AI War Beta 6.042 "Activating Vengeful Sanding Machine" Released!

[keith.lamothe]

I wouldn't consider that cheese, as dealing with threat is particularly nasty these days and in most winning setups ordinary waves rarely accomplish anything, but you could add the condition that you can't start the countdown if a wave has declared against the planet.

It would probably need to have a global blackout in the presence of a declared CPA, or an exo being very close to launching, etc... all in all it feels like the sorts of rules that would be necessary are worse than "if you play shark, grabbing a dyson irreplaceable is going to involve triggering shark once". Is there another case where you really _need_ to decolonize?

[Faulty Logic]

It would probably need to have a global blackout in the presence of a declared CPA, or an exo being very close to launching, etc...

Why? Starting the countdown means you will lose that system, and thus have a smaller energy buffer, and less robust supply, making it easier for the attacks to kill you.

If the system has an irreplaceable in it, you've just weakened it's defences significantly. If not, then you could just not colonize the system in the first place, but still pop the AI command and extract the k.

Is there another case where you really _need_ to decolonize?

Any game where I have enough energy/resources, and want to capture a system, but can't hold it. For instance, knocking out a CSG, taking an ARS/golem, or capturing a fab and putting it's cap in cold storage.

[keith.lamothe]

Ok, I'll put the decolonize thing on the list, we'll see what happens

Probably UI wise it will need to be a third button on the scrap-confirmation thing, only showing up if shark is on as otherwise it has no use (not preventing any other consequences).

[Faulty Logic]

Thanks.

[tmm]

I think the Nemesis champions might still be evading their cap, against my single DD I'm currently seeing 7 frigates out of one AI and at least 2 fielded by the other.  That seems like... rather a lot.

[Kahuna]

Ahhh.. transported ships are now displayed properly. *relief* 

[Toranth]

I would like to request a valuation change for the AI when purchasing Infiltration Guardians for Exowaves.

Currently, the Mk I costs only 256 points, same as any other guardian.  Raid Starships, which have the same HP and 1/4 damage, cost 384.
Right now, a Vengeful AI gets an Exo budget of 6000 points at AIP 10 when the player kills a Data Center or Command Station.  6000 points is enough to start purchasing 3-4 Guardians as the wave Escort vessels.

Reason for this discovery:  About 15 minutes into a game, I popped my first data center, and died a minute later.  The wave bought not one but 2 inflitration guardians, and because they were hidden amongst the wave, they managed to make it into range.  gg.

Basically, I'm complaining that the Infiltration Guardian is 4 times as good at killing Home Command Stations as Raid Starships, yet it gets into Exowaves at a significantly early and easier point.
It may also be a good idea to examine the Vengeful conversion into Exobudget rate.  A 6000 point Exowave at AIP 10 seems high.

And since I'm at it, here's some Cheese.

[Faulty Logic]

I think the Nemesis champions might still be evading their cap, against my single DD I'm currently seeing 7 frigates out of one AI and at least 2 fielded by the other.  That seems like... rather a lot.

The nemesis champions are (I think) three separate little systems.

One is a capped group on both AI HWs.

One is a capped group of threatfleet (this always produces at least one).

And the third is time-based additions of Nemesis frigates to threatfleet/SF, which I don't think has a cap.

[tmm]

If SF champions are uncapped, that would be it, since that's where I'm seeing them all.  Seems like it'll get rediculously painful later on, the normal SF are bad enough without double digit and up frigates along, but ho hum.

[Toranth]

One is a capped group on both AI HWs.

One is a capped group of threatfleet (this always produces at least one).

And the third is time-based additions of Nemesis frigates to threatfleet/SF, which I don't think has a cap.

My notes from the AS beta era say you're correct.  While some of the exact values may have changed, this should be fairly close.
The AI HW Nemesis fleet is based on Champion count, hull-size, and inverse-AIP, but is capped.  AIP over 30 should cause the max to reduce, down to about 30% at 150+ AIP.  Pre-spawned Nemesis will no go away, however.  They just won't respawn.

Then, each AI spawns Nemesis frigates equal to:
   #_Champions * Hull_size * (Diff / 7.0) * 0.5.  For 8 Champion Frigates, this is 4 at Diff 7, 5 at Diff 9, and 6 at Diff 10.  Minimum 1.
   This count is capped at the listed number, and when killed, they respawn at 1 every few minutes.

Finally, there's the "Counter-Champion Dirty Tricks".  AI 1, and ONLY AI 1, uses this.  Every minute, the AI accumulates some points based on:
   (100 * numberOfChampionsInGame * humanChampionHullSizeFactor * difficultyFactor * lowAIPFactor)
towards Dirty Tricks.  Unfortunately, right now the AI only knows 1 trick:  Spawn a SF Nemesis frigate by spending 6000 points.  My notes do not state a cap.
Diff 7, 1 Champion, AIP 10, Frigate hull:  100 points per minute, or 1 SF frigate per hour. 
   At AIP 150+, Battleship hull, this'd be 120 points per minute, or 1 SF frigate every 50 minutes.
Worst case gets a little crazy:
Diff 10, 8 Champions, Battleships, AIP 10:  4576 points every minute, or 45 SF Frigate per hour - but the AI is capped at purchasing 1 spawn per 5 minutes.

[Kahuna]

I would like to request a valuation change for the AI when purchasing Infiltration Guardians for Exowaves.

Currently, the Mk I costs only 256 points, same as any other guardian.  Raid Starships, which have the same HP and 1/4 damage, cost 384.
Right now, a Vengeful AI gets an Exo budget of 6000 points at AIP 10 when the player kills a Data Center or Command Station.  6000 points is enough to start purchasing 3-4 Guardians as the wave Escort vessels.

Reason for this discovery:  About 15 minutes into a game, I popped my first data center, and died a minute later.  The wave bought not one but 2 inflitration guardians, and because they were hidden amongst the wave, they managed to make it into range.  gg.

Basically, I'm complaining that the Infiltration Guardian is 4 times as good at killing Home Command Stations as Raid Starships, yet it gets into Exowaves at a significantly early and easier point.
It may also be a good idea to examine the Vengeful conversion into Exobudget rate.  A 6000 point Exowave at AIP 10 seems high.

And since I'm at it, here's some Cheese.

Yep.. Exos ARE imbalanced. That's what I've been saying for a while now

[Tridus]

Keith, here's a save with Railpods that are being overly non-aggressive in AI hands. The wave kind of just sits around after killing the command station and not doing anything.

[keith.lamothe]

New one