Gazz_

Join Date 03/2004

+33

DA: "Defender" ships without any weapons

I'm not sure if this qualifies for a bug - it's just funny AI behaviour in a rare case.

If you attack an AI player VERY soon he will switch to producing Defender units on his planets.

He also does that when he has NO weapon or armor tech whatsoever so he's burning resources on 0/0 ships that serve no purpose whatsoever and will be destroyed every turn.

SOME defense. =P

Granted, by the time you could possibly have a troop transport over his planet he WILL have weapons so *shrug*.

In the current game I started with a precursor library on my home planet and basic mil tech. I raced for space weapons and was able to blockade one computer player on his first 2 planets.
No, I'm not playing nice.

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kryo

Join Date 05/2003

+458

burning resources on 0/0 ships that serve no purpose whatsoever and will be destroyed every turn.

That actually is the purpose.. as long as he's got *something* in orbit, even if it's a pile of twigs glued together with chewing gum, you'll have to knock it down before you can invade

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Having a hull in orbit to stop lone transports or spore ships is okay . . . but putting armor on a weaponless defender (happening in my current game) doesn't make much sense. Unless the AI is perhaps trying to build a standard design and doesn't have the weapons tech yet.

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Actually it does make sense, from a roleplaying point of view. Perhaps the A.I. is playing from the perspective that this is real and not just a game to be manipulated. If you are going to send lives into space to defend your planet without any weapons, the least you can do is give them a little armor plating to show you care.

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WIllythemailboy

Join Date 03/2006

+70

Or they could be building what they can, with the intention of upgrading the pre-built hulls when the necessary weapons become available. Upgrading is cheaper than buying outright, and gets done faster than building new ships.

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Upgrading is cheaper than buying outright, and gets done faster than building new ships.

If I have a crappy little planet with a good starship bonus I'll build cheap empty hulls there and then upgrade if I need good ships in a hurry.

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If I have a crappy little planet with a good starship bonus I'll build cheap empty hulls there and then upgrade if I need good ships in a hurry.

Outsourcing strategy. Brilliant!

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It's a valid strategy on the AI's part, but it'd be far more effective if they just used cheap, tiny hulled scouts for the same purpose.

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It's a valid strategy on the AI's part, but it'd be far more effective if they just used cheap, tiny hulled scouts for the same purpose.

Hmmm... Not that I necissarily disagree, but I am curious how building unarmed scouts for planetary defense is "far more effective" than building unarmed hulls which can later be upgraded with weapons.

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Its not far more effective. They are there to waste turns and stop unarmed transports (or spore ships) from nabbing planets from a distance. An unarmed scout vs an unarmed hull (however you conceive of that difference) is not much different. In general, you want to go with the cheaper option.

- Wyndstar

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Sorry, "far more effective" was exaggerating.

The point I was trying to make is that empty (or lightly loaded) tiny hulls without weapons would be more cost efficient as transport blockers. The cost difference is not huge, but can make a turn or two difference in the build time early game. The utility of using larger hulls for the purposes of upgrading is debatable... it might gain you a quick military boost, but running your economy at 100% military for a few turns would likely net the same amount and wouldn't requires thousands and thousands of BC (or a substantial debt).

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