An AI that won''''t fight?

from Stardock Forums

I'm testing several different conclusions to a Gigantic universe game. It's late in the game; there is only one other race left (Drenghin). Terrans are ahead in tech, but economies and military power are about the same.

I went through the Alliance win. Boring. ;) Now I'm trying the 'conquest' option.

Because the evil bastards had been fighting two races on the other side of my space, there are Drenghin Dreads all over my space. I attacked first and killed many, but there are still many left and many of them have valid attacks, especially on starbases and systems.

But on his turn the AI did nothing except adjust his spending for the (significant) loss in trade. Not one single attack, or as far as I can tell even a single ship move.

Could this be a bug??



~SDC~
Test of editting system... ignore this line
[Message Edited]
[Message Edited]
396 views 7 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top
The turn system in GalCiv is sort of strange, sometimes you have those pseudo-turns where nothing happens as far as movement goes even though other things are updated. It's possible you hit one of those. Now, if what you described happened two turns in a row then I'd be worried...

The easiest way to spot a pseudo-turn is that the date doesn't advance.
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top
No, it pounded my Sensor Drones pretty good in the next turn. LOL

But something else happened. It printed bc! On the 1st war turn it was hit hard by the dusruption in trade. Dropped negative about 2000bc and of course spending went to nothing. But the *2nd* war turn spending was back to normal, even with similar pre-war Tech spending!, and it suddenly had 3000bc in the bank. That's a swing of nearly 5000bc with the AI not in control of it's own spending!

I thought maybe it went through the universe and dumped a bunch of projects, but nearly every system is showing a significant revenue deficit - something I wouldn't expect unless it was paying heavy maintenance fees.

How does the AI make so much cash in that situation, and can I do it too?
:notsure:

~SDC~
[Message Edited]
Galactic Civilizations III
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top
Did you check the revenue deficit before or after it went back above -500 BC? When it dropped below, /all/ production and related expenses dropped, so if it made 5000 BC + maintenance cost, it would jump back up -- and then production expenses would resume.

The other bit: might it be getting tribute from the dead? At least in 1.03A57, I've noticed that if you manage to get multi-turn tribute as, say, part of a peace deal, it continues even if that player gets removed from the game! If it got a long-term tribute (dunno if the AIs actually do this; they've only bothered me for large lump sums), that would matter.
Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top
The AI tends to sell public works to slow down the bleeding. At least thats from what I can tell.

EG plenty of times I have taken over core systems after strangling the AI of trade and cash, only to find these supposedly core systems devoid of many basic public works buildings...
Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top
No, it doesn't seem to be dealing social projects. The systems that I have conquered have been full-boat built up, and doing Hyperion Shipyard to boot!
:SURPRISED:

~SDC~
Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top
What your describing is a yo-yo economy.

What is happening is that the computer is spending
way more per turn then its making. It drops down below
-500 bc's and automatically all its production is
forced to make BC's all his military projects, social
projects and tech research are put on hold for that
turn and everything he generates goes to BC's

This can easily result in a net gain of 5000 bc's

In fact when it happens to me in some of my larger
games it can net me over 30k.

Anyway, with 5k in the bank, his projects become
budgeted again until he drops below -500 again.

This can also happen to a human player.

Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top
I've seen the yo-yo. I'm just surprised at how much it can generate in one turn.

I wonder if the AI stops moving ships when the economy is out of its control (< -500bc treasury)?

~SDC~