Challenging 1v7 solo game - 32 cyles to win by 66%

So I’ve been attending NP Anonymous to try to cure my addiction, but relapsed by playing some solo game against the Bots! :wink:

I’ve done this before with circular galaxies, and that ends up not being too difficult because you basically make peace and/or stay defensive with one neighbor, and then start working your way around. So for grins, I created a “default” game - the only changes were Twin-Ring star scatter (repeatable and no “lucky” start) and Dark Start disabled - I wanted to make sure that Green was in the middle (so I’d have multiple opponents to deal with) and the 2nd game I created worked. I also set win-by to 66% since even at the end, the AI’s (combined) had many more ships than me.

The “challenge” is once you start to expand and take the lead, all the Bots go -1 hostile against you … as they should!

I forgot to take a screenshot at the start, but the image below shows the map for 'ya. I eventually (it took a while!) got the upper hand, and especially once Warp Gates come into play, was able to press to victory.

One thing that helps is the Bots fire up their fleets pretty quick, but wait a cycle before building infrastructure - Jay should fix that. Also, at the end of the game, I was able to trade tech with an AI that had ZERO stars … and once I sent 'em enough tech to become friendly, they sent me tech back! Not sure where they got the credits to do that - they also sent tech to the other AI’s.

The end-game doesn’t show how many cycles/turns (maybe Jay can fix that too?) but it was 32 cycles to win … although I dinked around at the end a bit to get a “symmetric” 5 circle picture … plus sending 10+ levels of Weapons to the dead Bot (who sent it to their buddies who were fighting me) slowed me down a bit.

So any NP addicts want to try to win a similar 1v7 game in less time?!? :wink:

So my secret plan for 2016 - Once Blight is out there and putting food on the table is to take a step back and make a “fun” AI for Neptune’s Pride.

My primary motivation is to fix the problem where players drop out. The game becomes no fun because you are left with the pretty mindless AI. I want the game to gracefully transition from a fun Multiplayer to a fun Single Player game as players drop out throughout the game.

Wouldn’t it be cool if the AI could plot and scheme with you. If an AI could have a nemesis and encourage you to join with it to attack it.

Anyway, it great to see you have been having fun already @HULK!

If Blight totally crashes and burns over the next few months I might need to to a Kickstarter before I can try this, but I think it will be a fun project and I’m really looking forward to it!

So instead of going to this week’s meeting of NP Anonymous, I furthered my addiction by creating a few more 8 player games and out popped up the cool map below - figured that layout would be especially challenging since you are in the middle … plus it was “meant to be” since the center player was green.

I remembered to take a few screenshots this time - the 2nd one is after 27 cycles and 656 ticks … I hit the win by 66% on the next cycle.

I’m thinking the “ultimate” toughness battle would be a custom map 1v6 where you are in the middle surrounded by a hexagon of angry Robots … :wink:
Update: Posted map coordinates/example here.

P.S. Cool ideas Jay - good luck with Blight.

At Start of game:

After 27 cycles and 656 ticks - HULK has smashed/eliminated 4 Robots

One cycle later for the win by 66% - maybe Jay could add the cycle/tick count when done

@Hulk,
Love your analysis postings, keep it up!
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From the starting view, you were #3 on the leader board starting out. The next screen tick 656 tells me either
(1) AI’s may have been sluggish in attacking you, or
(2) bribery to the flanks may have slowed your conquests on other fronts, or
(3) you allowed another 1 or 2 AI’s take a combat hits from the #1 leader board position (quite a while) until you were fully prepared to strike and sustain the #1 leader position on all fronts.

What strategy and timetable did you employ towards conquering the 1st and 2nd capital stars?

The starting view is exactly that - everyone is equal - am not sure how things are ordered but I just happened to be #3.

AI’s start out neutral … but as soon as you become the leader, they go -1 hostile … so you have to bribe 'em (gets expensive … especially since you are surrounded!) So yea, pile up forces in one direction because once you commit to expand that way, all the other Bots start threatening 'ya. It does take a while … but at some point, you have enough resources (and weapons tech) you know you’ll win, even though you are vastly outnumbered in ships.

I haven’t played the “Ultimate Solo versus Bots” map yet which should be even more challenging - per that thread, any suggestions on what the “right/best” starting conditions should be? Please reply over in that thread.