you see, for my first AI wars game, I decided to have an ai at lvl 1 and lvl 3. the lvl 1 was a fortress baron, the lvl 3 was a homeworld... something. anyway, it was really easy, I managed to jump ahead about 7 jumps with my big glob-o-ships, and I came across a dyson sphere. I thought, "oh shoot, I should liberate this planet so it doesn't attack me." I did so, and decided to focus on other matters, because... my fleet was destroyed by the remaining neutral dyson gatling guns...
much later, after trying to get my eco back up, I did the same thing again. I captured a few planets on the way, liberated one, and skipped one entirely. I noticed there was an experimental starship yard. I decided to just quickly capture the planet to get that. I did so, and I noticed that it was the same planet the dyson sphere was on... I knew that I had just made a terrible mistake, and the dyson sphere's enemy gatling guns destroyed the command, and the sphere quickly went back to my side again. I thought I was done, so I massed my ships up and prepared for another attack.
All of a sudden, the AI started making comments, and I was confused. I checked to see that the remaining enemy dyson gatling guns were still alive, and only 1 planet away from my homeworld! by this time, my mass of ships were attacking the fortress barons homeworld, and they were too far away to do anything useful. they were soon destroyed anyway, because the baron happened to have an ion cannon as well as a fortess, and another fortress on a neighboring planet that I had skipped. before I knew it, my homeworld was gone. I had lost, and the AI was treating it like it was their victory.
This just goes to show that no matter the AI, always beware of minor factions!
Has anyone else ever had a lethal (or near lethal) experience with a minor faction?
