Fleet bonus modules? Useless Alliances?

Fleet module bonuses don't stack with the same fleet module bonus.  So you only need one ship with a particular fleet bonus per fleet.  Unless you want some redundancy in case the first ship with a fleet bonus gets destroyed.

What about flee modules with the same type of effect, but a different module.  Say you research a module that increases defense 20% and has a size 5, and you trade for a module that inscreases defense by 20% but has a size of 4.  Do they stack sense they are diffenet modules or sense they both give a defenese bonus only one works?  I just made the numbers up, but you get the picture I hope.

Concerning your alliances question, when the first enemy attacked you, were they already at war with your allies?  If so then, of course, your allies will not declare war again.  I've personally never seen an ally fail to join the war when I am attacked.  (Though they do not join the war if I am the attacker.)

Thanks for clearing that up.  I obviously would have been better off with two different defensive designs.



I was wondering the same thing.  So far I've seen three different types of defensive and offensive bonus modules, with one type being small enough to put on a standard attack ship. 



When I couldn't even ask my allies to attack, I checked the treaties/relations screen.  No war or alliances for any of them.  Not even a research or economic treaty.  The three races I was allied with all had neutral or cool relations with the attacking race, although my attacker considered two as friendly and one as warm.  My alignment was neutral, my attacker was neutral, one ally was good, the other two were leaning neutral and evil.

That was the second game where this happened to me.  I didn't really need the help, I was just surprised that I didn't get any.

Oh yeah, two of them actually did send ships over to my space.  When a resources starbase of mine got destroyed, they promptly sent constructors.

IIRC, you *must* ask for help by suggesting an attack by an ally against your enemy (be it common or otherwise)... it's a deal that they have a right to refuse or not. There are other gameplay situations that trigger reactions (such as shared ethics) when YOU attack one of their allies.

In summary, the AI algorithm decision process is in no obligation to honor their alliance **UNLESS** you provide an incentive (which is represented at times by SuperOrganizer ability, btw).

In diplomatic terms (real & rational), an alliance doesn't imply someone is going to fight your wars.

Um, yeah.  But the race declared war on me, not the other way around, and when I opened the trade screens of my allies and clicked on "attack", the race I was at war with wasn't even on the list.  And when I'm allied with a race that another race declares war on, I get a popup box telling me I'm honor bound to assist.  I don't get the allied race leader coming to me offering something for me to help them out. 

 

Actually it's the other way around.  If a non-ally warm+ is getting pounded, he comes to me asking me to give him something.  He doesn't offer me money, tech, or whatever for me to come to his aid, he askes me for my money/techs/help.

 

Sorry, but it just deosn't make sense to me.  No more sense than when I've agreed (because I'm honor bound) to help an ally that was getting attacked, carried him on my back the entire war, then if I dare ask for a few bucks when my economy is dead he tells me he's not going to give me "handouts".  I broke that alliance immediatly the war, and the leader pops up to tell me he's surprised.

The other thing is that allies aren't allies unless they're allied against someone else.  If they're not, they're just friendly nations.  Under those circumstances they have no obligation to help fight each other's wars.

Has it ever occured to you that maybe, THEY have no contact with that race but you do?

Diplomacy implies reputation(s) to exploit or waste. If you're a war monger allied with someone who doesn't want troubles with THAT new enemy, they'd be surprised enough to brake their alliance with you if only to protect their empire.

This is a likely anwser to the problem. AI races can go a surprisingly long time without discovering each other. There also seem to be strange occurances where the AI will for some reason not research the pre-reqs for diplomacy (perhaps it is because they're gifted techs later in the diplomacy trees) and this renders them unable to communicate with each other, though they'll still speak to you just fine.

To clarify how Atlas modules work:

-Each Atlas module can provide bonuses to 1 or more bonus types. Only 1 bonus for each fleet type bonus, can be in effect at any given time. Only the strongest of each type takes effect, while everything else (including other bonuses of equal power) takes the redundency role in the event you lose ships.
-Each ship may only carry 1 Atlas module.
-There is a Fleet Warp Bubble bonus type, but it isn't considered to be an Atlas module so you can install a Warp Bubble on a ship already carrying an Atlas module.
-Not all Atlas bonus types affect the whole fleet. There are 2 personal types (attack and defense, anywhere on the map, no fleet wide bonuses). There are 2 ZOC types (attack and defense, like personal but only in your area of influence). There are 2 fleet wide bonus (attack and defense, affects the whole fleet anywhere on the map). There is also 1 first strike bonus type (attack bonus, like fleet wide attack but only works for the first round of combat and only if you start the fight).
-All Atlas bonus types (assuming no redundency) stack. As such, using a bunch of ZOC attack ships with a fleet wide attack ship can significantly increase the attack power of your whole fleet, atleast in comparison to using only 1 or the other.

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Sigh, I need to update my TA 101 guide...

Thank you, that was a great explanation!

 

 

Glad it was of help. I've spent many, many hours over many games trying to figure them out.

The alliance part is just plain dumb why can't they just have locked teams from the start.

 

If they weren't on that list, then your ally must have had some treaty with them.  Or were already at war.  Those, I believe, are the only reasons to not see a race on the 'attack' list.

Any relation above "neutral" will keep them off that list. Or as you said, already at war. In my experience when two AI go to war, they battle the first few months, then just kinda forget about each other.