How good is the AI with Balance mod? |
Hi there,
Yesterday I spent about 14 hours playing a game of SEV. As I often do with strategy games, I camped in my home systems whoring technology before unleashing a "Jomsborg" class constructor Baseship on my nearest enemies.
The AI didn't put up much of a fight, though. They didn't have any defenders in their systems, nor any weapon platforms on their planets. My constructor ship could sit in the middle of the system, building "Snekkja" class troop carriers and "Huscarl" class ground troops, slowly conquering the planets in the system one at a time. As previously mentioned, there were no weapon platforms on the planets I attacked, so I could land my troop carriers easily, and there were no enemy soldiers on the planets either, so I only had to use a handful of troops to conquer each planet.
Suffice to say, it was a bit boring. I didn't bother to finish the game, as it would have just been a matter of mopping up the enemy one system at a time.
By the way, I had the difficultly set to "hard", but with no bonus for the AI.
Anyway, I found my way to this site, did I bit of reading, and picked up the balance mod, that promises to improve the AI a bit. Now I am about to start a new game, and I am wondering what settings I should apply...
Should I disallow fighting between the AI, so they all attack me? Or will the AI set to "hard" with the balance mod on provide a decent challenge?
Also, could anyone suggest any other mod that would improve the AI more than balance mod does?
Thanks in advance,
Olix.
Balance mod experience
I like the balance mod and no longer play stock. The AI can be unpredictable - which is good. Sometimes I get lifelong buddies early on, other time I get eternal enemies I have to conquor the hard way. Sometimes they try to surprise me with a dozen ship attacks without any warning/notice. Kinda tricky, but without a treaty - still legal. I play 150-200 systems with usually 20 races (4 added on races (the Tarsus mod gives 3 plus the Ngrath mod/race). AI hard without any bonus and neutrals turned on. I love it so far. And by having the new races involved its not "Oh them again" syndrome.
I would say always set the
I would say always set the AI to hard, and give it at least low bonuses (this gives it a slight build speed advantage over you).
Becareful of setting every AI against you as they will intel you to death fairly easily, unless you put up some SERIOUS intel defense. (Its worth seeing all scores so you can see how much intel is available to be used against you so you know how much to invest in).
One other thing you can do is "cheat" for the AI, log in as it (the passwords are master) scrap any stupid treaties they have, and do auto upgrades every so often for them so they at least have decent facs. You can go further if you want and force them to build ground defences (just tell them to build them on any planet they aren't building anything on anymore). You can even redesign their ships for them.
"One other thing you can do
"One other thing you can do is "cheat" for the AI, log in as it (the passwords are master) scrap any stupid treaties they have, and do auto upgrades every so often for them so they at least have decent facs. You can go further if you want and force them to build ground defences (just tell them to build them on any planet they aren't building anything on anymore). You can even redesign their ships for them."
Ja, I played chess like this for years but now I am allowed out of the asylum.
bouncy walls
I like it in here, the walls are nice and soft and bouncy..... Its frustrating that the AI isn't very good at the moment but it is being worked on, I heartily recomend looking up the Tarsus mod and using its races as they help a load. Just waiting for a new version of this to come along, but Maran has probably been snaffled by the xmas bug for the moment.
http://www.spaceempires5.com/en-US/node/1816
about the balance mod, download the bits and give it a whirl, some people love it and some don't.
Thrice cursed Xmas Bug
The Balance Mod is a very good and the AI is more challenging than the default AI, there are however changes to the structure of the game particularly the tech tree which I would rather not have.
If you want to play stock against a challenging AI then go for Maran's Tarsus AI's they are as good as the ones Captain Kwock did for the Balance Mod have both and both give rise to more challenging games than the unmodified stock version.
The AI is something which the community and is working on to good effect
Editing the Stock AIs
Playing vs stock AIs with more racial points then your race should certainly help. I have given each stock AI the racial trait "Ancient Race" & notice they expand faster (better?).
eddieballgame
giving AI's Ancient race does help the AI's its one of the things Maran did but it does cause some problems in that the AI will build or may build more colony ships than it can use. Principally as it can see targets for colonization which it thinks are viable but which are not as they are already colonised or are other races home worlds. This is an issue Maran had and which he was trying to deal with for 0.7 I understand. I would recommend that you try out Marans Mod and then give it a good look over to se how it works.
Maran's Tarsus AI
Where do i get this "Maran's Tarsus AI" ? Some link please.....
Tarsus AI link
Here it is: (Link to post)
Tarsus AI
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Give me atmoshperic manipulation cannons, or give me death!
Some possible settings...
Try AI on hard (so it uses all its ministers) and give it a low bonus. I'd have about 1 AI per 10-15 systems - like medium # of AIs on a large map etc. This should give them some time to expand and get a decent production base going. I'd also recommend at least medium tech cost - too much rapid tech progression is tough for the AI because they don't retrofit efficiently.
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