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IDProjectCategoryLast Update
0000581AI War 1 / ClassicSuggestion - AI Behavior And TacticsOct 17, 2010 11:34 am
Reporterthemachineissentient Assigned ToChris_McElligottPark  
Status consideringResolutionopen 
Product Version3.715 
Summary0000581: AI needs to respond to cloaking attacks
DescriptionThe AI does not know how to handle players who cloak. It needs to respond in much the same way that humans do; defensive guardians that have cloak revealing, and if those get killed, bring in more from other planets.
TagsNo tags attached.
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Lancefighter

Oct 16, 2010 3:29 pm

reporter   ~0000973

tachyon guardians are stationary..
currently the ai lacks a mobile tachyon ability, although I think it would be interesting if ther was a 'tachyon starship' for the AI to use (and possibly players, at a fabricator)
Thus would make players have to coordinate their cloaking attacks to stay out of tachyon range of those ships, which would make it slightly more interesting

(the starship would have the usual starship defender roaming around logic, that should be enough..)

Draco18s

Oct 16, 2010 10:40 pm

developer   ~0001061

Personally I'd like to see a reduction in the tachyon guardians. It makes stealthed units completely useless in player hands (and due to the extremely low ship caps on decloaking units, stealth is amazing for the AI!)

Chris_McElligottPark

Oct 16, 2010 10:42 pm

administrator   ~0001063

If you kill the tachyon guardian, it won't come back, generally. You can definitely use that to your advantage. They're seeded pretty much exactly as they used to be on the tachyon beams in the older versions of the game, incidentally.

Chris_McElligottPark

Oct 16, 2010 10:42 pm

administrator   ~0001064

Oh -- but in the old versions, the tachyon beams WOULD come back. So you actually have a new strategic vector now.

Lancefighter

Oct 16, 2010 11:43 pm

reporter   ~0001072

well, i think the issue is a counter-response to you blowing up their tachyons.
The player, for instance, will note the AI is using cloaked ships and invent decloakers/tachyon turrets and place them ... well, pretty much all over the place.
The AI doesnt care that you are blowing up its tachyons.


(also, i think you flipped tachyons and tractor spawns - there is ALWAYS a tachyon next to my homeworld, but rarely tractors)

Chris_McElligottPark

Oct 16, 2010 11:46 pm

administrator   ~0001073

It's tachyons it gets free at each wormhole, tractors are a lot more rare. And, to some extent it's a question of which parts of the AI are a puzzle, and which are an intelligent opponent.

In this case, I feel like repeatedly having to destroy their tachyons is no fun, but raiding them and feeling like you accomplish something, is. Hence the design.

Draco18s

Oct 16, 2010 11:49 pm

developer   ~0001076

Last edited: Oct 16, 2010 11:50 pm

I think the issue is that attempting to blow up a tachyon guardian is more difficult than murdering and then cleaning the system (of anything but guardians). 5 million HP (or even 1 million with the recent change) is a bit much. Semi-permanent emplacement is fine, but they're really slowing down my ability to clean a system for colonization, as well as making scouting (on a hidden galaxy map) a pain in the arse.

Not to mention, that dropping a fleet through to kill the tachyon guardian will cause everything else in the system to abandon its post.

Lancefighter

Oct 16, 2010 11:52 pm

reporter   ~0001077

Last edited: Oct 17, 2010 12:04 am

but.. I suppose so.
Tachyons feel a great deal more often though - usually i didnt encounter them until mk3 planets before(pre-guardians).. now there are at /every single wh/, making scouting past ~ 2 jumps (with mk1 scouts) an exercise in futility.

Draco18s

Oct 17, 2010 12:09 am

developer   ~0001078

Scouting past 2 jumps with Mk2s is an exercise in futility. :|
Especially with the prevalence of fortresses and other near-wormhole "guns."

I've only managed 2 planets at a 3 jump distance from anything owned. One of those required a transport (which died).

Chris_McElligottPark

Oct 17, 2010 1:35 am

administrator   ~0001080

For now this is moving to the considering category, as we definitely have no time for it for 4.0 compared to the more pressing stuff that remains, and I'm not sure that there's a good course of action at the moment, anyhow.

For the tachyon guardians thing, that's a separate balance discussion, and with a number of the changes that are coming in the next couple of releases (3.718, etc), I think those problems may go away -- so let's hold off on that. Also, bunching your scouts together makes them survive much better, recall.

Draco18s

Oct 17, 2010 11:34 am

developer   ~0001102

Last edited: Oct 17, 2010 11:37 am

X, I was throwing THIRTY scouts (Mk1 + Mk2) through a gate and having an expected survival of 8 to 12. That was 1 system out. Two systems out I had to throw all remaining scouts through again twice more so that I could start with 15 to 20 and drop all through a second gate, with an expected survival of 0 (i.e. enough to get scout intel and then have it die).

When I used a transport to scout a third system out I had to use the transport to get through the first wormhole (it died approaching the second), dump 26 scouts through the second (expected survival: 15) leaving enough to do a third jump.

Issue History

Date Modified Username Field Change
Oct 16, 2010 10:06 am themachineissentient New Issue
Oct 16, 2010 3:29 pm Lancefighter Note Added: 0000973
Oct 16, 2010 10:40 pm Draco18s Note Added: 0001061
Oct 16, 2010 10:42 pm Chris_McElligottPark Note Added: 0001063
Oct 16, 2010 10:42 pm Chris_McElligottPark Note Added: 0001064
Oct 16, 2010 11:43 pm Lancefighter Note Added: 0001072
Oct 16, 2010 11:46 pm Chris_McElligottPark Note Added: 0001073
Oct 16, 2010 11:49 pm Draco18s Note Added: 0001076
Oct 16, 2010 11:50 pm Draco18s Note Edited: 0001076
Oct 16, 2010 11:52 pm Lancefighter Note Added: 0001077
Oct 17, 2010 12:04 am Lancefighter Note Edited: 0001077
Oct 17, 2010 12:09 am Draco18s Note Added: 0001078
Oct 17, 2010 1:35 am Chris_McElligottPark Note Added: 0001080
Oct 17, 2010 1:35 am Chris_McElligottPark Assigned To => Chris_McElligottPark
Oct 17, 2010 1:35 am Chris_McElligottPark Status new => considering
Oct 17, 2010 11:34 am Draco18s Note Added: 0001102
Oct 17, 2010 11:35 am Draco18s Note Edited: 0001102
Oct 17, 2010 11:37 am Draco18s Note Edited: 0001102