Playing as the Borg

[Iceman]

There's still 2 descriptions for Borg PFs missing, for Construction Unit and for Species Database (I couldn't come up with anything interesting for this one and the description is incomplete... forgot to clean it up )
Any ideas?


BTW, CaptScarff has implemented additional starting colonies for the empires when starting level is above Early.
Should the Borg also get additional colonies like the other empires

[geordie]

After 4-5 games in the row somehow I have enough of the Borg for some time, but they are still related in other games.
My question - are the Axanar brains not eatable for the Borg? Sorry, do not remember that or met it first time.

Screenshot 2023-11-10 115838.jpg (645.75 KiB) Viewed 464 times

So a crazy idea - could the Borg sign treaties with the races immune to the assimilation???

[Iceman]

Hehe, yes, I guess you must be tired of playing the Borg.

The Axanar can be assimilated. Could it be that the Borg do not have a strong enough fleet nearby? The Axanar have ships in orbit, and they might have a large garrison (I think their homesystem is usually large-ish?).

So a crazy idea - could the Borg sign treaties with the races immune to the assimilation???

[geordie]

BTW, CaptScarff has implemented additional starting colonies for the empires when starting level is above Early.
Should the Borg also get additional colonies like the other empires

I think that the Borg should start only with the Unimatrix system, but one TWH within a range of 12 sectors towards the center of the galaxy might be a bonus for the Borg.

[Iceman]

BTW, CaptScarff has implemented additional starting colonies for the empires when starting level is above Early.
Should the Borg also get additional colonies like the other empires

I think that the Borg should start only with the Unimatrix system, but one TWH within a range of 12 sectors towards the center of the galaxy might be a bonus for the Borg.

Interesting.

Those 12 sectors, they should probably be related to map size - in a Tiny or Small map it would pretty much be in the dead center of the galaxy. At least these 2 sizes should probably not even spawn the TWH.

And maybe the TWH should only be spawned if the game is started with Minors set to None? Or, in such a case, the game should probably override the option and set Minors to Few or something.

[the6the]

Hi Guys!
I must admit I haven't had the chance to play all that much, and I'm just about to download the newest patch.
However
I agree that Borg should start with only Unimatrix. The Borg game with no minors is actually very interesting, and I would like to keep the option. with or without the extra TWH

[Iceman]

I agree that Borg should start with only Unimatrix. The Borg game with no minors is actually very interesting, and I would like to keep the option. with or without the extra TWH

Ok, for now they only start with Unimatrix. At some point in the future, we will be able to customize starting colonies.

[Iceman]

My question - are the Axanar brains not eatable for the Borg? Sorry, do not remember that or met it first time.

Do you want me to take a look at the savegame, to check why the Axanar have signed a NAP - Non-Assimilation Pact with the Borg?

[the6the]

A couple of bugs..

1.The Vidian systems keeps telling me that they've reached optimal drone capacity, turn after turn. This used to happen with a couple other systems, but they've stopped.
2. The Vhnor system has been trying to complete a Borg cube for ages. The message says that there isn't enough duranium, but there is a nice amount in reserve, plus a nice excess every turn.

It seems Dilithium has become the bottleneck of the Borg now. It used to be duranium (that isn't so much an issue right now, but I am running low at turn 205), and then it was fleet support. Fleet support is now through the roof! However, I need to check the fleet support on a no Minor Race game. That could be very different. Otherwise I'd recommend a reduction in FS.
On the topic of a no minor race game, Dilithium will be even more of an issue, due to less sources of Dilithium on the map in general.
It also might be me, though, I did build 3 TWH within the first 100 turns or so, each of them burns 50, so...

I have also noticed that Klingon fleets just seem to appear out of nowhere onto one of my colonies that border with them, regardless of the fact that I have both a subspace analyzer AND a scout scanning the region, and somehow their cloak defeats all of that scanning. Is this intentional? It's cool if it is, just wondering if it could be a bug.

Here's one of the saves. I have earlier ones if you need them.
edit- it seems issue 2 was real. too many cubes being built at the same time I guess. In subsequent turns, it starts building.

[Iceman]

A couple of bugs..

1.The Vidian systems keeps telling me that they've reached optimal drone capacity, turn after turn. This used to happen with a couple other systems, but they've stopped.

I think it's because of the Maturation Chambers, but I have to check in the code. I could swear the code handled that, but apparently not... thanks!

2. The Vhnor system has been trying to complete a Borg cube for ages. The message says that there isn't enough duranium, but there is a nice amount in reserve, plus a nice excess every turn.
(...)
edit- it seems issue 2 was real. too many cubes being built at the same time I guess. In subsequent turns, it starts building.

Yes, probably.

It seems Dilithium has become the bottleneck of the Borg now. It used to be duranium (that isn't so much an issue right now, but I am running low at turn 205), and then it was fleet support. Fleet support is now through the roof! However, I need to check the fleet support on a no Minor Race game. That could be very different. Otherwise I'd recommend a reduction in FS.
On the topic of a no minor race game, Dilithium will be even more of an issue, due to less sources of Dilithium on the map in general.
It also might be me, though, I did build 3 TWH within the first 100 turns or so, each of them burns 50, so...

When you have more feedback, please do post!
I can scale back pop-based fleet support now I guess, with the new +FleetSupport building.
As for the duranium issue, we can either reduce the Tritanium Forge's output, or increase duranium cost for (some of) the ships.

I have also noticed that Klingon fleets just seem to appear out of nowhere onto one of my colonies that border with them, regardless of the fact that I have both a subspace analyzer AND a scout scanning the region, and somehow their cloak defeats all of that scanning. Is this intentional? It's cool if it is, just wondering if it could be a bug.

The SA has a scan strength of 6, and the Probe 8. High end Klingon ships have cloak strength 6, except the Negh'Var with 7. They should be detected, unless there's an anomaly lowering your scan strength. I can see that there are a few sectors at -16 in that general direction, so that's most likely the reason. They're useful after all

Thanks for the save!
There's a couple more sitreps I need to change.
And I noticed an inefficiency in the Romulan AI fleet management.

[Iceman]

Fixed the Maturation Chambers issue.

[the6the]

Playing a no minors game now.
Dilithium isn't too much of a problem after all. It's a slower developing game, so the emphasis on ship building is less so than in games containing at least "few" minor races.
I'm at around turn 100, having built 2 TWHs, and my Dilithium is steady at around 100 or so. Albeit, I'm not going nutz on ship building, so that might be part of the reason.
Fleet supply is a little too high. I have around 1000 surplus at turn 100, again it might be my style of play in this game, but still, 1000 is huge.
What I have noticed is that the AI of the Klingons and the Romulans (who I have greatly massacred, but who still have considerable assets) have stopped building ships altogether. I have checked, and the Klingons have Dilithium and Duranium on the planets, they have at least 3-4 Y1's, and their military strength hasn't changed in over 30 turns.. It's not like the Klingons to roll over like that!

In general there seems to be a lack of initiative from the AI when it comes to attacking the Borg - The Dominion discovered Unimatrix01 over 25 turns ago, there should have been at least some sort of attack attempted by now, especially since there are no ships there defending it.

[Iceman]

Fleet supply is a little too high. I have around 1000 surplus at turn 100, again it might be my style of play in this game, but still, 1000 is huge.

Yes, I'm thinking of changing the pop support multiplier back to 0.3.

What I have noticed is that the AI of the Klingons and the Romulans (who I have greatly massacred, but who still have considerable assets) have stopped building ships altogether. I have checked, and the Klingons have Dilithium and Duranium on the planets, they have at least 3-4 Y1's, and their military strength hasn't changed in over 30 turns.. It's not like the Klingons to roll over like that!

I'll check your savegame, thanks!

In general there seems to be a lack of initiative from the AI when it comes to attacking the Borg - The Dominion discovered Unimatrix01 over 25 turns ago, there should have been at least some sort of attack attempted by now, especially since there are no ships there defending it.

The AI(s) don't yet recognize the Borg as a greater threat than everyone else in the game. They'll treat them as any other empire.
I'll see what can be done to improve that.

[Iceman]

Fleet supply is a little too high. I have around 1000 surplus at turn 100, again it might be my style of play in this game, but still, 1000 is huge.

Lowering pop support to 0.3 drops this to ~800.

What I have noticed is that the AI of the Klingons and the Romulans (who I have greatly massacred, but who still have considerable assets) have stopped building ships altogether. I have checked, and the Klingons have Dilithium and Duranium on the planets, they have at least 3-4 Y1's, and their military strength hasn't changed in over 30 turns.. It's not like the Klingons to roll over like that!

The Klingons only have 9 systems left. They only have SY1s left (they have 1 SY2 actually), so they would take literally ages to build Supreme level ships... My guess is that they're trying to upgrade their shipyards.
I think they only have 1 scout left. They're essentially dead - I'd say because you played well, rather than them playing badly.
I noticed something that I need to improve.

The Romulans are a bit better but they're basically toast too. They have 20 systems, 1 SY3 and 1 SY2 and the rest SY1s. Only civilian ships.

In general there seems to be a lack of initiative from the AI when it comes to attacking the Borg - The Dominion discovered Unimatrix01 over 25 turns ago, there should have been at least some sort of attack attempted by now, especially since there are no ships there defending it.

Did they actually visit Unimatrix, or contact was made somewhere else? If the latter, they might not know where Unimatrix is.

Supreme starts are more challenging for the AI. Starting with extra systems at higher starting levels hopefully will help with this. We should release a new patch with this feature soon; it breaks savegames though.

[the6the]

Yes, the Dominion actually visited Unimatrix01, I remember getting the Sitrep saying there's been an incursion in the Unimatrix01 system. (love the wording btw ) Probably just a scout, but all the same, I would've expected some action, especially since it was completely unprotected. To be fair, they're probably still rather far from Unimatrix01 and would need to build an outpost do get significant ships to attack the system.

About the Borg being recognized as a greater threat than others:
It should be recognized only after being affected by the Borg (significant loss of ships or a single system to them). To those who've incurred the loss, and any major (or minors) empire who have a certain relationship with those affected. which relationship? No idea. Maybe as little as having been in contact with those who have been affected.
Another (easier) way to do it, is to make the entire galaxy gang up on the Borg after they have assimilated a certain amount of systems (galaxy map dependent).
But they definitely should be realized as a larger threat at some point.

Also, does the AI treat any empire's HQ as a major target, and focus their attacks in that direction? (providing they're at war, of course) I'm guessing it does, but if not, perhaps that would be something to think about.