AI War Beta 7.006-7.007 "Design Meddling" Released!

[keith.lamothe]

How many raids did it spawn though?
 

ALL the raids.

A close examination of the log files probably would find an "OutOfRaidStarshipsException".

[Aklyon]

According to calculator thats 6,820,643,776 strength. Is that more or less than the GCS?

[keith.lamothe]

According to calculator thats 6,820,643,776 strength. Is that more or less than the GCS?

Orders of magnitude more than a GCS.

[Toranth]

The HaP was 'only' -4500 or so.

I'll make the arithmetic-logic-unit protection mechanisms kick in earlier, but fwiw how is it in a remotely-sane scenario.  Y'know, something above maybe -200 HaP?

If you are willing to put the effort into it, it's possible, especially on a prepared SuperTerminal ride.  -4900 HaP is a net 240 AIP reduction.  And once HaP goes negative, the ST will trigger about every second.  Don't forget that due to the exponential nature of the cost increase, every tick was consting 50, 100, 200 HaP - you can build up debt FAST that way.
I started with +285 HaP, so it went negative at about 120 AIP reduction.  The next 2 minutes (120 ticks) were getting messy, though, to get to -4500 HaP.  I was actually able to keep it going until -9000 HaP, when I died, of course.

Take a look at the game I've attached, where I was about to build the Command Station to start the ST hack.  Try it out for yourself; on +10 moving the mouse it only takes 10 minutes or so.


I don't know why the ST hack is possible to get so low, but a single K-raid at -1000 HaP or so is enough to basically crash the game.  Are the two hacking response methods so very different?

Finally, a question about the change to AIP - HaP.  This is Total AIP - current HaP = HaP used, right?  And it is merely replacing where the equations used to use Effective AIP?  So, as you go negative it will still use this value for a little while, until the HaP^2/10 takes over?

It's effective AIP - HaP.  So AIP reduction helps.

What's the minimum?  Or how does it handle (AIP - HaP) being zero or negative (as it will always be for the first hack)?

[Martyn van Buren]

Hey about the two new hacking types, am I right to think that the one that unlocks a ship type gives me more ships overall, but the one that takes an type away from the AI leaves it with the same amount of ships it would have otherwise, distributed among the other types?

[Diazo]

Hmmm.

Orbital Mass Drivers now have the health of a mkI arachnid post and the DPS of a mkIII one (with no change to rate of fire). Both changes are significant buffs.

Really? I just started a game to play with the Neinzul Devastators too! 

For the record, that means the OMD is now a 60million damage shot every 10 seconds. That one-shots every starship (including Mk V's) in the game, except the high mark Zenith/Spire/BomberSS.

I dread the game I role a Peacemaker type AI.....

I'm not asking for this to get a nerf as I agree the OMD is supposed to be scary, but the OMD just went from throwing wet cardboard at me to the most serious threat in a system. (Well, most of the time anyway.)

D.

[The Hunter]

Makes me want to cap/buy OMD in my game, so it's all good.

Also more ideas for hacking, i am not sure if anything like that haven't been mentioned earlier, soooo:

Sensory hack: After being done on AI Planet makes anything non-AI, with a few exceptions like rebel colony, perma-invisible while on that planet as well as immune to tachions, unless they attack. Makes sense to hack AI senses so he can't see stuff, right? Also useful for long range jumps instead of capping system. Cost dependent on planet mark.

Anti-reinforcements hack:  After being done makes planet unable to be reinforced by AI, cost dependent on planet mark.

Warp gate hack: Hack warp gate so it can be used to transport ships to another AI system x jumps away. Useful for cases of "OMG AI Homeworld chokepoint" and such. (Maybe can be made instead into separate structure to be hacked instead of warp gate, that spawns exclusively near AI homeworlds)

Guardian Hack: Makes AI Station spawn a few controllable guardians. Cost dependent on planet mark.

[LaughingThesaurus]

AI Supply Hack: Compromise the AI's warp grid, disabling most structures on the planet. Eyes still function, guard posts lose most functionality, and force fields stop projecting force fields. The warp gate can no longer warp in reinforcements or attacks to your planets.

Eye Poker Hack (please change the name if this gets implemented somehow): Disrupt's the AI Eye's communication with the warp grid. The Eye is dropped to an extremely low (1-5%) amount of its max HP, and will no longer function normally.

Reinforcement Hack: This hack tricks the AI into thinking it has far more ships on that planet as it actually has. The AI thinks it got a huge amount of reinforcements, which may result in it attacking in an otherwise suicidal situation or other assorted trickery. This hack very slowly spends HaP, but must be constantly ongoing for the AI to remain tricked in this way.

Trojan: This extremely expensive hack uploads a trojan to the AI's resource displays. The AI, thinking that it has far fewer actual resources than it actually has, will scrap a large amount of ships (including part of its strategic reserve) to "resume production". This is a galaxy-wide effect, and will provoke a huge response. The hack must be executed on a mark IV or homeworld of either AI, as only those are networked closely enough to the target.

[ZaneWolfe]

Trojan: This extremely expensive hack uploads a trojan to the AI's resource displays. The AI, thinking that it has far fewer actual resources than it actually has, will scrap a large amount of ships (including part of its strategic reserve) to "resume production". This is a galaxy-wide effect, and will provoke a huge response. The hack must be executed on a mark IV or homeworld of either AI, as only those are networked closely enough to the target.

Should be a Core World or AI Homeworld. I can get a MIV within 1-2 jumps of my home base and suddenly cause the AI to scrap a percentage of its fleet GALAXY WIDE? Sure the cost would be insane, but as a first hack of the game it would be rather low response. I just wouldn't be able to hack for the rest of the game.

[LordSloth]

Good note: don't use the names here, these are just horrible brainstorming ideas.

the Mussolini Hack: AI Trains fail to run on time, decreasing their speed by 25%, and adding a thirty second wait at each station. Can be stacked twice. Alternately, it 'poisons' a train station, adding a debuff to trains that visit it.

I'd love to see Neinzul Missile Silos get a "Wargames" hack, where the missiles become hostile to the AI forces.

"Warp Bait" While in progress, this hack will render the target planet (if normally a valid target) the target for all incoming waves, including warp waves. This hack has a constant cost over time per hack, but the base cost per 'tick' goes up for each seperate hack. If the first hack took 1 HP/sec, the second hack would take 3 HP/sec... but your could cover four waves (counter attack posts) in the first hack.,

"Bugs Bunny" hack. The AI took shoulda taken a  left turn at Albuquerque. Either triples or adds a flat amount of time to the timer of a single cross-planet attack.

[The Hunter]

Avenger hack: Ultimately costly hack that should be done on homeworld, sets avenger target from homeworld station death onto another AI homeworld instead of player homeworld. ALternatively makes Avenger controllable.

Hybrid hack: Turns a few of hybrids into allied faction, which build a base on player planets and attack the AI.

EDIT:

Hacker/Killer: Advanced unit that spawns on AI side when hacking points reach ultimately negative value. Not only as strong as H/K mk5 if not stronger, but also has hybrid-like AI and can hack player owned planets with various effects.

[Histidine]

Subcommander Hack: Subverts an AI planet with a subcommander (and possibly neighbouring non-subcommander planets) to become an enemy-to-all (or perhaps even player-ally) minor faction. The planet still pulls reinforcements from the AI warp grid as normal, and can't be targeted by normal or counter-waves, but all its ships and defenses are hostile to the main AI.
Might want to consider whether to allow the AI to destroy the traitor's guard posts or even its command station.

[LaughingThesaurus]

Trojan: This extremely expensive hack uploads a trojan to the AI's resource displays. The AI, thinking that it has far fewer actual resources than it actually has, will scrap a large amount of ships (including part of its strategic reserve) to "resume production". This is a galaxy-wide effect, and will provoke a huge response. The hack must be executed on a mark IV or homeworld of either AI, as only those are networked closely enough to the target.

Should be a Core World or AI Homeworld. I can get a MIV within 1-2 jumps of my home base and suddenly cause the AI to scrap a percentage of its fleet GALAXY WIDE? Sure the cost would be insane, but as a first hack of the game it would be rather low response. I just wouldn't be able to hack for the rest of the game.

I was thinking that, honestly. I feel like I have a bad habit of accidentally making things too hard and restrictive. Core/homeworlds, so be it. You hack into one of those, and the AI scraps a percentage of its stuff. Good luck dealing with the everything that tries to stop you.

[TechSY730]

Hmmm.

Orbital Mass Drivers now have the health of a mkI arachnid post and the DPS of a mkIII one (with no change to rate of fire). Both changes are significant buffs.

Really? I just started a game to play with the Neinzul Devastators too! 

For the record, that means the OMD is now a 60million damage shot every 10 seconds. That one-shots every starship (including Mk V's) in the game, except the high mark Zenith/Spire/BomberSS.

I dread the game I role a Peacemaker type AI.....

I'm not asking for this to get a nerf as I agree the OMD is supposed to be scary, but the OMD just went from throwing wet cardboard at me to the most serious threat in a system. (Well, most of the time anyway.)

D.

Hmm, if that is the power of the Mk. III antistarship arachnid post (not MK. IV, mearly Mk. III), then is that a sign that the antistarship arachnid post line is OP?

[Histidine]

Arachnids are a bit on the OP side, but they don't have across-the-planet range like OMDs do, and they don't go right through forcefields.