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« on: October 04, 2019, 06:33:55 PM »
The AI does what AIs usually do: fight and die. Ships with turreted weapons, replenishing missiles like the pilum or salamander, and ships with strong flux stats and wide shields are good for your fleet AI. Any ships that require timing to fire weapons at full effectiveness will be lost on the AI; it just doesn't get them. Phase ships in my experience love to just wobble around in phase space thumbing their nose at the enemy until their flux is full..and then die. Any cooldowns that are best saved for any reason are wasted; the AI burns everything it can at the first opportunity. Ever start a battle with a row of ships that have movement abilities? All their charges are gone before first contact, leaving me double facepalming as they get surrounded and stuck. God help you if you use reapers and one of your officers decides NOW is the best time to dodge in front your ship to PrOtEcT yOoOoOoOu! Boom. I swear to god they wait for it too. It's the reason I stopped using torpedoes and they still try their damndest to get in front of my guns and beams.
The best use I've found for the fleet AI is tanks. Heavy, durable, well-shielded ships with tons of point defense so they can just stride up to the enemy, go "OOGA BOOGA," float off to a corner somewhere and stick their chest out without dying while I alpha strike the dog$#*^ out of the enemy's juiciest targets. It's also why I always give my officers defensive skills over any sort of weapon enhancements. Anyone can flicker a shield; the AI can't fight itself worth a damn.