Weakest AI Played Faction

Yxklyx · February 15, 2002, 12:14

Which faction do you consider to be the least successful when played by the AI?

mrdynamic · February 15, 2002, 13:41

I have noticed the following with factions, definately so with my custom factions:

So called 'Weak' factions are played by the AI poorly, but can be played successfully and be more challenging (fun) for humans.

Im still trying to come up with a faction the the AI can kick butt with and still be a major but winnable struggle for a human. Think its possible ?

Darsnan · February 15, 2002, 14:07

I'd definately have to say that its the Angels: maybe its because I play Gaian, and thus am always lurking around fungus with my mindworms. I typically pick off Roze's Probe Teams who always get bogged down in the fungus/ rocky terrain (which BTW gives me an easy morale upgrade

) , then launch an offensive with mindworm guarded speeders. The Angels cave in every time, and are either absorbed by the Gaian's, slaved to the Gaian's, or fall victim to another AI. When playing SP, I usually don't select them, as it usually leads to the "snowball effect", meaning I roll over them, gaining momentum, and then just keep going right into the next AI.

Yxklyx · February 15, 2002, 14:13

Well, I voted for Cha Dawn. I've never seen him do well in a SP game. He's aggressive and researches Conquer techs but doesn't have a big bat to back up his words with when it comes time to fight.

knowhow2 · February 15, 2002, 14:13

Morgan and Cult.

Both which I find both amusing and interesting to play.

knowhow2 · February 15, 2002, 14:15

Quote:

Originally posted by mrdynamic
I have noticed the following with factions, definately so with my custom factions:

So called 'Weak' factions are played by the AI poorly, but can be played successfully and be more challenging (fun) for humans.

Im still trying to come up with a faction the the AI can kick butt with and still be a major but winnable struggle for a human. Think its possible ?

Heavy on growth, but nada on production (AI always gets bonus)

Cybergod · February 15, 2002, 14:34

I voted for Morgan, he just, I dunno, is too easy to be made a submissive!

In one of my SP games, he just built 3 bases and stayed like that until the end of the game (I just killed one of his units and he went submissive

).

A faction that would stand a chance against an experienced SMAC player would have to have interests in both building and conquering - Yang would be perfect IF he wasn't tied to Police State and if he didn't have a hard ECONOMY penalty.

Yxklyx · February 15, 2002, 14:47

Quote:

Im still trying to come up with a faction the the AI can kick butt with and still be a major but winnable struggle for a human. Think its possible ?

When making a custom faction that the AI would do better with you might want to take advantage of the fact that the AI knows where all your units are - so make a faction that gets the Cloaking Device and/or Deep Pressure Hull ability free.

Yxklyx · February 15, 2002, 14:52

So, what makes Morgan weak? Is it the base pop limit? The support penalty? Is it Pacifist combined with only Build?

Jac de Molay · February 17, 2002, 16:24

Quote:

So, what makes Morgan weak? Is it the base pop limit? The support penalty? Is it Pacifist combined with only Build?

Morgan, I think, requires the the ability to be the ultimate Urban Planner, which the AI woefully lacks the ability to do. The choice of building improvements and infrastructure for Morgan requires a long-term vision to carry through.

Mr. President · February 17, 2002, 17:08

Interesting that so many people think Morgan is played badly by the AI. Strangely, he often builds only about four bases or so, and does little throughout most of the game. Perhaps because he's a pacifist.

As for the question of AI factions that would do well against humans, make them something like the Cybernetic Consciousness: very great strengths, not too aggressive so they don't expend themselves in early fighting, and negligible or zero weaknesses.