Distant Collinizations by the AI

Maybe they had a starbase extending their range. I know the major AI are quite quick at jumping on the ressources.

~SDC~

Could the AI have traded another AI for a colony ship? Hmmm...it would be outside of it's range though and would have to return to it's own space. Maybe they traded for the colony itself...although this seems highly unlikely. :notsure:

Theoden,

As far as I can tell, it's VERY hard to get an AI to trade colony ships. Also when you trade for a ship and it's out of range - you can't do anything but move it in range.

I'm in favor of the spamming starbase theory... I also wonder if the maso AI gets a range bonus.... cause I've noticed the long range colonization in my game as well.

Is it possible the planet was conquered? The problem with this is that early game transports don't have much range either.

-Cypher

There used to be a bug where ai colony ships bypassed the range. I supposed you checked the range through espionage. A starbase can make a difference. I sometimes believe starbases should not extend range. Either that or the ai should be able to use them purposefully in order to extend its range.

Do a Reveal Map and check for starbases, Ginata.

Or are you forgetting that Maso AIs get a +2 range bonus?

~SDC~

Really? I didn't know that. Is somewhere a list of these maso AI advantages despite income and "more intelligent algorithms".
[Message Edited]

Hmm... Where did I remember +2 from? I guess I remembered incorrectly. It's +1 to range.

The above is unofficial, got it through the tedious method of espionage and sieving out starting picks, anomaly/tech/TG/wonder bonuses. The bonuses may have been tweaked in recent patches too.

~SDC~

ray,

what does "interest rate" do? do you actually accrue interest on a positive balance (and lose money on a negative balance)? is it an annual rate or monthly rate?

cheers

h

It has to do with the length of your long-term leases (like when you buy a social project from Mitrosoft). Supposedly, a higher interest rate ability means you have to pay for less time.

interesting...i'm assuming there's no way of affecting this value outside of morality events? i believe i had a negative value in my last game due to some economic event.

cheers

h

That or you could mod it into the game, either through the political party or by adding techs.

I have never observed a Maso AI with bonus range. They get to Controlled Gravity quickly, but until they do, they have the same range as I do, unless they have extended it with a starbase.

You have to watch, though. The baseline range is longer on larger maps. Probably the best map size to test with is Huge. AI's far enough away, but not too far. You get to see situations where a system is at first out of their range, then within their range. You have really got to hustle to make sure to get your fair share in the land grab, because the combo of early starbases and insanely fast early game research means time is not on your side.

I'd tend to concur with the notion that it is likely an early starbase and legitimately extended range, to explain AI's traveling far to settle. Also keep in mind, they have always sent extra colony ships on low fertility maps, so after settling a system that extends range, they are immediately ready to make the next leap.


- Sirian

Thanks for your ideas folks.

In the game which puzzeled me the Torians somehow collinized a planet 12 sectors away. It was a 22 PQ which I spoted right in the corner using cntl-u when I was 'accidently' checking out the starmap (roll-eyes smilie).

I figured out a plan to collinise all the way out to it really quickly (I play range and speed bonuses) but they still beat me to it!

I didn't check for starbases since it was so early in the game, but thats a thought and I guess the only explaination come to think of it . . . Meh, I felt sorry for them anyway, they had a disasterous start (2 planets to my 16 after collinization . . . hehe) . . .

Umm offtopic, do you think this 1.13 is a bit jinxy? It's not getting a lot of good press at the moment stability-wise? I've never been able to figure out how to rollbackwards after a patch upgrade (not sure if you even can) . . . I mean I appreciate SD getting this patch out early and all, but is it, you know, viable? :notsure:

Sirian, start a new Tiny game with Maso AIs and reveal the map. Click on your colony ship. Your travel range will show 1 sector. Click on the Maso AI's colony ship, it will show 2 sectors.





~SDC~

Archive and Restore through Stardock Central should do it, but you have to archive the versions you want before updating.

~SDC~

Thanks Geoffrey, I might give that a go, I'm pretty keen to play 1.13

Ray is right. I once modded the range of colony ships to 0, and the ai happily left their home sectors on a tiny maso immediately. Thus they get the bonus from the beginning, and on crippling too.

It shows the range for AI ships?  I'm looking at line of code that should be preventing that.  Hmm.  It's not showing them for me.  Or are you talking about someplace other than on the minimap?

you select the ship and hit info

ah, ok, long as I'm not insane...