Toughest Races to play against...

[Black_Knyght]

I have a two-part question for everybody around here -

1)- Who are the top 5 toughest races to play against?

2)- Who are the toughest races, in each of the following categories:

[A] using Standard Technologies
[b] using Organic Technologies
[C] using Crystalline Technologies
[D] using Religious Technologies
[E] using Psychic Technologies

[scJazz]

Why not create a poll?

[Caduceus]

Make sure you read through Belisarius' AI Deathmatch 3 . That was good fun.

Final 1st Place Tessellate 27
Final 2nd Place United Flora 23
SemiFinal 3rd Place Aquilaeian 19
SemiFinal 4th Place Verduran 18
Round 5 5th Place Narn Regime 10
Round 5 6th Place Pyrochette 8
Round 4 7th Place Fazrah 10
Round 4 8th Place Earth Alliance 7
Round 3 9th Place Space Vikings 6
Round 3 10th Place Khrel 4
Round 3 10th Place CueCappa 4
Round 3 12th Place Toron 3
Round 2 12th Place EEE 3
Round 2 14th Place Orks 2
Round 2 15th Place Gron 1
Round 2 15th Place Sallega 1
Round 2 15th Place Rage 1
Round 2 15th Place Corrian 1
Round 1 19th Place Teslik 0
Round 1 19th Place Piundon 0
Round 1 19th Place Azorani 0
Round 1 19th Place Namovans 0
Round 1 19th Place Klingon 0
Round 1 19th Place Drakol 0

There is an excel spreadheet in Belisarius' signature.

[Mephisto]

The Earth Alliance uses only standard technologies.

[Black_Knyght]

While somewhat helpful, are there any non-mod specific answers, or even recent answers, to any of these questions?

[Slick]

That list is still good. The top races on that list are very tough. Give them the AI bonus, a large quadrant, and only pick a few of them so that they have ample time and space to expand to get established and you will have a tough game.

Off the top of my head the top 2 in the Deathmatch use the following:

Final 1st Place Tessellate 27

These guys use Crystal + Religious. Picture large fleets of Baseships with the Talisman using Shield Depleters and Shard Cannons (which skip armor) loaded with Crystal Armor which can negate up to 150 damage points per shot! They also are adept at capturing planets and using Stellar Manipulation.


Final 2nd Place United Flora 23

These guys are Organic for sure and, I think, Religious too. They can amass huge killer fleets with the organic advantage of swarm tactics which is amplified by the AI bonus.

Either of these races, if given the chance to get established, are very tough. Just give them a large map and don't crowd the game with too many players and they will expand quickly.

Check them all out, they all are far better than any stock race and the only thing that the TDM Modpack modifies are the races - all other aspects of the game are stock.

They aren't as good as a human, obviously, but if you start in a bad location, they can kick your butt. It's fun.

[Fyron]

There weren't any mod-specific answers; all of those AIs work in the stock game. Well, you might need to change the formation used to a stock formation for a few AIs from TDM, but they are designed for stock tech tree.

There have not been many (any?) new AIs developed for the stock game since the last AI death match.

[Black_Knyght]

Interesting. I take it then that no one ever tried to improve on how the basic AI operated? Or developed a more challenging AI other than those used in TDM?

[Slick]

The best AI were combined into TDM by 20+ people. Given the constraints of the game mechanics and what portions are moddable, I think these AI are pretty damn good.

[Fyron]

Black_Knyght said:
I take it then that no one ever tried to improve on how the basic AI operated?

Huh? That's exactly what TDM is.

Or developed a more challenging AI other than those used in TDM?

It would be difficult (and perhaps futile) to try to duplicate the 100s of hours that went into optimizing those AIs by the 20+ people that worked on them, all to get essentially the same thing.