Difficulty / Balancing

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open-ig-0.94.428

Serious balancing issues:

An enemy fleet attacking Centronom. BIG fleet, no chance of winning:

http://img267.imageshack.us/img267/3046/difficulty01.jpg

Ok, no problem. Fleet bigger than DOS IG but maybe I can defeat them on the 
ground:

http://img690.imageshack.us/img690/7178/difficulty02.jpg

No tactical options. Magically they attack ONE tank, ignoring ALL buildings 
although they drive THROUGH the city and so there is no way of winning the 
fight. This is connected with issue 403. Im just mentioning it again to 
illustrated the cumulative effect of the several imbalances.

Consequence: Game over

Original issue reported on code.google.com by norbert....@gmail.com on 31 May 2012 at 11:06

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The failure condition is a bit harsh, I'll change it so that you get fired only 
if you loose all your planets and fleets. This way, you can recapture the 
planet after it has been hit.

I've added two hidden configuration options (edit through the config xml):

aiGroundAttackEverything
aiGroundAttackMixed

The first one will instruct the AI to attack every building in its way.
The second will instruct the AI to mix its targets between the 3 nearest 
objects.

Since this is a drastic AI change, I haven't created a new release. Just 
download the following and put it into your game dir.

http://code.google.com/p/open-ig/downloads/detail?name=open-ig-0.94.429.jar

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The alien fleet composition now is always set to full-fill-in. I'm a bit 
hesitating about limiting the flagship count (1 on EASY, 2 on NORMAL and 3 on 
HARD). Eventually, you'll outgrow the Garthogs and then it will become too easy.

Original comment by akarn...@gmail.com on 31 May 2012 at 12:38

• Changed state: Accepted
• Added labels: Milestone-0.95.200, Balance

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Good idea with the changed losing condition. 

BUT: Maybe don't allow losing ALL planets. After all we are a commander and not 
a grand admiral.

I will test the AI asap.

I can give you a few details about DOS IGs AI:

- It can have multiple starting points
- It attacks buildings or units...pending on what's nearer
- It seems to have a certain hunger for power plants
- If it's attacked by an enemy unit while attacking a building it immediately 
attacks the attacking unit --> IMPORTANT

Will you remove the ability to see the attackers targets and roads taken? It 
isn't present in DOS IG and why should I ( the player) know what the enemy 
wants to attack?

Original comment by norbert....@gmail.com on 31 May 2012 at 1:04

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About limiting the flagship count:

Mabye implement those limitations until level 3. Level 4 could be without. 
After all level 3 is still learning how to conquer an enemy territory. There 
should be a learning curve.

Original comment by norbert....@gmail.com on 31 May 2012 at 1:07

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First short impression:

"Everything" is not bad: Attacks buildings and if it sees my units it attacks 
them. not bad. 

"Mixed" doesn't seem to do anything

Original comment by norbert....@gmail.com on 31 May 2012 at 1:25

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This is still damn hard.

The enemy has multiple rocket tanks, i have non and he has about 12 or 13 
units, i have 8. And the enemy attacks my units to fast. It like he is 
attacking a building, sees me hundrets of meters away and instantly turns to 
me. The radius should be reduced.

Limiting the flagships would reduce the enemy units. MAybe than I have a 
fighting chance.

You have to consider: Level 3 ist the first time you have to focus on war. 
Level 1 and 2 were doable without military buildings, a relativly small fleet 
and a few tanks. 

So my advice: Reduce enemys flagships like you said in Comment 1 and reduce the 
radius in which the enemy turns away from buildings towards the players units. 
Maybe as a third suggestion: Implement different starting points. So maybe a 
few units attack from the south and a few from the north.

Original comment by norbert....@gmail.com on 31 May 2012 at 6:05

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http://img690.imageshack.us/img690/7178/difficulty02.jpg

I think this is doable, with 2 barracks and some tanks, and even better if the 
enemy focuses on just one of your units. Just put the 2 barracks near each 
other and park the tanks between and in fron of them. That's why it's 
impossible to lose a ground war once you have multiple fortresses.

The space battle definitely looks harder, but it's doable too, but you need 3 
planetary bases and 5 ion cannons, and that's a pretty expensive investment so 
you need to rely on your ground forces for a while. But yeah, without barracks, 
it's pretty much an auto-loss regardless of your tank count.

I like the idea of the difficulty related tank count but 6 is too few, even on 
easy, so 2 flagships should be the maximum on easy and probably on normal and 3 
on hard. 

Original comment by sosetala...@gmail.com on 31 May 2012 at 6:14

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I have made adjustments, just re-download the file.

- AI places units at random along the edges.
- Command lines hidden by default, CTRL+C toggles its visibility for now.
- AI will turn to your unit if it has targeted it and either of them is in 
firing range of the other.
- Added fleet limits which should reduce the vehicle counts, but if AI has 
already a fleet, that won't be affected.
- Mixed is harder to see once the units move around.
- Even the original full fledged attack is doable by placing 3 barracks and 
with at least 20 light tanks, but the losses will be heavy. Unfortunately, AI 
will attack your most valuable planet with chance of 60%, second most with 30% 
and any planets with 10%.
- The AI was already made nice since it doesn't go on you with full medium 
tanks.
- I have noticed the overpowered and overnumerous effect of the rocket sleds. 
The rule brings 60% tanks, 30% sleds and 1-1 special.

Original comment by akarn...@gmail.com on 31 May 2012 at 6:31

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Surely it's doable. But you need to plan for it. And a new player does not know 
that. If there was at least TIME in level 3. DOS IG started with the Zeuson 
mission. Open IG starts with a Garthog attack.

The enemy attacks the weakest planet. Which is good. But this means you have to 
fortify EVERY planet. You don't know that after Level 1 and 2. Think about the 
learning curve. You should NEVER have a situation in which you realize you have 
to start all over again. It's ok to load an older savegame but in my current 
situation  I'd have to go back several weeks in order to fortify every planet.

I agree that 6 tanks are too few. 

Original comment by norbert....@gmail.com on 31 May 2012 at 6:32

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I made my comment before you posted yours. I'll try the file now :)

Original comment by norbert....@gmail.com on 31 May 2012 at 6:33

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Ok...this is going to take a while. I need to restart in order to experience 
the modified Garthogs strength...

Original comment by norbert....@gmail.com on 31 May 2012 at 6:54

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There are a few cheats which might help you here:

CTRL+G for cash, CTRL+3 to switch to Level 3 instantly. I suggest you get 
money, fix Achilles then jump to level 3.

Original comment by akarn...@gmail.com on 31 May 2012 at 6:56

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could yoou explane "mixed" again. If I enable it I'm experiencing the old 
behaviour: they just attack me. And I just have to activate one at a time, 
right?

Original comment by norbert....@gmail.com on 31 May 2012 at 6:59

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You can have both on. In mixed mode, AI sometimes takes the second or third 
nearest target.

Original comment by akarn...@gmail.com on 31 May 2012 at 7:03

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Did you remove AI attack everything in official open-ig-0.94.429? 

The enemy is not attacking buildings any more and the config file gets resetted 
to attack everything = false every time.

Original comment by norbert....@gmail.com on 2 Jun 2012 at 9:53

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The setting is game specific. If you load a save that has it off. You need to 
edit your save to override this at the moment.

Original comment by akarn...@gmail.com on 2 Jun 2012 at 10:06

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Thanks. That did it.

New AI is great...there are still a few minor pathfinding problems...but which 
RTS has none? ;)

Together with the new control options it's a new experience. Well done!

Original comment by norbert....@gmail.com on 2 Jun 2012 at 10:16

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Original comment by akarn...@gmail.com on 4 Jun 2012 at 2:56

• Changed state: SVN

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Original comment by akarn...@gmail.com on 9 Jun 2012 at 11:12

• Changed state: Fixed