Map probably needs a rework

[bookworm21]

Cory Trese fallen, hope you don't mind taking a look at this, it might belong in the bug report section, so sorry if in the wrong place.

Map: Rinze 64x32 (20 worlds)
Difficulty: Impossible
No of Xeno: 1
Game version: 2.1.9

I have been playing on easy and normal for a while and decided I wanted a challenge, so went for a small map on impossible. Immediately I was thrust into a world of tough financial decisions, soon compounded with the arrival of a huge xeno fleet bearing world killers. A constant stream of xeno continued, slowly wearing down my trusty Templar defenders and lone strike fighter, after my Explorer sacrificed itself in a heroic last ditch attempt to stop a world killer assaulting Salveria. (It failed, OK! Don't hold it against me!). My economy was in tatters, barely breaking even with a profit of +$43. My cash reserved were non-existent. I was doomed...

And then, the xeno just stopped.

Their relentless push just petered out. I was able to start rebuilding. My economy got back online. My ships improved. All was looking rosy.

And then it happened.

A panicked star trader dashed into the spice den on Thulun Prime "Increased Krangg activity!" He gasped, "Hordes of them! Heading this way..."

They never arrived.

Several activity cycles later, I realised that they were never going to, at which point I assembled my fleet and advanced.

They fled, and as they only have 5 worlds it should be a small matter to purge them entirely (Currently AE 8.24)

I started in the middle of the map, they were in the top left. I really enjoyed the first 2 years of this game, but I felt like I'd cheated somehow. I hadn't created any dead worlds, but it just didnt feel right.

I don't know whether this is down to a dodgy map, or simply the xeno not having a large enough 'attack radius', but if it could be fixed I would be very grateful.

Thanks - I am now going to try a larger map with more opponents...

[fallen]

Thanks for the feedback, bookworm21, we'll take a look.

[Cory Trese]

Sounds like you survived the main issue of a small map. If you continue to attack them, you may find that they have massive backlog and are simply working to outstrip in technology.

Krangg's AI is very solid, and I suspect you're seeing one of it's strategies, not a bug.

Also, the small maps are really designed to be easy to win.

I suggest you try "The Garden" on Impossible.

[bookworm21]

That's what im doing now... Much better >:-)

[Cory Trese]

There have to be maps that give you one good challenge wave -- and others that try to destroy you for the first 12,000 turns =)

Variety of map difficulty keeps new people happy and veterans challenged.

[bookworm21]

I was expecting the smaller maps to be harder as less time to prepare. However, the garden has changed my mind...

Playing on a smaller map taught me a lot about colony optimisation and efficiency.

On my 'Easy' map with 30+ colonies i was getting 200 RP

On the small map I was getting 90 RP with only 9 colonies