Ekaton -> A tough challenge vs AI (5/26/2021 11:23:10 AM)
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I tried a rather tough challenge - a planet with very low population, tough climate, lots of dangerous wildlife and a lot of AI regimes. Super sized Morgana (I absolutely love this type) with severe violence, survival stress and alien life to be precise. Here are some thoughts and questions, 74 turns into the game. Thoughts 1. This is really tough, both for me and the AI. At one point my neighbour major regime was almost swamped by free folk and local alien wildlife, about 30 turns into the game. Winning land is hard and requires a lot of small units. 2. Spreading around is so difficult because of the deadly combination of very low manpower and therefore a hard time building any sort of industry and spending thousands of IC just to cross nearby mountains. 3. Hardly any ruins and free settlements mean hardly any GR stuff. 4. I went with epic tech growth which might have been a mistake. Growth is painfully slow. 5. I love how strategically important oases are, though I’m not sure how important they are to the AI, since it doesn’t bother about them too much. Also, despite literally starting next to a large body of water, AI is building wind traps instead of moving a few hexes to the nearest source of water. Another one builds wind traps despite having its starting city bordering a large lake. For some reason they build bio-fuel refineries despite oil being incredibly abundant. 6. Starting in the middle of the map put me at a heavy disadvantage due to harsh climate compared to other areas and quite far from the nearest oasis, which are concentrated in the north and south. 7. Logistics are even more difficult than usual due to manpower shortages. It’s hard to get enough workers to fully man all the truck stations. 8. The game could really use POW tracking and adding them to your manpower, at least some of them. Questions 1. AI armies are quite big, too big for their small populations and weak industries (they have a lot of tanks while I can’t build more than a few battalions due to IC being needed for roads first and foremost). Are AI regimes constricted by their populations? In the world of my game a city of 100,000 is pretty respectable, the largest I’ve seem having 137,000. Two of my neighbours are currently engaged in a complete slugfest, while I’m shelling both sides from my well entrenched mountain border. Is there a possibility that they will eventually suffer manpower shortages that I, with my comparably lower manpower base, will be able to exploit? Will manpower shortages affect AI economy? 2. So far I haven’t seen AI crossing mountain ranges. I use these as borders, out of necessity, since I can’t really cross many at any one time. Will the AI have to pay a heavy price to build a road over them should it go to war with me? I remember reading that AI gets dirt roads for free, is that the case? It sounds like it could be potentially very unfair for the player, if they can get for free what for me is a multi-turn challenge.
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