Which AI's generally perform well in Alpha Centauri and Alien Crossfire?

[JH24]

Hello everyone,



I’m sorry if this is a strange question but I was interested in knowing which of the 14 available AI’s generally perform very well in games.



I played Alpha Centauri (EDIT: And Alien Crossfire, I can remember the second manual) many years ago and I really enjoyed it until I lost the disks when I moved years ago. A short while ago I borrowed my old Starcraft (Brood War) disk to a good friend of mine in exchange for his Alien Crossfire game.


I’m very excited to play this game but unfortunately I don’t have much time in real life to play this game so I really want to enjoy it as well as I can.


I can’t remember much of the original Alpha Centauri except that the AI of the Human Hive/Aliens often seemed to scare me for some reason.



I was wondering if people could share their opinions on which AI’s usually have a consistent and good performance in a game. I’m considering to start playing later this week as either the Hive or the Drones on a standard/large but humid map with Librarian or maybe Thinker difficulty.



My sincere thanks in advance to anyone who can help me.



EDIT: I would love to buy the game but no store in the area were I live has Alpha Centauri.

 

[Pickly]

Google Sold out Software, they should have the game.


As for the AI question, the aliens are designed ot be an overall more powerful faction than the human ones. I am not sure about the Hive, though.

 

[JH24]

Nice, I found the site. I have no experience with buying online but I should check it out. I would love to have my own version again. Too bad there is no Starcraft for my friend.



As for the AI, I've added the Aliens to the list. Thanks!

 

[swartt314]

I'm not sure about the expansion factions, but of the original seven, the computer is, in my experience, far and away the most proficient at playing the hive. The Hive's policy of growth and spamming cheap units seems to mesh the best with the AI.

Outside of that, however, whoever lands on the monsoon jungle dominates.

 

[GooglyBoogly]

Miriam (believers) also seems to be a pretty aggressive AI most of the time.

 

[JH24]

Thanks for the replies swartt314 and GooglyBoogly.


I have now: The Hive, The Believers, The Caretakers, The Usurpers and the Peacekeepers. (They seem a stable faction with the additional Talent and easier Hab requirements)


I'm considering to add either the University or the Cybernetic Consciousness to have a Tech faction.


Are the Pirates a strong AI faction? Strangely enough I can't remember much of them regarding the AI from years ago.

 

[Kristian95]

The pirates generally do well... if you want them to do even better make it a high sea levels map and you'll find that they will do quite well

 

[Pfeffersack]

I agree on the Hive, the Believers and the two Alien Races.

I remember that the Drones were often powerful as well. Pirates depend on map, but I agree that the AI was rather sucessful with as well.

I would abstain from the Angels, Cult of Planet and especially Morgans as AIs (the latter almost never gets strong in an unmodded game - the 4 pop-restriction and almost no desire to expand doom them from the beginning)

The rest of the factions is too unstable to say for sure, IMO.

 

[NwabudikeMorgan]

I have not played SMAX, but i remember from countless games of SMAC that i would often play the hive or the believers just so that the AI wouldn't go nuts with them.
The Morgans tend to get crushed if they start on the same continent as ANYBODY else.

 

[Winner]

Well, the factions are a bit unbalanced.

Of the 7 original factions (I don't really like the factions introduced in AC, especially because you have to replace one of the original ones to play them, which doesn't seem worth it), in most games the Hive, Believers or Spartans dominate.

The most unbalanced faction is the Spartan Federation - seriously, -1 INDUSTRY in exchange for +2 MORALE and +1 POLICE? Are you kidding me?

The problem with SMAC/SMAX is that most games are decided in the early phases of the game, which gives a natural advantage to aggressive factions with high population growth, support bonuses and morale/combat bonuses. This is why the Hive (which also has a free perimeter defence in each base ) seem to dominate in most games. Believers are also strong, despite their terrible tech rating, simply because they can steal whatever tech they need, and their support and combat bonuses allow them them to win most wars.

Other factions only have a chance if they get time to develop. Gaians sometimes end up being pretty strong. Peacekeepers have a problem with the fact that they invariably end up in perpetual vendettas against the three most powerful totalitarian faction mentioned above, so if they're not exceptionally strong or protected on a continent of their own, they usually lose. University can be quite strong in the latter phases of the game, when their technological advantage becomes useful. But you can kiss them goodbye if they start on the same continent as the Believers

As for the poor Morgan, he is a total loser

---

I am now testing a slightly modified versions of the 7 factions, in an (doomed) attempt to make the game more balanced. Here's what I've done (changes are marked):

1) Spartans:

+2 MORALE
+2 POLICE (used to be +1, but Spartans should be even more disciplined)
-1 INDUSTRY
-1 ECONOMY (large defense budget)
-1 PLANET (no love for hippies, greens and other weaklings; also the planet will not like people whose idea of fun is to blow up everything around them )


2) Morgan (my goal here was to ensure he survives longer in some games)

+1 ECONOMY
+1 INDUSTRY (it kinda logically follows the economy, plus it will help them produce more and faster)
-1 SUPPORT
-3 PLANET (self-explanatory)
IMPUNITY to negative effects of Free Market (this is a huge bonus which removes most of the faction's vulnerabilities in terms of low police ratings later in the game)
Cost of "hurrying" reduced to 50% (civilian contractors work faster I think this combined with the ridiculous amount of money Morgan will have will help him to survive in wars. Theoretically)
Bases need hab complex to exceed pop 5 (instead of 4)


3) Believers

-2 RESEARCH (unchanged, makes sense)
-1 PLANET
+1 SUPPORT (reduced by one point, simply because +2 gives them too much of an advantage in war)
+1 PROBE
+1 GROWTH (no abortions, shun contraception, typical fundie stuff )
+25% when attacking (unchanged)


4) Peacekeepers

-1 EFFICIENCY (unchanged)
IMPUNITY to the negative effects of 'Democratic' soc. eng. choice (makes sense, they're devoted to democracy and will defend it, plus this helps them to survive in war)
Can exceed the max pop. without hab complex by 3 (it used to be 2, but I want to give them advantage earlier in the game).
The rest is unchanged.

I am still thinking about if and how should I modify the remaining factions. For example I am probably going to give the Gaians some more ecology-related bonuses to offset their bad morale and police ratings...

 

[Pickly]

A few points:

50% hurry cost is really, really powerful. (I did it once with a custom faction with no economic bonuses, it was amazing how quickly stuff could get built.

The free market impunity is also incredibly powerful. (Again, I've done a custom faction where negative planet and police ratings were halved, and that was powerful enough on its own. Complete impunity would almost certainly be overpowering unless you added a lot of disadvantages. Planet is not going ot be on of these.)


Also, keep in mind that faction balance depends on map size. On smaller maps, the aggressive factions will tend to work better, on larger maps, things tend to be more even. (It might be that these balance changes are needed for some sizes, but not for others.)

 

[GooglyBoogly]

the reduction in hurry costs stacks with the industry bonus, making it even stronger

 

[Winner]

It doesn't seem to matter, because Morgan still loses in vast majority of games Jesus, how could the guy ever succeed in business is a mystery to me

Also, keep in mind I modified the most the factions I don't usually play (I never play Believers or the Hive, I just can't force myself). Spartans are quite powerful in the hands of a human player, hence the penalties.

As for the map size: it doesn't seem to matter much - if the weak factions start on the same continent as the strong (and evil) ones, it usually ends with their eradication.

 

[Pickly]

As for the map size: it doesn't seem to matter much - if the weak factions start on the same continent as the strong (and evil) ones, it usually ends with their eradication.

This hasn't been my experience. Sometimes it happens, but a lot of times it doesn't.

 

[Winner]

It makes sense, I am just saying that in my games, it was either the Hive or Believers (or both) who became the monster archenemy faction.

In few games, Gaians or Peacekeepers were pretty strong, and I remember a very good game in which the University was the strongest faction (and boy were they tough).

But mostly it ends with me + few weaker factions fighting the Hive, Believers, Spartans or all of them at the same time.

 

[NwabudikeMorgan]

I agree with the above poster, seems like if i dont try super hard off the bat to take out the "evil" factions they go nuts, i have had quite a few games that end in a 4-way alliance of the peaceful factions

 

[JH24]

Thanks for the replies everyone.


@ Winner, those are some interesting changes, I may try them out myself in my next game.


The AI seems often inconsistent with its performance, except for (in my case) The Hive which always seems to dominate. There was one other thing I noticed in my games and that is the effect the "Research Priorities" have on the AI.


I noticed that an AI, and it actually doesn't seem to matter much of which faction, becomes more dangerous when its settings are changed to Build/Conquer.


I tested it with Santiago and Miriam, who have Discover/Conquer and Explore/Conquer. Santiago normally never gets off the ground and when she does get a large empire, usually accomplishes not much and has underdeveloped bases. Miriam starts strong but eventually looses steam, with underdeveloped and small bases.


When I set both AI's to Build/Conquer their performance improves, their bases at least are better developed with both building even Tree Farm's/Hybrid Forests in their core bases.


With Build/Conquer the AI at least tries to build a lot of formers/facilities and military units. The AI gets (in the games I played so far) crippled too much late game without the "Build" selection activated.


The best AI's in my game so far were the Hive, Drones and Caretakers. (For some reason the Usurpers could never keep up with them, most likely because of the -2 efficiency penalty because of Fund/Planned/Power. The Caretaker's recycling tanks and choice for Democracy keeps them nicely into the game or a some time, but they don't have the "build" priority and often their bases become underdeveloped) However, in the one game I gave the Caretakers Build/Conquer they became a beast, I was actually afraid of them. Early economy/infrastructure build up + lots of units = not good. The AI is still stupid, but I'm not good enough to survive on Transcend.


The Drones with Build/Conquer instead of only "Build" are a faction to fear. Democratic/Planned/Wealth and later Knowledge/Eudaimonic by the AI really makes for almost an unbeatable faction. They even managed to overcome the Hive in a drawn out war.

 

[Winner]

I started a game on the original SMAC normal-size map of Planet, in which I edited the starting positions of every faction to give them more or less the same chance (but it was also an experiment aimed at finding out how tough the evil factions really are).

I placed Peacekeepers, the Hive and Believers on the same continent (the one with Freshwater Sea and the Ruins which is connected to the large island in the south with Mount Planet on it), but gave the Peacekeepers one more colony pod. Amazingly, the Peacekeepers managed to wipe out both evil factions Santiago took the continent with the Crater and so the remaining three factions struggle on the continent with Monsoon jungle.

Fun game - but I am playing with all my modifications in place, so it doesn't say much about the normal game progression.

But you're right about the Build priority, it really makes factions very powerful in the long term.

 

[Pfeffersack]

It doesn't seem to matter, because Morgan still loses in vast majority of games Jesus, how could the guy ever succeed in business is a mystery to me

I noticed that an AI, and it actually doesn't seem to matter much of which faction, becomes more dangerous when its settings are changed to Build/Conquer.

I haven't tried giving Morgan Build and Conquer, but I had good results with giving him Expansive in addiotion to what he has - it seems to help against that he builds rarely colony pods with the default settings (and ends always up as the faction with the fewest bases)

 

[UK_John]

Granted I have just re-bought AC and ACAC and only played through the game once on easy, but if I remember my original game playing and this recent game playing, an awful lot is about the map as well as the AI. First time I played this time round, even on easy, I was surrounded by the U.N. I had to take them on to be able to expand. That created a very different game (which I lost) with my next game where I was in the bottom left hand corner of the map with everyone to the NE of me, allowing me more options.

What makes Civ and AC (and indeed other games like X-Com UFO Defence!) so great, is that it's not just the AI, but the maps, the economical situation, random effects on the map and just one surprise victory, defeat or diplomacy action all combining to make a game easier or harder. One example: You just don't have enough energy to hurry the hunter algorithm, your largest enemy does and gets it first. Now being protected from Probe teams they start pumping out probe teams very chance they get and start getting all your research, assassinating your researchers and stealing your energy. Because of this, 50 turns later, you lose. All for the sake of 100 energy! That's how real wars can turn, and that's what you get with Civ and ACAC!!!