Has the AI gone full potato?

When the last update which added teleporters was released, I found the AI good practice then. However, that seems to have changed quickly since then. I used to just barely be able to beat the AI, but now I'm able to make short work of it even when I set its economy rate to 1.5. As much as it'd be nice to believe otherwise, I don't think I could have progressed that much in that time span... could I have?

Could the altered economy rating setting I give it not be going through? Could something different be going on with the AI since the last update?

Yes you can. Believe in yourself.

I'd say that it's not necessarily that you've gotten better at the game in general (although, who knows? Maybe you have!), but you've definitely gotten better at beating the AI. The AI is predictable and easy to beat once you know how it plays, so once you've beaten it a few times, it gets really easy. I know I can stomp the AI at 1.6, but I haven't checked in a few months. Real players tend to be much more variable in how good they are, so I find them better practice.

Are you playing on the same type of world?

If you are fighting on watery worlds the AI will be a piece of cake. moons and lavas, not so much.

Also, once you get the hang of how the AI does things, it isn't too bad

On moons, not so much. Lava? I find the AI is even worse on lava unless the water height is very low. It doesn't know how to deal with giant lava pools. On water it can at least build some things with air fabbers.

ya, it does depend a lot on the structure of the lava planet.

Let's all just go with, you've gotten better. :-D

The next update is gonna have some improvements to the AI. It will spread a lot farther a lot faster.

I tend to play on different worlds, but yeah I suppose that the AI simply being predictable is a good explanation. I might just go all out and set its economy rate at 2.0. I normally play against the AI when I can't find a multiplayer game I can play. I'm limited to which multiplayer games I can play by my lousy download speed in the afternoon and the game's currently unrefined bandwidth usage. I look forward to when that gets fixed and to when those who invested $20 during the Kickstarter phase get the final version when the time comes so we can get a good player count boost.

for what it's worth, i, too, have noticed the AI is easier to beat. I think, while the learning curve is steep at first, it levels out pretty quick and you get better faster than you expect. I think learning some proper build sequences and the econ gets you quite far.
...and i really kinda suck. i'm still afraid to play a real person.

I started off playing the computer at 0.5 econ, and each game I bump it up another 0.1. Even so, I find myself prolonging the game (i.e. not killing off the commander) just so I have time to check out and practice building late-game stuff, playing with orbitals and expanding to other planets.

...and then right before my austreaus gets to the other planet, the game is suddenly over because Delta Dumbass wades into the lake and starts building crap right in the middle of my naval fleet, who promptly reduce him to a nuclear explosion.

meh.

Machines aren't flexible like people. When the game changes, the AI has to relearn the game.

I actually think that the AI has become a lot less aggressive in this patch. It doesn't seem to be so great at making its early attacks.

But that sucker will macro up in a FFA.

I've noticed a similar degrade in performance from the AI. Can't say precisely why, but surely I changed my strategy with time. That's an important factor.

It would be great if the AI could learn from all the games people do against it, like if it could draw information from a database on the server, or sort of.

At that point we would likely need a slider to set the level of difficulty. Like for Chess games.

This both excites and scares the hell out of me. I don't know if I should applaud you, or lock you up for such an idea.

I predict that AI would eventually be commissioned by the military...

It's been pretty quiet on the Sorian front now that you mention it. I'd love an update on whats new with the AI.

There was a pretty lengthy update about a week ago:

https://forums.uberent.com/threads/for-backers-only-ai-building-stuff.49742/page-21#post-863804

Thanks!

The easiest way to win is to go straight to bombers. If bombers are flying overhead, the AI comm runs away and doesn't do anything but run. You can get it to run right out of its base right into your army's waiting arms.

ironic you say this, cause i just finished a game like 30 minutes ago where i was chasing after the AI commander w/ t2 bombers to finish him off. what you say wasn't my observation at all - he was fighting back, and trying to build stuff all the while. sure didn't run into my arms.