Well, a lot of newer players were complaining that the difficulty jump from Normal to Hard was too much since normal got revised down. Especially on the steam forums.

And what is the resource bonus now?

I noticed already last weekend the hard AI was somewhat weaker than before - did not have 2x as many ships than me in the beginning of the game, which used to be pretty much a norm and fairly challenging...and this continued further into the match, i literally swept through his planets and he had almost nothing there.

So i checked the numbers at the end of the game and its bonus from planets seemed to be 175 percent (to my base 100) - IIRC it used to be 225 percent. So this was lowered even further now?  

TBF i wanted myself the bonus to be lowered, because it was on occassion bit too much. But based off the last 2 games i played recently, things went bit extreme the other way now, it felt way too easy. Perhaps it was just a coincidence....or maybe i am finally getting good

yarlen, does this patch get the blair map issue fixes?

harpo

While I can see that, I think the solution is buffing Normal and Easy rather than nerfing Hard. Plus, as Seleuceia mentioned, will we be back for this discussion later when people say the jump from Hard to Unfair is now too big?

I took Yarlen's statement as a description of the current situation...the change log only mentions nerfing hard, not all of the difficulties...

If, as you say, all the difficulties are being nerfed then this is probably one of the best changes for SP in recent memory...but I definitely did not get that impression from the change log or Yarlen's statement...hopefully he will clarify...

Basically it wasn't normalized before. Now it is. Considering the number of folks who are able to routinely beat the toughest AI in under an hour, it's fine.

I wasn't aware your mainstream SP audience was routinely winning on vicious -- and with ease, so perhaps my suggestion is a little too narrow and niche...

Nevertheless, I'm not concerned with vicious, I'm concerned about the jump between hard and unfair...when you say it is "normalized", all I'm getting from that is that hard has been changed to fit some nice number scheme, but that unfair is basically the same as it used to be...since this patch will nerf hard, that will exacerbate the jump between hard and unfair, which I would think is a serious problem...that already enough people were upset about the jump from normal to hard is testament to the importance of smaller jumps between difficulty...

If too many people are beating vicious easily and on a regular basis, it seems the solution is to add an extra difficulty level and lessen the gaps between them, not to increase the gaps....

Where's the option to disable AI surrender?  Blair Fraser mentioned adding it in the next patch, does this mean it's not forthcoming?

https://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/448797/page/1/#3415301

I suppose I am looking to see why it stated that there is a large base of people who finish a game within one hour.  Know I have kids and I have to pause oh, every five minutes however, I think I haven't ever finished a game in under an hour.  Although I take planets for myself and build up.  The AI still places a very good fight if over 2 AIs on unfair or above.  I am trying to see who can beat 2+ AIs on vicious without cheating under an hour with more than 25 planets. 

As this quote says the toughest AI assuming its 6 player 1 human 5 AIs 2v2v2 all on cruel or vicious or the toughest whatever we want to call it.  Who beats it under an hour?  Without cheating, money on normal income.

In fact using a cheat trainer from cheathappens and having unlimited credits crystal and metal, the AI seems to have a full force ready to throw at me by the time I unlock a titan which is typically fast since I use the money cheat.

I hope that Unfair is left untouched... It's at a really good level as it is, nerfing it would be tragic.

I am not disagreeing with you here and i certainly dont want to pre-conclude things without trying it myself, but i would argue that once you get good enough to beat several Hard AIs at once, the size of the bonus for Unfair and higher difficulties is not that important, since its an incredible overkill anyway.

I mean, i usually play against Hard AIs, at least it was my difficulty up until now (even with their 2,25x planet income advantage). I beat bunch of them several times in the past, but even now it happens to me on occassion that they overwhelm me at the beginning, if 2 or more attack me at the same time.

My point is, by now, being capable of beating Hard AIs, i have nothing new to learn about the game. If i lose the game now, its not cause i did not know something about the gameplay mechanics or did some beginners error, it is because i am failing with the real-time aspect of the game. I simply dont click fast enough, dwindle over decisions, what to do next (whether to build another ship or risk it and invest into another important research)...and this costs me valuable seconds, during which the AI is amassing fleets thanks to its income bonus. The solution here is not to play differently, but to play faster, and it does not matter that much, whether the AI has 3x,4x or 6x more resources. I mean, the only way to play the game "fast" is to play it over and over and over and get that sort of twitch, where you dont even think what are you doing anyway, cause you did it so many times, its given.

I dont wish to generalize here too much, and say, what is true for me has to be true for anyone else, so take this with a grain of salt. 

When are AI players going to start building starbases in the solar gravity wells?  Its kind of easy to beat when you can throw 4-5 of them into an enemy sun and bottle them up.  It would make Vicious or Cruel more challenging at the least.

Thanks,

-Jason