Newb with some strategy issues...

[Kahuna]

"Mike's Game 1 ver 2.sav" is not winnable either. Not because of the special forces. Start a new game.

EDIT: I started an example game with the same settings you had in "Mike's Game 1 ver 2.sav" except the AIs are both 6 difficulty and The Tank and Feeding Parasite. I recommend you check it out and "study" it. Also check out the "Galaxy Wide" and "Ship Design" tabs in the "In-Game Controls" (CRTLS). I have a very solid start in this save. You can keep playing that game if you want to or you can try to replicate it.
About the priorities on the Galaxy Map (The ones I'm using) :
P0=Neuter+Ignore/Do not destroy the Warp Gate
P1=Neuter+Destroy Warp Gate
P2=Capture
P3=Data Center
P4=Co-Processor
P5=Super Terminal
P6=Distribution Node OR Zenith Reserve
P7=Capture+Advanced Factory/Fabricator OR Zenith Reserve
P8=Golem
P9=Advanced Research Station

[mmobley]

The special forces? Please elaborate?

That sucks, but I was having trouble figuring out how to get more knowledge without ramping up more AIP.

I will check out your example. Perhaps I should try a new one and start an AAR thread?

[Kahuna]

The special forces? Please elaborate?

That sucks, but I was having trouble figuring out how to get more knowledge without ramping up more AIP.

I will check out your example. Perhaps I should try a new one and start an AAR thread?

I just updated my last post (while you were writing that)^^

Special Forces are AI Ships that move around the AI planets and defend important planets such as AI Homeworlds and other Core planets and planet that have a CSG (Core Shield Generator). If CSGs are disabled they defend planets that WOULD have CSG (Planets with Advanced Research Station, Advanced Factory, Fabricator, Super Terminal). The size of the Special Forces fleet depends on AIP and difficulty level. Also you can never destroy them completely because Special Forces Guard Posts will respawn new Special Forces quite fast. Kinda like an intergalactic Sentry Eye. They don't respawn THAT quickly though. Depending on AIP and difficulty level Special Forces fleet has usually something like.. a couple of hundreds or 2000 ships. If you have 56 Threat and you see hundreds of ships followed by a fully loaded Carrier you know they are Special Forces.

To get more knowledge without skyrocketing the AIP you can do knowledge raids. But remember that you can't get everything in AI War. You have to decide which technologies are the most important in your current situation and what you might need later in the game.

An AAR? Sure why not!

[mmobley]

By knowledge raids, do you mean hacking?

And can't you eliminate Special Forces by raiding their guard posts?

[Kahuna]

By knowledge raids, do you mean hacking?

And can't you eliminate Special Forces by raiding their guard posts?

Yes. Knowledge hacking.

Special Forces spawn at Special Forces Guard Posts which are located on most of the planets in the galaxy. So you would have to destroy all Special Forces Guard Posts in the whole galaxy.. so nope. Probably not gonna happen. And I don't know if that would actually stop them from spawning.

I do have one theory though. It MIGHT be possible to kind of eliminate Special Forces by building a strong beachhead on a planet defended by the Special Forces. Before you start building the beachhead you would have to destroy the Special Forces (temporarily because they keep respawning non stop till they hit the cap). When the beachhead is ready the Special Forces would attack the beachhead non stop and die. Optimally this beachhead could also serve as a buffer against CPAs. Like this http://www.arcengames.com/forums/index.php/topic,11391.msg129159.html#msg129159

[mmobley]

CPA's = border aggression yes?
Just trying to understand you experts lingo

[TechSY730]

And can't you eliminate Special Forces by raiding their guard posts?

I'm actually unsure about whether number of SF posts ties into SF cap. Seems like it should somewhat, but I haven't really looked into it.

CPA's = border aggression yes?
Just trying to understand you experts lingo

CPA's = Cross Planet Attacks

And yea, there are lots of terms and abbreviations to keep track of. An unfortunate necessity due to sheer amount of what the game has to offer.

[keith.lamothe]

The AI Home Command stations also serve as spawning points for the special SF guys.  One small factor to bear in mind is that when the AI sends a normal reinforcement to a planet with an SF post that post also gets some ships, and those become SF ships rather than guarding the post.  So if you know a planet is going to be on alert for a while killing the SF post there isn't a bad idea.

But yea, beachheading something the SF will try to defend seems like a good way to keep their population down.  To some extent if you have to do that then the SF is "winning" in that you're having to divert resources for their sake, but on the other hand it's not as bad as it could be

[Hearteater]

In case it isn't clear, CPA has nothing to do with Border Aggression.  In fact, a CPA can alleviate the overcrowding that causes border aggression.  All a CPA does is take a bunch of AI ships, wake them up, and make them threat.  Just like if you had gone to a bunch of planets and run away.

True border aggression is actually fairly rare unless your game goes really long and you never touch planets on your border, or you do clear out all their guard posts early, and then leave them alone.

[mmobley]

"Mike's Game 1 ver 2.sav" is not winnable either. Not because of the special forces. Start a new game.

EDIT: I started an example game with the same settings you had in "Mike's Game 1 ver 2.sav" except the AIs are both 6 difficulty and The Tank and Feeding Parasite. I recommend you check it out and "study" it. Also check out the "Galaxy Wide" and "Ship Design" tabs in the "In-Game Controls" (CRTLS). I have a very solid start in this save. You can keep playing that game if you want to or you can try to replicate it.
About the priorities on the Galaxy Map (The ones I'm using) :
P0=Neuter+Ignore/Do not destroy the Warp Gate
P1=Neuter+Destroy Warp Gate
P2=Capture
P3=Data Center
P4=Co-Processor
P5=Super Terminal
P6=Distribution Node OR Zenith Reserve
P7=Capture+Advanced Factory/Fabricator OR Zenith Reserve
P8=Golem
P9=Advanced Research Station

Since there aren't any Golems or Zenith Reserves in this game I presume this is your standard code?

I am studying this closely. Looks like you almost have to play sneaky in order to get things accomplished. Hmmm. This definitely requires realigning my strategy.

I don't think I will play your game tho. Wouldn't be right to work off of your effort . But thanks for the example, and I will be starting a new game with the same parameters and starting an AAR thread. Stay tuned!

[Wanderer]

A brief discussion of lingo and what can kill you:

SF: Special Forces.  Independent fleet that will defend CSGs and other 'important' items under the AI's control.  Can get pretty massive.

CPA: Cross Planet Attack.  I just rewrote the wiki page for these but basically a massive wave that's sent at you from existing forces + homeworld defense reserves.  wiki page here: http://www.arcengames.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=AI_War_-_Cross_Planet_Attacks

CBA/Border Aggression: This is from a planet overpopulating due to reinforcements.  Short version: A planet will max off at ~500 ships if you leave only the cmd center + wormhole guardposts, and at that level will never border aggression you.  This is called neutering.

Waves: Waves are spawned via warp gates on neighboring planets (initially) or far-off gates if there are no warp gates adjacent to your territory.  If you use a single whipping boy (removing all warp gates but one against your territory) then the AI will use larger waves by waiting longer to build the wave.  If you have multiple ingress points you have a *chance* at lower timed wave buildups.

Reserve Forces: Come out and smack you upside the head when you get near the AI HW.

Threatfleet: A fleet that is built from roaming threat after said threat has been idle for 30 minutes camping on your doorstep.  This threatfleet will hang around 3-4 planets out and will constantly assess if they can find a hole in your defenses, and then work their way to you.  Side note: Apparently multiple threat fleets are possible, if you cut them off in different clusters.

... think that covers the main ones.

[Edited for typo]

[zoutzakje]

That reminds me. I think someone should make a guide about all the "lingo", what they stand for and what it does. Would help new players a lot. Took me ages to figure out the meaning of all of those when I first started.

[mmobley]

Okay, new game started and AAR thread too. Everyone come check out as I play this!

http://www.arcengames.com/forums/index.php/topic,12153.0.html

[Bognor]

That reminds me. I think someone should make a guide about all the "lingo", what they stand for and what it does. Would help new players a lot. Took me ages to figure out the meaning of all of those when I first started.

I've been thinking for a while some kind of "glossary" on the Wiki would be useful.  Wanderer's post could be the beginning, but we could add all kinds of things like "zombard", "TDL", "refleet", "glass" (as in "under glass"), "honeycomb", "cookie monster", plus more basic terms like "AIP" and "neuter", and perhaps some now-obsolete terms players might still come across like "light starship" and "control node".

[Mánagarmr]

To be quite frank though, if you are getting border aggression, your game has gone on for too long and you've managed to piss the AI off too much. It's a sort of indication that you might've screwed up somewhere. I've never seen border aggression happen ever, except when border aggression was first being implemented and it was a bit overzealous