A Few Things The AI Needs Improvement On

Feature requests or ideas
The Shadow Rose
Voyager
Voyager
Posts: 2

A Few Things The AI Needs Improvement On

Post by The Shadow Rose »

I just wanted to mention that the ai needs a lot of improvement.

From my first game on very hard i have never lost a game lol

Heres a few suggestions to improve it to make it decently hard because when i play i slaughter everyone and never ally and despite that everyone dies to me on both modes.


1. Start every race with a starbase on their homeworld with huge weapons so they cant be insta killed at the start for a few good worlds. This is definitely needed because without it anyone can get a huge lead at the start and basically double their possible systems just by killing a nearby race by insta building a ship with huge weapons and a few bombs.

2. Start all of the ais with a insta built colonizer and have it colonize a nearby system so that the ai doesn't take 100 turns to get a second world even on the hardest difficulty. This is needed because without it the ai is simply to slow to ever do anything and by the time they do i have taken anywhere from 20% to 50%+ of the all the stars.

3. Start the ais with terraforming tech (i recommend this for the hard and very hard difficulty's for the extra challenge). Without this they never will get it most of the time and even then no one ever colonizes them making them far less powerful then my empire i make.

4. The ais need some major colonization remakes because they only colonize their home world and no other type besides one race. The ais need to colonize those worlds because without them even all 10 vs me alone i win since i have like 40 terraformed terran planets in 6 systems compared to them which have like 5 each (i go on the smallest maps for less turn time).

5. The ai needs to have better priority on creating ships. within 50 or so turns i usually colonize a massive number of systems and then make the best planets into massive ship builders right away so they can defend them selves and in turn colonize everything around them and i think the ai should do something like that to. When they run out of systems then colonize the smaller ones.

6. Last one that i can think of at the moment is that the ai need large bonuses to all their stuff. Like their income, build rate, research and everything else because without those they simply cant compete with me or anyone that knows what they are doing. I recommend a handicap for very easy like 35% and easy at around 70% nothing for normal and like 150% for hard and 200% for very hard and possibly 300% for a new extreme difficulty. Oh and i dont think damage and defense and ship stuff should have a bonus because that would just make it impossible to kill their ships.

7. (realized this while typing later) Start the ais with level 2 factorys at least if not everything because i think that is one thing that is slowing down their expansion considerably.

Also if possible an extreme difficulty would be awesome o.O


Just an example of my average game on horizon and why the ais never come close to beating me.

On very hard with any map (i prefer the smallest 2 maps for less turn time but i have played with the largest and the result was the exact same) I immediately insta build a colonizer and have it move to nearby systems and colonize the first large/huge terran planet (im always humans but it would be the same for any type of native planet). From there i insta build the factory and upgrade everything to level 1 and the factory to level 2. While this is going on i insta build another colonizer to do the same so immediately within the first 15 turns i have 3 systems with great planets to myself. I forgot to mention i put the homeworld on clean for the extra industry and pop growth at the start of the game alone with upgrading everything to level 1 and the farms and factorys to level 2. By turn 40 or 50 i have 3 planets pumping out a colonization ship every 5 or 6 turns making my expansion insane and by the time the ai starts i have already taken 30%+ of the systems and thats only so little because i limit myself so the ais at least have something. I usually colonize one planet in every system around my homeworld and then colonize everything in those and let the ais take the rest but thats only because they dont even start expanding till i have fully colonized all my systems. From there i pump out anywhere from 10 to 100+ ships every few turns from my systems and kill every ai everywhere. Half of the time i let them expand for like 200 turns then do it but its still the same result.

Anywho i just put this here because i was hoping it would help improve the ai >.> while strategy is my favorite genre and horizon is awesome i still think for hard and very hard these things need to apply to provide any challenge to anyone who is even a little good at strategy games. Also while i do customize my own Terran Empire for insanity i still think the ais need a lot of improvement.

Hope it helps ^.^

Oh also there were a few things i think ive forgotten but ill add them later if i remember them and sorry if it sounds like i hate the game but i love it >.> i just think it needs a few tweaks for a better challenge ^.^


EDIT: I just remembered >.> the ai needs to build more of the big ships and a lot less fighters. If i make a fleet of 10 cruisers i kill their system even if it has 60+ ships and with just 10 motherships i wipe out the entire map (although i tend to build like 100). Fighters are useless unless you load them with missiles and even then mid to late game i can build a bigger ship or even a cruiser in like 1 or 2 turns making fighters (the smallest ship) pointless to make anyway. Oh and for future reference i call and rename my ships from smallest to largest fighter,corvette,cruiser,destroyer (just in case i reference those names in the future i thought i should add that). If they are going to build decent numbers of the small ships i think that fighters should be improved in some way to make them useful or at least be able to damage something mid to late game.

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Zaimat
Dev. Team
Dev. Team
Posts: 1425
Location: Toronto, Canada
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Re: A Few Things The AI Needs Improvement On

Post by Zaimat »

Thank you for taking the time for the very detailed feedback Shadow Rose! I hope you have a chance to play with the latest update we released this week and see how the game has improved and how you find the challenge level. We will certainly be considering all feedback and we can look at increasing the difficulty settings at hard and very hard if need be.
Horizon - Lead Designer | a.k.a. Raf

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Anguille
Vanguard
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Posts: 272
Location: Kuntaria

Re: A Few Things The AI Needs Improvement On

Post by Anguille »

Man, you're good :shock: ...i always find the AI challenging. In my current game, i have 3-4 colonies but the Tantrik have already 8 colonies...and the Har'kan are also already here (playing on huge map). I guess you're unbeatable playing MOO2 too. :wink:

Think that you're suggestions are cool and i always like a challenging game.
I may not post so much...but i am here watching!

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