What difficulty to try?

[madcow]

Hey guys, I'm a pretty new player to AI war - I've only made it through one campaign so far, and I was curious what sort of minor factions/difficulties would make for an interesting game.

The last campaign, I did 6/6 difficulty again vanilla and a random easier (ended up being a shield ninny), with rebel faction, medium golems, and medium spirecraft enabled. The game ended up feeling way too easy (at least until the homeworld invasion which took me by surprise and required lightning warheads to break the first homeworld).

I tried started another game at 7/7, but ended up with mach IV planets 2 jumps away with nowhere to attack without alerting them. Didn't last long there.

Anyways, any recommendations on how to make a more interesting game (I guess without going too crazy!). I was thinking 7/7, random AIs with hard spirecraft, hard golems, and trains enabled. Also switching to normal ships (as opposed to just simple ships enabled). What about hybrids/advanced hybrids or will that make it too much?

Oh, and sorry if this is the wrong place to ask this - wasn't sure what subtopic would be appropriate.

[Wanderer]

Probably strategy, but no worries there.  btw, welcome.

I'd avoid Hybrids for now.  They add a lot of firepower to the AI when you're familiar with a difficulty level.  I'd also stick with random easier AIs for the moment, or hand-select them.  Exo-waves are going to be challenging enough without really hammering yourself.

As to those MK IV planets, they're always going to be there, you're going to have to learn to deal with them.    Heck, some games I have MK IV's hanging off the homeworld.  There's a few tricks to dealing with them.  Make sure you neuter them early, once your econ's up but the AIP isn't too high (1/2 worlds at most).  Secondly if you can avoid them, it's not bad to, but don't let them be a thorn in your strategy.  Sometimes you'll just have to go in and mix it up with a MK IV... preferably with MK II+ ships. 

You might want to throw a Dyson Sphere into the mix there, to help even off the increase in negatives you're going to be fighting (2x exowaves).  I personally am not enough of a fan of Spireships to play them on Hard.  Golems, however, I love.

7/7 is the balance point, really, for the game.  It's where the AI is no longer constrained and you get to play the full on game.

On a side note, considering your comment about losing a few games.  I currently usually play at 9+.  I lost my first 10 games at 5/5.  The curve is STEEP, but sometimes it's just a matter of throwing yourself in the deep end and drowing a few times.

[tigersfan]

First off, welcome to the forums.

As to your question. Like wanderer said, 7/7 is the balance point of the game, and a good place to play once you feel you have a handle on how the game works. The other thing I wanted to mention is that since each map is randomly generated, it's entirely possible that you could play a game with the same settings as you did your 7/7 game, and get a much easier set-up. Sometimes the Random Number Generator just isn't kind.

[zoutzakje]

Welcome to the forums =)

I'd also reccomend 7/7 for starters. However, if you're really eager to try out some of the harder AI types, I suggest going back to 6/6. I've learned that AI types influence the difficulty much more than the difficulty itself. A 8/8 game with easier AI types is a walk in the park for me, while a 7/7 game with harder AI types can make things very interesting.
as for minor factions, resistance fighters and dyson sphere can make your game a lot easier. With golems and spirecraft I'd suggest putting either one of them on medium and the other one on hard. Getting both on hard means you'll be getting quite a lot of exo-waves, which can be overwhelming. In my opinion, golems medium is the most fun, since repairing golems will raise AIP =)
anything else is just a matter of preference. Best way to learn what every option does and how to deal with it is by trying them out one by one. I'd leave the AI plots alone for now, until you understand the game a bit more. Especially the hybrids should be left alone for now.
But there are of course more ways besides difficulty and minor factions to make your game harder or easier.
Playing with a low or high amount of planets also increases the difficulty. 40-80 planets is considered normal. anything lower or higher than that makes the game more challenging. I usually play with 80-120 planets myself. i like games that last for many hours.
There are also quite a lot of different map types. A lot of them sometimes require a completely different tactic in order to win. If you're looking for a regular game that's not to hard, I'd suggest chosing Simple or Realistic map type. If you're looking for a serious challenge, I'd go with either crosshatch, spokes or lattice.
I think you can start with complex ship types. This will get you used to all the different kinds of bonus ships and their mechanics. It adds somewhat to the challenge, but it shouldn't be to overwhelming.
And last of all, 1 AI progress per 30 minutes is what most people (including myself) consider standard. The game itself recommends 1 AIP per 5 minutes, but that can prove to be to much if your games last long.

hope this was of any help =)

Feel free to ask any of us if you have more questions about the game. Don't worry about where to post your questions. Either this place or the strategy discussion section is just fine.

[madcow]

Thanks for the advice guys, I decided to go with 7/7 easier random. I had rebellion colonies, human resistance, Dyson Sphere, medium spirecraft, and hard golems enabled. Complex ships, astrotrains, and avenger are enabled as well. I'm not too worried about losing, that would be more fun than realizing after 4 hours its too easy (what happened on the last campaign).

As for the comment about spirecraft and golems, I kind of agree. I found golems to be almost OPedly strong. My hive golem pretty much singlehandedly took out the second AI world, whereas spirecraft didn't feel as useful (or at least I didn't take full advantage of them).

I started off right next to some level III and IV planets, but hopefully I can deal with them just fine, there's a level 1 planet with a level IV ion cannon right next to my homeworld, will try to see if I can capture it for defense against upcoming hordes.

Edit: If only there was enough time to actually play the game now Silly work.

[keith.lamothe]

Welcome to the forums!   And fwiw, I think specific "how do I beat this game?" questions best belong in the Strategy subforum (though it's not a crime to put them in the main forum particularly if it's a new player), but "how do I enjoy this game?" questions are well-suited to the main forum.  Anyway.

Thanks for the advice guys, I decided to go with 7/7 easier random. I had rebellion colonies, human resistance, Dyson Sphere, medium spirecraft, and hard golems enabled. Complex ships, astrotrains, and avenger are enabled as well. I'm not too worried about losing, that would be more fun than realizing after 4 hours its too easy (what happened on the last campaign).

Sounds like a solid challenge without getting too insane (believe me, it can get way too insane... but that's the most fun for some players ).  If that game works out for you then tossing in hybrids would add a definite extra challenge, though it tends to be a mostly early-game challenge once you learn how to fight them.

I found golems to be almost OPedly strong. My hive golem pretty much singlehandedly took out the second AI world

Yea, we like those to be really powerful, they're rare, require a planet-capture, irreplaceable, etc.  Glad you got some use out of them

whereas spirecraft didn't feel as useful (or at least I didn't take full advantage of them).

Martyrs.

there's a level 1 planet with a level IV ion cannon right next to my homeworld, will try to see if I can capture it for defense against upcoming hordes.

If it's on your defensive line that might be worthwhile, but generally I think people don't go in much for capturing ion cannons anymore.  Depends on how easy it is in a given case, I suppose

Have fun storming the castle!

[TechSY730]

whereas spirecraft didn't feel as useful (or at least I didn't take full advantage of them).

Martyrs.

Part of it is that you are playing on Spirecraft medium, where NONE of the Spirecraft are repairable. This gives an interesting dynamic, but it can also make it feel like you have to "babysit" your spirecraft to keep them alive (which may be the design intent for Spirecraft medium, but not everyone like that type of dynamic)
Also, IMO, Spirecraft are due for a balance review at some point.
But yea, Martyrs are pretty awesome.

there's a level 1 planet with a level IV ion cannon right next to my homeworld, will try to see if I can capture it for defense against upcoming hordes.

If it's on your defensive line that might be worthwhile, but generally I think people don't go in much for capturing ion cannons anymore.  Depends on how easy it is in a given case, I suppose

Have fun storming the castle!

I will capture ion cannons if they are on or in route to a planet I need to protect and they are a sufficiently high Mk. to be useful past the early game (generally, >=Mk. II, >= Mk. III in the late-mid game and beyond)

Otherwise, I just destroy them, or capture them and scrap them for the tiny amount I will get out of them. (Ion cannons scrap for .1% of their value, rather than the typical 10% of their value like almost everything else uses)

[Cyborg]

Sounds like a solid challenge without getting too insane (believe me, it can get way too insane...

Wouldn't be here if it wasn't. The best part is feeling like it's impossible to win, realizing that it's not, and rising above it.

[madcow]

Well, I had forgotten to save my last game, oops! So starting over, with the same settings (different map though). I ended up picking the raptor - and I'm loving that cloaked little fighter against a tank and a sledgehammer. I'm not seeing any real nice goodies nearby, but a ton of mach 4 planets. I actually managed to take one down to my surprise, I expected it to slaughter to me. So I'm just planning to consolidate a nice defensive ground clearing out the cluster of mach 4s around my starting base (using raptor hit and run mostly). I'll let you guys know how the game and difficulty works out.

I must admit, I am a little surprised that the difficulty jump between 6 and 7 seems fairly big, pleasantly so, it really felt like I was steamrolling through my first game, and hopefully this will be more of a challenge.

[zoutzakje]

mark IV worlds are not that hard to take down. Just make sure you don't keep them on alert for to long, because that's when they get deadly and out of control. Try to avoid capturing a planet that borders a mk IV world. If you really have no choice, take the mk IV world out fast. Simply destroying everything but the wormhole guard posts and the command center often works, but on higher difficulties I usually never risk it and just take the mk IV world. Wouldn't be the first time I got back-stabbed by a mk IV world I left alone for to long.

as for the difficulty... yeah the higher the difficulty, the bigger the gap between them (at least that's what I seem to notice). That's probably why there is a 7.3, 7.6 etc after dif 7. With the right settings, dif 7 can be a serious challenge.

[Diazo]

Heh.

Try the lattice map type. 

I wanted to take a break so I turned off all the minor factions and started a game at random, as in hit "New Map" then "Start Game" without looking at the map.

Gave me a homeworld with 14 wormholes, that is making for an interesting game.

D.

[amethyst]

I've been wondering about how different minor factions affect difficulty; for example, I wasn't really expecting golems at medium difficulty to make the game that much easier. I just played my first game with them on that difficulty, and while collecting the full set of golems did make for the first game where I crossed the AI tech threshold to Mk III, it also made defending against incoming waves and taking the homeworlds pretty easy. My expectation was that on a medium setting, the game would be neither much harder nor much easier than before.

Is there perhaps a list that groups the minor factions roughly by whether they make the game easier, harder or merely different? So far my plan is to try them out one by one (along with working my way through the AI types with the help of disabledaitypes.txt), until I have completed all the minor faction achievements, but that could take me a long time.

[zoutzakje]

to be honest, trying out the minor factions one by one is probably the best way to really get to know what they do and how they affect the difficulty. Golems for example, are superweapons. Medium and hard merely gives the AI something in return to counter those superweapons, while easy basically just gives them to you without consequenses. Personally I prefer golems medium, since it raises the AI progress each time you repair a golem, which can cause a lot of extra "fun", especially on higher difficulties.
But yeah, in general golems make the game easier. Unlike roaming enclaves for example, or rocketry corps, which can be a serious pain. And don't even get me started on the Ai plots. Even after more than 500 hours of playtime, I still avoid some of them (darn hybrids).
If you really want to figure out how to make things easier or more difficult, trying out all the AI types is a really good idea.
but I'm afraid there is no list as to what influences the difficulty and how much. There are a lot of different things that influence the difficulty (map style, AI types, starting location, minor factions, plots, fog of war, ship types) and it's different every single time. The map generator can also really screw people over sometimes.
so yeah, I guess it's just a matter of experiencing yourself ^^

[madcow]

I decided to blow up a Mark IV command station that had ~100 ships left on the planet that was just 2 jumps away from my planet. I figured my defenses would be able to handle the fleet.

Then I discovered the existence of Mark IV EMP guardians. Needless to say I did not last long after discovering it, when 100 mark 4s were in my home world and all my defenses, along with 3/4s of my fleet were disabled. Oops?

Though that was more due to my lack of knowledge than feeling the difficulty was off, plus it was hilarious. I'll just load up an early save and kill that guardian first.

[barryvm]

I always wondered if the EMP guardians purposely seek out important targets (large fleets, worlds with advanced factories etc...) or just go straight for a random human world.
When I see one appear at a a wormhole I always assume the worst and pull back half of my fleet to avoid being wiped out, the other half usually handles the guardian.
They never seem to come alone though...