Can you remember when you last felt threatened by an AI empire?

[Calor]

Well it was some time since i felt threatned then 2.2 dropped and it was like playing true single player just me and my sandbox galaxy ... and then i installed Glavius AI mod and i then i felt threatned .... a lot
seriously get that mod it's so damn good

 

[3Dent]

First few games I felt very threatened in 2.1. (in the very first I let AI purifiers snowball to 1/3 galaxy and then they attacked with multiple 60k stacks of battleships. My total fleet was 30K.)

So, current obvious bugs aside, I don't know how much of it is game balance between versions and how much is simply the players getting better with experieence.

 

[alchemist_7387]

Well... My last real challenge was in 1.6, when Awakened Empires were truly powerful.

I was playing as a Fanatic Purifier arthropoid species that despised its own organic form, so we pursued and achieved our cybernetic ascension. A militarist fallen empire (they don't exist anymore, do they?) suddenly awakened and snowballed everything in their path. Empire after empire fell to their mighty fleets. I had the opportunity to eliminate them just before their awakening, but I was recovering from a successful campaign against other fallen empire (which I managed to destroy completely). In the end: GAME OVER.

Maybe the fallen empires were too powerful back then (after their awakening, and even before that), but now they're too weak. Since 1.8 - 1.9, I don't see a War in Heaven - I destroy them before a possible awakening, looking for their juicy unique techs.

 

[Leylos]

The only time I was threatened was by an advanced start of a determined exterminator right next to me. The worst part was that I had them boxed in so I was their only target for conquest.

 

[Terkhev]

In 2.1 with AI mods. I always play on GA (not scaling) with all AIs as advanced starts, so even in 2.2 first contacts can be scary.

 

[gathomas88]

The AI is still threatening at the very beginning of the game, when militaristic empires are in "Zerg Rush" mode and you haven't really had time to snowball yet. The AI is also a legitimate challenge at the very end of the game, where Federations can spit out absurdly powerful fleets that are impossible for a regular player to match, and zip them around the galaxy in a blink using gates.

It's the middle portion that's the problem.

It's also worth noting that late game Feds don't actually *start* wars either, generally speaking. They're just really good at defending against the player.

 

[3Dent]

The AI is still threatening at the very beginning of the game, when militaristic empires are still in "Zerg Rush" mode and you haven't really had time to snowball yet, and at the very end of the game, where Federations can spit out absurdly powerful fleets that are impossible for a regular player to match, and zip them around the galaxy in a blink using gates.

It's the middle portion that's the problem.

Unless you're one of those federations...

EDIT: Which is IMO, a bit of a problem with the current victory system: Even if you federated half the galaxy and vassalized the other half, defeated the FEs, have multiple doomstacks that would eat the crisis, etc., the game still forces you to just sit there until the end year to be officially victorious.

 

[Methone]

Since right now. I'm bordering a Superior Exterminator and Overwhelming Swarm.

 

[gathomas88]

Unless you're one of those federations...

Playing strictly vanilla, at least, my experience is that the late game usually comes down to two (or maybe three) mega Feds, made up of whoever survived the crisis, locked in stagnation.

It's up to the player to really upset that.

Just got to make sure you're Fed President at the time, so you get to direct the fleet. Otherwise, you're pretty much boned. Lol

 

[Devanor]

Every. Single. Game!

(Because I'm bad)

 

[pmchem]

Playing strictly vanilla, at least, my experience is that the late game usually comes down to two (or maybe three) mega Feds, made up of whoever survived the crisis, locked in stagnation.

It's up to the player to really upset that.

Just got to make sure you're Fed President at the time, so you get to direct the fleet. Otherwise, you're pretty much boned. Lol

Dealing with federations is so painful that I've just taken to vassalizing people in my past games.