v1.78f Borg, Jraenar, Klingons, Praetorian, Romulans, Shadows, UkraTal

God Emperor · #1 November 13th, 2002, 03:48 PM

Have been sick the Last two weeks so have had some time at home to do further work on my AI.
The new update has been posted in the Races archives directory.

After receiving feedback on v1.78b/c, I have undertaken a major update of my AI - principally the ship designs (have tried to optimse weapons payload vs support gadgets and have disarmed the Colony ships (Lt Cruiser is their largest hull size).
I have also had a further tinker with the Research pathways of each of the races too in order to ensure that they get the most important tech's at the right time.

I have play tested each of the AI individually for 120 turns without any snags but havent played a multiplayer Version through yet (shouldnt be a problem as only the Research and DesignCreation files have been amended - and the Components file in the case of the Borg).

DesignCreation.txt:
I have changed the weapon selection slightly. Have switched the Jraenar, Klingons, Praetorian and Romulans back to secondary Null Space Projectors. Shadows and UkraTal retain engine overloading weapons as a secondary selection.

Colonisers have now been disarmed and restricted to Lt Cruiser hull size maximum.

Borg use shield depleting weapons only now on their Boarding Ships in an effort to increase their boarding attempts (using PPB's, you have to knock out the shield generators in order to facilitate boarding).

Research.txt:
The Research tree has undergone more work in the later stages of the game to prioritise those tech's that an AI really needs to be robust (eg: large spaceyards and stellar manipulation have been advanced whilst some less useful tech's have been pushed back).

Components.txt
The Borg now have a Shield Depleting Weapon which becomes available at the same time that they get boarding parties.

Regards

God Emperor

Unknown_Enemy · #2 November 13th, 2002, 04:20 PM

Hehe !

Tests will start this evening....

God Emperor · #3 November 14th, 2002, 01:56 AM

yep! he he he

Unknown_Enemy · #4 November 14th, 2002, 12:43 PM

RAGE TDM AI
Xi'Chung TDM AI
BORG (Borg Variant 1.78f)
another race played as me.

setting was difficulty high, bonus medium on a large AI friendly map with no intel.

After 88 turns the borgs were second, far from the rage, but they were between the Xichung and the rage and at war with both.

The borgs are pumping out hard hitting battle cruisers, but I believe they'll be latter wipped out by the coalition of rage and xichungs.

I'll may try to clean the rage to see what borg can achieve, but more probably I'll try another test with the borgs starting position set somewhere else than the middle, and the new rage AI.

So far, so good.

ArchAngel7 · #5 November 14th, 2002, 04:07 PM

Could someone give me the link to the races archivce directory? Thanks!

Unknown_Enemy · #6 November 14th, 2002, 04:48 PM

Here you go.
Dig in that.

http://www.shrapnelgames.com/cgi-bin...;f=50;t=000001

ArchAngel7 · #7 November 14th, 2002, 07:25 PM

Thanks!

God Emperor · #8 November 15th, 2002, 02:51 AM

@Uknown_Enemy

Thanks for the report.
One of the difficulties I have found with making the Borg so aggressive is that they do tend to be at war with most of their neighbours, which puts them at a disadvantage to some of the friendlier expansionist races (eg Earth Alliance, Praetorians, etc)....

Unknown_Enemy · #9 November 15th, 2002, 11:38 AM

RAGE Gold AI 3.0
Xi'Chung TDM AI
BORG (Borg Variant 1.78f)
another race played as me.

setting was difficulty high, bonus medium on a large AI friendly map with no intel. All AI races were allowed to spend 150% of their ressources for fleet maintenance. I also changed the techs by putting the borg tech as a racial tech, to be sure it would never be used by other AI.

I changed the map by placing the Borgs in one of the corner, and by putting the Xi Chung right in the middle.
The Xi chung achieved to Last around 6 years before annihilation. The rage still create more and more fleet to attack the borgs, which have colonized almost a third of the map. The Borg now seem unstoppable, ship to ship the Rage are no match, the Borg techs are just too powerful for the rage to deal with.

Second test was with the Borg in the middle, but with a full cluster between every race. The Xi Chung prospered until 10 years when some Borg dreadnought glassed their homeworld. The rage are 50% more powerful, but as their ships are no match, I believe they will get finally stormed. What was impressive was the way the Borgs agressively colonized the "liberated" worlds.

Conclusion : Way better. Just a point, with their techs, the Borgs are now superior to any other Race. Without their techs, I would guess the rage still rules, but that would have to be worked out.

Special request : a Borg AI that could work with TDM without the borg techs...

[ November 15, 2002, 11:40: Message edited by: Unknown_Enemy ]

God Emperor · #10 November 15th, 2002, 01:40 PM

@Uknown_enemy,
Thanks again for the feedback. Do you think that the Borg need to be toned down a little or do you welcome them as a good inclusion to make for a harder game?
Havent really got a view myself as I was just trying to make them tough and make them Borg-like by giving them some spiffy components.

Also, do you know if their boarding improved at all (do they have many non-Borg ships in their fleet?).

Regards,

GE