The AI 9 through 10 run

[Wanderer]

Just another comment on 'max-time is god', AIP 51, ~1000 ships:

Code: [Select]


3/24/2012 8:27:40 PM (5.031)
-----------------------------------
Starting CreateMixedWaveToPlanet at Game Time: 6:55:10 ; Player.AIType: Mine_Enthusiast ; Player.AIDifficulty: 9.8 ; AIProgressionLevel: 51 ; AITechLevel: 2 ; WaveSize: 2.48
aiTypeBasedAIPIncrement : 0
workingShips = ( AIProgressionLevel * player.AIDifficulty ) / ( 13 - player.AIDifficulty ) : 156.17
workingShips *= FInt.FromParts( 0, AILoop.Instance.AIRandom.Next( 800, 1100 ) ) : 163.5
workingShips = Min(workingShips,34 * handicap_multiplier) :163.5
numberShips = workingShips.IntValue :163
Inside AdjustNumberShipsFromAIType, multiplier: 1
after AdjustNumberShipsFromAIType call, numberShips :163
numberTech123 = numberShips - numberDefensive - numberExplosive - numberCore :163

Code: [Select]


3/24/2012 8:27:40 PM (5.031)
-----------------------------------
Performing first CheckWave with size factor of 2.48 on wave at Game Time: 6:55:11

CheckWave: populating count of MissileShipII with base magnitude of 28
numberUnits = kv.Value * this.WaveSize : 69.55
after applying the ship-type-specific cap multiplier (which includes the unit-cap-scale multiplier), numberUnits : 34.77
after applying UsefulnessInAIWaveMultiplier if any, numberUnits : 41.73
after applying Mark-based multiplier if any, numberUnits : 37.55
after applying at-least-one rule, numberUnits : 37.55
after applying difficulty-based multiplier (if <= 3 then 1, <= 4 : 1.5, <= 5 : 1.75, <= 6 : 2, <= 7 : 2.25, <= 9 : 2.5, <= 9.3 : 2.75, <= 9.6 : 3, <= 9.8 : 3.8, 10 : 4.5), numberUnits : 142.68
numberUnitsInt = numberUnits.IntValue : 142

CheckWave: populating count of VorticularCutlassII with base magnitude of 23
numberUnits = kv.Value * this.WaveSize : 57.13
after applying the ship-type-specific cap multiplier (which includes the unit-cap-scale multiplier), numberUnits : 57.13
after applying UsefulnessInAIWaveMultiplier if any, numberUnits : 57.13
after applying Mark-based multiplier if any, numberUnits : 51.41
after applying at-least-one rule, numberUnits : 51.41
after applying difficulty-based multiplier (if <= 3 then 1, <= 4 : 1.5, <= 5 : 1.75, <= 6 : 2, <= 7 : 2.25, <= 9 : 2.5, <= 9.3 : 2.75, <= 9.6 : 3, <= 9.8 : 3.8, 10 : 4.5), numberUnits : 195.35
numberUnitsInt = numberUnits.IntValue : 195

CheckWave: populating count of BomberII with base magnitude of 25
numberUnits = kv.Value * this.WaveSize : 62.1
after applying the ship-type-specific cap multiplier (which includes the unit-cap-scale multiplier), numberUnits : 31.05
after applying UsefulnessInAIWaveMultiplier if any, numberUnits : 24.83
after applying Mark-based multiplier if any, numberUnits : 22.35
after applying at-least-one rule, numberUnits : 22.35
after applying difficulty-based multiplier (if <= 3 then 1, <= 4 : 1.5, <= 5 : 1.75, <= 6 : 2, <= 7 : 2.25, <= 9 : 2.5, <= 9.3 : 2.75, <= 9.6 : 3, <= 9.8 : 3.8, 10 : 4.5), numberUnits : 84.91
numberUnitsInt = numberUnits.IntValue : 84
skipping at-least-effective-ship-cap-rule due to multiple non-starship types

CheckWave: populating count of SpacePlaneII with base magnitude of 34
numberUnits = kv.Value * this.WaveSize : 84.45
after applying the ship-type-specific cap multiplier (which includes the unit-cap-scale multiplier), numberUnits : 73.9
after applying UsefulnessInAIWaveMultiplier if any, numberUnits : 73.9
after applying Mark-based multiplier if any, numberUnits : 66.5
after applying at-least-one rule, numberUnits : 66.5
after applying difficulty-based multiplier (if <= 3 then 1, <= 4 : 1.5, <= 5 : 1.75, <= 6 : 2, <= 7 : 2.25, <= 9 : 2.5, <= 9.3 : 2.75, <= 9.6 : 3, <= 9.8 : 3.8, 10 : 4.5), numberUnits : 252.68
numberUnitsInt = numberUnits.IntValue : 252

CheckWave: populating count of FighterII with base magnitude of 28
numberUnits = kv.Value * this.WaveSize : 69.55
after applying the ship-type-specific cap multiplier (which includes the unit-cap-scale multiplier), numberUnits : 34.77
after applying UsefulnessInAIWaveMultiplier if any, numberUnits : 41.73
after applying Mark-based multiplier if any, numberUnits : 37.55
after applying at-least-one rule, numberUnits : 37.55
after applying difficulty-based multiplier (if <= 3 then 1, <= 4 : 1.5, <= 5 : 1.75, <= 6 : 2, <= 7 : 2.25, <= 9 : 2.5, <= 9.3 : 2.75, <= 9.6 : 3, <= 9.8 : 3.8, 10 : 4.5), numberUnits : 142.68
numberUnitsInt = numberUnits.IntValue : 142

CheckWave: populating count of ZenithPolarizerII with base magnitude of 25
numberUnits = kv.Value * this.WaveSize : 62.1
after applying the ship-type-specific cap multiplier (which includes the unit-cap-scale multiplier), numberUnits : 31.05
after applying UsefulnessInAIWaveMultiplier if any, numberUnits : 31.05
after applying Mark-based multiplier if any, numberUnits : 27.94
after applying at-least-one rule, numberUnits : 27.94
after applying difficulty-based multiplier (if <= 3 then 1, <= 4 : 1.5, <= 5 : 1.75, <= 6 : 2, <= 7 : 2.25, <= 9 : 2.5, <= 9.3 : 2.75, <= 9.6 : 3, <= 9.8 : 3.8, 10 : 4.5), numberUnits : 106.17
numberUnitsInt = numberUnits.IntValue : 106

CheckWave: populating count of LeechStarshipII with base magnitude of 1
numberUnits = kv.Value * this.WaveSize : 2.48
after applying the ship-type-specific cap multiplier (which includes the unit-cap-scale multiplier), numberUnits : 2.48
after applying UsefulnessInAIWaveMultiplier if any, numberUnits : 2.48
after applying Mark-based multiplier if any, numberUnits : 2.24
after applying at-least-one rule, numberUnits : 2.24
after applying difficulty-based multiplier (if <= 3 then 1, <= 4 : 1.5, <= 5 : 1.75, <= 6 : 2, <= 7 : 2.25, <= 9 : 2.5, <= 9.3 : 2.75, <= 9.6 : 3, <= 9.8 : 3.8, 10 : 4.5), numberUnits : 8.49
numberUnitsInt = numberUnits.IntValue : 8
it's a starship so only adding one rule : 1 (had you going there, didn't we)

CheckWave: populating count of AIRaidStarship with base magnitude of 1
numberUnits = kv.Value * this.WaveSize : 2.48
after applying the ship-type-specific cap multiplier (which includes the unit-cap-scale multiplier), numberUnits : 2.48
after applying UsefulnessInAIWaveMultiplier if any, numberUnits : 2.48
after applying Mark-based multiplier if any, numberUnits : 3.73
after applying at-least-one rule, numberUnits : 3.73
after applying difficulty-based multiplier (if <= 3 then 1, <= 4 : 1.5, <= 5 : 1.75, <= 6 : 2, <= 7 : 2.25, <= 9 : 2.5, <= 9.3 : 2.75, <= 9.6 : 3, <= 9.8 : 3.8, 10 : 4.5), numberUnits : 14.16
numberUnitsInt = numberUnits.IntValue : 14
it's a starship so only adding one rule : 1 (had you going there, didn't we)

CheckWave: populating count of DreadnoughtII with base magnitude of 1
numberUnits = kv.Value * this.WaveSize : 2.48
after applying the ship-type-specific cap multiplier (which includes the unit-cap-scale multiplier), numberUnits : 2.48
after applying UsefulnessInAIWaveMultiplier if any, numberUnits : 2.48
after applying Mark-based multiplier if any, numberUnits : 2.24
after applying at-least-one rule, numberUnits : 2.24
after applying difficulty-based multiplier (if <= 3 then 1, <= 4 : 1.5, <= 5 : 1.75, <= 6 : 2, <= 7 : 2.25, <= 9 : 2.5, <= 9.3 : 2.75, <= 9.6 : 3, <= 9.8 : 3.8, 10 : 4.5), numberUnits : 8.49
numberUnitsInt = numberUnits.IntValue : 8
it's a starship so only adding one rule : 1 (had you going there, didn't we)

Wave total ships: 924
TypesForDirectAdd count by type:
MissileShipII => 142
VorticularCutlassII => 195
BomberII => 84
SpacePlaneII => 252
FighterII => 142
ZenithPolarizerII => 106
LeechStarshipII => 1
AIRaidStarship => 1
DreadnoughtII => 1
TypesForCarrierAdd count by type:

That's gonna hurt.  1/4 of them are space planes, but still.  They've gotten a bit more bite if memory serves.

[Wanderer]

Well, I retreated a save before Kerensky and tried to goof around with getting the Dyson Gatlings near the Coreworld, and it works, so so.  The friendly dysons also don't set off Raid Engines.  However, I can't seem to get a solid understanding of their pathing mechanics.  Sometimes they'll all go berserk chasing neighboring threat.  Sometimes they ignore a small threatball.  I don't get it.

Friendly Dysons also seem to like patrolling large swaths of neutral territory.  So, instead of just using that to path to the friendly worlds, they'll continue to patrol Dyson/Llama, even though they're neutral, instead of condensing in the Confederation/Eridani area.

Of an interesting note, since the new ARS hack mechanics came into play, I went for Eridani's ARS during this trying to get Dysons to do what I wanted.  I got a spider.  This is not one of the standard ships I always picked up, so apparently it did a full re-roll when it rebuilt the map.  Neat.

There's a Raid Engine out on Tau (along the run to Riker), so I guess I figured out where it went.  I'm thinking I'm going to need to approach this a hair differently.  Part of my problem is the price of deep strikes, part of it is knocking over CSGs.  The CSG map is a bit off, but there's a C class CSG along the Riker Run that I can use as a stepping stone, which will be handy.  The two Ds on my map are kinda useless, but that's the point I guess.  Both ARS's in the SW are heavily camped by Eyes, so I need a stepping stone.  The D-Class world will let me do that, it's Pai Gow, and should let me play a little with hacking them as well once I can drop the eyes.

So, I'll stop screwing around now and go play the game.  

So, the 6 pt 5 hour map, with CSG markers:


I've got 4 Datacenters located, from SW to East: Argyle, Green Lantern, Llama, and Blackstone.  That's 3 planets worth of AIP roughly once you include warp gates.  Whipping boy is still on Sushi, the homeworld.  PaiGow, with the D-Class CSG, has already had its Counterstrike removed in preparation.

SolarMoon and Argyle are both AI Eye planets.  Eridani's easy enough to take but I'm loathe to power up its reinforcements quite yet.  I will need to hammer it eventually while I've got low AIP, but I can get two ARS's worth of troops before I head in there.  Besides, even after I take Solar Moon, the closest I can get without Deep Strike threat is Eridani.  This limits my options.

So, with the taking of Pai Gow and the two ARSs, I use up my 'free AIP' planets.  Not what I want to hear.  Choices...

Well, if I free Dyson with a deepstrike, I can deal with all the resultant mess in Macross.  That also means I can stop worrying about the Dyson eventually eating my face, but it won't continue to harass the entire eastern star-arm, nor necessarily scour its two alert worlds.  The big thing that does is let me into Kirk at 4 worlds off a neutral without deepstrike.  It'll be bad enough trying to wreck the joint with the Raid Engine on my head in the first place.  I can't do a thing to the AI HW yet but it's worth getting Kirk out of the picture with my AIP as low as possible.

If that goes anything remotely successfully, I can then bring my troops into Earth and piss it off.  Once it's pissed, I can drag out the defenders for later.  Back off to Confederation or so and deal with fallout, then rebuild.  If I can nerf Kirk/de-populate Earth in one go, maybe two, I should be alright.  I could hit Pai Gow and the two data centers as well before I do this, but the floor would increase and I want to keep it tight during the early offense.

Once I've done that, I've got another deep-strike that needs to happen before I continue.  I need to nerf the Riker arm and take the Raid Engine out on Tau so I can get Krupp later.  Pop Krupp on my way in and if the assault fails I've got a permanently pissed Raid Engine, that won't end well.  So, it'll have to be a deep strike.  Scouting FTW, I guess.  Saved me from a bad situation later after the AIP went up.

So, that's the plan.  Let's play.

[Wanderer]

So far, so meh.

Got dyson freed up, and decided I wanted the research off it.  While I got a colony ship down to me I built off 11 Research 2s so they could soak the K quickly.  Dyson's BHG made me not want to bring my fleet up there, but I'd forgotten it would change hands.  Didn't really matter, the 65 Dysons or so were able to shut down the Dyson spawn.   Though, I got a bit of a surprise when it was doing 5x enemy spawns...

That took some time, as did getting the AI Eye off Llama.  It's got 4 Ions on it (1xIV, 1xIII, 2x II) so I kept those intact, but 4xBomber SS I + 3x Raid SS I take forever to get the job done, particularly against a Spire Shield Post IV.  Gyeah.  Finally got there.

So at around 7:00 I look to Kirk, and hit it with my wee fleet, trying to drain off defenders into Eridani.  This had mixed results, and then my nice little 150 ship Raid landed on me with MK IVs.  THUD, slam, pop, ow.

No joy, savescum.  Send in the armor ships, annoy the locals, pull them out and engage in Eridani.  Works somewhat better, we are able to dent most of the starships that pour out, and the raid hits again.  Thump slam bye bye.

Dangit.  Alright.  Wait for research, open up Missile Frigs II, Fighter II, and HBC I and Basic IIs for good measure.  My Power's on the floor even with double generators on my 3 planets, so I shut down a few scout starships and only bring two along with the main fleet.  I can just BARELY keep everything powered.

Well, Send in the armor troops and do an immediate back out with the fleet at a distance.  Grav Guardian comes through, shuts down the blade spawners, and we take on the starships.  After about a minute of this, I back off to Confederation and position to intercept the wave and let the rest of whatever stream to me.  It works.  My 750 ships are down to around 500.  I've only gotten 22 ships off of Kirk, but they were all high end starships.  Beams, Bombers, A spire fleet, etc.

Now after trucking home and trucking back to ERidani (a trip that takes roughly 20 minutes), I've refilled my fleet and Confederation bought itself an Ion IV.  Buggers.  Raids will deal with that shortly, they just got deployed from Sushi.

Did I mention the EMP I missile I brought along?  No?  Well, everyone's right, it was worthless in pissing off the enemy.  I know they're MK Vs and immune to EMP, but I'd hoped it'd fire them up.  Of course, said worthless missile STILL set off the Raid Engine...  Mutter.

Well, I was able to handle the raid easily enough, particularly once they got a bit spaced out and my Maws could eat them piecemeal.  A few starships apparently like to spawn in the raid but I can deal with that.   The invasion of Kirk immediately following ate half my fleet to almost no dang purpose.  There's 3 Ions + Bombardment cannon on the thing and they chewed me up.  I didn't bring my raids in with me and the next attack will have to have them.  I tried sending in the Raids alone afterwards and they can't survive the orbital.

I've not done a heck of a lot against Kirk yet except clear the opening wormhole.  I apparently don't have the necessary firepower to 'wake' it.  There's a miniature CPA coming up shortly though that I'll need to deal with, so the fleet's heading for home to help cover my planets from the eventual brownout.

[Wanderer]

Just realized two things.

1) Warhead interceptor stopped my EMP I from igniting.  I still don't know if it'll work to annoy a MK V world.  Heh.  However, the interceptor states it'll kill a warhead without igniting AIP gain, but my message log shows a +2 increase.  I'm not quite sure what happened.

2)


I'd hoped it'd help clear out some of that MK V trash.  Oh well.

[Wanderer]

Hahah!  I've finally found a good use for Armor Ships.  Pissing off Coreworlds.

So, slightly frustrated by my previous attempts, and not really draining any coreships off Kirk (started at 192, now at 170) it was time to do something a little different.  Send in the armor ships!  I send them in (167 of them) on FRD to go piss off as many things as they can.  Being armor ships, they actually survive long enough to dink a few things.

Meanwhile, my Raids go on an Ion hunt.  First ion's next to the Orbital Mass Driver.  That'll work, sic 'em on that.  Take down one ion and half the orbital.

Meanwhile, raid + ~40 core ships are coming.  Woot, by the time that's done, we're down to 120 ship on the planet.

Next stop, send in the raids + rebuild armors + friends while the rest of the fleet plays a game of 'whack-a-wormhole' in Confederation.  I get bored so I send one of my scout SS off to the Dyson's alerts to get all the cloakers to come out and play.  When the armors and reinforcements come down, I repeat the process.  The Raids get one more Ion and fully aggravate another guardpost, while I sic the entire armor unit on the orbital cannon.  They take that out but aren't quite able to finish off the warhead destroyer.  Meanwhile, due to lovely power issues (and my econ being a mere 535/s out of ~1000/s each)  I decide that even though the Radar Jammer II's at 93%, I need to get the ZPG started.  Well, that chewed up a huge piece of my econ to get it to 18%, so now I've got it off again and am build the third wave.

Kirk's at around 105 troops, +/- a few zombies from a guardian I can't get to leave the system.  This is working, albeit slowly.  I don't have a lot of fleet to work with, nor are they of significant strength, so that's part of the problem.  As long as I can wear it down without getting wasted by the Raid Engine, it'll be enough.

I'm curious to see what kind of Raids I get off the MK IV world.  The MK V homeworld gives me MK IV raids, I haven't fought a non-HW Raid Engine in a while.  I think it'll Raid me with MK IIIs, but I'm not sure.  Time is 8:12, should be ready around 8:20 or so for third raid.  If that goes as planned and I can drop the final Ion III in the system, I'll bring the armada in for a good thwacking of the Coreworld.  Then suicide the Armors on Earth to go piss everyone off.

[Wanderer]

Third raid went well, left Kirk with around 40 units on it.  I got too ambitious after that.  With the refilled fleet, I went into Kirk and started trying to lay waste to it.  I also sent the armors into Earth to go annoy it and hopefully drain some units for later.

Well, that ended about as well as you can expect with the Raid Engine dropping on my head too.  I can't keep a scout on Earth yet, they keep blowing them up on me.  They've got roughly 140 ships on there.

Well, 120 MK IVs from the Raid + making a massive nuisance of myself on the coreworld vs. the guardposts + getting backwash from Earth = bad idea.  Particularly when a MK IV is worth 2 and a half my best ships.

Save scummed from the 8:20 raid.  At 8:30 went in again, with the primary fleet, with the sole goal of taking down as many guardposts on Kirk as I could.  I got four before I had to retreat the 200 or so ships that were left after soaking 2 raids.  If I hadn't they'd pop my very fat Maws for over 300 ships or so.  My Blade Spawners are being highly annoying, attacking FFs instead of the guardposts and things under them.  It's like it's an addiction.

So while I was retreating to homeworld for reinforcements, the remnants of the last raid were chasing me down.  About 80 Missile Frigs and a MK V Spire Fleetship.  They were plinking too hard to make the entire run without them popping a maw, so I waited just inside the Craps wormhole for them, maneuvering my maws to around the edge of their grab range.  We sucked up the remains and beat down a locally reinforced Blade Spawner.  I've headed for home.

At 8:45 a Rebel Colony went up.  It's on... Janeway?!  Well, I hadn't decided what E CSG I was going to pop, that's as good as any I guess.  It'll help with the econ too.  The rebel fighters will probably nearly double my fleet strength, as well.  They're tough little sons of guns.  I've got 3 data centers left, and AIP is 179/140, with a floor of 35, so I was gonna tag one anyway. 

Only one problem.  Janeway's only connection is to Shawshank.  Shawshank is where the whipping boy feeds from into Sushi.

*facepalm*

Son of a...

[zoutzakje]

nice ^^
I can only dream of being able to succesfully play high lvl games. So far I can handle 9/9 games fairly well (not counting crosshatch maps), but with anything above that I have to deal with mk II waves right from the start -.- I can handle that for a while, but not through the entire game.

[keith.lamothe]

However, I can't seem to get a solid understanding of their pathing mechanics.  Sometimes they'll all go berserk chasing neighboring threat.  Sometimes they ignore a small threatball.  I don't get it.

Yea, I haven't much clue how they make those decisions either

Of an interesting note, since the new ARS hack mechanics came into play, I went for Eridani's ARS during this trying to get Dysons to do what I wanted.  I got a spider.  This is not one of the standard ships I always picked up, so apparently it did a full re-roll when it rebuilt the map.  Neat.

Yea, to make the new thing possible I had to make it generate all the bonus picks in advance, rather than just picking the "next" one whenever you captured an ARS.  Which means you can capture one ARS instead of another and get a different ship type, unlike before.

I could hit Pai Gow and the two data centers as well before I do this, but the floor would increase and I want to keep it tight during the early offense.

I'm not sure I understand; taking out a datacenter only causes AIP reduction, not AIP increase (superterminal does both), and AIP Floor is based entirely off total AIP increase (what the AIP would be if there were no reduction).

Pop Krupp on my way in and if the assault fails I've got a permanently pissed Raid Engine, that won't end well.  So, it'll have to be a deep strike.  Scouting FTW, I guess.  Saved me from a bad situation later after the AIP went up.

Meddlesome kidsscouts!  If they hadn't been so nosy...

Got dyson freed up, and decided I wanted the research off it.

Ha.  Hahaha.  That's getting knowledge from the school of hard knocks, alright

That took some time, as did getting the AI Eye off Llama.  It's got 4 Ions on it (1xIV, 1xIII, 2x II)

Wow, that's some serious "no fleet ships allowed" right there.

Did I mention the EMP I missile I brought along?  No?  Well, everyone's right, it was worthless in pissing off the enemy.  I know they're MK Vs and immune to EMP, but I'd hoped it'd fire them up.  Of course, said worthless missile STILL set off the Raid Engine...  Mutter.

You mentioned later that the interceptor got it.  I may be wrong, but I think if you pause the game the instant the warhead starts to fade in you can trigger it via scrapping it and get the effect.  That said, I dunno if it will actually anger anything that's immune to EMP.

Hahah!  I've finally found a good use for Armor Ships.  Pissing off Coreworlds.

With all that durability I guess they have learned how to shout "Your mother was a Mac and your father smelt of cheap solder!"

I need to get the ZPG started.  Well, that chewed up a huge piece of my econ to get it to 18%, so now I've got it off again and am build the third wave.

ZPG's + engies are excellent for money laundering: the money disappears like cotton candy in a blast furnace.

I can't keep a scout on Earth yet, they keep blowing them up on me.

Odd, armors couldn't kill the tachyon guardian?  Or were they too busy hurling insults and getting out of dodge?

Particularly when a MK IV is worth 2 and a half my best ships.

2.5x a mkII?  Factoring in the health increase?

My Blade Spawners are being highly annoying, attacking FFs instead of the guardposts and things under them.  It's like it's an addiction.

Hmm, I wonder why they do that.

Only one problem.  Janeway's only connection is to Shawshank.  Shawshank is where the whipping boy feeds from into Sushi.

The random number generator shoots and scores!

[zoutzakje]

yeah I got the same annoyance with blade spawners in the Keith's Challenge game. Since they're immune to forcefields, they shouldn't even be attacking them in the first place, in my opinion. They really do keep attacking the forcefield(s) most of the time and often ignore the already active ships and guard post underneath it. Intended behaviour or not?

[keith.lamothe]

Blade spawners shouldn't specifically prefer forcefields, and I wonder very much why they seem to do so.

[Ranakastrasz]

Well, The AI blade spawners in my game have no issue with shreading my command station, power generators, and engineers under a forcefield, so I have no idea why that behavior is occuring, unless the blades get a larger damage bonus when attacking the forcefield, or have it as their target priority override.

[Wanderer]

Yea, to make the new thing possible I had to make it generate all the bonus picks in advance, rather than just picking the "next" one whenever you captured an ARS.  Which means you can capture one ARS instead of another and get a different ship type, unlike before.

So I figured, but my previous unlocks for this game were bulletproof, autobomb, and Shield Bearers.  None of those options are even in this ARS.   Just a happy surprise I got some variety again.

I'm not sure I understand; taking out a datacenter only causes AIP reduction, not AIP increase (superterminal does both), and AIP Floor is based entirely off total AIP increase (what the AIP would be if there were no reduction).

Sorry, hitting Pai Gow would raise the floor.  The Data Centers would just let me get back to the newly raised floor.

Wow, that's some serious "no fleet ships allowed" right there.

Yeah, will make a nice Whipping Boy if I decide to use it with Dyson support.  It's way out of 'good position' for most things I want to do though.

You mentioned later that the interceptor got it.  I may be wrong, but I think if you pause the game the instant the warhead starts to fade in you can trigger it via scrapping it and get the effect.  That said, I dunno if it will actually anger anything that's immune to EMP.

I'm actually not sure if it did or not.  I tried to race the interceptor but I dunno.  *shrugs*

ZPG's + engies are excellent for money laundering: the money disappears like cotton candy in a blast furnace.

  The Radar Jammer II was about the same.  After all that work to get it up on homeworld I'm going to lose the Whipping Boy.  ARGH.

Odd, armors couldn't kill the tachyon guardian?  Or were they too busy hurling insults and getting out of dodge?

  They pretty much flash-fried on entry from what I could tell.  I was busy in Kirk so I didn't micro them, but they weren't there for long.

Particularly when a MK IV is worth 2 and a half my best ships.

2.5x a mkII?  Factoring in the health increase?

No.  Linear damage: MK I 500/MK II 1000/..../MK V 2500.  2500 is worth 2.5x my 1000.  If I'd considered health boosts they're worth 4x-5x or so.  I did misquote a bit, though, I meant MK V, but close enough if you average off my MK Is and IIs...

My Blade Spawners are being highly annoying, attacking FFs instead of the guardposts and things under them.  It's like it's an addiction.

Hmm, I wonder why they do that.

I don't know.  It's not the first time I've seen them get stubborn. They'll try to flood a grav guardian when there's perfectly viable targets in other directions they ignore.  They pound on FFs instead of the targets beneath.  They'll keep sending blades at a target that's powered down and is for some reason ignoring blades.  I think you'd have to have the code cracked and be playing them to really nail down their oddities.

The random number generator shoots and scores!

Yeah, little bugger!

[Wanderer]

nice ^^
I can only dream of being able to succesfully play high lvl games. So far I can handle 9/9 games fairly well (not counting crosshatch maps), but with anything above that I have to deal with mk II waves right from the start -.- I can handle that for a while, but not through the entire game.

2 items of note:

1) A 9/9 game is considered the top end of the "I'm not out to screw the player" levels, as per the creator.  You're at the top end of what the design expects good/great players to handle.  Do not, ever, feel bad about that being where you can play at.  I've played far too many of this style of game, and can see the patterns very easily.  Don't compare yourself against someone who's had too much time on their hands for far longer.

2) Realize I'm a cheesy SOB.  I've so far advocated the removal of four different forms of utter cheese that let me progress far too easily at this level.  Only two have been implemented (Tazer and ... crap, it's late... errr... damn, I'll remember when I'm not TRYING to remember) but that's besides the point.  If you'll notice, I screwed around for FOUR HOURS letting the Dyson clean up systems for me.  It's taken me an hour and a half to clean up a coreworld.  There's a difference between what most people enjoy and me being a subborn PITA to the AI.

Don't look at these AARs as something to strive for, unless that's fun to you.  I'm purposely taking on the inane, because that's fun to *me*.  Win, lose, or draw, I enjoy tackling things that are at the edge of my ability.  If that was 7/7, I'd have fun with that.  I only hope for a few things from these AARs.

- It points out tactics and methodology that may help other players.
- It lets me strut a bit and discuss wicked high-end tactics with the designers of the game (Keith in particular) to review where flaws/proper adjustments may lie to improve the general gameplay.
- I like to write, and non-fictional descriptions are easier to do so with.
- People can point out to me sub-optimal tactics so I can improve my own game.

Past that, remember.  9/9 IS a high-level game.  Most people can't play at that level, without resorting to serious investment into the game and knowledge of the individual units and tactics.  Relax, enjoy yourself.  I played numerous games at 5/5 before I even posted on this board, and lost nearly all of them.   I've got easy AIs, no significant AI Plots that work against me activated, and am using patience as a weapon.

[zoutzakje]

haha yeah, when you look at it that way...
well, I haven't actually been able to clear a 9/9 game yet, but I'm getting there (I haven't lost a 9/9 game yet either). I play with random AI types in all my regular games so that might be the issue lol.
and well, my eventual objective in this game is to get all achievements. Which means I eventually have to beat 10/10 with no handicap. I try to get all my achievements by playing 'normal' games (80-120 planets, random AI types, extra fog of war, hide unexplored wormholes, a various amount of minor factions and always at least 1 AI plot for each AI(I want a randomize option for those)), and so far I got exactly 88. But I have no hope of beating 10/10 in a 'regular' game so i probably have no choice but to play cheesy as well I might pick up a few new tactics from this AAR

[keith.lamothe]

1) A 9/9 game is considered the top end of the "I'm not out to screw the player" levels, as per the creator.

Yea, that's basically it.  9.3 should still be possible to someone who's gotten good at 9, but that "AI Tech Level Starts At 2" rule is supposed to be translated "We're just messing with you now".

2) Realize I'm a cheesy SOB.

That's also true  

I've so far advocated the removal of four different forms of utter cheese that let me progress far too easily at this level.  Only two have been implemented (Tazer and ... crap, it's late... errr... damn, I'll remember when I'm not TRYING to remember)

There was also:
- The thing where a single shard reactor could support a ton of hab centers and shipyards on 8HW games.
- Riding the Superterminal to the AI floor.
- Knowledge raiding like 10 planets in a game.

And you've also pointed out how broken a Dyson Ball can be, and I've considered some ideas for moderating that, but haven't gotten around to picking one and implementing it yet.  Were there other exploits you had in mind?

If you'll notice, I screwed around for FOUR HOURS letting the Dyson clean up systems for me.

Yea, the AI wasn't very happy about that.

I've got easy AIs, no significant AI Plots that work against me activated

Yea, I figure Hybrids would have added enough friction at various points to frustrate your plans or possibly let the AI get the kill, and a well-timed Beachhead on your whipping boy would have been all kinds of fun.  Avenger probably wouldn't make a big difference, but it would be amusing to see how badly you cheesed it (probably just double-kill the AI).  Neinzul Roaming Enclaves and/or Preservation Wardens would be a significant pain, and anything exo certainly makes for a different game.

and am using patience as a weapon.

Who'da thought one could beat a computer in a staring match?