View Issue Details

IDProjectCategoryLast Update
0001507AI War 1 / ClassicBug - OtherJan 7, 2011 6:42 pm
ReporterVinraith Assigned Tokeith.lamothe  
Status resolvedResolutionfixed 
Product Version4.038 
Summary0001507: Hybrids very passive in late game
DescriptionThis may not be a bug, but it's certainly strange behavior on the hybrid hive AI's part. In the beginning and early middle of the game the hives were constantly harassing us, testing our defenses, knocking over systems, and generally making pains of themselves. Around 5 hours ago (in a roughly 15 hour game) this trickled to a stop. There are plenty of hives present on neighboring worlds, defending command stations and the like, but we don't seem to see attacks from them anymore. Is this intended behavior? Has the AI determined that, since it's later probes were successfully fought off (with the hives in question being killed) attacking is no longer productive? Did we just kill all the "attacker" type hybrids?

I'm not exactly complaining, this particular game has become quite a challenge for other reasons, but I am curious why we don't have hive attacks anymore on top of all our other problems. :)
TagsNo tags attached.
Internal Weight

Activities

Vinraith

Nov 21, 2010 1:29 am

reporter  

Lancefighter

Nov 21, 2010 1:41 am

reporter   ~0004132

If anything, defensive hybrids are taking so much of the cap up that not enough are being created/becoming offensive hybrids. Only 1/3 become offensive, after all.

So yeah, your probably just killing them all. Ive suggested before that defenders should participate in hybrid attacks.. that would help clear out the defensive hybrid congestion a little at least

Vinraith

Nov 21, 2010 2:14 am

reporter   ~0004133

This is my first game with them so I wasn't sure but yeah, that certainly seems like a reasonable explanation. It is a little silly for there to be the sheer volume of hybrids there are on the map, more than enough to crush me flat easily, and none of them to be attacking. I can certainly understand the idea behind dedicated defenders, part of the goal of these things is to create AI choke points, but in situations like this it'd be reasonable for a certain percentage of hives to switch type.

Lancefighter

Nov 21, 2010 2:55 am

reporter   ~0004134

they spice things up earlygame very well, but once you either have momentum, or a large enough border, its hard for them to stack up in enough numbers to really bother you.. so yeah, having them more aggressive lategame would probably be the best plan

Chris_McElligottPark

Jan 6, 2011 5:52 pm

administrator   ~0007623

Keith, any comments? These are your thing, so I can't comment.

keith.lamothe

Jan 7, 2011 6:22 pm

administrator   ~0007783

Well, I did make hybrids much more offensively oriented when I took out the builders. But in general if you have a broad front and/or are taking out lots of hybrid facilities they just get less threatening as the game goes on. It's sort of the inverse of the normal AI.

But I just put in a change that will make Advanced Hybrids a bit more dangerous in mid/late game ;)

To wit:
* When Advanced Hybrids are on for their player, Defensive Hybrids will now switch to an offensive role to add pressure to certain other major AI offensives. This can make them more of a danger in the mid/late game. When this happens an alert message ("Defensive Hybrids Are Mobilizing") will be displayed for about 2 minutes after the "switch".

Chris_McElligottPark

Jan 7, 2011 6:24 pm

administrator   ~0007784

Nice. By the way, if you were using Firepower in their decision-making processes, that would have been another contributing factor. They'll now do better than before. Though, I suggest using the AICheckFirepower rather than FullFirepower for their decisions about things such as "do I attack this planet," etc, if that's relevant.

keith.lamothe

Jan 7, 2011 6:28 pm

administrator   ~0007785

Good to know :)

They didn't have any concept of firepower, just whether at least 9 in 10 (or something like that) of the hybrids assigned to attack a particular planet were in position to do so, and then they would go.

Previously there was no way at all for a defensive hybrid to get an attack mission. Frankly, that's still more strategically sound in a lot of cases, but it's not as fun, so now they'll go more for a full-court-press behavior (on Advanced) when certain things happen. Not that they all up and bumrush, they just start lining up attack missions.

Chris_McElligottPark

Jan 7, 2011 6:35 pm

administrator   ~0007786

Ah, cool, good to know!

Sunshine

Jan 7, 2011 6:42 pm

reporter   ~0007788

I like this, before it was possible to have systems with 30-some Hybrids, none of which were attacking, and attacking a system like THAT is an absolute nightmare without Eyebots.

I definitely like the flavor of the message "Defensive Hybrids are mobilizing," it's a really nice "oh crap" moment, especially given that you're made aware of it after it's started happening.

Issue History

Date Modified Username Field Change
Nov 21, 2010 1:29 am Vinraith New Issue
Nov 21, 2010 1:29 am Vinraith File Added: Autosave_2010_11_21_01_16_31.sav
Nov 21, 2010 1:41 am Lancefighter Note Added: 0004132
Nov 21, 2010 2:14 am Vinraith Note Added: 0004133
Nov 21, 2010 2:55 am Lancefighter Note Added: 0004134
Jan 6, 2011 5:52 pm Chris_McElligottPark Note Added: 0007623
Jan 6, 2011 5:52 pm Chris_McElligottPark Assigned To => keith.lamothe
Jan 6, 2011 5:52 pm Chris_McElligottPark Status new => acknowledged
Jan 7, 2011 6:22 pm keith.lamothe Note Added: 0007783
Jan 7, 2011 6:22 pm keith.lamothe Status acknowledged => resolved
Jan 7, 2011 6:22 pm keith.lamothe Resolution open => fixed
Jan 7, 2011 6:24 pm Chris_McElligottPark Note Added: 0007784
Jan 7, 2011 6:28 pm keith.lamothe Note Added: 0007785
Jan 7, 2011 6:35 pm Chris_McElligottPark Note Added: 0007786
Jan 7, 2011 6:42 pm Sunshine Note Added: 0007788