BotE is still in Alpha stage, so the AI probably needs tweaking, from what i read the AI does get resource bonuses but whether this applies to the level you play at i can't say.

Malv has an exmaple of a 100+ turn ferengi game he has been playing, at the bottom of this page link.

http://botfii.armadafleetcommand.com/in ... pic&t=1957

You can get a glimpse at how he plays and also load up the AI races to see how they develop in order to best prepare yourself perhaps in other games.

Malv should be able to help you further.

Regards Wolfe

right. in that particuliar game, I had by chance&luck the best possible starting position for the ferengi ever to be so the game is a good example to show how to exert the pursuit of full domination over the other races because of that advantage in the beginning. when you check up on those other races you see their systems are tech-wise way behind and way not as completely "build-out" as mine. It's no big problem now to declare war on all of them and quick-kill them if you feel like that . But this is just because the starting advantage was that big. In a usual game, you don't have this "win-by-all-out-war"-chance.

First you should build up to 10 research labs on ferenginar (since you can build them in 1 turn). by "up to" I mean you have 10 pieces in the end, i.e. you build 6 or 7 of it at the beginning. btw. always try to arrange build orders that way, that you only need 1 or 2 turns for building to be built. When upgrading, always have enough latinum at hand to rush-buy it! Also, never build too many surplus factories, farms, mines and all that. it's like in botf, you loose too much time when trying to upgrade those. always upgrade as soon as you have the latinum to buy.

Also, don't forget to buy some colony ships within the turns and expand your area by fast-building new colonies. don't terraform all planets, only those below 8 terraform points and when otherwise no titanium resource is on the other planets (like mostly on class O planets). then quick-buy a space dock and send out your scout(s) to get in contact with "new customers" . Always try to get trade treaties with them but beware of bad-tempered minors, you just waste you initial money on them. save them for later on when you have lots of latinum surplus. It's important therefore to increase you overall range by colonizing and building space docks in order to find initially friendly races because you get trade with them at no cost and that latinum is worth A LOT!
Also, don't spend too much money after you got trade. try getting the franchise office running and enjoy your flood of money . trade routes slowly increase your relationship with the minors so eventually friendship, affiliation, etc. comes nearly all by itself. getting minors is best around turn 50-60 (if you are lucky, but then refuse membership, if the system has 50+ population, cause they are more worthy "built-out" later on) and after turn 100 (then the chances are high they got level 3-4-5 buildings ). in short words save the big vulcan system for turn 110 and you will have something like in my game with the J'Lani in turn 111 (that system is one hell of a killer system ). have a look at that game cdrwolfe linked above!

when dealing with minors, try to give them "big money" (i.e. 500 and 1000+ latinum later on). It impresses them much more than 250 gifts .

if the AI seems illogical on treaties, well, that is kinda clear if you consider the effect of intel. if espionage was successful the turn after they offered friendship and it showed you are weak on military level but not weak on economic level, then the AI mostly (feds are an exception here) at once declares war on you to get you while you're weak and that way not able to build up fleets with your relatively strong economy! see, it's tactics .

btw. it's no shame to play on BABY. Since then you play against a totally uncheating AI which obeys the same rules as you do. cdrwolfe is right, on other levels the AI is getting some bonusses on resource production but that's all. granted, having more latinum kinda boosts your influence on minor races since you can give them more gifts which is btw. exactly why the AI empires are so "strong" .


btw. if you feel like the game needs another gameplay (i noticed some issues too, for example why does the space dock costs 0 titanium, is it built up of wood? that way, one has to add titanium via the system trade menu to the system which takes additional 2 turns. that again slows the rush-expansion a bit down. also we desperately need maintenance costs, but therefore the AI isn't ready yet since it cannot handle those costs yet), feel free to adapt the data files with the editors but rest assured once the maintenance costs are in place, the game gets a lot more playable at turns later than 200 when you have (no longer so) big fleets.

Hey just wanted to talk about Alpha 4. Myself and mate have been playing it over lan, no problems runs great (both running vista premium)

My question about the AI is how do i adjust the AI difficulty settings, i find it almost impossible to win, its as if the ai has instant build or something, able to produce ships at an alarming rate. Is there any way to adjust the AI settings as we have lost 4 games now



Skeet says... Moved to general forum as this is not a bug and the bug forum has strict rules about posting which i suggest you read next time in the announcment topic there

look in the various alpha4 feedback threads here. it's all written there already.

open bote.ini. set difficulty to BABY, EASY, NORMAL, HARD, IMPOSSIBLE.

the AI doesn't cheat except for some smaller resource bonusses (Deritium mainly which accounts for the constant high ship production). On baby level, it does not get any bonii so you play against a totally "naked" AI.

gameplay is a bit different to botf, since the AI in botf was either too stupid or too much "be-cheated" to get in contact with early on in the game. Waiting for minors to do their "tech jump", quick-buy them with level 9 fabs at turn 80 and win the game by that belongs to the distant past.
I just remember those AI (impossible setting) fleets of 50 ships in turn 50 which just came to destroy you if you couldn't hide from making contact to them long enough. Afterwards those ships weren't a threat anymore since the AI movement was so stupid you could just easily outmaneuvre them plus they didn't know how to bombard and invade systems successfully .

This has all changed!

therefore, don't sit in your cave right at the beginning but try expanding early. buy some colony ships all the while and only spend money on "neutral" and upwards minors. Don't build too many mines and stuff which you can't assign to workers cause they are quite expensive to upgrade that way. Start with building 5 research labs and then your first col ship (bought) or if you found a well-tempered minor, go get a trade treaty (if playin as cops, rots or heyoun). khaorons may better invade those systems but not always!

Also, don't waste money on the devore though for example, cause they suck it up and leave you with nothing behind ..

Never mind, I found it.

@Malvosin:
Maybe your tutorial could be stickied, so anybody can find and read it. But only if too much people have problems with the AI. I think the AI is doing a good job

save the colony ship movement..

yeah, could be done indeed.

tried to change AI to another type (easy or baby). program will not allow it. it is pretty much impossible to win at this game as is. in combat i have whole fleets of crusiers and destroyers eliminated with no apparent enemy losses. i do not even know what they were fighting. the map is too small to allow you to form a stable empire with enough shipbuilding capacity to survive. the map needs to be at least 50%
larger but with the same number of systems. it may leave areas hard to get too but thats what you build outposts for. love the ship designs and the basic economic system but until the map, combat, and AI problems are solved the game is just a frustrating expierence.
Tim (plasticpanzers)

The program allows it, it just gives no feedback. Put EASY or BABY in capital letters (!) into bote.ini at the respective position replacing NORMAL then it takes that value.

I know it can be frustrating to play against the AI but let me assure you it ain't impossible, far from it (on our german forums I have save games posted with me playing on HARD in this thread: http://www.bote-forum.square7.ch/viewto ... f=33&t=829 ). But you need to know some things to exploit in the game first to really compete with it. For example to know that when you set trade routes to minor races you automatically gain their trust turn by turn, step by step, until finally, without any cash/credits gifts they are ready for membership. You see that by the constantly increasing relationship barometer. So if you spend credits on minors, you probably waste them and the AI doesn't, and credits are very important at the beginning to buy colony ships for quick expansion. Also, don't forget to build space docks very soon until population on your new colony hits 7 billion (=Mrd.=Milliard) to get more sectors in range for your scouts to explore. If you encounter another major, try to build energy buildings and mine fields to secure your system from enemy bombardment. With these hints and the savegames linked above it should be easier to handle the game and eventually be more fun .