Arcen Games

General Category => AI War Classic => AI War Classic - Strategy Discussion => : Lord Of Nothing August 27, 2014, 03:53:45 PM

: Vicious Exotic Question.
: Lord Of Nothing August 27, 2014, 03:53:45 PM
Um. Question. Just what is Vicious Exotic's effective wave multiplier? :o

(I ask because 2xMk4 HK's, 18 golems, 20+ Dire Guardians, a smattering of spirecraft and a lot of small stuff just curbstomped my chokepoint and had a party at my home command- which is somewhat more emphatic than I was expecting, considering said chokepoint has all the trader toys and a 2-city Fallen spire fleet in residence. (~320 AIP, diff 9, no AI handicap.) Looks like this game needs a re-strategize. :))
: Re: Vicious Exotic Question.
: keith.lamothe August 27, 2014, 03:59:07 PM
Um. Question. Just what is Vicious Exotic's effective wave multiplier? :o
Normal Exotic gets a 0.2 multiplier.  Vicious Exotic gets a 2.0 multiplier.

It's quite possibly the single most brute-force AI type.
: Re: Vicious Exotic Question.
: Lord Of Nothing August 27, 2014, 04:01:20 PM
Yes, 200,000+ strength in one attack... get's your attention. :)

It's my own fault for taking the planets adjacent to my next city as well before the city is built, not just gate-raiding them.
: Re: Vicious Exotic Question.
: keith.lamothe August 27, 2014, 04:01:30 PM
On that note, has anyone tried playing against ViciousExotic/Vanguard // ViciousExotic/StarshipFanatic ?  And found any success in the "continuing to breathe" category?

Feel free to use whatever cheese (lobby or otherwise, though no-waves and half-waves would be counter to the idea) you find necessary.
: Re: Vicious Exotic Question.
: Lord Of Nothing August 27, 2014, 04:06:31 PM
That sounds... !Fun!

I'll have to try it sometime I fancy...  ;) Loosing.
Seriously, that does sound fun. This one is technically Vicious/Everything.

Edit: In other news, there is absolutely no truth to these hurtful allegations that friendly peacekeeping forces from Friend AI were 'Drowned in a torrent of Lightning warheads.'

Edit 2: On a more serious note, is it intended that if AI2 is the Vicious Exotic, the exo's ships belong to AI1?
: Re: Vicious Exotic Question.
: Aklyon August 27, 2014, 05:11:22 PM
On that note, has anyone tried playing against ViciousExotic/Vanguard // ViciousExotic/StarshipFanatic ?  And found any success in the "continuing to breathe" category?

Feel free to use whatever cheese (lobby or otherwise, though no-waves and half-waves would be counter to the idea) you find necessary.
VE/Starship Fanatic - VE/Vanguard on 1/1 apparently just confuses the game quite a bit. I turreted up then I wooshed ahead to 2:30 hours on +!!! (took about 20 minutes or so) and nothing happened. I'll try some more practical difficulties later.
: Re: Vicious Exotic Question.
: keith.lamothe August 27, 2014, 05:16:34 PM
It probably never charged up a wave, as the multipliers on diff 1 are only slightly north of "lobotomized".
: Re: Vicious Exotic Question.
: Aklyon August 27, 2014, 05:39:16 PM
It does have a TriggerWaveSubstituteExo show up in the log; the exo log on the otherhand is entirely empty except for the point count.
: Re: Vicious Exotic Question.
: keith.lamothe August 27, 2014, 06:24:53 PM
Hmm, probably a bug then.
: Re: Vicious Exotic Question.
: Lord Of Nothing August 28, 2014, 05:52:54 AM
Looks like a bug, and not difficulty related- 9/9 also failed to send an attack using ViciousExotic/Vanguard // ViciousExotic/StarshipFanatic.
: Re: Vicious Exotic Question.
: Kahuna August 28, 2014, 09:46:59 AM
How about ViciousExotic/Quadratic? Or.. MadBomber/Quadratic
Would Quadratic affect Raid Engines of the Raid Engine AI type?
: Re: Vicious Exotic Question.
: keith.lamothe August 28, 2014, 10:24:07 AM
Looks like a bug, and not difficulty related- 9/9 also failed to send an attack using ViciousExotic/Vanguard // ViciousExotic/StarshipFanatic.
Well that's no fun!  Thanks for letting me know.


@Kahuna: Quadratic should only affect time-based waves, rather than ones provoked by an event, iirc.
: Re: Vicious Exotic Question.
: Bognor August 29, 2014, 10:51:36 AM
It does have a TriggerWaveSubstituteExo show up in the log; the exo log on the otherhand is entirely empty except for the point count.
Empty because Guardians are disabled at low difficulty?  Wouldn't explain Lord of Nothing's observation, though.
: Re: Vicious Exotic Question.
: Aklyon August 29, 2014, 11:26:53 AM
Thats true, I wasn't expecting everything to work at 1/1. But I've seen the occasional starship there, usually as part of something ridiculous that isn't a normal wave.
: Re: Vicious Exotic Question.
: Lord Of Nothing August 29, 2014, 12:36:05 PM
Looks like a bug, and not difficulty related- 9/9 also failed to send an attack using ViciousExotic/Vanguard // ViciousExotic/StarshipFanatic.

And logs:

Edit: And another, this one at much higher AIP.
Interestingly, the 80AIP one did produce an attack from both AI's, but it's the composition that's really odd:
Both produced two exo strikeforces, containing a single high mark spirecraft each- no guardians or starships or fleetships.
: Re: Vicious Exotic Question.
: Lord Of Nothing September 01, 2014, 11:47:06 AM
Update: I won the game. :)
Some more warheads were involved, but it never went into escalating spiral, fortunately- once the third and fourth cities were up, the increased spirefleet strength and the reduced wave size (Due to them interrupting the reinforcement redirection) flattened things out. It was still hitting harder than the fallen spire plot itself over time, but much more often, which was easier to handle.

(P.S. Zombard filled homeworlds are horrible. Especially with a grav reactor, cpa and wrath lance in the middle of the gravity well, on the far size/ holding the zombard blobs. Also, speedboosters+spirefleet is insanely awesome.)