Totally unfair AI surrendering?

Maybe they surrender to them to screw one of the other AIs over.
It's not all about you

The AI doesn't distinguish between another AI and the player. If the Torians were getting beat down by everyone else, it would want to spite the others by surrendering to one of the two races that weren't responsible for its downfall, and you lost the coin toss. Sometimes them's the breaks.

Double Post

i don't think they were at war with everyone else. there were 10 races on the map and it was still early in the game (lasers and mass drivers). don't the AIs always surrender to the strongest race they are not at war with?

Nope. It's about preservation of people sometimes, things like being out of the way and the Torian race living on come into it. Spite aswell. But it's a clever AI, of course it won't surrender to the strongest, that would be stupid and cause more warfare. It usually surrenders to a close/ally relationship, someone it will trust

I've found that the only way to practically guarantee a AI surrendering to you, is to have an overwhelming coordinated offense take several worlds in rapid succession before they can bring their forces to bear.

I get the impression that the AI checks to see if there are any other AIs that can stand up to such an array of forces to ensure the preservation of their kind, and if none are available, they're stunned into complicity. If all you've done is prostrate their fleet without actually taking any worlds in the process, they'll surrender to someone else just to give you the finger.

I only found this out because the damn UI froze on me for a moment after I conquered the Iconians' ninth consecutive world and in the Planetary view the "Done" button hovers right over the "Turn" button at 1024x768. The turn immediately after, all their remaining worlds flipped to me, and Iso's reaction was one of pure shock.

I wonder (and I'm just guestimating here, I've read nothing for or against this line of thinking) if it's got anything to do with how their citizens view your empire? You know that option in the diplomacy screen to get a readout of such things instead of showing the race portrait? Of course, I've never really thought to look at that much (usually when I do it's toward the beginning of the game when they're largely indifferent), but maybe that's got something to do with it.

Or does that only mention influence-related stuff?

The above post seems to have nailed the issue in part, that does seem to be one of the factors influencing who surrenders to who. Its pretty obvious, but easily overlooked.

Besides unless im in an incredibly bad predicament i dont want the AI surrending to me, theres no point in playing if the games handed to you on a silver platter. If youve worked for that surrender thats a different matter.

One time I kept reloading a save game. The 1st time through one of the races had surrendered to another. The second time they surrender to someone else. When I replayed it a third time I got the surrender dialog again, and I was like yeah whatever. A few turns later I noticed I had inluence all the way on other side of galaxy. I zoomed in and lo and behold five new planets for me to use to open up a new front in the war I was in, one with 6-7 factories and an industrial complex! Apparantly the 3rd time they surrendered to me! I quicly saved the game and counted my blessings. Another time I kinda got screwed on a surrender, they had an economic capital built on a crappy PQ 6 world, and I hadnt built mine yet. You just have to take the good with the bad sometimes I guess

the saving own kind logic doesn't quite hold in the situation. the drath had only 2 planets (home and secondary), and at the time they had maybe 2 warships, so there was no way they could protect the torians. the torians were in fact bigger than the drath and i combined.

like river rat said, deciding who to surrender to might be a random seed thing, really sad if that's the case. it ruined a perfectly good game and now i have to start over

Zakdog of the Klingon Empire commands you to play it out, it's the honorable thing, unless you wear panties

Surrendering is random... or seems so.

I can usually reload a quicksave or auto save and they will surrender to a different person... and after a few tries they surrender to me.

I didn't say it was completely right. But I know I have evidence for it, one game where the Terrans could surrender to me (custom, close) or Drengin (war). The drengin and terran AI's dislike each other AFAIK (might be wrong again, might just be Torian and Drengin that always fight), but I saved reloaded 3 times, and each time I got the rousing "Give em hell!" message. Really cool.

Zakdog of the Klingon Empire commands you to play it out, it's the honorable thing, unless you wear panties

Very true. Just because you're being screwed over, never give up and only accept wins. That makes the game boring. I love seeing the AI beat the stuffing out of me (it doesn't do it often anymore ). It teaches you to evolve win strategies (Its wonderful to win when you have 2 planets and they have 16)

ohh panties

Maybe they surrender to them to screw one of the other AIs over. It's not all about you

I know, some people think they are the center of the universe. When actually they just got stuck in the corner.


Next game, if you start out in a really bad spot, use ctrl+N. It restarts the game with all the current settings. Where I start isn't too important to me, but if I start in the corner and am surrounded with no place to colonize, I hit ctrl+N.

i tried to fight it out before i posted here. i was holding my own and countering enemy ships, until the newly added territory of the drath kicked in and they started to flood me. they took 2 planets from me, i retook one then lost it again. i was left with only my home system and was rapidly getting left behind in tech. it was only a matter of time so i gave up.

and what's wrong with wearing panties, i only stay away from pantyhose - i'm not some fruit

Maybe they surrender to them to screw one of the other AIs over. It's not all about you

yeah but why surrender to a weakling, instead of somebody strong who can protect you? they weren't at war with everyone, there were still 10 races in the galaxy and the game was still very early

I just lost a game that I had all but wrapped up due to lame AI surrendering. I was the Korx and faced the Drengin, Terrans, and Arceans. The Terrans were friendly and I had most of their systems inside my borders. I had just delivered a vicious beatdown on the Arceans, and the Drengin were a distant 4th. So I settled in for a Tech Victory. The Drengin give me a "our war against the Arceans isn't going so well