Empires producing fleets from nothing

[Dovahkiin789]

So in my most recent games (during years 2200-2300) ive noticed empires are suddenly pumping out fleets that are relatively powerful for that game year. In one war, I would destroy several 3k fleets, only to be met by 2 more no longer than 1 or 2 months later.

I dismissed this as me not seeing them produce the ships, but in my most recent war a 4.2k fleet spawned on the enemy home planet (while i was in the system) when all of their starbases were captured. There was no indication this fleet had existed, and it was at full health which makes it impossible to be an emergency jump.

Is there a reason for this AI behavior?

[EleventhStar]

most likely it is a fleet that did an emergency FTL retreat. they have to spawn somewhere even if they have no starbases. kinda like when your own fleet loses, they emergency FTL out instead of all dying, and a while later they show up somewhere.

alternatively, it could be just that they are building them, afaik the AI tends to keep a quite sizable emergency war fund stockpiled and isn't afraid to use it.

aside from that, if it was a pirate or mercenary fleet, i do think they just spawn out of nowhere.

[Dovahkiin789]

Originally posted by EleventhStar:

most likely it is a fleet that did an emergency FTL retreat. they have to spawn somewhere even if they have no starbases. kinda like when your own fleet loses, they emergency FTL out instead of all dying, and a while later they show up somewhere.

alternatively, it could be just that they are building them, afaik the AI tends to keep a quite sizable emergency war fund stockpiled and isn't afraid to use it.

aside from that, if it was a pirate or mercenary fleet, i do think they just spawn out of nowhere.

Well

1. starbases were gone. no means of production.

2. it was their faction

3. I wiped out all previous fleets. they were at the bottom of the strength list.

What you said mad sense if i didnt have eyes on every station, but i did

[EleventhStar]

well if the year is 2300 then 4k for an emergency FTL fleet sounds perfectly fine so i'm not sure why you are excluding that so readily. very hard to fully destroy fleets.

[�[Dire_Venom]�]

Just something to add, often when engaging a fleet you won't destroy it. A good portion will often Auto-ftl out of there when the battle turns against them and go missing for a few months before returning (often with 60% of their ships damaged but alive).

Thus these new fleets you are encoutering might just be the remains of the fleets you have killed earlier. Always worth checking the post battle screen to see how many were actualy destroyed or escaped : )

[Dovahkiin789]

Originally posted by PCA Dire_Venom:

Just something to add, often when engaging a fleet you won't destroy it. A good portion will often Auto-ftl out of there when the battle turns against them and go missing for a few months before returning (often with 60% of their ships damaged but alive).

Thus these new fleets you are encoutering might just be the remains of the fleets you have killed earlier. Always worth checking the post battle screen to see how many were actualy destroyed or escaped : )

I never engaged this fleet. It literally spawned on the home system. I was looking in the system as it happened. Last time I checked emergency ftl damages fleets. They were unharmed.

[Dovahkiin789]

Originally posted by EleventhStar:

well if the year is 2300 then 4k for an emergency FTL fleet sounds perfectly fine so i'm not sure why you are excluding that so readily. very hard to fully destroy fleets.

It was a healthy fleet that spawned on the home system planet. It couldnt have been E-ftl

[SethFrost]

I had a similar thing happen in the current game I'm playing. Captured every single starbase the enemy and was invading the last couple of planets they had left when a 2.5k fleet suddenly spawned in their home system (which I had already captured including the planet). But when I looked at the ships they were frigates and reavers, so my guess is that they hired a mercenary fleet from the marauders.

[Meewec]

Originally posted by Dovahkiin789:

Originally posted by EleventhStar:

well if the year is 2300 then 4k for an emergency FTL fleet sounds perfectly fine so i'm not sure why you are excluding that so readily. very hard to fully destroy fleets.

It was a healthy fleet that spawned on the home system planet. It couldnt have been E-ftl

it's possible to get a healthy fleet from emergency ftl. they could have jumped out before too much combat and not suffered any losses. hell, that could be a stealth buff ai get of not suffereing the usual dangers of emergency jumping out

[Storm]

Originally posted by Meewec:

Originally posted by Dovahkiin789:

It was a healthy fleet that spawned on the home system planet. It couldnt have been E-ftl

it's possible to get a healthy fleet from emergency ftl. they could have jumped out before too much combat and not suffered any losses. hell, that could be a stealth buff ai get of not suffereing the usual dangers of emergency jumping out

Isn't it more likely this fleet got cut off somewhere and they emergency jumped home without ever seeing combat?

[�[Dire_Venom]�]

You can use the command debutooltips to see how much fleet power they actualy have as well (incase they have some fleet doing round somewhere else in the galaxy)

[Azunai]

if you play with apocalypse, it could be marauder mercenaries. iirc they spawn at your homeworld when you hire them.
you'd have to inspect their designs (or zoom in to see the ships in detail) to tell the difference between normal ships and hired mercs (they use the pirate ship models)

[Dovahkiin789]

Originally posted by Azunai:

if you play with apocalypse, it could be marauder mercenaries. iirc they spawn at your homeworld when you hire them.
you'd have to inspect their designs (or zoom in to see the ships in detail) to tell the difference between normal ships and hired mercs (they use the pirate ship models)

I didnt even think about AIs being able to hire fleets. This was probably the case for at least one scenario. There was however, other games where the magnitude of fleets being spawned wouldve bankrupted the empire easily.

[Khan Boyzitbig of Mercia]

I have had a fleet of my own fully heal while MIA after an emergency jump because I put modules on the ships which allowed this so don't think that a full health enemy fleet couldn't have e-jumped.

[galadon3]

Originally posted by Dovahkiin789:

Originally posted by Azunai:

if you play with apocalypse, it could be marauder mercenaries. iirc they spawn at your homeworld when you hire them.
you'd have to inspect their designs (or zoom in to see the ships in detail) to tell the difference between normal ships and hired mercs (they use the pirate ship models)

I didnt even think about AIs being able to hire fleets. This was probably the case for at least one scenario. There was however, other games where the magnitude of fleets being spawned wouldve bankrupted the empire easily.

Well depending on your difficulty level, don't forget that the AI gets aditional minerals and energy at every dif-level above ensign.

[Lady Crimson (RIP)]

If it's that late in the game it could've been elsewhere in the galaxy.

Also yeah hiring especially from Nomads, or gifted ships from fallen empires is a thing too.