As Designed Stellaris - [Lem 3.1.1 22a5] - Planetary FTL Inhibitors do not work against Unbidden

[MonzUn]

Really? Because according to a post @MonzUn made in a nearly identical report about the Contingency a week and a half ago, it isn't.

Stellaris - Contigency ignores planetary FTL inhibitors.

Description Contigency ignores planetary FTL inhibitors. Game Version 3,1,1 What version do you use? Steam What expansions do you have installed? Do you have mods enabled? Yes Please explain your issue is in as much detail as...

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Was it decided to leave this issue in place in the interim?

Yes and no.
We're looking into several things to fix this problem while also making sure that the AI doesn't get stuck when it's blocked by FTL inhibitors while also keeping the endgame AI from getting stuck invading planets that they don't have to go through.

This issue only affects the Contingency and the Unbidden as those are the only endgame crisis events that are designed to go straight for their Nemesis and nobody else until they've achieved their goal.

The solution we're looking into with the unbidden, is that they should utilize their warp drives properly to get around FTL inhibitors.
So it is correct that they should ignore FTL inhibitors, but not in the way they currently do it.

This might of course change though as we investigate how to navigate between these rather tricky issues.

 

[MonzUn]

Thank you so much for the update!

Just to clarify - when you say "warp drives" do you actually mean Jump Drives? Because a Crisis AI using Jump Drives the same way players do would be both awesome, and terrifying.

Thanks, I do mean jump drives! Sorry, it's 11pm ^^'
Yeah it would be pretty cool, but we're not settled on a solution yet and we will want to test things properly so I wouldn't expect any changes at least for the next patch.

 

[MonzUn]

Why not just make them bombard planets with FTL inhibitors until the planet's FTL inhibition is disabled? I'm pretty sure planetary FTL inhibitors are shut down at 50 devastation.

The prime reason is that there is no reason the unbidden should be stopped by them since they have jump drives.
The secondary reason is that it opens up a can of worms for the AI of when to siege and when to try and go around and how to actually get the information to make that decision.
A third reason is that they should pose an immediate threat to their nemesis, not get stuck sieging down planets for many years before even getting to the border of their empire.

Any way you look at it though, it's not a simple problem as they both need to get to their goal and handle everything they come across along the way.

Wait, what do you mean, their nemesis? Do the Contingency and the Unbidden have those?

Yes, they both have their individual conditions for selecting their nemesis based in their lore.

 

[MonzUn]

They still shouldn't be able just sail right through FTL inhibitors though, but rather, actually use the jump drives to skip past them towards their destination instead; with all the debuffs that normally come with jump drive cooldown.

I never claimed they should ignore them while not using jump drives.

Who are you referring to, though? Do you mean the Cybrex and the Aberrant/Vehement? Does that mean the Prethoryn aren't aiming for the Sentinels the same way? Or are you referring to something else entirely?

As you asked about the Unbidden and the Contingency, those where who I was referring to.