Gravity Troubles

[TechSY730]

5.0, of course.

Since I'm already complaining about my campaign: I haven't raised by AIP by any points for a number of hours, yet Roaming Enclaves and Marauders seem to hit more and more frequently. What determines the rate at which these two minor factions attack?

Kieth will have to give you the specifics, but here is what I remember.

Enclave spawn rate is related to AIP (and there doesn't seem to be a sane cap on their spawn rate either)

Maurders maximum spawn rate is tied to the difficulty of the first AI, though before they can spawn on a planet, there must be a certain, largish number (or was it firepower?) of both human and AI ships.

[Shrugging Khan]

Must've been coincidental, then. Marauder attacks died down by down, but reaming enclaves still keep popping in at a rate of about one every five minutes. Maybe even faster, if I think about all the pausing.

[TechSY730]

Come to think of it, has anyone actually seen a friendly enclave spawn in 5.0? I've seen plenty of hostile to humans and hostile to all ones, but I've never seen a friendly one recently.

[CoyoteTheClever]

You know, sometimes warheads are the only solution for gravity troubles. One game I had a planetary cloaking thing and a gravity well on the same planet, and the closest wormhole was a huge distance away. What else could I have done?

Though if I recall right, some spire ships are indeed immune to gravity effects.

[Orelius]

Come to think of it, has anyone actually seen a friendly enclave spawn in 5.0? I've seen plenty of hostile to humans and hostile to all ones, but I've never seen a friendly one recently.

I don't think there are friendly enclaves.  The description says that they either are player-hostile or all-hostile.

[TechSY730]

Come to think of it, has anyone actually seen a friendly enclave spawn in 5.0? I've seen plenty of hostile to humans and hostile to all ones, but I've never seen a friendly one recently.

I don't think there are friendly enclaves.  The description says that they either are player-hostile or all-hostile.

They did exist in earlier versions, were they taken out?

EDIT: Checked the release notes of the versions leading to 5.0. There are still mentions of player-friendly enclaves, and no mention of them being removed.

[Shrugging Khan]

As far as I can tell, there hasn't been a single all-hostile enclave on any planet I had scouts on...for the last 18 hours. And I have many scouts. Because I kinda had over 60k knowledge and decided Scout SSs mkIV would be a good investment.

People, never do make that mistake. SSSs mkIV are the most anti-fun thing in the game. "poof", and there goes the entire exploration aspect...and for such a low cost!
My campaign ended in boredom death. Knowing all the golem's, data centres, ARSs, Fabricators, AFs and ZPGs location, there wasn't really much left to it. I mean, come on...where's the risk when you can plan absolutely everything in advance?

SSSs mkIV are a bad idea. Never get them.


Aaaaanyways, my point: Haven't seen all-hostile enclaves, just like there's no hybrids.

[TechSY730]

As far as I can tell, there hasn't been a single all-hostile enclave on any planet I had scouts on...for the last 18 hours. And I have many scouts. Because I kinda had over 60k knowledge and decided Scout SSs mkIV would be a good investment.

People, never do make that mistake. SSSs mkIV are the most anti-fun thing in the game. "poof", and there goes the entire exploration aspect...and for such a low cost!
My campaign ended in boredom death. Knowing all the golem's, data centres, ARSs, Fabricators, AFs and ZPGs location, there wasn't really much left to it. I mean, come on...where's the risk when you can plan absolutely everything in advance?

SSSs mkIV are a bad idea. Never get them.


Aaaaanyways, my point: Haven't seen all-hostile enclaves, just like there's no hybrids.

Hybrids were confirmed bugged, and have been fixed in 5.001

I have seen all-hostile enclaves, not sure why you haven't.
I take it that you haven't seen any friendly ones either?

Now that I think about it, I haven't seen a friendly enclave spawn since the change to their spawning rules.

And Mk. IV Scout starships, CHEAP?! Yea, they are sort of game breaking, but you have to dig to many planets worth of knowledge to get them, and by the time you get them, the lost opportunity for offensive unlocks makes it a questionable investment.

People have sort of complained how game breaking Mk. IV scouts and Mk. IV scout starships are in the past. Maybe its time to "unspecialize" them, make them scale in toughness and speed like the normal scouts and not make them perma-cloaked? Remove guaranteed scouting entirely? (This would also imply the removal of the Mk. V spirecraft scout, and maybe the Mk. IV too)

[chemical_art]

As far as I can tell, there hasn't been a single all-hostile enclave on any planet I had scouts on...for the last 18 hours. And I have many scouts. Because I kinda had over 60k knowledge and decided Scout SSs mkIV would be a good investment.

People, never do make that mistake. SSSs mkIV are the most anti-fun thing in the game. "poof", and there goes the entire exploration aspect...and for such a low cost!
My campaign ended in boredom death. Knowing all the golem's, data centres, ARSs, Fabricators, AFs and ZPGs location, there wasn't really much left to it. I mean, come on...where's the risk when you can plan absolutely everything in advance?

SSSs mkIV are a bad idea. Never get them.


Aaaaanyways, my point: Haven't seen all-hostile enclaves, just like there's no hybrids.

Hybrids were confirmed bugged, and have been fixed in 5.001

I have seen all-hostile enclaves, not sure why you haven't.
I take it that you haven't seen any friendly ones either?

Now that I think about it, I haven't seen a friendly enclave spawn since the change to their spawning rules.

And Mk. IV Scout starships, CHEAP?! Yea, they are sort of game breaking, but you have to dig to many planets worth of knowledge to get them, and by the time you get them, the lost opportunity for offensive unlocks makes it a questionable investment.

People have sort of complained how game breaking Mk. IV scouts and Mk. IV scout starships are in the past. Maybe its time to "unspecialize" them, make them scale in toughness and speed like the normal scouts and not make them perma-cloaked? Remove guaranteed scouting entirely? (This would also imply the removal of the Mk. V spirecraft scout, and maybe the Mk. IV too)

I kind of like the MK IV scouts because they are the only unit that allows me to truely plan for the end-game. Often my strategy is "bounce around planets to find MK IV factory. Capture. Build MK IV scout. Make plans for the rest of game."

But I can see some don't think that way. Maybe keep them perma-cloaked, but give them attrition that transports suffer? That way scouts can still scout any system but can't explore the whole galaxy.

[TechSY730]

Also, it sounds like you are at the point where even 8.0 is a bit too easy for you, but 8.3 is when they start "cheating" the wave tech level rules (if you consider starting with Mk. II cheating), and is thus just seems silly to you to the point of you not having fun. The closest thing to a "fair" 8.3 would be either giving 8.0 a positive handicap or turning on 2x sized waves (maybe falling back to 7.6 or so to compensate for that)

[chemical_art]

Also, it sounds like you are at the point where even 8.0 is a bit too easy for you, but 8.3 is when they start "cheating" the wave tech level rules (if you consider starting with Mk. II cheating), and is thus just seems silly to you to the point of you not having fun. The closest thing to a "fair" 8.3 would be either giving 8.0 a positive handicap or turning on 2x sized waves (maybe falling back to 7.6 or so to compensate for that)

Will confirm this from first hand-experience. I am doing 8.0 right now and it is providing a good challenge. However, I am not finding myself dreading every wave like I was in 8.3 due to that blasted tech rule. I almost wish the AI unit count would drop more due to the increase of value (The AI according to some wiki page does decrease unit count in response to an increase in tech...a small amount. I don't know if that is still today.)

The AI jumps over 100% tougher from 8.0 to 8.3 due to that tech increase combined with the normal wave increase. I doubt the difficulty from 8.3 to 8.6 is that much, and maybe from 8.6 to 9.0 as well

EDIT: Biggest difference from 8.0 to 8.3? LOTS more micro for me.

[Shrugging Khan]

Sounds like a good idea, monsignore chemical. Either attrition, or maybe removing their perma-cloaking in exchange for higher speed and heavy armour?

And nope, definitely no friendly enclaves. AFAIK, those don't even exist.

Also, it sounds like you are at the point where even 8.0 is a bit too easy for you, but 8.3 is when they start "cheating" the wave tech level rules (if you consider starting with Mk. II cheating), and is thus just seems silly to you to the point of you not having fun. The closest thing to a "fair" 8.3 would be either giving 8.0 a positive handicap or turning on 2x sized waves (maybe falling back to 7.6 or so to compensate for that)

What can I say, AIW is just my kind of game. It'd only be better if it was more complex, more surprising, and campaigns lasted longer. The AI skipping a tech level, however is a no-no. That's cheating. I want them to be smarter, or equipped with meaner spikes and hooks, nut just stronger by the numbers.

I suppose my next step will be to turn on all the minor factions I used to have switched off (because they were unsuitable for my forever war campaigns). How many human colonies can rebel per game? Is there some kind of limit, or will I eventually have 117 rebellions to rescue?

[TechSY730]

Sounds like a good idea, monsignore chemical. Either attrition, or maybe removing their perma-cloaking in exchange for higher speed and heavy armour?

And nope, definitely no friendly enclaves. AFAIK, those don't even exist.

Also, it sounds like you are at the point where even 8.0 is a bit too easy for you, but 8.3 is when they start "cheating" the wave tech level rules (if you consider starting with Mk. II cheating), and is thus just seems silly to you to the point of you not having fun. The closest thing to a "fair" 8.3 would be either giving 8.0 a positive handicap or turning on 2x sized waves (maybe falling back to 7.6 or so to compensate for that)

What can I say, AIW is just my kind of game. It'd only be better if it was more complex, more surprising, and campaigns lasted longer. The AI skipping a tech level, however is a no-no. That's cheating. I want them to be smarter, or equipped with meaner spikes and hooks, nut just stronger by the numbers.

I suppose my next step will be to turn on all the minor factions I used to have switched off (because they were unsuitable for my forever war campaigns). How many human colonies can rebel per game? Is there some kind of limit, or will I eventually have 117 rebellions to rescue?

It saddens me to say that it sounds like you are getting close to exhausting the potential of this game, despite how HUGE that potential is.
But anyways, moving the AI tech level jump to, say, a separate AI plot or an AI modifier, and just allow normal scaling of the AI to take place for 8.3-10, seems like a really good idea. (Excepting technologist AIs, but those were built to cheat from the beginning, so they don't count)

EDIT: And for friendly enclaves, they DID exist at some point, I remember them clearly. I have seen no mention of them being removed in the release notes, but I have seen them being referenced in the release notes, so for all I know they should still be there.

[TechSY730]

The idea to move the "tech level head start" of 8.3-10 to an AI plot or an AI modifier is now on mantis. (http://www.arcengames.com/mantisbt/view.php?id=2802)

Vote up or down as you like.

EDIT: With this post, I am now a HERO MEMBER. WOOT! 

[chemical_art]

Is it not possible to give the AI more nasty tricks at 8.3+? I can think of plenty of nightmare scenarios that could be used other then simply adding more ships.

Two ideas:
True warheads for the AI (no nukes...maybe?), the return of hunter killers . Stuff that takes makes an AI firmly desiring nothing less then the extermination of humans. Used in the base game.

The AI is different due to a different universe:
They have captured and can manufacture advanced Zenith technology and/or
Cultivated the nenzul as pets who assist in bulking up both offense and defense and/or
Formed an alliance with the spire giving them access to their technology.

[This sounds awfully like an expansion of multiple expansions due to scale. AI war: advanced campaigns?]