Trade with AI

[Bartleby]

Hello,

Is there any use of talking with an AI?
They demand really very much for a simple trade maps... and peace - no chance.
Would like to get trade agreements, but u can not think about that.

Seems an old problem - will there sometimes be a patch?

Thx.

Greetings,
bart

[Freny]

Trade/Science agreements don't really work very well, because they cost a lot of influence to keep up and the AIs can't sustain it longer than a few turns before they come off. The whole diplomacy thing needs to be reworked, especially when it comes to AI aggression.

The game would be so much more fun if the AIs were more aggressive, so that one actually has to build the defensive buildings for the risk of invasion alone, which would also extend to spending strategic resources on improving your troops, and having an appropriate fleet force corresponding to the size of your empire.

Then, the military tree would actually matter, because right now is just a case of having a handful of medium ships with the extra slots enabled, and you are set. As is, my research order is Economy -> Science -> Ship Hulls -> Military -> Repeat, which is kind of crazy. One of things I like of this game is that the industry cost of the ships is relatively low, especially when considering that the retrofitting of empty hulls bypasses industry, but then you don't get to really use them all that much because the AI aggression is not there. Another thing that is crazy is unlocking a new hull type and seeing that some of the slots are unused, which is not doing the AI any favors to its fleet strength. Is it so difficult to set a rule so that no slots are left empty? Or if the ship has 3 defensive slots, make it so not all 3 are armor, or all 3 are shields?

[Bartleby]

dont know. but combat ai is not that bad i think. quite good on higher difficulties. could be much better, but not really bad.

- trade ist silly
- ais should be able to make peace with each other and build alliances if a player gets too strong.
- would like to play vs a team of ais.
- game is a bit too slow, could use some more action
- bigger empires should have more problems. atm the leading guy normally gets better an better.
- i like a map with identification friend or foe (IFF)
- hacking.... dont know... silly too

- dont know whtas the joke with different starlanes, seemes no difference.
- groundcombat and combattactics also wired.
- lumeris are fun... strong.. but hard to make them militaristic and stay there :)

[Kiff]

AI factions will generally be very unwilling to do any fair negotiations with you at first. Give them time, don't upset them and maintain a decent military and soon they'll become less hostile and more open to diplomacy, including offers of peace.

You want to get peace as soon as you can with any empire you want to trade with, because the deals the AI make without it are usually so stupid and unreasonable there's no point trying.

Pacifist factions will accept offers of peace and thus be open to real diplomacy much sooner than other factions, and it's also easier to achieve peace with empires you share a common enemy with, have intimidated by parking a powerful (relative to theirs) fleet near (but not inside) their territory, or are worried because they're being threatened by or losing a war with other, stronger empires and/or alliances.

Also, even in peace, the "suggest terms" button is broken. If it suggests I give an AI 300 hyperium just for map sharing, I've found a lot of times that turning the number down to something like 80 has no effect at all on the approval bar, and the deal will be accepted. It's also normal for factions to refuse treaties that have an influence upkeep, even when the approval bar says they're likely to accept, because they can't afford the influence cost.

[Vzzdak]

Need an independent “industry Ai”, otherwise it’s like dealing with a spoiled child whom doesn’t want to share their toys.

This is odd, considering how much the game is designed to make you feel as if you’re affecting broad social policies.

Trading is only good for gifting technologies to an ally, to buffer them against an enemy.