Caltrops - Gamerasutra - You might be interestred /don't care at all . . .

Forum Overview :: Gamerasutra

by laudablepuss 02/14/2007, 6:44pm PST

Here's my aweshom winning strategy with this game and why I think the AI is stupid when it comes to making its ships: Even though the game is openended in terms of how you build and use your ships, in reality, there are a limited number of ship classes that you MUST (or really really should) build and that serve very specific roles. Just giving the AI templates and a knowlege of what to do with them would be better than having the AI try to suss this stuff out from scratch each game.

Ship Class 1: SWACS. A cargo hull with nothing but engines and sensors. I like to make them fast, with a speed roughly equal to their sensor radius, so they can run run run away from badguys. I put SWACS all over my borders and nobody sneaks up on me. Extra benefit: I don't ever need to put sensors on my warships.

One time, before the expansion, the AI finally got wise and made a really really fast interceptor that chased down and murdered my SWACS! I was really impressed. It only took him two hours and the loss of more than half of his empire to come up with that tactic. But still! Not bad. That guy even started escorting transports toward the end. Which means the AI is slow but it DOES learn, unlike, say, the Japanese in WWII.

Ship Class 2: home defense drones. Ships with few or no engines but extra firepower. They live in orbit. I usually don't use these later in the game, because I'd rather have faster ships in orbit in case I need them for whatever reason.

Ship Class 3: interceptors. Small ships with lots of engines and a tiny peashooter. No defenses. Pair em up with SWACS and have them hunt down unescorted transports and constructors. Upgrade the peashooter if and when transports start getting defenses and/or weapons. (Transports still have 1 hp, so the AI is pretty retarded to do this. But it does. I considered making a true frigate, and putting the transport modules on a capital ship hull with weapons and defenses and everything. But they get used up when they invade! Which is gay. I might still do it at some point, though, I dunno.)

Ship class 4: sorta fast ships (all sizes) with a good mix of firepower and defenses. The backbone of my fleet. Being as fast or faster than the enemy's fleets is HUGE.

Ship class 5: slower ships with more firepower (all sizes). Change of pace ships and backups in case something large and scary gets built by the badguys. Sometimes it's nice to have a monster firepower ship or massive defense ship in the fleet -- the former in case the AI decides to shoot at other targets first, it can whup up on them. The latter in case the AI decides to target it -- it'll be awhile before they can kill it during which time my other ships will decimate them. Along those lines, having a shitty fighter in amongst your capital ships guarantees the first salvo won't be directed at them but against said shitty fighter. Could be usefull, depending.

All transports need to be very fast. Escorts are good, but honestly, with SWACS blanketing the area, I usuall don't use em. The computer oppenents aren't this smart.