AI Behavior

Understanding how AI opponents behave helps you predict their actions and plan accordingly. Because of this AI behavior is customized for each individual AI. The information below is general guidelines and each AI opponent may or may not follow them to varying degrees.

Activity Patterns

Online Schedule

AI players will follow circadian rhythms simulating real players:

Time Period	Behavior
Peak Hours	Most active, building and expanding
Off-Peak	Reduced activity
Sleep Period	Offline for extended periods

Activity varies by AI personality and follows realistic human-like patterns. Fallback schedules are staggered across the full day so the active NPC cohort is not concentrated in one narrow evening block. The live roster is also spread across different regional time patterns and lifestyles, so some opponents behave more like North American prime-time players while others look more like European or Asia-Pacific regulars.

Session Length

AI players have varying session lengths so that they will mimic both lightly active human players and heavily active human players. Some AI players will demonstrate patterns you would expect from a person with a day job while others may have a pattern you might see with someone who does not work at all.

Short sessions (30 min - 2 hours)
Long sessions (4+ hours)
Breaks between sessions
Cohort coverage spread across the full 24-hour cycle

Development Behavior

Building Priority

AI opponents follow strategic build orders depending on their personality and objectives. Some of them will build like miners, otherwise will prioritize trading. Some might specifically target offline players and try to safely farm resources from players while others might seek out the glory of war and focus on destroying ships.

Economy First: Metal Mine → Crystal Mine → Deuterium Synthesizer
Energy Management: Solar Plant → Fusion Reactor
Infrastructure: Robotics Factory → Shipyard → Research Lab
Expansion: Colony Ships → New planets
Safety Logistics: Cargo ships to support fleetsaving resources (before investing heavily in combat ships)

Freshly activated AI empires now stay mine-heavy for longer before moving into research and infrastructure. Expect them to push their homeworld toward roughly Metal Mine 5, Crystal Mine 5, and Deuterium Synthesizer 2 before they begin early research unlocks or robotics-focused buildouts. After that opening, their economy benchmark is tied to the strongest recently active human economies in the universe. If they are behind, they keep pushing mines and solar rather than drifting into early expansion or research. When their preferred economy upgrade is temporarily unaffordable, they now spend on the next best affordable mine or solar upgrade instead of idling on stockpiled resources. If a planet is starting to press against its storage ceiling, they will also prioritize the matching storage building so banked resources are not wasted while the economy ramps. Once their mines are established, they also raise Robotics Factory in step with empire growth so construction times do not lag too far behind active human empires. Their planner can now line up multiple future building steps instead of acting like a one-item queue manager. Current live tuning also pushes them to copy the pace of stronger builder-style empires more closely. Instead of sitting on one static script, they keep re-checking economy and core infrastructure targets so lagging AI empires keep growing instead of stalling out.

Queue and Infrastructure Goals

AI empires do not treat every planet equally, but they now try harder to keep colonies in the same general development band.

They establish a primary world based on empire needs, not automatically the original homeworld
If a colony falls badly behind, they temporarily switch into a laggard rescue mode to restore minimum mine, shipyard, robotics, and lab levels before resuming normal specialization
They push Robotics Factory aggressively on the primary world but stop at level 10
They then push Computer Technology toward level 10 so the empire can unlock faster late-game infrastructure
While that goal is in progress, they still keep mines moving toward the 15-20 range so the build queue stays funded
If resources are short and queues are empty, they bias toward the next robotics/nanite prerequisite
If resources are abundant and queues are already healthy, they still invest in robotics/nanite speed to reduce future idle time

Cross-Planet Logistics

AI empires now use cargo fleets as empire infrastructure, not just raid tools.

They maintain cargo ships on all planets
They transport resources between colonies when one planet is lagging key upgrades
They use those shipments to smooth out mine, energy, and infrastructure levels across the empire
If a weak colony cannot afford the next recovery upgrade locally, they can now dispatch partial funding shipments instead of waiting for one perfect full transfer
When they expect to be offline, they may deploy cargo fleets between their own worlds at slow speed while carrying stockpiled resources to reduce raid exposure

Research Focus

AI typically researches like any player would, focusing on early game unlocks and progressing through requirements as needed to meet the needs of its objectives.

Energy Technology (unlocks advanced buildings)
Combustion Drive (colony ship speed)
Espionage Technology (information gathering)
Computer Technology (fleet slots)
Combat technologies (weapons, shields, armor)

Once their economy is stable, they also value the robotics-to-nanite path much more than before. Expect stronger AI empires to push Computer Technology harder once the empire is mature enough to support it.

Expansion Pattern

AI colonies expand methodically and with multiple factors, just like players.

They follow the same colony-cap rules you do: total planet cap is 1 + Astrophysics level
Establish an internal primary-world economy first
Colonize when Astrophysics allows
If an AI is still stuck on one planet while Astrophysics already allows more, it now treats that as a catch-up problem and pushes colony preparation harder
Develop new colonies to support the wider empire
Balance resources across empire
Consider PvP opportunities and pressures
Consider support, trade, and defense benefits of being near others
Consider game objectives and what colonization strategy best supports it
Consider notable access patterns and interactions

Planet Identity

AI planets no longer stay permanently locked to generic starter names.

They may rename planets over time
Names are chosen to feel human and fit the game's military / sci-fi tone
Different AI empires follow different naming styles instead of sharing one global theme
Alliance-backed AI groups may lean into alliance-flavored naming when it fits the persona

Alliance Presence

When NPCs found alliances, they use persona-backed tags and names that are meant to blend into the universe instead of exposing internal NPC keys or placeholder labels. They strongly prefer NPC-led alliances and their own persona-backed alliance identities. Joining a player-owned alliance is possible, but it is meant to be uncommon and usually requires an unusually strong fit.

Chat Presence

NPCs do not endlessly spam private messages.

If you ignore a DM chain, they back off instead of repeatedly pinging you
If they already sent you a recent message and you have not replied, they avoid sending the same private message again
Alliance and combat-related chat can still be more responsive when active coordination is happening

Recovery Behavior

When an AI keeps attempting the same blocked action, it no longer sits in short retry loops forever.

Repeated rejected actions can trigger a broader strategy refresh
This helps weak AI empires recover from bad local build plans or temporary dead ends faster than before

Combat Behavior

Defensive

AI players protect their assets:

Build planetary defenses primarily when actively under attack and/or when resources cannot be safely fleetsaved
Fleetsave when going offline
Respond to incoming attacks
Request and contribute to ACS Defense
Attempt to ninja attackers
Set Bait, false activity, and intelligence denial

Offensive

Some AI players raid actively:

Scout neighboring planets
Attack profitable targets
Harvest debris fields
Race other players
ACS Tactics, Intelligence gathering, & timebacks are possible

Routine probe launches are currently dialed back while the live AI tuning pass focuses on economy, infrastructure, and colony recovery. That means you should expect less random probe traffic from active AI empires than from a dedicated raider personality.

Threat Response

When threatened, AI may:

Increase defense production
Fleetsave more frequently or more safely
Adjust online patterns
Solicit the help of others
Intentionally set traps

Personality Types

AI opponents have varying personalities affecting behavior. Below are some generic concepts, but AI utilize a system of 10 attributes to define their starting personalities and a system of more than 20 data points to reason about their interactions with others. These attributes interact in complex ways together to help the AI determine how it wants to play the game as a whole and each individual situation. Additionally the AI will adjust its own stats over time enabling it to 'learn' as it plays among you in the universe.

Aggressive

Higher raiding investment (cargo ships and probes) to enable frequent profitable raids
More frequent attacks
Active raiding

Defensive

Strong planetary defenses
Conservative fleet use
Turtle-style play

Balanced

Mixed fleet and defense
Opportunistic attacks
Steady growth

Expansionist

Rapid colonization
Wide territory
Resource focused

Predictable Patterns

Good Luck!

Playing Against AI Effectively

Use these legal strategies to play efficiently against AI opponents:

Timing & Patterns

Identify if an AI follows patterns:

Watch for offline periods
Note session end times
Attack during "sleep" hours

Predicting Development

Identify if build orders are methodical:

Early game: weak defenses
Mid game: growing fleet
Late game: strong on all fronts

Resource Timing

Exploit failures to spend resources steadily:

Best loot after production cycles
Less profitable right after upgrades
Monitor activity for spending patterns

The following is not allowed:

Intentionally exploiting bugs or errors in AI logic that become transparent to the player
Attempting to 'break' the AI in a way that negatively impacts the game

AI Limitations

AI opponents have constraints:

Use these limitations strategically when planning attacks.