AI difficulty differences

[mogthew]

Hey all,

Just a question regarding the AI. Is the wave size the only difference in difficulty for the AI levels between 7 and 10?

[Aklyon]

No, theres certainly other differences. Theres extra guardians available for the AI to choose from, and more AIP at a higher difficulty will give you a much bigger problem than on 7.

Also, you've got to use lots of cheese on diff 10 if you plan on winning, because thats just how diff 10 rolls.

[Histidine]

At 8-9-10 the benefits of Coprocessors and Data Centers are also reduced, and Superterminal pushes the AIP Floor up higher.

[tadrinth]

The AI gets more reinforcements, as well, and it takes a higher AIP before reinforcement amounts stop scaling with AIP.  Also, there is a point where if there are enough defending ships in a system, additional reinforcements will be freed as threat; the thresholds for that are lower for higher difficulties. 

You get less warning for waves/CPAs/etc at higher difficulties.

At difficulty 8+, if a CPA launches and there's an exogalactic strike force at least 60% charged, it'll launch the exo early to hit alongside the CPA.  Also on 8+, the AI can also choose to delay launching waves to try to synchronize them with a CPA. 

Higher difficulties tend to have more 'brutal pick' core guard posts on the AI homeworlds.  I think they may also get more AI Eyes, ion cannons, etc. 

I think there may also be some tuning parameters in the AI logic that are difficulty based, like how long it waits before doing certain things. 

[RockyBst]

As already mentioned, diff 10 scales ... well, pretty much everything.

- Time between CPAs
- CPA & exo strength, plus scynchronisation
- Wave Strength
- AI Reinforcement Budget
- Less AIP reduction from data centres
- Number of brutal pick guardposts
- Time before threat decides it has obliterated the planet and moves on to the next one (uh, that would be thanks to me)
- 8+ unlocks warp, EMP and self destruct guardians
- I think it scales nemesis response
- Plenty of other stuff that I can't remember offhand.

Generally going over 100 AIP in a diff 10 game is ... inadvisable. While I can survive 300+ in a 9/9.

[mogthew]

Thanks for all the good answers. I'm not currently good enough to play with backdoor AI's so no exogalactic waves are coming my way at the moment.

Does the AI get smarter though, or is it just the numbers that get bigger? That's probably what I should've asked in my first post.

[ZaneWolfe]

Does the AI get smarter though, or is it just the numbers that get bigger? That's probably what I should've asked in my first post.

Backdoor isn't the only AI that can launch exos at you. All of them can technically. You just have to have certain options turned on in order to cause Exos to come at you. If you are referring to the wormhole the AI gets on your homeworld, that, and only that, is something unique to the Backdoor Hacker.

I've not tried it, but can someone more knowledgable than me answer a question though? Does Backdoor Hacker actually send true Exos through that thing, or are those spawned on its HWs and sent crossplanet style? If its the former, I wont be able to play it. I've got no idea what I could build on my HW to stop endgame FS, Golem, Botnet, and Spirecraft simultaneous Exos. If its the latter, I might just try it out. Normal waves can be dealt with rather easily. (Usually with the previously mentioned Botnet with some fairly minor support.)

Does the AI get smarter though, or is it just the numbers that get bigger? That's probably what I should've asked in my first post.

If I remember correctly, there are some tactics that are gated depending on difficulty, as well as certain units. But 8 is where everything is unlocked for the AI. It has all its major tricks available and can use any type of unit or structure available to the AI.

[Bognor]

Does Backdoor Hacker actually send true Exos through that thing, or are those spawned on its HWs and sent crossplanet style?

When I fought it every single exo came exclusively through the back door.  This was a few years ago, though.  Since then there was a change that increased the minimum distance between the exo-wormhole and your home command.

I'm curious to see how much scrap Backdoor Hacker would give...

[ZaneWolfe]

Does Backdoor Hacker actually send true Exos through that thing, or are those spawned on its HWs and sent crossplanet style?

When I fought it every single exo came exclusively through the back door.  This was a few years ago, though.  Since then there was a change that increased the minimum distance between the exo-wormhole and your home command.

I'm curious to see how much scrap Backdoor Hacker would give...

Probably SEVERAL metric tons.  Can anyone confirm if it still sends all exos through the backdoor still? I have a current active game, and it takes a while before exos start.

[relmz32]

Does Backdoor Hacker actually send true Exos through that thing, or are those spawned on its HWs and sent crossplanet style?

When I fought it every single exo came exclusively through the back door.  This was a few years ago, though.  Since then there was a change that increased the minimum distance between the exo-wormhole and your home command.

I'm curious to see how much scrap Backdoor Hacker would give...

Probably SEVERAL metric tons.  Can anyone confirm if it still sends all exos through the backdoor still? I have a current active game, and it takes a while before exos start.

So it appears that at least some of the Broken Golem Exowaves can use the backdoor. see attached.

In an unrelated event, taking an exo wave from the backdoor with the time modifier at +!!! can lead to ... unfortunate consequences. :/



EDIT: Added image.

[ZaneWolfe]

Well damn. It appears that I wont be using Backdoor Hacker.... Ever. Unless someone can figure out how to defend 2 HWs from +5 City FS Exos, Botnet Hard, Golem Hard, Spirecraft Hard, all at the same time. I REALLY wish we could build a city on the HW, THAT might actually have the strength to hold it off. Hey Keith maybe a small change to allow that? Or would it be too much cheese?

[Bognor]

Well damn. It appears that I wont be using Backdoor Hacker.... Ever. Unless someone can figure out how to defend 2 HWs from +5 City FS Exos, Botnet Hard, Golem Hard, Spirecraft Hard, all at the same time. I REALLY wish we could build a city on the HW, THAT might actually have the strength to hold it off. Hey Keith maybe a small change to allow that? Or would it be too much cheese?

I can't tell whether you're joking, but... Of all the nearly infinite possible ways you can set up this game, you've picked an extreme setup that maximises exo strength, one no-one would recommend as a balanced game.  Then you've combined that setup with the one particular AI out of the ~64 on offer that leaves you particularly vulnerable to exos.  With a game that offers such tremendous potential for customisation, it will always be possible to create scenarios that aren't winable. We can't expect the devs to balance for every imaginable combination of minor factions / AI types / homeworld numbers / AI plots / map type etc.

[Lancefighter]

Home command station is pretty damn strong, between two command stations worth of knockback guns and a command station of zero movespeed, its usually pretty hard in the lategame to do things to the homeworld without some pretty big numbers flying around.

Putting a spire city there (which remember gets the 200% combat effectiveness from a mil 3 station!) is absolutely crazy. Mil 3 stations in general are pretty crazy.

As for the backdoor thing, unfortunately any AI ship with 'warp gate - full' is a potential target for exo-ships to appear from. Its not like the warp jumper AI isnt just as bad :\ (which reminds me, I wonder how crossplanet/exo waves works when the AI doesnt have warp gates)

[Vacuity]

I wonder how crossplanet/exo waves works when the AI doesnt have warp gates)

The AI Home Planet Command Stations act as regular warp gates, too.

[Lancefighter]

Yeah, but it still must make exowaves a tad.. late to any party, if they had to travel across the entire galaxy to contest your shard recoveries.