Why does the AI don't use all ships they have?

from GalCiv2 Forums

Well in my last game i played on ta latest version with yor i mentioned that the KI havent used all ships they have. First i decided to give some ships (about 10) to another empire, but they moved only have of them to their worlds, the rest stayed at my planets. I thought its a question of economy, but thats not the answer because suddenly the terrans (my worst enemy) get a ranger. i was a little bit afraid, because they already hat 40% of influence, and when i decided to declare war almost 60%. Well luckily i was able to beat em and make peace, so that i was the winner but: I never faced the terran ranger. Does the KI wants to save some ships on a safe place? Is it just a bug? Was the KI frightened, because i got (luckily) a ranger too? I cant say who had the better ranger.

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Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top

KI ???

 

anyway it's already known that if you give ships to an AI it doesn't always use them, moreso if they are far away from its territory/planets

Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Well ai was ment (im not a native speaker...). i just wondered if there is something I can do against it, but it seems to be that it is just a bug. However, does the same counts for rangers then too? so sometimes i will fight against them, and sometimes not. If i remember right I never faced up a ranger or a corvette since DL...

Galactic Civilizations IV
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top

only advice I can give is :

-if you give ships to an AI, move them closer to their planets/influence first

-don't know about rangers

Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

I rember an little War between Drengin and one of the new Race you can chose (i can´t remenber the Name). The new Race (that with the religion to the Galaxy), made war to the Drengin. That was crazy. Drengin Imp can´t win, so I gave the Dringin all my Fighters I had. The 3 Planets I have to produce Ships are all in the near of Drengin Imp. But Drengin AI didn´t move to his Empire, they moved the Ships to the Enemy.

The Ships I gave them from Altaria are all in the near of the Neutral Zone (my Empire).

Meanwhile there is an 0:0 between the two Races and they want to have freedom, because I gave more and more fighters (some are upgraded) to the Drengins.

Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

I tried to get some extra trade in one game by gifting a frighters to an AI after all of my slots were filled. The ship was adjacent to one of my planets so it would seem obvious that they would have the route with me, a bit of a gamble i guess. However the ship never moved.

Other times I might try to get an AI to take out another's resource starbase by giving it a ship next to it while they are at war. Sometimes the just fly by it. Perhaps they look at the strength of the starbase.  Generally though i find the AI uses the ships i sell or give them. Mostly i lose track of them.

Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

The AI is rather paranoid so it parks a lot of ships in the orbit of their planet just in case someone tries to backstab them. But that often means that they dont bring enough attack force.

Reply #7 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Quoting CaptainYar, reply 5
I tried to get some extra trade in one game by gifting a frighters to an AI after all of my slots were filled. The ship was adjacent to one of my planets so it would seem obvious that they would have the route with me, a bit of a gamble i guess. However the ship never moved.

Other times I might try to get an AI to take out another's resource starbase by giving it a ship next to it while they are at war. Sometimes the just fly by it. Perhaps they look at the strength of the starbase.  Generally though i find the AI uses the ships i sell or give them. Mostly i lose track of them.
End of CaptainYar's quote

 

The freighter issue is fairly obvious- since it was made on one of your planets, that's the one the trade route would start from.  The AI probably can't figure out where the trade route would start from once you gifted it, so the ship wound up just sitting there, useless.

As for the resource starbase, that AI may have figured out that you were planning on swooping in to claim the resource the instant the base was taken out.  They'll usually not go after mining starbases at all unless they have some constructors ready to send to the available resource, so I'd park a few constructors with a ton of engines outside their sensor range.  That way, they think they can claim the resource, take out the starbase, and I can swoop in from the mists to plant my flag first.

 

As for the Terran Ranger at the top, they probably retrofitted it or disbanded it.  Lucky ships tend to be absolutely horrible from design standpoints, so I treat them like free upgrade-ready hulls.

Reply #8 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

As for the resource starbase, that AI may have figured out that you were planning on swooping in to claim the resource the instant the base was taken out.
End of quote

That would be cool, but i don'tthink the AI thinks it through to that extent. I just figured that base was too protected for what i gave them.

 

And about the trade roiute, i agree, i was mostly curioous tro see what would happen. Maybe if i try to buy a friegter from and AI and use it. Never noticed if they show up on the trade screen, even ones that haven't yrt established a route.

Reply #9 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Why build freighters (and for that matter, Miners too!) when you can have the AIs property for a few key techs?

Count 'hem up advantages & obstacles to such a trading strategy if you want;

 

- Asteroid mine fields give pp (even if far away from your colonies) to YOU instead of the enemy... they'd be flipping pop-ups regularly, but i can also decommission it as often as necessary while keeping THEIR Miners on that tile to rebuild on that resources.

- Same kind of principle for Freighters; keep an eye for newest AIs ships and grab the route away from them in a timely fashion. BCs are yours (and not theirs, i might insist) while you didn't have to build a single Freighter from your production points. Eventually, they will rebuild these routes, i know... but your own network would be up & running already.

 

It's all in the small (and somehow efficient) details, i believe.

}:)

Reply #10 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Quoting CaptainYar, reply 8

As for the resource starbase, that AI may have figured out that you were planning on swooping in to claim the resource the instant the base was taken out.


That would be cool, but i don'tthink the AI thinks it through to that extent. I just figured that base was too protected for what i gave them.

 

And about the trade roiute, i agree, i was mostly curioous tro see what would happen. Maybe if i try to buy a friegter from and AI and use it. Never noticed if they show up on the trade screen, even ones that haven't yrt established a route.
End of CaptainYar's quote

I can confirm that the AI does not consider constructor proximity when going after mining bases. I've snagged several in the game I have running (TA 1.96). The bases were still destroyed even though I had a constructor parked next to the base for several turns prior.

Reply #11 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Back to the op, it's a silly question.  The reason the AI doesn't use it's ships, is that it's not intelligent, nor programmed to utilize it's ships effectively.  It's a strong believer in cannon fodder...

Reply #12 from Stardock Forums Top

About the ships parked round a planet... i only ever do this round good planets on my empire edge and where im going to start a convoy fleet (some fighters protecting a transporter)... when im not at war the rest of my ships are flying at my borders so i can see what is in my territory (no sneaking :) )