[1.0.2.7] Empire AI money problems

[SherLocK55]

After playing a few games until end I have noticed multiple issues with the AI empires mostly related to money....

- They always seem to be cash poor in every game, whenever using diplomacy they have no money to trade (at most 10-20K) if I am lucky. It seems as soon as they get any income they blow it mostly on multiple colony buildings, colonizing to another poor quality planet and amassing thousands upon thousands of troops on their home world (upwards of 30-40K troops) all of which is draining their cash due to maintenance of said buildings, poor colonies and troops.

- They are very unaggressive even on restless and above settings in the few games I have played, I have yet to have war declared on me even when provoking them and it's rare they war against each other, even if I start a war I can just steamroll them because as above they have no money to build any large fleets.

- Speaking of AI fleets they always seem underpowered along with being low in numbers, they seem to be behind me constantly in ship technology (weapons, shields, armours, reactors etc) which also as above may be due to why they don't declare war as they are always envious in diplomacy screen of my strength.

Now some of this might be due to me rushing technologies specifically in ship tech as I like to have the strongest warships possible, this along with the fact I explore quickly and build as many research stations on the best found spots as possible to increase my research speeds. But still there seems to be a problem here most of this has happened in multiple new games using different settings to see if any changes.

Anyone else notice this or just me?

[Miravlix]

Anyone else notice this or just me?

It's just you, I'm a peace hippie, trying to befriend everyone, but they still declare war on me and I don't even play on the higher chaos levels, now the game does come with some pretty funky RNG ranges, so it's entirely possible we could play ton of games and not get the same experience ever. Even if we played the same save we might not get to be in the same situation.

It is possible to push the game towards more conflict. Start the AI ahead on tech and on harder, the AI likes to feel superior, but I've even had a -35 (Envy your power) AI attack me, so it is unfortunately a bit luck based.

Make sure you add in the 3 aggressive races, it was one of those that attacked me. Also play Teeken, they look weak.

[Cyclopsslayerr]

Anyone else notice this or just me?

It's just you, I'm a peace hippie, trying to befriend everyone, but they still declare war on me and I don't even play on the higher chaos levels, now the game does come with some pretty funky RNG ranges, so it's entirely possible we could play ton of games and not get the same experience ever. Even if we played the same save we might not get to be in the same situation.

It is possible to push the game towards more conflict. Start the AI ahead on tech and on harder, the AI likes to feel superior, but I've even had a -35 (Envy your power) AI attack me, so it is unfortunately a bit luck based.

Make sure you add in the 3 aggressive races, it was one of those that attacked me. Also play Teeken, they look weak.

It requires dedicated effort, not relying on the Advisor, but you can get almost everyone to Ally, eventually. Boskaran Conformity simply has to die, FAST. Give even the worst haters the right gifts, not a piddly 37,500, and almost anything can be overcome.

[OrnluWolfjarl]

After playing a few games until end I have noticed multiple issues with the AI empires mostly related to money....

- They always seem to be cash poor in every game, whenever using diplomacy they have no money to trade (at most 10-20K) if I am lucky. It seems as soon as they get any income they blow it mostly on multiple colony buildings, colonizing to another poor quality planet and amassing thousands upon thousands of troops on their home world (upwards of 30-40K troops) all of which is draining their cash due to maintenance of said buildings, poor colonies and troops.

- They are very unaggressive even on restless and above settings in the few games I have played, I have yet to have war declared on me even when provoking them and it's rare they war against each other, even if I start a war I can just steamroll them because as above they have no money to build any large fleets.

- Speaking of AI fleets they always seem underpowered along with being low in numbers, they seem to be behind me constantly in ship technology (weapons, shields, armours, reactors etc) which also as above may be due to why they don't declare war as they are always envious in diplomacy screen of my strength.

Now some of this might be due to me rushing technologies specifically in ship tech as I like to have the strongest warships possible, this along with the fact I explore quickly and build as many research stations on the best found spots as possible to increase my research speeds. But still there seems to be a problem here most of this has happened in multiple new games using different settings to see if any changes.

Anyone else notice this or just me?

Yes. I'm playing on extreme difficulty. By tech tier 2 I have left most AI empires far behind me. I've tried boosting their starting tech level, but they are still reluctant to expand. The issue isn't money. I think they just prioritize ground forces too much, particularly the aggressive ones.

Most AIs hyperfocus on getting Shock Forces, and will delay getting better fuel, better hyperdrives or better engines. I've fought AIs who had 20 level 2 upgraded Tanks chillin' on their HW, but still used Basic Reactors, Basic Crew, Basic Fuel and Basic Deflectors on their ships. Combine this tendency with their reluctance to find more Science locations, and you get AIs that will quickly fall behind.

[SherLocK55]

After playing a few games until end I have noticed multiple issues with the AI empires mostly related to money....

- They always seem to be cash poor in every game, whenever using diplomacy they have no money to trade (at most 10-20K) if I am lucky. It seems as soon as they get any income they blow it mostly on multiple colony buildings, colonizing to another poor quality planet and amassing thousands upon thousands of troops on their home world (upwards of 30-40K troops) all of which is draining their cash due to maintenance of said buildings, poor colonies and troops.

- They are very unaggressive even on restless and above settings in the few games I have played, I have yet to have war declared on me even when provoking them and it's rare they war against each other, even if I start a war I can just steamroll them because as above they have no money to build any large fleets.

- Speaking of AI fleets they always seem underpowered along with being low in numbers, they seem to be behind me constantly in ship technology (weapons, shields, armours, reactors etc) which also as above may be due to why they don't declare war as they are always envious in diplomacy screen of my strength.

Now some of this might be due to me rushing technologies specifically in ship tech as I like to have the strongest warships possible, this along with the fact I explore quickly and build as many research stations on the best found spots as possible to increase my research speeds. But still there seems to be a problem here most of this has happened in multiple new games using different settings to see if any changes.

Anyone else notice this or just me?

Yes. I'm playing on extreme difficulty. By tech tier 2 I have left most AI empires far behind me. I've tried boosting their starting tech level, but they are still reluctant to expand. The issue isn't money. I think they just prioritize ground forces too much, particularly the aggressive ones.

Most AIs hyperfocus on getting Shock Forces, and will delay getting better fuel, better hyperdrives or better engines. I've fought AIs who had 20 level 2 upgraded Tanks chillin' on their HW, but still used Basic Reactors, Basic Crew, Basic Fuel and Basic Deflectors on their ships. Combine this tendency with their reluctance to find more Science locations, and you get AIs that will quickly fall behind.

Exactly what I have seen in multiple games now, prioritizing troop tech and amassing thousands of troops which again do not get used because like I said war is a rarity and even when they do fight each other it's never to the point where one or the other is invading their home world with said thousands of troops (and in turn troop transports)

This on top of the fact they neglect ship technologies combined with them having no money to build ships they become a cake walk in any war because of the lack of ships and basic techs being used in what little they do have. And yes it also appears they do not build many research stations where as myself build as soon as a good spot is found.

I have even tried cheating for them, bumping up their all their colonies quality and development, giving them multiple bonuses to boost cash and research and still it seems they don't care and just buy more and more troops lol.