DesConnor

It should be reasonably easy for the AI to handle starbases better based on a simple routine where it checks whether there is one in the gravwell and then either delays until it has sufficient anti-starbase ships to attack, or attacks elsewhere instead. The ability to retreat damaged ships is even more critical when attacking starbases, and one element of the poor AI at present is that the AI seems to attack starbases until a fleet is practically destroyed, perhaps there is a

This sounds good Cykur, congratulations for devising a better back story and a new style of game. I've always liked the concept of a competitive/cooperative game where there is an overpowered AI empire that may destroy all if left unchecked. How can it be balanced though, doesn't the Sins AI just pick on one of the players? Is it limited to its own sector of space somehow? Will you be organising any test sessions at an agreed time?

The point about strikecraft technology perhaps not being small enough to fit on carrier cruisers initially is well observed, though the same logic might not apply to heavy cruisers, for instance. Also, in the game the strikecraft technology on carrier capitals is far more efficient than that on carrier cruisers, no? Perhaps carrier capitals should pay antimatter costs for strikecraft until carrier cruisers are researched? Focus fire does not take

Though that is somewhat discouraging, at least there is still hope. Many of the remaining players have modding skills that range from adequate to considerable. If you were able to tell us the parameters within which changes can be made, then perhaps we could test changes and report back on this thread? I appreciate that it is not always easy for a small company to playtest in an effective manner, but it is very difficult to help witho

The improvement of internet speeds has really been a drawback for the improvement of AI, because it has allowed most RTS developers to claim that their games are intended for multiplayer, so you get a single player campaign where the AI is very much confined to the situation you want to create, and a skirmish game based around multiplayer. Sins is unusual in that the developers have said that the multiplayer is more or less an afterthought, and without a campaign the skir

I've just never seen a game play out in that manner, and I've played many random 1v1s. If you have a replay or two can you put them up? Fast Destras aren't what I'd choose to defend with, either. But again, the shortage of top-level replays just hinders any proper discussion. TEC do not seem to me to have a substantial economic advantage against Advent until much later in the game. The quicker Advent culture centre has more impact than the earlier TEC

Age of Empires II had a specific folder for custom AI where you could place text files created by other players that you could download. That's my ideal of AI, that you can create it with a text editor and then place it in the game very simply. Had you located any custom AIs or were you playing the standard AI? The standard AI was okay, better than most, but the custom player-made AIs could destroy it, without having to cheat on resources. There were a couple o

I'm not a fan of the existing shield mitigation system. The worst part about it is that it fails to encourage players to spread damage instead of focus fire. Its sole justification seems to be to protect the big ships that are introduced too early in the game (so tell me again why a faction can build carrier capitals and not carriers?), which it does until the middle game, which is when the complaints begin that the capitals aren't strong enough to take focus fire. The

Is there any further indication whether a patch and/or a beta phase is likely to happen, and what sort of scope it will have? I've already posted much without any real indication which areas it might be useful to pursue, if any. If there is to be no real work done, with merely an adjustment to the existing numbers, it might be more profitable just to play the game with adjusted figures and report what happened. It doesn't require a beta to ma

Well I would suggest that Darvin and Cykur are fairly well-matched as players, though perhaps Darvin has a regrettable tendency to insist that he gains no advantage from fighting on maps he has designed himself. It would be good to have a downloadable series between them. The players have badly let the developers down in terms of series replays to allow the proper discussion of Sins balance- with one or two very laudable exceptions there have been far too many opinions offered and

If you enjoy the evaluation of RTS AI then I suggest that you acquire a much older game, Age of Empires II and its expansion. What is special about AoEII/AoC is that the scripting for its AI was made accessible to players in a simple format that could be altered with a text editor. This allowed for players to script their own AI, so that the best AoEII/AoC AIs without cheating on resources at all became more of a challenge for the players. The AIs could even be

What? Thats some powerful space fuel you've been downing there... So what you claim is that the Vasari did their hazardous and doomed experiment in their lab- and an iguana popped out? I had expected either some form of sentient infection, or a dimensional rift. If it was a dimensional rift the monsters would probably be amoebas, not that they couldn't be any kind of monster but amoebas are traditional, there's something about dimensional rifts that make the ability

I've requested a bonus for similar factions of +4, with Advent-TEC relations at -6 and other relations at -3. This is intended to promote better relations between AI factions by at least allowing similar factions to start at a ceasefire level. However it occurred to me that while Advent-TEC relations are described as being the worst, the existing backstory makes little mention of splinter groups at all, there's simply no hint that any of the factions other

I recently read an old interview with Stardock CEO Brad Wardell where he described Sins as a multistar version of Homeworld, and also said that he'd like to acquire the Master of Orion franchise and make Master of Orion 4 as an updated turn-based game. Firstly I wondered whether Sins was really Homeworld with multistar? I imagine that this would make a great game, but the core of Homeworld was that it was a three-dimensional tactical game, whereas the battles in Sins

Without the pirate bidding system, the pirates could be made to work differently. One problem with them is that the early raids can provide experience- though not nearly as much so that it is an issue- because they are prepared to be wiped out. If normal pirate activity did not centre on planet attacks, you could implement a pirate retreat, like the ordinary AI retreat system except at a much lower level, so that if the cowardly bullying pirates started to lose ships the

And this from an individual who complained that the TEC turret was 'artificially gimped' because the range isn't quite as good as the others until it is upgraded! You know I considered you somewhat insensitive, until you cried real tears over the TEC turret. Vasari starbases do not have outstandingly the best Vasari weapon when first built, then. I doubt that this diminishes the point that weapons choices seem somewhat arbitrary? Both Hoshikos and Overseers are highe

One issue that has only been touched upon so far is that Vasari flak and fighters use phase missiles as well. I can understand that phase missiles are a Vasari specialty, but the normal phase missiles are slow torpedo- like weapons, how can you manage to use those for fighters and flak? It's just stupid when fighters can take down a cap ship, whats the point of bombers then? Unless you get vast numbers of free ones, of course. Yet the starbases, with all their weapons

Whatever is done with the diplomatic aspect, I suggest that the patched game should have to pass a couple of tests- that the AI factions be able to create ceasefires and make alliances between them, and that the AI factions be able to combine against the leader or leaders. It might then be possible to get the AI nearer to achieving a diplomatic victory, but this still seems somewhat of a task and it would be far simpler to have the diplomatic victory replaced by an artifact vi

I very much doubt that any new stuff will appear in a patch, patches are for bugs and tweaks. A tweak might be something you could modify yourself. I spent a couple of days on a pirate mod to familiarise myself with what was possible in the game. As an example of a simple tweak, these are the original values that determine the strength of a pirate raid: strengthPerOwnedPlanet .10 strengthPerCargoShip .0025 strengthPerBounty .00003 I wanted to up the sensiti

I would be happy to hear from Ironclad too, then we might discover whether an expansion was a real possibility or the whim of the site. The technical limitations are another reason for a new Sins-based game rather than a fourth expansion. Also, the two micro-expansions produced so far have been fraught and delayed and have fractured the online community. As more versions have had to be kept updated the number of patches has droped off dramatically. A standard game-and-

There's not even an introductory post to the poll from a representative of Stardock or Ironclad? The players have to notice it themselves? That takes lack of communication to new depths... And 'an expansion'? What, just something new in general? That's not very informative! I'm going to assume that the question should be 'would you prefer a new expansion to the existing game or a new game based on the existing interface?' which seems to make more sense.&n

Thats the most popular time zone, you shouldn't have too long a wait to get a game. PM me next time you're going to be on. How are you faring 1v1 against the AI? Hard is a good level to stop playing AI and take up multiplayer. The levels beyond unfair aren't much use, then you're relying on gaming the AI, rather than developing skills.

You should mention what version of the game and what time zone you play in. Most MP players dislike altering the relation of the speeds because it messes up game sense. Games are played on fast or faster because when you're used to that, normal speed crawls. There are fast games on the second expansion as well as faster games though. Not all the games are vast 5v5s, and 2s and 3s are often much better games, anything bigger often suffers from drops, and r

Apparently there is to be a patch for the second expansion in November, though we have been warned that this is intended to be for second expansion features only, and that if anything else was to be changed it would be up to Ironclad. One of the developers was supposed to have put some time into the game in the summer but nothing appears to have come of that as yet? We are promised a beta phase for the new patch, which would be excellent for a balance patch, but if its ju

Yarlen, how much revision will be possible with this patch? You've mentioned that you'd like to rework the pirates, but are other aspects of the game potentially up for the same consideration? There are several problematic elements that can't just be switched off. Here's the list I would start a patch thread with, I'm sure to have missed some at this stage, however it should be most of it. Would this sort of list be feasible, or will the patch be more limited in scop