Author Topic: KEITH! WHAT DID YOU DO?  (Read 2685 times)

Offline Volatar

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KEITH! WHAT DID YOU DO?
« on: September 11, 2013, 01:45:12 am »
Well, finally got to playing my first AI War game after returning. It's been a year. Picked up the 5th expansion since I got back. Eager to play it, me and a friend got together and fired up a pretty standard 7/7 game. Even gave us Easy superweapons because he is pretty new.

Well, I did NOT expect the AI to be so much brutally harder than I last remember.

We died.



What did you DO to the AI while I was away Keith.  :P

Also, is this normal? Seems kinda excessive.

« Last Edit: September 11, 2013, 01:48:02 am by Volatar »

Offline Kahuna

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Re: KEITH. WHAT DID YOU DO?
« Reply #1 on: September 11, 2013, 01:47:26 am »
the only thing that works against something like in the lower screenshots is 5 hours of Space Plane spamming LOL
set /A diff=10
if %diff%==max (
   set /A me=:)
) else (
   set /A me=SadPanda
)
echo Check out my AI War strategy guide and find your inner Super Cat!
echo 2592 hours of AI War and counting!
echo Kahuna matata!

Offline tigersfan

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Re: KEITH! WHAT DID YOU DO?
« Reply #2 on: September 11, 2013, 01:52:59 am »
I won't speak for Keith, but, welcome back Volatar, a lot has happened at Arcen while you were away.

Offline Volatar

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Re: KEITH! WHAT DID YOU DO?
« Reply #3 on: September 11, 2013, 03:17:59 am »
I won't speak for Keith, but, welcome back Volatar, a lot has happened at Arcen while you were away.

I noticed. Two more games (and one expansion for one of them) and an AI War expansion. Ya'll have been hard at work.

Thanks. :)
« Last Edit: September 11, 2013, 01:50:14 pm by Volatar »

Offline Bognor

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Re: KEITH! WHAT DID YOU DO?
« Reply #4 on: September 11, 2013, 07:34:22 am »
Vengeance of the Machine implemented "subcommanders" on some AI planets, who use unusual configurations of guard posts based on their own sadistic whims.  You've met a particular sub fittingly known as "Rude Gesture".  Early incarnations placed 10 Counterattack Guard Posts on a planet, until kind beta testers convinced Keith that was a tad excessive.
« Last Edit: September 11, 2013, 07:54:28 am by Bognor »
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Offline keith.lamothe

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Re: KEITH! WHAT DID YOU DO?
« Reply #5 on: September 11, 2013, 09:05:32 am »
I see the AI rolled out the welcome-back red carpet :)


*twiddles thumbs, attempts to look innocent

Wellll, I might have tweaked a few things...

The RudeGesture subcommander is, well, yea...

But that first screenshot, what exactly did you have on?  Looks like there's an AI spire shield bearer and a bunch of biggies incoming, which seems to indicate exos, and exos only happen when certain things are on.  Possibly an Exotic or Vicious Exotic AI Type?


Welcome back :)
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Offline Diazo

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Re: KEITH! WHAT DID YOU DO?
« Reply #6 on: September 11, 2013, 12:13:50 pm »
Only 1 hour and 35 minutes in? Did you get the Exo-Wave at 50% warning before hand?

Also, 245 AIP already, what did you do to that poor AI?

(I don't actually have an answer to your opening post, but wow you move fast.)

D.

Offline Tavar

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Re: KEITH! WHAT DID YOU DO?
« Reply #7 on: September 11, 2013, 01:30:53 pm »
As the other player, the AIP there was double the value before we had both been beaten down.

I also didn't see any exo-fleet messages, whatever they are.

I think our big problem was that we took out too many ai bases without expanding. Though I admit this is from someone who spent the first couple of minutes flailing at the controls. I have only played twice before, and that was when there was only one expansion, and the fake was on Impulse.

Don't remember winning then, either.

Offline Volatar

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Re: KEITH! WHAT DID YOU DO?
« Reply #8 on: September 11, 2013, 01:48:03 pm »
AIP was like, ~100 before the AI decided they wanted us to die. And it would have been lower were there not TWO coprocessors adjacent to my homeworld.

I have no idea why there were Exo stuff there. All that appeared right at the AI's finish push that wiped us out so I never even noticed it. The conventional fleets alone were what got us.

Screenshot of the settings screen attached. AI types randomly rolled the Entrenched Homeworlder and Vanilla.

Relevant song.
« Last Edit: September 11, 2013, 01:51:39 pm by Volatar »

Offline Diazo

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Re: KEITH! WHAT DID YOU DO?
« Reply #9 on: September 11, 2013, 02:41:58 pm »
Wait, this actually sounds like the Shark plots were enabled.

Can you check the lobby settings? Shark (and the other new one next to it I can't remember the name of) give the AI boosts when the AI destroys your high-value stuff. (aka make the game significantly harder.)

D.

Offline Tavar

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Re: KEITH! WHAT DID YOU DO?
« Reply #10 on: September 11, 2013, 04:03:33 pm »
It looks like both plots were shark, which explains the ending. What does it define as high value, though? Volatar was taken out in one push, and then I died to....alot.

Offline Volatar

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Re: KEITH! WHAT DID YOU DO?
« Reply #11 on: September 11, 2013, 04:23:08 pm »
Yeah... looks like Shark was on (its in the third screen I posted)

I... don't remember enabling that.

Offline Diazo

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Re: KEITH! WHAT DID YOU DO?
« Reply #12 on: September 11, 2013, 04:52:51 pm »
Shark is a "blood in the water" effect. I can't remember everything off the top of my head, but Human Command station deaths for sure trigger it.

I'm pretty sure anything human controlled that increases AIP on death also triggers it and I'm not sure about stuff like AdvFac or ASC's.

It changes the game so you can't afford to lose any systems, ever. Otherwise you get what happened here.

D.

Offline Volatar

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Re: KEITH! WHAT DID YOU DO?
« Reply #13 on: September 11, 2013, 04:54:34 pm »
Yeah, that sure isn't going on next time we play.  :P

Offline keith.lamothe

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Re: KEITH! WHAT DID YOU DO?
« Reply #14 on: September 11, 2013, 05:19:11 pm »
Yep, screenshot of settings says it all: you got jumped by the shark.
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