Any mods to help this?

from Sins Forums

Problem I'm having, is that so far in EVERY single game I've played, the AI would run / retreat at any time my force that is countering their fleet gets to remotely even numbers. The only time the AI doesn't try to run, is when outmatch my forces to the extreme. The only long actual "fights" I've had, was spamming frigs and cruisers from a few plants to reinforce a defence that is under attack from the AI, while my MAIN fleet makes it's run back to assist. The moment that shows up, they run.

 

Now, that would be very well and all if they retreated "smartly" - but the moment they start retreating, they loose a few ships on every jump - and if I keep chasing them, they end up with half of their force destroyed by the time they hit their home base and by then, they run even further because they are undermatched even more. Would it not be a smarter thing to do, to retreat to one of their planets with heavy defenses while meeting up with re-enforcements there, getting help from their allies (ie. communicating with factions they clearly allied each other with if it's more than one AI), or even making a stand, and if they loose their fleet but kill 30% of mine, it would STILL make more sense then simply suiciding a couple of ships every jump of retreat. It would mean I would have 30% less of a force much further away to counter with. This applies to all AI difficulty - the harder AI just builds a lot more and a lot bigger ships a lot sooner and attacks in a much larger force.

 

Question is - is there any mod that addresses this? Is it better on the expansions? Or what am I generally doing wrong there? ::(

15,872 views 5 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top

is there any mod that addresses this?
End of quote

Nope AI is hard coded

Is it better on the expansions?
End of quote

Yes, though the "out numbered time to run" is still in play the threshold is much tighter.

Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting Ryat, reply 1

is there any mod that addresses this?
Nope AI is hard coded


Is it better on the expansions?
Yes, though the "out numbered time to run" is still in play the threshold is much tighter.
End of Ryat's quote

 

But they are not outnumbered. They run from only 16 lvl 8-10 caps and nothing else ::(

 

EDIT:

 

Another quick question - is there any way to stop the ships from breaking formation? They are already on "fire only in range" attack mode, but they keep turning after they stopped and moving for some reason - which makes aligning fleets for jumps extremely annoying.

Elemental: Reforged
Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top

You can alter the AI retreat threshold number in the gameplay.constants file....it is the very last line...can't give you a good suggestion on what number to put there but hey, at least you have the ability to change it...

Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting Volkier, reply 2
Another quick question - is there any way to stop the ships from breaking formation? They are already on "fire only in range" attack mode, but they keep turning after they stopped and moving for some reason - which makes aligning fleets for jumps extremely annoying.
End of Volkier's quote

Not really. Again hardcoding.

Quoting Seleuceia, reply 3
You can alter the AI retreat threshold number in the gameplay.constants file....it is the very last line...can't give you a good suggestion on what number to put there but hey, at least you have the ability to change it...
End of Seleuceia's quote

True there is that.

Reply #5 from Sins Forums Top

Question is - is there any mod that addresses this? Is it better on the expansions? Or what am I generally doing wrong there? :
End of quote

The mod is called "Ironclad Online" where you can play against real people who are capable of strategic and tactical thought unlike the AI.  If you have the Diplomacy expansion, log on and try a 4v4 or 5v5.  If you crave better opponents that don't do silly and suicidal things, there's no substitute for playing against real people in online multiplayer.

By its very nature, AI will always be inferior to what a real person would do.  This game is just too complex and presents too many variables for an AI's algorithyms to handle.