Report - Current Bugs and Issues

[Chasm]

There definitely should be some attached negative for colonizing into rival empire systems. Should be fairly easy to implement.

[zolobolo]

AI does not seem to prioritize Bombers as targets for their fighter squadrons

As visible below, the Carrier is being assaulted by a bomber and a fighter squadron from a Fortress, but the Gremak carrier sends out its Interceptors against the Human Heavy Destroyer (with a huge shield capacity)

It could be argued that at this point, the Gremak Carrier does not stand a chance against the Fortress and is thus concentrating fire on the Heavy Cruise but this is besides the point as in this situation it should of course retreat

Given the behaviour of the Carrier staying, the Fighters would yield the best benefit when sent out against the Bombers but also generally I think this would be a sensible behaviour: each time enemy Bombers are attacking friendly ships, available Fighters should engage these

It is not that obvious a decision when considering Fighters or Strike Fighters, but against Bombers this should be a clear choice

As a side-note: behold the beauty of Human Fighters and Bomber models
Have said before that the the small crafts mechanics here are the best I have ever seen, but the latest change: giving bombers and SF rockets instead of torpedoes really did improve the mechanic. I was skeptical at first on this, and torpedoes do not have much use anymore (Phidi particularly cannot utilize them at all), it did resolve the Bomber/SF spamming issue as they do not eradicate everything in one strike

[zolobolo]

Here is a case where invasion does not take place: it seems like a permutation of the scenario where enemy fleet arrives to system and then does not attack

Note that:
- Humans are at war with the Gremak
- Gremak planet in system Sargas is undefended with no planetary defenses
- Gremak planet is not expecting considerable reinforcements in the near future so the planet could be held until Human defense arrives or Planetary Defenses are rushed
- Planet only has 1 pop defending it, while invasion force has 1 Hover Tank battalion + 1 Colony ship with colonists
- In the next turn, the transport and the colony ship still leave to different systems with no apparent reason there (both owned by Humans and no targets) without attacking the Gremak planet at Sargas

Save attached

[zolobolo]

Both Phidi Carrier (small and Fleet Carrier versions) have a Munitions Module per default which is not visible in the ship designer window
The Module shows up in the bottom of the list when ship is selected

Interestingly: only the bottom Munitions module has the EXPLOSIVE trait displayed to it: do other other "Extra Munitions" modules not increase the explosion hazard?

[zolobolo]

Marauders seem to be invading Human Empire a lot despite the recent change that should cut back on their invasions against AI empires
As the seem to be ignoring the other AI empire which is Gremak, I assume this has something to do with Human faction: could it be due to the fact that Humans do not start with a colonized planet?

Another reason could be that Humans have invaded their home planet - maybe this disables their natural stance?

Example is in my last save (two posts up )
Marauders from system: Solanar are doing a lot of invading against Human systems: Haldor and Menkib

[zolobolo]

Humans are ignoring Oceanic planets for colonization as seen below (there are two Colony ships stationed in the system and neither of them makes a move for the planet)

This is obviously due to the hostile environment consideration script allowing colonization of a single planet per system
In this case it is obviously not beneficial for the AI to do this, as it has tons of funds to pay for the costs: +249 income per turn)

I think the AI should only avoid colonization if it is somewhat dangerous for its budget
This would make sense as rapid expansion requires lots of funds but "tall" empires with less system and lots of spare coin can afford colonization of less then ideal worlds - this is even more sensible once the AI starts shifting population to negate the effect

[zolobolo]

Haven't seen any planets rebelling against AI recently and below is an example where it seems this is not possible

The Gremak have captured the planet a couple of turns ago, and though all of the Human population that has remained there are in a stance of rebellion, and there are no ground forces there to suppress them, the planet remains under Gremak control

[zolobolo]

Stellar Surge beam attack animation takes several seconds with additional seconds of idle time after the shot

Also: shouldn't there be any rubble left after a planet has been destroyed?

[zolobolo]

Human Raid against Haduir end in loss of a Tank battalion

According to Raid estimate losses should only occur only to Assault Marines or enemy pop and Tanks are not used during raiding as they do not have capture power correct?

Ideally, Raids should also ignore Tank Battalions stationed on the planet to make raiding a viable option when an enemy planet is defenseless but has considerable ground troop presence to make bombing a long and unattractive option - this would make militias upgrade even more important (could be mentioned in the tech description)

[Arioch]

Human Raid against Haduir end in loss of a Tank battalion

According to Raid estimate losses should only occur only to Assault Marines or enemy pop and Tanks are not used during raiding as they do not have capture power correct?

Ideally, Raids should also ignore Tank Battalions stationed on the planet to make raiding a viable option when an enemy planet is defenseless but has considerable ground troop presence to make bombing a long and unattractive option - this would make militias upgrade even more important (could be mentioned in the tech description)

All troops (both offense and defensive) take part in the battle during the raid. The defensive tanks fight to protect the civilians (why would they not?), and the offensive tanks fight to cover the raiders even if they can't capture slaves themselves.

[zolobolo]

The defensive tanks fight to protect the civilians (why would they not?).

They would certainly try, but it would be perfectly acceptable to say and assume that they do not have a chance to mobilize in time. They are scattered around a planet and have less mobility then the attackers plus a Raid would be lightning fast compared to full scale planetary invasion where the goal is the elimination of all organized resistance.

This is one of the reasons I was assuming that regular battalions do not participate in Raids (enforced by Marauder behaviour only utilizing Marauders and not tanks)

But the main reason I find this concept to be viable is to make Raids a viable option to chose: They already require preparation, logistics and the elimination of all defending ships + planetary defenses, so having them fight the ground troops as well is a huge deterrent.
If this action would ignore at least the regular troops defending the planet, it would be a perfect alternative to bombing the whole planet to kingdom con because there aren't any Invasion troops to take the planet as is. Raids would in this scenario weaken a planet but not destroy the buildings, or cause heavy casualties to the attacker. There are really only two races that can make use of this mechanic, so it wouldn't lead to a Raid only game either - just where it is thematic

If this is not the case, then the casualties estimate needs updating so that it includes tanks as well and I have to think hard in a scenario where a player would choose this option instead of just capturing the whole planet.

[zolobolo]

Small craft models have a mismatch when designing planetary defenses as seen in the screenshot (does not occur when designing base or carriers)

In this example, player is playing Humans, Gremak designs are listed on the right hand side, but they switch over to Human models when equipped and in battle

Interestingly its the other way around in the Galaxy map and there it affects only bases (never seen the AI equipping small vessels for Planetary Defenses)
When selecting an enemy base, it will always display the player models (in this case Humans) though the AI is controlling another faction: the models are gain the correct ones here as well though in battle so it is just the info pane in galaxy menu

[nweismuller]

The AI will currently respect the territory of Marauders (as they respect major powers) for colonisation, but will establish outposts in Marauder systems. This behavior is inconsistent.

[nweismuller]

Human Dissidents do not currently enjoy the race-specific morale bonus for City Planning applied to Humans. I have not yet checked, but I suspect Orthin and Phidi Dissidents may likewise be denied race-specific morale boosts if this is the case. I am uncertain if this is intended behavior.

[zolobolo]

The first tech sold by the Herald can be bought several times in the same turn making for an easy exploit to rank up relationship with the Arda Seed

After each buy of Asteroid bases, the tech gets cheaper until it reaches 50 Metal and then stays on that level for some reason

Also noticed: Asteroid Station is listed as many times as the tech has been bought but only if three are no orbital slots available anymore on the planet

edited by sven: These Herald tech re-buying glitches should be fixed as of 21855.