AI Plot Idea - Doomsday

[CaptainTaz]

In short, An AI plot that will, after a set amount of time (I'm thinking between 20 and 60 hours, probably configurable by a difficulty rating.) the AI will spawn a doomsday device at BOTH home planets, and proceed towards the human worlds with an exogalactic escort.

This Device will have an attack damage of 10,000xAIP and bolts = AIP, minimum 50. It's armor would be equal to AIP, and it's speed would be AIP X  .01 if over 100, with a minimum movement of 5 (meaning unless you have 600AIP or higher, this won't affect anything)

The idea is still half-baked at the moment, but I wanted to get the concept out there. Lots of input is welcome!

[Imago]

For one thing, making its total DPS scale so sharply exponentially with AIP is probably a bad idea.

But the bigger issue is that I don't really see the point. If you want to win by killing two giant ships, Showdown Device has you covered. If your games are dragging on  that long and you're looking for a stalemate-breaker ticking AIP does the trick.

[CaptainTaz]

For one thing, making its total DPS scale so sharply exponentially with AIP is probably a bad idea.

But the bigger issue is that I don't really see the point. If you want to win by killing two giant ships, Showdown Device has you covered. If your games are dragging on  that long and you're looking for a stalemate-breaker ticking AIP does the trick.

It's not a win-ship, per say, more of a pressure tactic.

You wanna win the game fast to avoid them spawning, but at the same time, if you don't claim enough territory, you can't stop them.

Like I said, it's still half-baked.

[Pumpkin]

The bigger issue is that I don't really see the point.

Same feeling.

after a set amount of time (I'm thinking between 20 and 60 hours) (...)

A normal game lasts between 10 and 15 hours, sometimes less than 10. Even your low end bracket of 20 hours is pretty long for a game. The higher achievement is 36 hours, a duration that the devs found abnormal enough to be the higher end of the spectrum.

Just try auto-AIP at Red.Queen level: 1 every 5 minutes. The "default" setup is 1 every 30 minutes, wich is the worth of one planet capture (20 AIP) after 10 hours of play, which is rather few: after 10 hours of play at this difficulty, it's like if you destroyed a planet without taking it (not having some metal, 150,000 energy and 3,000 knowledge). With madder auto-AIP, it's like you waste more than one planet every pair of hours. After 10 hours of Red.Queen game, it's like you wasted 6 planets; the half of a low AIP empire. And you can set auto-AIP much higher.

And this is only speaking of auto-AIP. There is many other ways to augment the pressure on the player(s). Plots like hybrid or preemption, raw AI difficulty, etc.

More specifically on your idea: try the showdown ending.

This is a longer answer than Imago's one, but in fine the comment remains the same.

[CaptainTaz]

The bigger issue is that I don't really see the point.

Same feeling.

after a set amount of time (I'm thinking between 20 and 60 hours) (...)

A normal game lasts between 10 and 15 hours, sometimes less than 10. Even your low end bracket of 20 hours is pretty long for a game. The higher achievement is 36 hours, a duration that the devs found abnormal enough to be the higher end of the spectrum.

Just try auto-AIP at Red.Queen level: 1 every 5 minutes. The "default" setup is 1 every 30 minutes, wich is the worth of one planet capture (20 AIP) after 10 hours of play, which is rather few: after 10 hours of play at this difficulty, it's like if you destroyed a planet without taking it (not having some metal, 150,000 energy and 3,000 knowledge). With madder auto-AIP, it's like you waste more than one planet every pair of hours. After 10 hours of Red.Queen game, it's like you wasted 6 planets; the half of a low AIP empire. And you can set auto-AIP much higher.

And this is only speaking of auto-AIP. There is many other ways to augment the pressure on the player(s). Plots like hybrid or preemption, raw AI difficulty, etc.

More specifically on your idea: try the showdown ending.

This is a longer answer than Imago's one, but in fine the comment remains the same.

I must be a really slow AI war player then. My games always last between 20-40 hours.... the ones I try to finish anyway...

[Radiant Phoenix]

I must be a really slow AI war player then. My games always last between 20-40 hours.... the ones I try to finish anyway...

Are you measuring paused time or unpaused time?

[CaptainTaz]

I must be a really slow AI war player then. My games always last between 20-40 hours.... the ones I try to finish anyway...

Are you measuring paused time or unpaused time?

I'm measuring the unpaused time. (The clock that counts the game's time in motion or whatever)

My paused time hits about 1/5-1/3 of the unpaused time.

here's an example, this is my first 5-5 game about 3/5 of the way through (I hit about 50 hours on the clock on the top left there by the end of it) http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=430937118

an earlier picture of the same game, note the time it took me to scout a tiny bit more and claim a couple planets... http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=429250772

[Radiant Phoenix]

... that map is very long and stringy.

It reminds me of a Snake-style map, but obviously isn't. What style is it?

[CaptainTaz]

... that map is very long and stringy.

It reminds me of a Snake-style map, but obviously isn't. What style is it?

I think it was just simple with 110 planets... 'twas my first (real) game after all....

[Radiant Phoenix]

... I just realized that my current microcosm has 21 hops from my homeworld to AI 1's homeworld. 

'tis going to be a long game, I think. (Three worlds out at the 1 hour mark, but I doubt I will maintain that pace)

[Pumpkin]

I must be a really slow AI war player then. My games always last between 20-40 hours.... the ones I try to finish anyway...

Are you measuring paused time or unpaused time?

I'm measuring the unpaused time. (The clock that counts the game's time in motion or whatever)

My paused time hits about 1/5-1/3 of the unpaused time.

Do you play with accelerated time? (typing ++++++ on every reload)
Is your speed setting "epic (slower)"?

I use to do this until I realize the speed setting can be turned to "normal" on the lobby and, indeed, the game become much more normal.
IIRC, the lobby has some defaults, like 1 AIP per 30 minutes (and not 1 every 5 minutes, as the tooltip misleadingly states) and "epic (slower)". While it's newcomer-friendly, once a player has its first victory, there is nothing that reminds him to switch settings to something more "default".

While I understand why low/high cap and epic/blitz speed settings exist, I think they are poorly balanced (well, as balanced as non-default settings can be without unbalancing default settings).

TL;DR:
My advise: check your lobby speed setting.

[CaptainTaz]

I must be a really slow AI war player then. My games always last between 20-40 hours.... the ones I try to finish anyway...

Are you measuring paused time or unpaused time?

I'm measuring the unpaused time. (The clock that counts the game's time in motion or whatever)

My paused time hits about 1/5-1/3 of the unpaused time.

Do you play with accelerated time? (typing ++++++ on every reload)
Is your speed setting "epic (slower)"?

I use to do this until I realize the speed setting can be turned to "normal" on the lobby and, indeed, the game become much more normal.
IIRC, the lobby has some defaults, like 1 AIP per 30 minutes (and not 1 every 5 minutes, as the tooltip misleadingly states) and "epic (slower)". While it's newcomer-friendly, once a player has its first victory, there is nothing that reminds him to switch settings to something more "default".

While I understand why low/high cap and epic/blitz speed settings exist, I think they are poorly balanced (well, as balanced as non-default settings can be without unbalancing default settings).

TL;DR:
My advise: check your lobby speed setting.

Nope, I play on normal speeds, and yeah, i do accelerate time now and again, but I never leave it running for too long.

[Pumpkin]

My advise: check your lobby speed setting.

Nope, I play on normal speeds, and yeah, i do accelerate time now and again, but I never leave it running for too long.

Okay. Strange, then. Do you build in pause? Do you split your forces and multitask? Also, why do you feel in need to accelerate? Waiting for metal and rebuilding?
I may sound peremptory but I'm trying to find out why and to help you.

[CaptainTaz]

My advise: check your lobby speed setting.

Nope, I play on normal speeds, and yeah, i do accelerate time now and again, but I never leave it running for too long.

Okay. Strange, then. Do you build in pause? Do you split your forces and multitask? Also, why do you feel in need to accelerate? Waiting for metal and rebuilding?
I may sound peremptory but I'm trying to find out why and to help you.

Reasons I accelerate;
Scouting with nothing else happening - If I can't do anything millitary, I'll speed up my scouts to get it over with
Constructing - If nothing is threatening me, I'll speed up time to finish some units I need (Spire fleet, Fortresses, Zenith stuff, etc.
Movement - If my fleet is on the move, I'll sometimes speed up time. They're slow and I'm impatient goddamit. x_x

Pretty much, I accelerate if I'm waiting on something or it's taking too long/being too slow.

It depends with the pause building. Building turrets all at once murders my economy and leaves me defenseless early on, so I use Alt+Shift to place while time still goes, so turrets finish and my economy doesn't burn out.

I've never been all that good at multitasking, as manually splitting my fleet so I have an even pair of fleets has never really been appealing of a timespend... i just use the spire fleet to do my bidding in enemy space (waaaaaay less losses) and use my fleet ships as emergency defense/counter dark spire.