AI new FAFer and questions

[B8factor]

Wife and I love RTS games. Some we enjoy multi player others just for private Comp stomps. Having been a big fan of Subcom for years I have been excited that my wife now has shown interest for comp stomps of FA. We found FAF and really enjoy it though we split our time between FAF version and Steam plain jane version… mainly because I have not taken the time to port forward one PC and we have difficulty connecting to same lobby in FAF about 80% of the time.

Question 1, why do we have problems only some of the time and not all the time?

I have been a big fan of comp stomping with Sorian AI for many years now but with FAF I have some questions.

Question 2, when we play FAF we can set the multiplier. When we play Steam version on local lan we can’t… do both use the same install of Sorian AI or does FAF have its own flavor?

Question 3, Can I install MOD locally for Steam version that allows for setting multiplier?

I have read many times that the best AI to play is Sorian Aix Aeon turtle. We have preferred playing Sorian regular with a mix of 2-3 factions for unit mixes. I prefer have lumbering colossus, fat boys, and monkeylords coming in over air experimentals. However the AI prefer the air variant. I can’t turn off the other as that is my wife’s favorite.

Question 4, why is it Aeon is the better race for Sorian AI?

Question 5, why turtle? In playing both turtle on non I have not seen a big difference.

Wife enjoys turtling her base until she gets… what we call “Skull Splitters”. We have called this unit by that name for so long I cannot remember its real name… the Cybran Air experimental. Once you have 3 or 4 it is pretty much game over. Hitting some t3 power end it. I wish they would do a better job of protecting. I wonder if we had on Omni would they prepare better for her multiple skull splitter attack?

It would be nice if I could tweak in the AI to get them to build multiple large bases instead of just 1 large base because their other resource bases are just tiny barely defended outposts. That are easy to run over in the late game. It seems the AI just gives up late game and sends small units groups out to be killed while waiting their eventual destruction.

Ai comp stomps tend to be a struggle in the beginning in order to tech. The t2 phase is a sweet spot for me as my UEF mobile shields make for some total war style formation battles. Once the computer gets t3 mobile artillery it forces us to go air superiority to stop they experimental units. And then once we control the skies and it just a matter of the right amount of expermintals and the game is over.

Every once in a while the computer does something neat like building a stealth base in the back or ours or portaling a subcom over to our side for a commander kill.

We do not often play AIX as it is drastically different than non-cheating. I have tried just doing 1.1 but it seems far more difficult. When we play Steam version (non FAF) I can’t set the multipler?

Question 6, what is the default multiplier for the latest Sorian AI installed for Steam version of FA?

Question 7, what and can I install MODS on steam version to match up what we play when playing in FAF? I would love to get all the fixes, the UI mods, etc.

Until I get the port forwarding done (which I am sort of scared to do because I don’t know how it will affect my other games) we have been playing more non FAF then FAF.

One of our favorite map setups is Seatons with 2 Sorian air on one side, so they have 2 bases a piece. And 1 sorian AI on our side to harass us. This is a pretty good game as they do a great job of drop harassment. However once we secure the skies it is pretty much game over… as long as t3 arty is off.

We have been venturing out into teamplay maps… mixed results. It is hard to find a well-made map that is both eye pleasing (seatons if my comparison) and does not contain too many terrain glitches were AI units get stuck shooting and the sand. I have found a few and we post comments in on the ones we played. I have been meaning to post some vids (we do a strategy u tube on rts game) but it takes us a long time to do a video. I don’t just record the game I post edit to just showcase the entertainment moments. We try to keep long RTS games down to 30 min max recaps. Being middle aged though does limit ones RTS game time which even more limits utube production video time… lol!

Question 8, does playing FAF lag the game some for comp stomps versus local lan? Is all the data being sent to server and back?

Subcom 2… we also enjoyed playing subcom 2 for a long while… so very cool units! But no mod support is a total game killer! If I could just win the lottery oh what fun would it be to recreate the original FA (and homeworld) with emphasis on modern computer support, more MODability, and a far more robust AI system! Haha

I suppose that is enough for a first post. I will be around!

[Uveso]

Q1: Sorry, i dont understand that question.

Q2: if you have installed FAF (even with steam) you can start the the game (for lan or singleplayer) with a Destopshortcut:

Make a desktop-shortcut from the file:
C:\ProgramData\FAForever\bin\ForgedAlliance.exe
(Rightclick the file and select "Send to" -> Desktop Shortcut")

Open the shortcut and change the Command line (target):
from:
C:\ProgramData\FAForever\bin\ForgedAlliance.exe
to:
C:\ProgramData\FAForever\bin\ForgedAlliance.exe /init init_faf

Now you can start the FAF version of the game, and play multiplayer in LAN over the ingame menu.

Q3: no, there is no such mod. (you dont need it, if you make you desktopshortcut)

Q4: Most player say cybran is best, some say UEF is the best. is there a best ? Maybe there are ony different ?

Q5: I had the same problem. The AI is good until minute30, the we/i can beat it easy after.
I modified the Ai with some unitmods. Try total Mayhem to see, if the AI is a match after minute 30
More info about the mod:
viewtopic.php?f=47&t=12248

Q6: Default multiplyer for normal Ai is 1 (one).

Q7: No, just use the FAF game with the shortcut directly.

Q8: i dont know this. but should not be the case.

[B8factor]

My question 1 was specific to 2 players playing on the same router. I read it can be an issue with ports... we have found that 20% of the time we load in lobby together no problem but about 80% of the time one of us can not connect to the other. The question is, given it is the port issue, why can we sometimes connect no problems and not experience the port issue 100% of the time?

[Uveso]

Well, first of all, you dont need portforwarding, if you are playing on LAN.
So you can test, if you can connect 100% of all games through LAN. If yes, we can take a look into your FAF logs, to see whats going wrong with online games.

Some words to portforwarding, and why it's needed or not.

Example 1:
Let's say you have running SupCom on your 2 PC's and i run SupCom on my PC. (All 3 SupCom games are set to run on port 16010)

If i try to connect (with port 16010) first to you, your router can't establish a connection. But why ?
Your Router will get my DATA paket with a Port number. But he cant decide where it shoud send the data, to your PC1 or PC2. In this case it simply dont route any data and the connection will fail.

Now set a portforwarding inside your router for your PC1 with port 16010.

Now, If i try to connect again through port 16010 to you, your router know that port 16010 is for PC1 and it will route the Data from me tou your PC1. And the game will work.

Example 2:
Same setting like above (without portforwarding).

But now, You are connecting with P1 first to me.
Your router will see, PC1 is sending over port 16010 to me. And the router will memorize it (like a temporary portforwarding), that port 16010 is related to PC1. And we can play.
As you see, in this case we dont need portforwarding, because the router knows it, because your PC1 was telling your router the Port by sending DATA first.
(means, if i Host you can join my game, but if you host, i cant join yours.)

Example 3:
Only your 2 PC are trying to connect.

Fist, your PC1 is sending a DATApacket to the FAF server over port 16010. Your router will memorize the port 16010 for PC1.
Second, your PC2 is connectiong to the server also through Port 16010. The router will see, OH, i already used port 16010 for PC1. And it will shift the port from PC2 to the next free port like 16011.
If this works, the server now send data back to port 16010 for PC1 and on port 16011 for PC2.


Now the question, why does this not work all the time. (without logs i can only guess)
1. Your Router sometimes don't use correct NAT translation for ports (not shifting port to the next aviable port, or shift to port that is out of the range what the server is accepting.
2. your internetprovider is using IP6. IP6 dont has ports, and IP4 adresses and Ports have to transformed to a single IP6 adress. Sometines the Adressmapping fails on Provider side, and the port get lost.
3. Wrong port or NAT settings (or not present)
4. UPnP disabled or not present. (This is for automatically set your router through Universal plug and play)
5. PC2 was turned on first and connect first to the router, while on other days PC1 was started and connected to the router first. (can change IP adressing if not set permanent)

[B8factor]

Thanks guys, we have gotten the FAF to play local LAN and it is working great! Thanks so much.

[Uveso]

You are welcome!

[seero]

From where you have found a wife who likes RTS games? Could you ask her to get my wife involved in RTS too?

[B8factor]

it comes at a cost my friend! haha but I LOVE it!

So when playing comp stomps... my duty is to protect her until she has teched enough to go late units. In FA, often I am stuck in mostly T2 while she is T3 and T4.

When playing multiplayer, as we do in Planetary Annihilation, we enjoy free for alls. When doing that the rule is, I can never attack her but she can attack me when ever she chooses. Often times that is when I am already in an attack with another player, LOL. And sometimes when she is getting rushed I have to stop what I am doing and assist her even if it means I have to travel through 4 other players to do it... and often to the end of result of my destruction.

So be careful what you ask for... you may become a slave to your own wishes! Albeit a slave with a plethora of advanced killing machines at your disposal! Muahahaha