked teams.  I had an AI teammate recently that stayed "alive" because it still had a starbase and construction frigate, but no planet and no other ships.  Don't see why it could not be at least an option in multiple AI FFA games.

In 1v1, or if there is only 1 live AI in multi-Ai game, then the offer of surrender should have to be accepted by the human player. If the human player selects keep on playing or to not accept the surrender, the AI should keep going all out and not just sit around hoping to get destroyed as quickly as possible.

I wonder if the dev's let the ai surrender sooner in order to "speed" up gametime.