The AI feels like it’s coded to prioritize maximizing damage output and scoring kills. This makes a lot of sense when facing against the player, as an army of neutrals guarding a POI doesn’t really have a need to conserve units. I think it also makes the battles a little more engaging for the player.
That’s not how most players play, I don’t think. I’m not going to rush my Amazon bio-archers into known-death situations just so I can hit a 3rd unit with my flash arrow, but the AI will. I can only speculate that this is where the silly casualties are coming from, but I don’t know to what degree the auto-resolve mimics tactical AI.
Iirc the algorithms used in auto combat are the same as what the AI uses in tactical combat against the Human.
The difference comes about because you can react in tactical combat, whereas in auto its the same AI on both sides if that makes sense.
As a general rule, ranged heavy armies do well in autocombat.
Ditto armies with inbuilt regeneration or damage mitigation.
As do armies with the same speed. I am not sure it still happens but in early Aow3 faster units would charge off on their own. I think this got patched in later Aow3 but maybe not.
In Planetfall flying units fighting melee ground only will win.
So, taking that all into account, you find that Assembly Scavengers don’t do all that well in autocombat, because the AI uses their shotguns constantly.
Whereas you and I would probably creep forward in cover and use the shotgun maybe once before commencing the stabbing and hacking.
The growth shows up immediately in every game I play, and I’m sick of it. So I declared war against them this time. The war was highly successful and I have taken a dwelling of theirs. How do I do anything with this? I have a colony literally immediately next to it, but no options to annex.
The reload system is what I’ve planned to use if I need to redo an auto-battle. I haven’t needed to yet, although I’ve been ticked a couple times when I felt it was unfair. But, I’m not that good a player and usually have to balance a not-great result (i.e. I lost units in a safe battle) against whether I’d struggle up to a better result or not. Usually I roll with it.
As an aside, and typical of me, I tend to be #1 in Unity and near to last in every other category. I really must work on that if I’m ever going to win in PF.
You can definitely annex it to a colony. I believe you need to go stand a unit on it and have an open expansion slot (you get one every 4 pop, up to a Max of 4 and 16 pop) just like any other sector.
That last comment makes sense. Because the AI prioritizes attacking and try to destroy enemy units, any damage mitigation/healing is going to cause a certain amount of “waste” in their efforts. That also seems like a good build/tactic for battles that you play out.
I have lost units to easy battles before. Then I have reloaded, and easily won without any casualties and in some cases won without taking any damage. Perhaps I just abuse the AI in a way the AI doesn’t think of.
Maybe it’s me and my “the best defense is a suicidal offense” proclivities, but declaring war on the first neutrals you encounter and just going ham on them seems to be much more effective than chasing your tail trying to hit all the notes required for their national rendition of Kum-Ba-Ya.
What do you set the World Threat to? I bumped it to Severe (called Moderate now) like the devs suggested and it is just soooo many armies being thrown my way. Do you bump it up as well or keep it at Low?
I agree with this. I just declare war early with the sub factions and just burn em down. That said they occasionally surprise me with a moderate weird stack that comes floating over. But by and large just killing them all and taking their stuff is better. At least to me.
I actually do love this game. I am not in love with the 3-4 stacks armies you have to move to crush an opponent city. Something about the strategic combat seems awkward. I almost wish you could place stacks in a template and move them at the same time.
How interesting.
I tend to farm the Xeno for influence to spend on mods and units.
Helps me out in a pinch.
In my most current game, as Vangaurd, I’ve been keeping the Autonom friendly and I just bought the mod that regenerates 15% of my health per combat turn and 100% per strategic turn, applies to machines only.
Perfect timing as I transition into an aircraft heavy strategy.
What are people’s favorite race / tech combos?
Ill admit I have not played syndicate much because the voice acting drives my insane. I also have not tried the bugs yet.
Out of the others, I think I like vanguard the best and then maybe the Assembly next, although its close between the two.
As far as tech, I find them very lack-luster. Mostly is this tech does red damage, the other one does purple damage, and that one does blue damage, etc… I think out of all of them I like the plague tech the most only for the high-end mod that gives units regen and AoE regen.
Oh, I think it’s so much more than that. Firearms get the rail accelerators which give an extra range which is HUGE, not to mention the explosive ammo which turns every attack into a death-dealing machine. Psi bypasses armor natively but also has so much support by having great capabilities of breaking morale and debuffing via Mantra of Clarity (can’t remember if that is Psi or Psynumbra, but regardless, it’s awesome). Opening up with a Psi sniper to apply Clarity (makes the unit 20% easier to hit from all sources) and Broken Mind before the rest of your army attacks can really allow you to pick a unit and burn it down before it can do anything. Lasers have such great stagger potential which is all around great but particularly great when fighting units with scary Full Action abilities. You can completely shut those down. And of course, who doesn’t like throwing Burning, Immolating, and Charred status effects all over the battlefield.
In terms of Secret Tech, not only do they focus on different damage types, they provide a slew of new units, operations, Doctrines, and mods. Something like Synthesis has a bunch of economic boosts that others lack, not to mention the mean things they can do to any mechanical or cyborg forces you run up against. On top of that, they determine many of upgrade options your Heroes get when they level up. Going with Psynumbra and getting Sadism on so many heroes and units is just mean. I find the Secret Tech decision more and more impactful with each game I pay.
My experience has been much closer to what Kevin describes than what @DeepT is experiencing, seems like.
I assumed the overall score was based on some weighted average of the various categories (military score, economic score, etc.) but I’m not totally sure.
