Why did the AI do this?

[name]

I'm playing a SP game where all the factions were on a main continent except me. Miriam went NUTS and killed everyone but my good buddy Lal. He was struggling with his 10 or so cities against her 50ish so I built him a couple bases in a flanking-Miriam position and handed them over. They both had clean AAA garrisons and had rushed some shard rovers to be built the next turn. As soon as I handed them over, he changed from the to-be-completed rovers to stockpiling energy. He kept the garrisons for a few turns, but soon decided to disband them completely and start building some scout rovers.

I figured him switching from the shard rovers was because he didn't have that tech yet, but why did he disband the units? It's going to be awfully hard to keep him alive if he insists on disbanding everything I give him.

[mmxx25]

It's support minerals available; if he is maxed out with the nearest city on his mineral production he can't maintain the extra units;

If a city is generating five minerals; if brother Lal is given five units and he is already maintaining his current city four units than he can't maintain them and it disbands extras.

The nearest city closest of his closest is the city were the units get maintained when you transfer units.

By giving him shards as a gift; since Brother Lal didn't have enough minerals generated in that city; the computer selected the military unit farthest away to be disbanded.

So if he's got 4 units in UN Headquarters; and you transfer a unit to him 8 squares away from this city and of all the Un Headquarters units your unit 8 squares away is the farthest;

Since UN Headquarters doesn't have enough mineral production to maintain 5 units it must misband one unit; so it's your gift shard units;

It's like getting paid; if your an employer and can only pay 4 people; the fifth employee doesn't get a check and since other jobs are available the fifth employee leaves so your financial obligations are lesser so you can pay the four employees.

Why did Sister Miriam Godwinson go nuts? Eventually the one with the biggest civilization wins; because people do not like games which go on forever;

Most computer game buyers want a game which is about 30 minutes to an hour in length;

However strategy games such as Alpha Centauri can last two days or more.

[name]

There are several problems with that theory. I gave him entire cities, not units near his HQ. The shard rovers never existed because the instant I handed the cities over to him he changed the production to stock piling energy, which I assume is because he didn't have the tech. The only other units around were clean infantry supported by the cities I gave him. For apparently no reason he disbanded all the CLEAN infantry and sat around in empty cities.

I want to keep him around to fight my war and trade with, but he seems intent on killing himself.

[Petek]

The answer to your question about why did Lal disband the clean AAA garrisons is that the AI is incredibly incompetent. It is unable to react to changing circumstances and adopt new strategies.

In particular, the AI "dislikes" units with clean reactors and rarely builds any on its own. I think that it views such units as being too expensive compared with units that require support. If you still have the game, you might want to open the scenario editor and "switch sides" so that you're now playing as Lal. I predict you'll find that Lal obsoleted your clean garrisons in the unit workshop, which explains why the units were disbanded. I've seen this happen before.

If you want to keep Lal alive, I suggest that you build a couple of bases on some continent far away from Miriam and then gift those bases to Lal. Also, you might have better luck with moving some of your units into Lal's territory and then turning control of those units over to Lal. I think the AI is less likely to disband gifted units, even clean ones. He may even start building more copies of the gifted units in his bases.

HTH

Petek

[CEO Aaron]

Another way to pop Lal up would be to pact with him and send some of your units to defend his bases. A few SAM rovers, some AAA garrisons, and an interceptor or two will do wonders when intelligently controlled. Giving your units outright won't necessarily guarantee that they'll be used intelligently.

[Kirov]

Originally posted by CEO Aaron
Another way to pop Lal up would be to pact with him and send some of your units to defend his bases. A few SAM rovers, some AAA garrisons, and an interceptor or two will do wonders when intelligently controlled. Giving your units outright won't necessarily guarantee that they'll be used intelligently.

My thoughts exactly. If I want just to "keep an AI alive", I simply give it one or two bases. If I want to actually help it, I never transfer any units or bases, trying instead to handle the situation myself. Without it, you never know what AI will do with your aid.

[name]

Ah, the PKs making the clean units obsolete certainly makes sense. Thanks.

Giving him the bases was a very short term solution to keeping him alive, as he was a good 10 turns away by ship and I didn't even have a rescue mission planned yet.

On a related note, if I had been able to defend his cities for him, does that affect Miriam's attitude towards me? I.E., she was at war with every faction at once, but she focused on destroying one at a time. If she is focused on fighting the PKs on her land but winds up fighting mostly me, will she switch gears to fight me overseas? The whole point in keeping him alive was to give me some time to get myself up to ultra-extreme-bloated Miriam's power level.

[Hydro]

Hi,

Well, if you put units in Lal's base (which you can do if you are allied) and Miriam attacks she might 'accidentally' attack you since the combat engine automatically selects the highest defense unit. She might, therefore, declare war.

It is far easier to give Lal a sea base or a land base on a nearby island. Then when you take the war to Miriam you can give him back his bases. This might be your only real way to save him in the short term if he is so far away.

You can also free the imprisoned faction leaders from Miriam, by the way. If there is a bit of unclaimed land they'll then set up the faction again and be in a submissive Pact with you. I'm pretty sure this only works in SMAX, and you'll have to probe her capital - which might be a challenge if due to the Believer's good probe defense when running fundi.

Hydro

[CEO Aaron]

Originally posted by name

On a related note, if I had been able to defend his cities for him, does that affect Miriam's attitude towards me? I.E., she was at war with every faction at once, but she focused on destroying one at a time. If she is focused on fighting the PKs on her land but winds up fighting mostly me, will she switch gears to fight me overseas? The whole point in keeping him alive was to give me some time to get myself up to ultra-extreme-bloated Miriam's power level.

No, the AI has far less strategic planning ability than you give it credit for. It will pathetically fling troops at a prepared position against which it has little hope of victory without ever pausing to reconsider its course of action. Sun Tsu's quote is 'Build a golden road for a fleeing enemy', but in SMAX, it's better to build a road toward your emplaced ambush.

For example, if you're in a land war, plant a bunker, backed up by a sensor or two, and nearby airbases near a convenient choke point. Make sure you break any roads and plant forests just next to your bunker, then you just plop down a AAA/best garrison or two, and a fistful of rovers, maybe an artillery piece or two. A noodle or chopper in the nearby airbase can be a useful reserve. Such a setup can hold out in the face of near infinite troops, so long as you remain even mildly vigilant.