Is this supposed to happen?

[Wingflier]

I recently started a game against two 8.3 difficulty AIs.  The waves at the beginning were already MKII.  I thought the MKII start waves were reserved for Doom level only, or was that recently changed?

Anyway, the real reason I made this thread was to show a screenshot of a game where I chose 1 8.3 difficulty opponent and 1 sandbox difficulty opponent.  This is what happened (screenshot attached).

(IIII / I)?  What does that mean?

[Vinraith]

I think you got a technologist. IIII/I implies one AI is sending Mark IV waves and the other is sending Mk I waves.

[Wingflier]

Strange because the 8.3 was sending MK2 waves and there were no technologists.  Are 8.3s even supposed to send MK2 at the start?

[Vinraith]

Very odd. There's a difficulty level where mark levels get 1 added to them, but I thought it was 9. 

[Lancefighter]

yes, above diff 8 you get mk2 waves immediately. One of the reasons I'm staying at diff 8 for now >.>

[Suzera]

It is to compact the ship count. You should be getting less ships overall too.