Early Observations/Thoughts

[Togo]

Originally Posted by Tim Brooks

Psst... Come here.

Don't ask me how I know, but I have heard rumors that the AI is being looked at very closely...

Don't tell anyone, okay?

I think the game would benefit with a play style closer to Empire Deluxe Enhanced.

http://www.killerbeesoftware.com/kbsgames/edee/

There are also updated AI files that can be found in Yahoo groups.

[ScottWAR]

Originally Posted by Tim Brooks

Psst... Come here.

Don't ask me how I know, but I have heard rumors that the AI is being looked at very closely...

Don't tell anyone, okay?

Thank you very much.

[Frontman]

At first glance, I threw off the comments about disabling the Neutral Countries.

But after playing again today (this one patched) I feel it would be far more dynamic to disable the Neutrals when playing against AI alone. When playing against a human the Neutral is an fitting border and hurdle to over come. But it hobbles the AI.

The AI doesn't lookup to see the bowling ball coming down the lane. Everyone knows than in Risk games, everyone must team up to take down the gorrilla in the room.

[ronson]

Hi all,I agree the ai needs alot of work.The enemy ai just takes the land its on and thats it,no more advances it does'nt use transports air or sea either!The gamee will be a keeper if ai is fixed.

[Q]

Playing the demo I over all like the game but there are some aspects, that need improvement IMO:
1.) Limit the construction per turn for a fabrication complex. It seems odd to be able to produce ten bombers, fighters and tanks in the same location just in a turn.
2.) Research should not just be paid but as construction you should need specialized facilities that give you new technologies after a certain time.
3.) The biggest problem IMHO is the combat system. One unit should never be able to kill more than one unit in a single shot and units should be able to move individually. And I really hate this squared combat grid. It is just ugly and spoils the nice aerial landscape pictures. Let the units move freely with colored circles indicating range of fire and movement. As others I strongly suggest an auto-resolve possibility for combats too.
4.) The AI has to be improved and there should be a team mode AI against human.

[JCrowe]

A weird aspect of the AI that I noticed - the presence of neutral nations seems to SPUR military advancement in the AI.

I've played with & without neutrals, and expected a more vigorous game from the 'empty planet'. However, in the absence of a strong "neutral" presence, the AI seemed to limit itself to ground forces - to the near exclusion of all else. Empire after falling empire it was the same - I was the only dude in town with air power.

Results were predictable.

Oddly, add a few neutrals to the mix, and then "Poof!" - out came the bombers and fighter groups. (Navies still a rare sight.)

Another AI oddity - cash hoarding. Using the Statistics screen to view national development, I noticed - again & again - that a number of the computer player seemed to be hoarding cash like it was going out of style. To the tune of $200-$400M. It's POSSIBLE that they could have been banking up for research, but the endless roll of undeveloped turns later argued against that possibility. So instead of building tech or air squadrons, they were just ... sitting on it. Often while I was killing them, which should have been incentive to pry open the national coffers, or so you'd think.

Another fav - building fabrication facilities on the edge of a war zone. True, I do this as well, as I'm sure most human players do. However, what made the computer's AI "unique" was the habit of building them within a territory or two of a front line ... that's completely undefended. Yes - zero defenses. They know I've got 15 tanks and a passel of air support to go with ... and they spend $30M to drop a facility right in front of my path, where I am clearly heading with all alacrity. You'd think the AI would at least try to push her back three or four territories, just to give itself time to build the factory and run out some units before all hell breaks loose.

[lorq13]

After playing a few games(20 turns each) I see the AI is a pushover. I also see no reason to build anything other than tanks, fighters, and bombers. Anything else moves too slowly or has too short a range to be useful.

The combat system is flawed, as the player waiting instead of closing is rewarded by given first strike. It would be even worse against people; neither of you would engage to get first strike.

[JCrowe]

Tim (Brooks) -

If they are reworking the AI, make sure a little birdie tells them to do something about its "Island Fatality Syndrome".

Any computer player starting off on a small island-ish territory (3-13 territories?) seems to hit a total mental block. AI will not build transports - sea or air - even when it has the funds and available targets are RIGHT NEXT DOOR. Instead, the AI just sits on the island, conquering what it can and then falling into a deep, unrecoverable stasis.

Tonight, I conquered half a "Gigantic" map before I checked nation stats ... and found that while I was wasting neutrals and pushing to the ends of the earth, the other dictators-to-be were pushing pencils and playing with dollies as their futures ran to end. I had the world, and they had ... Australia, or Madagascar, and that was fine enough for them, thank-you-very-much indeed. Frankly, I find myself getting more mileage out of the neutrals - and only then because they have more to shoot at.