Question about difficulty levels...

posted on August 1st, 2009, 3:35 pm

I've been testing the various difficulties, trying to find something comfortable for me to play... I just wanted to know if my assessment is accurate (I was playing as Borg versus Federation on the Hellgate map with the minimap revealed so I could see their research):

1. Normal: the AI didn't research any chassis beyond level 1 despite controlling three of the four mining areas. Aside from the various Warp-In vessels, it would only send Monsoon, Intrepid and Saber-class vehicles against me.

2. Hard: Despite giving them more time, all they really did was send more ships of the same class at me...

3. Merciless: OVERKILL. They started expanding rapidly, building full bases in the two free moon areas. I was hit by waves of Sovereigns and Defiants, easily 30-40 ships at a time. Held my own, but just barely... it was a little TOO difficult for my tastes.

So is there a middle ground between Hard and Merciless? I enjoyed the challenge of going up against the higher-class Federation warships, but Merciless was too crazy for me.

posted on August 3rd, 2009, 6:29 pm

Yeah, I think Hard needs to be a little harder.  Sometimes you want a fair game right?  Right?!?!?  I mean come on, it takes way too long to find a way to kill your merciless AI, if you can do it at all(not bragging  Cus I suck online:D) But it isn't so fun either to beat the crap out of the AI hard Either.  And don't even get me started about Normal.  Someone with no gaming skill could beat them with no mouse. 

posted on August 3rd, 2009, 6:33 pm

Yeah, I think Hard needs to be a little harder.  Sometimes you want a fair game right?  Right?!?!?  I mean come on, it takes way too long to find a way to kill your merciless AI, if you can do it at all(not bragging  Cus I suck online:D) But it isn't so fun either to beat the crap out of the AI hard Either.  And don't even get me started about Normal.  Someone with no gaming skill could beat them with no mouse. 

maybe not without a mouse but yeah, a 1980's serial ball mouse.

posted on August 3rd, 2009, 6:38 pm

Development: It might be a map-related thing, but I had much more fun with Hard AI in maps like Old Space: it took them a while to get going (longer than me, so I probably could have destroyed them, but I decided to wait) but once they did, I felt like I was going toe-to-toe with the Federation best, coming at me from all sides, without being so completely overwhelming that I couldn't win...

posted on August 3rd, 2009, 7:23 pm

maybe not without a mouse but yeah, a 1980's serial ball mouse.

naw, that is too easy.  You would just use hotkeys, and the search and destroy command. (sorry for derailing the thread)

Yes, it is defintially map based, but there arn't many long maps like old space, so over all, 1v1, the AI hard is too easy.  Mercilous is ok, Cus I like a chalenge, but There is no even match setting, and Hard is just too easy to beat.

posted on August 3rd, 2009, 7:29 pm

naw, that is too easy.  You would just use hotkeys, and the search and destroy command. (sorry for derailing the thread)

Yes, it is defintially map based, but there arn't many long maps like old space, so over all, 1v1, the AI hard is too easy.  Mercilous is ok, Cus I like a chalenge, but There is no even match setting, and Hard is just too easy to beat.

Yeah I tend to agree. Easy may be too easy but it's ok for people new to the game so they can learn. Merciless is just INSANE. Especially against the borg. And hard is a little too easy also... in any event there is definitely a sharp increase in ass-whoopery between hard and merciless. There should be a slider where difficulty can be adjusted more on a gradient as opposed to just 1, 2 or 3, although i'm no programmer so forgive me for suggesting anything that is not possible...

posted on August 3rd, 2009, 7:59 pm

Well technically a slider would be easy, but wouldn't fix our problem.  We would still only have 3 settings.  Not to mentine the extream amount of work it would require to do say 1-5 or something, 5 being the hardest, and 1 being...well you get the picture.

Any for now, I think the AI hard could just use a little boost.  that is all.

posted on August 4th, 2009, 12:34 am

if you play 1v1 against merciless borg your begging to get punished especially when you get an early rush of spheres and assimilators as at early tech you dont stand a chance i like to play nirvana 2 against all merciless ai no teams build up a large force wait for the borg to get involved in a fight elswhere then destroy there base first

posted on August 4th, 2009, 12:41 am

A suggestion for bridging the "ass-whoopery" gap between Hard and Merciless AI is to go into the Advanced Settings and bring down the sliders for AI Build-Time and AI Resource Cost.  That will help the Hard AI to be more challenging.

posted on August 10th, 2009, 5:02 pm

A suggestion for bridging the "ass-whoopery" gap between Hard and Merciless AI is to go into the Advanced Settings and bring down the sliders for AI Build-Time and AI Resource Cost.  That will help the Hard AI to be more challenging.

What if you did this with the merciless AI? Would you start with an assimilated star base and it just says 'LOSE' ?

posted on August 10th, 2009, 5:06 pm

What if you did this with the merciless AI? Would you start with an assimilated star base and it just says 'LOSE' ?

Nah, just an unshielded Starbase and about 30 Troopships (or Assimilators for the Borg) right next to you.

posted on August 15th, 2009, 6:01 pm

I might set me and a friend that as a challenge next time we play... Time it and see who can last longest.

posted on August 19th, 2009, 7:08 am

Is it possible that AI difficulty is tied into maps/factions? For example, when I played Asteroid Halma against Hard Dominion they didn't tech up, but in Old Space they did... 

posted on August 19th, 2009, 9:26 am

In asteroid halma map AI usually gets stuck when it tried to build mining to nearest moons, which are on the other side of the asteroids. Because of that the AI never techs up.