AI must cheat

Ridiculous economy with 1 planet?!

from Sins Forums
So I was toying around with the map editor and decided just for fun, place two hard AI's next to each other, with no expansion planets, and I'll check on them in 20-30 min with my scout. Mind you , one bugger in particular had one measly planet, yet somehow had a fleet cap of 550 , 35 light frigates , a few dozen missile and flak ships, and 4 cap ships. WTH? How he can possibly afford to crank out such a badass fleet and maintain it with one planet? I quit to check the stats and his credit income was comparable to mine which made no sense at all. I had a hell of time getting a decent economy and fleet together with 4 planets. Does the hard AI have access to some magical funds?
12,868 views 4 replies
Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top
If you check, your capitol planet represents a huge proportion of your income.

On top of that, if you forget to develop planets, they drain you rather than aid you.
Galactic Civilizations III
Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top
Indeed, if you didn't buy the population upgrade for your capital or left your new planets at level 0, it's entirely believable that he could have income on par with you with only the one planet.
Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top
On another thread, a few days ago, an Ironclad representative categorically declared that the A.I. did not cheat -- that it was a path they had deliberately chosen (after considering the alternative of having it cheat).

Like the OP suggests, one can wonder if the "hard" comps get special, pre-coded bonuses.

If they do not, what makes them "hard" ? They are smarter than the "normal" A.I. ? What might that exactly mean -- since it would mostly be the computing of coded quantities ?

(I don't believe that the Sins A.I. is as mature and sophisticated as Mr Wardell's ultra-advanced GalCiv A.I.)