Learning the Game

[TechSY730]

Yea, you just got hit by the relatively new hacking mechanic.
Actually, the AI spawning ships continuously was there even before AI hacking was introduced.

The wiki does need to be updated with the new hacking mechanics though (if it hasn't already)


I can assure you though that this sort of AI response does not happen in general when beachheading, thank goodness.

[PokerChen]

Hacking isn't present on the main page of the wiki per se - it's mentioned in a short article from the Economy section on how to get more knowledge.

That will need to be revisited comprehensively...

[apophispro]

There was. I just didn't know what hacking meant. Hacking means stealing knowledge then. Also when I finished gathering knowledge, warped out all the ships, and then deleted the remaining standalone stuff the AI said something about "Did you really think that would work?" Did it think I was trying to take the planet? Because it said that, and then my immediate response was, "Yes, thanks, and it did."

[Diazo]

Yes, the wiki is currently in the middle of a total overhaul.

Once the basic unit detail pages are done, a page on how (and what) hacking works is up next.

D.

[PokerChen]

While we're here - how should spoilers be treated in the Wiki? That the AI usually responds by spawning ships is common knowledge, and the more wacky things should be surprising people on their first iterations.

[Diazo]

I'm actually not really worrying about them.

Off the top of my head I can't think of a way to hide the spoilers without making the wiki more difficult to find what you are looking for.

D.

[apophispro]

I agree with both positions. I think things need to be covered in the wiki, but I do think there is such a thing as an excess of detail.

For instance I know what an advanced research station is, how to capture it, and that it doesn't matter if I continue to hold it after I capture it though it does have a nice knowledge income. Those things are strategically important to know. It also might be nice if they were consolidated into one article somewhere by the way. They're kind of all over the place right now. However I do not know a complete list of every ship type I might get from one, and that's kind of nice. I'm sure the advanced players have the ship lists pretty much memorized at this point, but as a new player it's enjoyable to have an ARS be a bit like finding a treasure chest. Not only do I not know which item it will be, I don't know every item it could be either. So if there was an article that listed the ships possible for an ARS, I would prefer it was separate from the main ARS article.

Similarly I don't know everything the AI can do strategically. I know much of it is procedural so there is no possible solid list for that. However to use the example of hacking, I need to know what hacking is. I need to know the basics of what the AI does and can do in response. However some smaller possibilities I might not need to know. For instance I need to know that the AI floods me with ships if it perceives me as hacking. I would also need to know if those ships are going to follow me back through the wormhole. It might be a nice surprise, however, if the AI actually tried to block my escape on the way out. That wouldn't necessarily need to be included in the wiki article on hacking.

So I think that the idea of spoilers doesn't apply much to this game considering the complexity of the game and strategy involved. However there is possibly such a thing as too much detail. It's not really a spoiler. It's just connecting all of the dots for the player when it might be fun for the player to discover some of those connections on their own.

[Diazo]

Well, I am trying to write the wiki for the new player, not as a university level analysis of the game. But there are things like the hacking that I have to go into detail simply because it is such a complex process.

I do have a thread for the wiki that is on page 1 of the forum at the moment that we should probably take this conversation to, I welcome all comments or suggestions on the wiki there.

I'm still trying to finish off the ship stats pages though, have not started on any of the mechanics pages. 

D.

[apophispro]

Hey Dazio,

I appreciate all the work you're putting into the wiki, and I'm sure it will turn out great. I just thought I'd add my two cents. 

Edit: I also haven't found anything in the wiki so far that I ever thought was too much information. The balance seems to be really well done.

[Wanderer]

I agree with both positions. I think things need to be covered in the wiki, but I do think there is such a thing as an excess of detail.

I've modified some of the wiki tonight, and one of the things I did was include a new hacking overview page.  It includes enough details, I feel, to inform a player of what they're getting into and the rough mechanics of it, but not be overwhelming.

http://www.arcengames.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=AI_War_-_Hacking