Bfriudo wrote:Yes, things are running smooth with such Ruins. I'll keep an eye on them but it seems all's well.
I've actually run into that same problem in my test run, though later in the game. At first the warlock actually gave me techs (at least the one I was researching at the time), but later I didn't seem to be getting any techs. Apparently all alien ruins begin doing that if you are in last place tech-wise (and way behind), which won't happen until later in the game. Early on the alien ruins work similarly to standard ruins.
I've no way to change what happens (like removing the warlock thing entirely), so if you really want to check out the alien ruins you'd better do it early in the game or stay up to date with tech, though I'm not sure if this prevents the warlock.
Bfriudo wrote:Your effort on League behavior is much appreciated. They do restock more frequently, and yes, I have seen some Haulers with small escorts on the way as well. I thought they were somewhat stuck with restocking, but they still do it, albeit not regularly, which seems very good to me. They are dependant on wars and such, and that's not a bad thing at all.
I like seeing the League more active. Their warships were doing quite a bit of damage when Third Republic was declared in my current game. It's a shame they don't seem to send troops to other worlds. I might need to add a few League forts/factories to certain worlds so they can build up some forces locally, perhaps around Agoras.
Bfriudo wrote:I agree with you, this might not be the way to go. I think less experienced players would enjoy the starting challenge anyway, and if you ask, I don't think there are many unexperienced EFS players around. After all these years, most EFS players are die-hard fans who know the game dynamics well enough to manage. I personally enjoyed that first part of the game very much, and so did my brother. Food is not a big issue after some time, except for some planets like Delphi, but firebirds can still be a problem, depending on labs and on how the player behaves. I don't sell maps to the Vau, nor I sell tech to the AI for money, though I might exchange a tech for another. Sum this with having 5-6 labs and one can still have trouble managing FBs. I have lost a couple of techs along the way as well, mostly due to distractions, but still. One might think of tweaking more with maintenance costs to keep FBs low, as long as this does not put the AI into trouble.
Reducing the food/firebird problem is definitely
not the way to go. After some initial trouble the problem almost went away entirely; I had absurd amounts of income for both food and firebirds. I'll change it back to the old way.
I noticed that other resources also started building to huge stockpiles, namely energy and trace, though other natural resources can do the same. Certain heavily industrialized worlds will usually eat through whatever energy and trace is produced locally, requiring shipments from other worlds (a good thing), but worlds without such industry had incredible stockpiles. I might start adjusting those as well, but am not certain yet. Thoughts?
Bfriudo wrote:Sounds good to me. I had a hard time getting rid of Decados and local rebels in Bannockburn with Hawkwood's starting units in there since I chose to leave those troops there and not link them with the main army, and having such interactions benefits the game. My only doubt concerns the quantity of starting planets, 4 might be a little too much, but of course this will need testing, I'm not saying this is bad a priori.
While it does seem a lot to start with, the AI seems to spread more quickly and start invading other worlds. This was only the first test, though.
The outposts start with three cities and a modest garrison. Certain outpost planets are more dangerous than others, but whatever AI you share a planet with will quickly start hammering your garrison after 20-30 turns, with raids occurring much sooner. I eventually lost one of my outposts due to an AI fleet obliterating any vehicles I had built, with an assault being launched on my infantry (immune to bombardment) later on.
My other outpost fell under heavy attack later in the game after war was declared over my refusal to vote for another house. I barely managed to hold onto a single city until reinforcements could start arriving, but even then the attacks kept coming until I had enough troops scraped together for a counterattack.
It didn't help that every enemy PTS unit in the area opened fire on my early landing attempts, wiping out the reinforcements I tried to land (and the valuable landers I couldn't replace). Eventually I managed to find a lightly defended area to land in, marking the turning point of the battle.
Bfriudo wrote:Taking long to research was not so bad, I think. It gives the feeling of getting out of a "fading" and decadent lifestyle that led to regress of Houses. But, if this helps the AI like you say, it's a very welcome tweak.
The AI has been doing significantly better in this test game. They held onto their tech and kept researching, quickly leaving me in the dust. They build lots of labs, so the changes seemed to be what they needed. I only built five labs and captured a few others, so I had to work harder for my tech. Lots of fun to fight fleets of enemy cruisers and dreadnoughts with frigates, fighters, torpedo bombers, and carriers.
I suggest that players limit the number of labs they build, increasing the time it takes to research. This gives the AI another advantage (if you don't raid their labs).
Bfriudo wrote:I didn't manage to get to Direwolves yet, but I was building Howlers and CQB tanks. I don't know if you meant to make Direwolves appear sooner than those. Good job anyway, I was not seeing them around. Oh, and I noticed Direwolves use Trackers' icon. Is it a mistake or did you use the old tank icon for something else? It's quite weird to see a tank look like an infantry unit. And, is it still possible to train Trackers? Although they were quite cheap (maybe too much) as spotters/explorers, one can re-insert them with different skills. A sort of sniper-like unit, for example, with good close accuracy (maybe direct as well?), low strength, moderate agility/camo, standard 4 move points and such.
Direwolves are meant to come after Howlers and Grim Reapers (CQB tanks), so seeing those first is normal.
The icon thing is due to Nova's change of the Heavy Tank Killer (Direwolf) into a slot for the Tracker Legion, which is originally in a sub slot of the Militia Legion. I actually replaced Nova's altered icons with the original icons in my own install, so I see the Direwolves as normal.
I'll have to fix that in the next release, though it also means the Genetic Warrior Legion is also returned to its original icon (Wraith cloak tank). I haven't looked into changing the bin files to alter the icons yet, and I'm not sure if I'll bother.
Does anyone actually use the Genetic Warrior Legion? I placed a few on the currently released map (Decados starts with some), and you're able to build more with the right research. I just don't use them due to their fairly mediocre stats (besides armor). They move as fast as Powered Armor Legions, but only have a modest close range attack. I'm more in favor of switching that slot back to the Wraith, though the icon for that is pretty bland. Thoughts?
Bfriudo wrote:Sounds good. As I just said, I was building Howlers, CQBs, standard PTS weapons and no Pitbull yet. Being an upgraded version of Meds, you did good letting them be built sooner.
Indeed. You'll now see them not long after Heavy Infantry, which makes a lot more sense.
Bfriudo wrote:This is very good. AI wastes lots of resources for ships, and you end up hunting destroyers on rivers and towns and sending Gunships against subs. And it was sort of odd to have the possibility of building destroyers on Farms. I hardly needeed a naval fleet and so did most of EFS players I guess. I don't know if this can free up any unit slot for completely new units, but if it does, it's one more great thing. And, besides, it allows to re-invent the Gunship unit and turn it to some kind of modern Helicopter. We might think of it, for example, as an air unit with lower speed and agility than airplanes, and maybe a good close ability, to make them different from Fighters/Dives/Strats.
That's exactly how I've changed the Gunship. Instead of being a sub killer as in Nova, it's a ground support unit with heavier armor than other aircraft, less move points and agility, and some decent firepower. It's vulnerable to other aircraft (weak Air damage), though.
Regarding the navy, the AI is far more potent when it can't waste time on ships. They've built tanks, aircraft, and whatever advanced units they can get from research. A far more interesting experience, I must say!
Bfriudo wrote:This is good as well. Although using up food for engineers was a good idea (and it's the right choice for a PBEM in my opinion) , it hampers the AI too much. I bought a map from the al-Malik after about 40-60 turns and it showed up a pretty low colonized Istakhr. I hope this will not lead to the old overbuilding issue, but I guess we'll have to play and see what happens. Energy and trace are perfect candidates as new resources, maybe both of them? Dunno.
I've seen the overbuilding issue start happening in this test run, but it mostly started getting ugly once I got closer to the year 5200. I'm going to boost the metal requirement to 200 (250?) and increase the build time to 6 turns to see what happens. I may also look into adding a radius (seen on farms/wells/mines) to some of the other cities to reduce the amount that can be built, though this may not end well.
Bfriudo wrote:Good idea. I noticed very high acc/str ranged stats, and I had a hard time taking out a lonely Decados Dreadnought. We'll see what happens, but doesn't seem a bad idea to me.
I reduced some of the accuracy as well, but the reduced damage has helped greatly. A single ship (even a dreadnought) can no longer inflict massive damage in a single turn. An elite cruiser or dreadnought might kill 3 units in a single turn, though this is mainly against basic tanks and aircraft. More heavily armored units are harder to kill without a large bombardment fleet.
Bfriudo wrote:I pray you can manage to do this since I noticed they rout too often. I am disbanding any captured one, but one might even not capture them and let them fight again, though this slows things down. I strongly suggest not to capture them since you'd get a too strong army in a single turn and with no expenses. It would turn the tides in the player's favor too much.
I haven't actually seen much of the Symbiots in this test game (playing as Hazat), so I can't comment on how things have changed yet. I'd consider adding upkeep to the Symbiot units if the AI didn't capture them, too.
Bfriudo wrote:Take your time, you are doing a huge work, and we appreciate it so much. I hope my thoughts will be of help.
Thanks for your patience! Also thanks to all who have offered feedback, as it's greatly helped me improve the mod. Keep it coming!
Madrigal wrote:March 16 edits:
Engineers should not cost trace or energy in my opinion. The only safe currency is metal, because metal is not used by industries but only by units. This mean you don't have any upkeep in metal, never! Contrary to say trace that can be sucked dry if your cities are using up more than you produce... So here you would be back to the food problem.
Agreed, though I've been considering the use of metal in the creation of Ceramsteel. I'll need to do some testing.
Madrigal wrote:As for the starting position, I came to a conclusion rather divergent that you... For the AI to play correctly, its industrial base should be in good shape, meaning it can produce resources correctly without shortage. Also, its 'power base', i.e the starting location on its home planet should be a safe haven, so it has room to expand without being trashed. But I'm starting to digress, more when I create my own thread
The AI actually does quite well when engineers don't need food to build. In my current test game they've wiped out opposition on their starting planets, built massive industries (getting all resource types), spread to other worlds, researched most of the tech tree and built the units gained from that. I'm quite happy with how things are going.
Let us know how the AI does with your own mod. I'm looking forward to seeing what you've come up with!