Those annoying things the AI does...

[TechSY730]

I would like to point out that some of the things here are annoyances, but in a good way. The AI is supposed to put up a good fight by not being a moron (most of the time), and that can sometimes be "annoying" to us used to "dumb" AIs most other games have.
Examples of the "good kind" of annoying (IMO) are the AI retreating and the AI dragging your ships away with mobile tractor units.

Still fair game to talk about (the OP does not restrict it to "stuff we would like to see gone" only annoying), and part of this discussion would be to try to figure out some of the more "borderline" annoyances about whether they are the "good" or "bad" kind.

[tadrinth]

Another thing that is annoying: warp gate guardians. They'd be pretty okay if you had a window to deal with them before they activated. 

The subcommander with the multiple warp counterattack guard posts

I believe that one's official name is the 'Rude Gesture'. 

[Mánagarmr]

ITT: People completely misunderstanding the question.

[kasnavada]

champion => immediate spawn of mothership

Bwuh?  Never seen that.  Is that from a high-intensity Alt Champ Nemesis setting or something?

Umm, it was not that ? Been a while since I did that. What spawns the mothership then ? Possibly the spire plot ?
I do remember not being able to use the champion though. Did it spawn "nemesis" AI champions, and am I mixing things ?

Anyway, the point I found annoying was not being able to play with the tools I had to kill the AI core worlds.

I would like to point out that some of the things here are annoyances, but in a good way. The AI is supposed to put up a good fight by not being a moron (most of the time), and that can sometimes be "annoying" to us used to "dumb" AIs most other games have.
Examples of the "good kind" of annoying (IMO) are the AI retreating and the AI dragging your ships away with mobile tractor units.

Still fair game to talk about (the OP does not restrict it to "stuff we would like to see gone" only annoying), and part of this discussion would be to try to figure out some of the more "borderline" annoyances about whether they are the "good" or "bad" kind.

+1

[Lord Of Nothing]

champion => immediate spawn of mothership

Bwuh?  Never seen that.  Is that from a high-intensity Alt Champ Nemesis setting or something?

Umm, it was not that ? Been a while since I did that. What spawns the mothership then ? Possibly the spire plot ?
I do remember not being able to use the champion though. Did it spawn "nemesis" AI champions, and am I mixing things ?

Anyway, the point I found annoying was not being able to play with the tools I had to kill the AI core worlds.

That was probably the defence exo from fallen spire, yes. It triggers when a fleet above a certain firepower arrives on the homeworlds, and champs are big enough to trip the switch.
OTOH, it takes ages to charge up again, so...

[Yavaun]

Very annoying:

• Co-Processor on AI homeworld
• Co-Processor on your own core worlds
• teleporter + ignores forcefields units
• Nemesis fleets

Seriously, the amount of blackhole-machine immune and forcefield breaking units a nemesis fleet can have is disgusting and impossible to defend against because it ignores every mechanic you have at hand.
black hole - nope
forcefields - by far not powerful enough
defensive ships (turrets)- fleet beelines to your home command and destroys it in one salvo, but turrets tank AI fleets to death
offensive ships - not fast enough and by far not powerful enough
champion - not even close
minor faction ships - best option so far but still not enough
nukes - nope
emp - nope

Exodian blade - ONLY solution.

[Captain Jack]

Seriously, the amount of blackhole-machine immune and forcefield breaking units a nemesis fleet can have is disgusting and impossible to defend against because it ignores every mechanic you have at hand.
Exodian blade - ONLY solution.

Hang on that actually works?

[Yavaun]

Seriously, the amount of blackhole-machine immune and forcefield breaking units a nemesis fleet can have is disgusting and impossible to defend against because it ignores every mechanic you have at hand.
Exodian blade - ONLY solution.

Hang on that actually works?

Well to be fair I have rather disabled nemesis fleets than tested this because I don't like the exodian blade (it's fun but it massively downvalues your own ships by inflating AIP to an extend normal ships can't compete with). Why wouldn't it work though? The nemesis fleet can probably become too large even for the exodian blade but not until you got a chance at destroying a homeworld I figure.

[tadrinth]

What settings are you playing with that the nemesis exo is that annoying?   High alt-champion-nemesis, I would guess? Or a longer game, if the exos keep getting larger and larger.

Last game the first nemesis exo didn't make it past my minefield, and I won before the second one launched. Diff 9, 60 planet concentric map, and normal champion progress (ie nebulas).  Don't remember what level the champ was at when the exo launched, but I never did fully level him that game. 

[Misery]

I've never been too fond of the Nemesis fleets either.  They just tend to crash right through everything very quickly and are right in front of the command station very quickly, and just hammering at it's shields.  I always bring back my entire fleet to help guard against this when one is about to appear.  Just in case.

[kasnavada]

AI reducers. Mandatory every game, and the game is balanced around it, but it feels very artificial.

Feels very redundant to hacking now that hacking is in.

[Tridus]

ugh, Nemesis fleets. They can get really annoying because of how hard they are to corral.

Unless you have other stuff turned on too. They tend to disintegrate when they run into a Spire City, but that really shouldn't be what's required to make them not annoying.

[Mánagarmr]

I really thought this thread was supposed to be a list of AI behaviours we found annoying. Not game settings, mapgen devices or game mechanics.

[Cinth]

I really thought this thread was supposed to be a list of AI behaviours we found annoying. Not game settings, mapgen devices or game mechanics.

It is.  It's still going to be useful though. 

[PokerChen]

I could always complain that the AI simply isn't smart enough, but that's essentially the premise of the game: that it consistently and drastically underestimates player faction capabilities.