Fog of War & A.I.

[CyberMage]

As a beginner who wishes to learn by observing A.I. behavior, I have removed the fog-of-war in the two relevant game-setup options : allowing to see all the ships on the map, and allowing to see A.I. ship movements (very useful to learn that you're going to be attacked in a few turns).

The problem is that I'm already beating the comps too easily, even on the higher difficulty levels. I have this unfair advantage, with no fog of war, of seeing where the comps are weak, and of being warned of their incoming attacks against me.

But if I turn off the two fog-of-war options, am I going to play against computer players which will have the unfair advantage of seeing all the ship locations & movements -- at all times? Such is the case in many computer games : the A.I. players have the unfair benefit of having being granted a permanent God's Eye view of the map. I don't want to win against the comps if I have some unfair advantage, but on the other hand, I don't wish to be defeated by computer players that cheat in a major fashion.

So, my QUESTION is this : Can the computer players (A.I.) see all the ships & movements positioned on the map at all times? (No fog of war & God's Eye view.)

In this type of game, in particular, if one side does not have that advantage when its enemies have it, it becomes a very unfair competition.

[Chris]

The AI does not cheat, and cannot see into the fog of war.

[CyberMage]

The AI does not cheat, and cannot see into the fog of war.

1. I had noticed that, because when I played against 7 comps at the highest level of A.I., and with the fog of war totally removed, I could see that my 7 adversaries started with the same number of ships and did not grow at an abnormal, excessive pace. I like that.

2. Consequently, my future games will have the fog of war totally on for myself. If it is turned off, it does grant me a very unfair advantage : I can see the ship strength of every planet on the map, and since I can perceive incoming attack trajectories, I can too easily prepare myself.

On Wednesday, I played 3 games (random/huge, max. planets, 7 enemies), on average, high & highest, and I won too easily : certainly, in a major part, because of my very unfair no-fog-of-war advantage. I'm certain that I will always win again, because I stockpile ships until I have a big enough armada to overwhelm my neighbours, and a big enough factory-upgrade level to generate a sufficient defensive force per turn (to secure my planet when my offensive armada has left). Since the A.I. don't seem to build enough factories, it won't be able to compete, in the long run. Not having the fog of war turned on will only make me more cautious & patient, but it won't change my factory building and ship stockpiling Strategy.

I prefer to play on vast maps, but I guess that the smaller the map, with the most enemies, the more the probability that very stressful, early threats can increase. I will eventually try that.