Need some help

from Sins Forums
So I am playing Vasari on a medium map on easy...it's my second game and I am still getting a handle on things, but I obliterated the AI on a smaller map. There's me and two other Vasari races and one TEC. I own about 1/3 of the planets and roids on the map, whereas the AI all share about 2/3rd. I'm not massively ahead economically nor in research, but I figure I'm at least one step ahead of the AI empires. I'm at the middle (5th) tier in fleet support and capital ships, and have about 2/3 of all ship types researched. I have two systems which are bottlenecks into my space, both of which have more missle launchers then I can count and two hangers each. I also have my main battle fleet sitting on a planet one jump from either system. I figured I'd sit back a little and research advanced weaponry, then lurch forward at one of the three....

until now, that is. You see, at about the same time, three fleets - one from each empire - jumped into my systems more or less simultaneously. EACH of their fleets was more sizable than my own, even though their individual economies could NOT have been that much higher. I doubt their research is either.

So how can the AI pull this off? I'm holding on to as big a fleet as I can afford at the moment, and I LEAD in planets. I'm no newbie to 4x games, so I'm not a complete idiot in how to play...but this flabbergasted me. How can they maintain that kind of force strength when I have the strongest economy and I can not? Now, IF my technological lead was apparant in some way (say, I'm outnumbered but can do more dmagae and take more damage per ship, ala Soviets vs. Nato) I could accept that they sacrificed technology to numbers...but that doesn't show through. Needless to say, I lost that game badly.

I would also add that diplomacy needs serious tweaking. I'm basically everyone's bitch, and the requests come so frequently there is no way to maintain a good relationship. I much prefered GalCiv I and II in this respect.

Loving this game, but what I saw happen today makes me want to put it aside for a while.
strategy
3,053 views 4 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top
as you play more games you will learn how to manage your economy better... so even if you think you had a decent one now you will look back after a bunch more games and understand what was going wrong.

playing vs. multiple AI's is a tricky thing. i agree diplomacy is no good, i don't like it either. but without it you will run the definite risk of the AI's joining together and coming at you, at the same time !

i'd suggest you try 1v1 on a medium size map and perhaps bump the difficulty up a bit. you should be able to easily beat a single hard AI before going after multiple ai games
Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top
May i suggest playing with lock teams enabled and having at least 2 AIs as your allies. The Ais will either be busy fighting each other or fighting your allies while you sit back and develop your research and economies.
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Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top
Both good suggestions. Perhaps I'm just not ready for the big kid pool, so to speak. Definately a great game overall...if that diplomacy could just be improved it would be legendary.
Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top
I had the same problem at first. Locking the teams definitly helps and fighting equal vs equal aswell. It is not that your AI mate needs to do alot (You can change him into a Defense oriented person instead of random). That way he can act as meatshield while not messing too much in the offense. The problem in a non locked diplomacy is that the AI becomes quite... stubborn regarding your missions sometimes.
I had it that it gave me a "Destroy 15 defensive stations of enemy X" task only shortly after the game started and I was about to get my first asteroid.
My advise: Locked teams: 2v2 at first, followed by 2 v 1 and so on until you think you have the drill of things.