My burst of criticism about the game.

That isn't AI... Its the happiness system at work.

And the happiness system doesn't "speak" with anything else when it determines whether a planet has gone into rioting, it just reads any and all happiness modifiers.
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There are 10 types of people in the world:

Those that understand binary, and those that don't.

There have been cases of countries having problems with workers during war time, however for very obvious reasons goverments try their hardest to make sure that no news of this escapes.

It happened on several occasions during WW1 in Britian, and these revolts where put down very harshly. Mind you I do see what you are saying and agree with it.

I agree the biggest drawback to the game is the pathetic AI, but then a pathetic AI is the biggest drawback in every computer wargame.

One really stupid thing I watched the AI do in 1.17 was to sit there and do nothing after I trashed it's homeworld and left two very damaged ships there. One ship had no movement and the other had one MP but I decided it would be better to just leave it there and let the AI wipe it out. For well over a dozen turns I'd see the AI send colony ships to recolonize the planet but never did it send any warships to clear away my two damaged ships. It did have a world about 5 or 6 hexes away with plenty of warships but never sent any warships to clear the planet for it's colonization. It did use transports to pick up large chunks of population and other stuff and moved them out of system to a planet in one of my systems but I cleared that out in one turn. Just stupid.
Omnius

One thing which would help my efforts a good deal is memory, that is for the computer to realise a route thats not working and set it as a restricted system or some such. That in itself would be a huge upgrade.

Armed AI and escorted colony ships are the work around of course or kamakazi ships.
Hmm something else to edit a sneaky random kamakazi colony design.

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Designing an advanced, diplomatic AI + shipset
Consult the great SEV Wiki

The AI definatly needs a way to mark systems, warp points, planets as ahzzordous to health and devise the cunning stratergy of send a fleet to attack it, but this has been discussed before, and no doubt will be in the future.

The AI already marks warp points and enemy colonies as possible attack locations - but there a number of items that prevent them from launching attacks. This includes things like not having enough fleets/units to guard its defensive warp points or launching strikes against enemy colonies in other systems.

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Space Empires Depot | SE:V Balance Mod

See,

this is why I like this forum, (and hope to be back participating more shortly... it's been crazy with work etc,) Those that have gripes, list them in an orderly respectable maner, and those responding seem to be mature and respectable in their responces.... IT's completely refreshing.

Thanks SEV community.

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Thanks,

zWolf -out.

People have often rioted when the enemy was at the gates and destruction was imminent. WHen people think that their leaders are making a complete dogs ear of the whole war thing, they will sometimes step up and try and change how the war is being run, afterall it was the current leadership that got them into this mess in the 1st place, maybe they ain't the best people to get you out of it.

As for GC2, I take it you didn't play it when it was 1st released, the AI was shockingly bad then (almost as bad as SEV is now), it wasn't until they have 4 or 5 patches under the belt that it started to get better. I really can't wiat for SEV's AI to improve Its gonna make a stonking game when it does. I would suggest joining in some of the discussions going on in the forums about how to improve the AI, everyone who adds ideas and comments helps the modders to improve their code and this in turn will improve the game.

I've played GC2 since the day it came out. I have kept up with the patches. I am confident in saying that the GC2 AI is NOT as great as everyone thinks it is. Why? Glad you asked...

1) The AI builds starbases by the dozen, but puts no modules in them. For those who don't know, a starbase in GC2 is just a shell; the modules that you add to the starbase are what actually provide the benefits. Empty starbase = waste of resources.

2) The AI never, ever, under any circumstances researches the Sensors branch of the tech tree. It is a trivial matter for the player to research the first level of Sensors and then bludgeon the AI with that advantage.

3) The AI has no clue how powerful (or powerless) it is in relation to the player. My playing style in 4x games tends to be that of a "builder". In GC2, the AI is totally unaware that my economy grosses more income than all the other races in the galaxy COMBINED. It is unaware that my research output is 50% greater than any other race. It doesn't know how far along the tech tree I am. It only sees that my military is small, so it decides to declare war. The result is that I rush-build a massive fleet that eats the AI for lunch.

Another problem is that you can build lots of EMPTY starship hulls (no engines, no weapons, nothing...) and the AI will think you have a powerful fleet!

4) The only thing the AI cares about when interacting with you is military power. NOTHING else matters. If you have a weak military, the AI declares war on you; even the "good" races will just declare war out of the blue. If you have a strong military, the AI will treat you as an equal. If you have the strongest military, the AI falls all over itself giving you gifts and trying to be your friend.

5) Stardock spends a lot of time removing and/or "nerfing" features that the AI doesn't use well, but little time actually improving the AI. Examples: morale buildings, finance buildings. I expect the Sensors branch of the tech tree will get lopped off at some point. Since the AI never uses it, it is only advantageous to the player.

6) The AI functionality is completely hidden from the player. That means no AI modding, so the AI cannot be improved except by Stardock (for Stardock's idea of AI improvement see point 5). Dark Avatar is supposed to feature some dials you can twist to adjust AI behavior, but I don't have high hopes for the feature.

Please make no mistake: I am NOT saying that the current SE:V AI is better (or even equal) to the current GC2 AI. I am, however, very confidant that the SE:V AI will match, and then surpass, the GC2 AI at some point in the future. Why? The SE:V AI is very moddable AND Aaron has already proved that he is willing to listen to feature requests from players. Go read the GC2 forums for the official response to feature requests: "No."

During WW2, the allies built a huge fleet of rubber tanks and made sure a captured german general who was then returned to Germany saw them. From a distance, of course...

GC2 is dense compared to SEV.

I hadn't thought of it that way. I'll have to remember that for the next time someone is accused of using an "exploit" to beat the AI.

Unfortunately, the algorithm the AI uses to calcuate military might was discussed on the Stardock message boards and this really is a case of the AI being incapable rather than any cleverness on the part of the player.

I never understood the hype around GC2's AI. Where doe sthis myth stem from?

I remember playing GC1 and thinking how boring this game is, because it is so simple (no where near the details Space Empires goes into) yet the AI is so stupid. Then GC2 comes around and I initially dont care because of my bad experience with first one which I got bored of in a few days. All this hype about it's great AI interested me, and I hear all kinds of things about how much better it is than GC1. So one day I buy it. What a disappointment! It's the same godamn thing as GC1: a simple game with stupid AI.

I agree! Played the thing for 20 minutes at a friends house and got bored. There is no depth to this game... Long live space empires!

Live by the sword, die by the sword...

I havent seen a good space 4x non-SE game since MOO2

You are right MOO1 and MOO2 are classics. But they have not the depth of the last SE games.

Live by the sword, die by the sword...

GC 2 AI dense??

Obviously you haven't played the game much, or just beat it on 'easy' and thought the AI was 'dense'

I recommend thinking before talking, it helps at times.

janster

Like any TBS AI, GalCiv has an AI that can be outwitted by a relitavely thoughtfull human being. That said it is fairly good.

Back to the OP, if you name your ship designs with a Mk I at the end, ever time you upgrade it, the game will automatically change the last number to the next one up. For example; Titan Mk I -> Upgraded -> Titan Mk II... Mk III... Mk IV... etc, etc... (Especially when you name a fighter type Vyper, and you reach Mk VII, Battlestar Galactica anyone?)

Just to point out the top m post is very old now and by this point v1.33 things are generaly better even the AI in stock is better still not all that able but theis is about as complex a game of this type as exists. GCII dispite being a good game is not that much more complex than CIV and I am prety sure uses the same cheats and shortcuts to make the AI more able. SEV dosent and AI's play on the same level as human players

The AI's with the latest BM 1.05 and IRM 0.9a are getting much more like it and if not scary have their moments. The first time you lose a planet to an AI you will see what I mean and I dont mean parking lot bombing it either. Diplomacy is also significantly better in both with the IRM being the best fighter and the BM being the better diplomat at the moment in my opinion

EDIT dont put Finland down unlike Canada it has none of my fa mily living there to lower the tone

I agree wholeheartedly on this and it is not ony about wayblocks and the like. The diplomacy AI should register how much it has given and how much received from a treaty over some period of time and then adjust the terms accordingly. The attack AI should remember that it is on a campaign and follow through on an attack instead of shifting priorities every other turn. There are surely much more instances where Aaron could help the modders by programming memory variables into the game

Its Viper
Not Vyper
Although that is a cool spelling: i might use it in SEV

Why are we bashing Gal civ's? Are we defending are game by saying: Its better than Gal Civ 2? (ive seen it used to defend sev in multiple threads). Not once has anyone pointed The Balance mod, or The IRM mod, both that dramaticaly increace AI over Stock. All i've heard so far is GAL CIV 2 SUCKS. If you are going to defend your game, pls dont bash other perfectly fine games. The AI has come along way, and if all you can do is Bash Gal Civ's, Then by all means continue with your "exceptional" defence of SEV.

I agree with Colonial Admril on this. People shouldnt bash other games to defend a game. Thats like bashing someone who said that you could do better than that. Why would you bash someone for saying that you could do better then that kid over there?

It takes decades to build something that will only be destroyed in 5 minutes.

Refer you to my last post where I pointed out GCII was a good game and drew atention to the AI in the IRM and BM

I'm pretty sure that he knew that and i knew that, we were merely talking about the ones who didnt do that. Thank you though.

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It takes decades to build something that will only be destroyed in 5 minutes.

Might I just say that the Necromancy is not an accepted practice for the most part. Most threads have had their time to shine, and many of the older threads are referencing a version of SE:V that barely resembles the current version in terms of playability.

Thank you for your time, and consideration.

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Space for rent - please contact owner

I´ve put the game away since december, because of the pathetic AI and the ridiculously long list of bugs, and i predict ill not be able to enjoy it for at least another 4 or 5 months. The AI on SEIV, in my opinion, still sucks ass after dozens of patches and final version. The real good advantage of SEV is that is more moddable than ever, so that gives me hope that the AI on SEV will be much better someday. Too bad SEV is the only 4x space game nowadays with real good potential.

I don't seem to have a problem with weak AI - I have to empires now that won't leave me alone and keep destroying my new colonies, and I'm not even near midgame. I think the ai cheats to be honest - the one empire on my back seems to have level 8 and 9 nine tech while the rest of us have level 4 - and this guy doesn't even have that many colonies - or at least that I can see. He has also churned out 20+ ships with this new tech lvl 9 too. I smell cheating.

HEY THATS IT!!!
What if you were to select a certain amount of starting research points, but dont use any of them? That way the AI starts with a tech advantage over you right?

THATS A GREAT IDEA!!

Might do the trick.

What happens to the unspent points though I wonder.

*Duplicate* sorry

HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH THAT!!?? SMART!!!!

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It takes decades to build something that will only be destroyed in 5 minutes.