FreeOrion

i did not notice that ai would ever use robotic interface ship part, not even with robotic races. as much as i played, robotic interface with, let say 40 ships+, is more or less unstopable vs ai. i always tend to build such ships, even if i use exobots(-1 level with weapons). i think ai should use this option more, even more if its robotic race. ofcourse it would need to keep swarm together and not brake it into smaller groups...

playerxxcc wrote:ai should use this option more, even more if its robotic race

Actually, only if it has a robotic race, since non-robotic pilots get no shield bonus from robotic interface.

i mean like if ai is not primary robotic race, it can still make robotic interface ships with subraces, like exobots, or captured races... problem is ai doesnt use this feature at all, no matter of race or subrace possibility...

Well, the AI is, as much as everything else, a work in progress. So this is just one of the many things the AI could handle better (or at all). And one day it will, it's just a question when the AI team will get around to that specific issue...

To my knowledge, the AI is currently unable to use and basically unaware of the stacking features of both the interface and the solarweb, it's something the team are aware of but they're working on other things that will lead to them being able to work on it down the line.

This is why both the solarweb and the interface parts are currently quite expensive, it's fine for players to have access to something cool the AI can't/won't use, but it's not fine for a substantial advantage to be gainable. Personally I don't find the interface to be that effective compared to a cheaper pile of ships crewed by better pilots, even with Etty I rarely bother with it, it's only really good in doomstack vs doomstack fights and I find it's more effective to avoid them as much as possible.

I kind of go back and forth on using robotic shields for Etty or Cray. It makes the early ships expensive. I have at times used escort ships, meaning robotic hulls with no weapons, just shields, to ramp up the shield strength of fleets. I haven't worked it enough to evaluate that. One problem, especially with Cray, is that you might build half a dozen then get a better pilot species.

MatGB wrote:To my knowledge, the AI is currently unable to use and basically unaware of the stacking features of both the interface and the solarweb, it's something the team are aware of but they're working on other things

Correct.The current way the AI fleet management is scripted makes proper support of these parts difficult or at least far from trivial. There are many areas where much more gameplay impact can be achieved with the same or less work. So, at least as far as I am concerned, support for those parts is not planned for the near future.