Do you know this feeling, its why i play AI War...

[raptor331]

Want to feel super, super awesome?  Crank the AI down to 1, and you'll really steamroll them.  My alpha testers accidentally started a game on 1/1 AIs, and won in something like 2.5 hours on an 80-planet map.  They were feeling really good about themselves until they realized what had happened.

rofl

[Kjara]

It took them a whole 2.5 hours?  That seems like it should become a competition, how fast can you beat ai 1/1's .

[x4000]

It took them a whole 2.5 hours?  That seems like it should become a competition, how fast can you beat ai 1/1's .

Well, do remember that they didn't know they were playing against dual 1s (and this was 80 planets).  So they played a fairly conservative game at first, I think, and it just went amazingly well for them.  Then they realized they had an advantage and went for the throat, and it was all over.  I think they had realized by that point what was up, but for the first while they were just really pleased with themselves.

[eRe4s3r]

If you under estimate dif 1 and think you can leave your homeworld undefended you are still in for a surprise though ,p

There should be an achievement for loosing on dif 1 though ;p

[x4000]

Now that would just be a mean one.

[deMangler]

It took them a whole 2.5 hours?  That seems like it should become a competition, how fast can you beat ai 1/1's .

I think they had realized by that point what was up, but for the first while they were just really pleased with themselves.

This highlights a good point about game design and user experience.

An example.
I managed to play Elite for years while fooling myself that there were  'pirate bases' that relied upon pillaging to build their fleets and planets that needed medical supplies and an economy behind the trading and so forth, not because there was a lot in the game to support those impressions, but because there was nothing really to destroy the illusion.
I knew it was just my imagination and the game didn't do anything (intentionally or accidently) to spoil it.

Then came along similar games that really did try to have economies and supply mechanisms etc (like X2 or  Supreme Ruler (not Supreme Commander) or I dunno a million of these type games) and the slightest little inconsistency spoils the whole illusion.
The asymmetrical AI concept (among other things) in AI War is an approach that really makes the experience work, and the above quote shows it.
Another similarity AI War bears to  'Enders Game', where his experience bears, shall we say, a similar relationship to the 'reality' (OSC seems to raise this theme a lot, to do with his issues about the subjective nature of morality and reality or something)
For this reason, changing 'AI Progress' to 'AI Alert' or 'AI Alarm' or even 'AI Disgruntlement' (kidding) would remove something that just doesn't sit right with the immersion for me.
Anyway, Back to the 'Game'...
dM

[x4000]

Very interesting analysis.  I am definitely a fan of Ender's Game, as well.

Regarding the AI Progress, that's the most general ecompassing term I could come up with (and it's far too late to rename something so fundamental now, at any rate).  Some people have referred to it as the AI "rageometer," which I found amusing.  But, the AI Progress is a measure, really, of the following combined factors:

- How annoyed it is at you (rageometer).
- How big a threat it thinks you are (being frightened by things such as golems or warheads).
- How ready it is to do anything about that (how much of its production potential is devoted to thwarting you).

Given those sort of interrelating factors, I went with a somewhat-generic-but-descriptive name of AI Progress in order to try to encompass all three.  I perhaps could have split out those sorts of things into multiple meters (AI Rage, AI Intimidatedness, AI Preparedness, or something), but I think that would have been prohibitively complex in practice.

Thanks for posting!

[Kjara]

It took them a whole 2.5 hours?  That seems like it should become a competition, how fast can you beat ai 1/1's .

Well, do remember that they didn't know they were playing against dual 1s (and this was 80 planets).  So they played a fairly conservative game at first, I think, and it just went amazingly well for them.  Then they realized they had an advantage and went for the throat, and it was all over.  I think they had realized by that point what was up, but for the first while they were just really pleased with themselves.

Oh I know, the first part was mostly a joke .  The 2nd part is serious though.  I have to wonder if with correct special unit/ai type you could get it down about an hour?  Will have to experiment some day.

[x4000]

It took them a whole 2.5 hours?  That seems like it should become a competition, how fast can you beat ai 1/1's .

Well, do remember that they didn't know they were playing against dual 1s (and this was 80 planets).  So they played a fairly conservative game at first, I think, and it just went amazingly well for them.  Then they realized they had an advantage and went for the throat, and it was all over.  I think they had realized by that point what was up, but for the first while they were just really pleased with themselves.

Oh I know, the first part was mostly a joke .  The 2nd part is serious though.  I have to wonder if with correct special unit/ai type you could get it down about an hour?  Will have to experiment some day.

Oh, I bet so.  In order to do that, you'd have to basically scout starting instantly, take no planets except the AI homeworlds, and rush them right from the start with starships or something.  On 80 planet maps that will be really dicey even on diff 1, but I bet someone enterprising could do it or at least come close.

[Kjara]

Choice of ai type might be very important.  I'm thinking some of the more offensive ones might be best, as raid sshouldn't be a huge threat(and you can worry about defenses after you get your offensive fleet headed towards the first core), but reducing the number of defensive units will lower your losses on the way to a homeworld.

This will give me something to try this upcoming weekend I think.  (don't fix shuttles before the weekend .

[x4000]

Shuttles will probably be fixed tomorrow, just to warn you -- but, that only affects how they work against frigates and similar, so they'll still be useful.

I imagine that the best AI to play against, from that perspective, would be the Mad Bomber.  He has the weakest defenses of all AI types.

[deMangler]

Regarding the AI Progress, that's the most general ecompassing term I could come up with (and it's far too late to rename something so fundamental now, at any rate). 

I figured you'd considered it carefully.
It wasn't really a suggestion I expected to be implemented, especially as it is all over the reviews about the uniqueness of the 'AI Progress'. It's a selling point!
Actually I have already worked it in to my in-game fiction. Am I sad or what....

The word 'Progress' has to be the most variously (mis)used word in human history, politics, psychology... now Artificial Intelligence!

"I actually do believe it's all for the 'greater good' and I for one welcome our new emergent 'progressive' AI overlord. No... wait...."
- Previous leader of humanity.


dM

[Kjara]

So it turns out that shuttles are really not ideal when the ai only  has 6 or so ships max per planet.

Spaceplanes worked out reasonably well though .

It also turns out that you want to take a bunch of planets to have the income to be able to build the bombers/starships killers you need.

Lots of engineer assisted colony ships/command centers to get income faster.

(a side note, wow you get like 5 minutes to prepare for waves on diff 1?)  I hadn't realized that the warning time changed that much based on diff.

It should be possible to shave at least 10 mins off of that time though.

[HellishFiend]

So it turns out that shuttles are really not ideal when the ai only  has 6 or so ships max per planet.

Spaceplanes worked out reasonably well though .

It also turns out that you want to take a bunch of planets to have the income to be able to build the bombers/starships killers you need.

Lots of engineer assisted colony ships/command centers to get income faster.

(a side note, wow you get like 5 minutes to prepare for waves on diff 1?)  I hadn't realized that the warning time changed that much based on diff.

It should be possible to shave at least 10 mins off of that time though.

Wow... very nice!

[x4000]

Yes indeed! How many planets there?