BrucetheMoose

I think the better route would just be slow the AI down a little at the start. If they were promoted a little slower (though still automatically), it would give you some more time to prepare. Besides, if you build enough to stop the drop attacks, you'll have nothing for the normal ground assault. Also, I feel laser general is one of the worst generals to play against the AI. He's too handicapped at the very start to compete with how powerful the AI is (just pumping out units at an...insane...rate). This isn't to say he's not balanced to the other generals, as his cars are fast enough to be a good scouting, ground control and harassing squad. Those tactics, however, are useless against the AI.

I'd suggest trying infantry general, and getting out minigunners and tank hunters in bunkers and your powerplants as quickly as possible. With all that you may stand a chance.

True... garrisoned laser missile troops work pretty darn well though, and the laser gen's late game AA units are devastating. But I agree, early on he's pretty weak.

Those minigunners are monster AA units though.

The Insane AI was specifically designed for challenging CoOp play. The Balance for a 2 on 1 match is just right with Insane Robot general. 1 vs 1 should never win vs an Insane AI.

When Drake and I play we usually would start with a 2 on 1 vs an aggressive, just to get warmed up and get a feel for the map and the units... we know we're going to win, this is just practice. Then we play 2 vs 1 with an insane. then 2 vs 2 with aggressive. then 2 vs 2 with 1 aggressive and 1 insane.

I understand that, and I suppose I got myself into this bad situation. I actually built a little experimental map just for... experimenting. My base is on a little island, with an indestructible bunker guarding the only entrance to my island, for fending off the initial waves of ground units. The Comp players get tons of oil derricks, which I suppose let them unlock tier 5 powers VERY early on. It's great for having fun with some insane tank gens and testing out factions against a massive wave of tanks, but the AI gen's powers are just to powerful early on. Like I said, I couldn't even defend myself from the air-drop powers without worrying about ground attacks.

Still, I think the insane AI should gain ranks at a slightly lower rate. Money cheating is fine, but those powers are just hard to defend against.

I ALMOST agree with you. However, I think the main problem is that the rank 5 USA power comes from the closest edge. Normally this isn't much problem, but against an AI that gets it early it is. Stormtroopers are relatively easily countered by machine guns, while the heavy mech drop can be stopped by missile troops. I felt the bigger problem fighting insane robots is is that gatling weapons tend to shoot airborne drones, and with the amount of damage that spider mines do defenses get wasted pretty quick.

I'll try some games against insane robots as I've turned down the power of spider mines, so I'll see how big a difference that makes.

EDIT: So after trying with a friend to take on Insane Robots a few times, either we're both miserable at Generals (which is entirely possible), or he does need to be toned down. Given both the storm trooper and heavy mech drop plus the hellfire drone strike (which is immensely powerful), there isn't too much you can do. And then a volumetric bomb goes off over your war factory and strategy center.

Exactly. I spent the first part of the game preparing for the AI barrage with the laser gen, getting all the AA, laser infantry, and turrets I could build. While my units were busy taking care of the cyborgs, the spider/cluster mine destroyed most of my defenses, and the mechs keep what's left busy. By the time the hellfire drones and the bomb get there, I have no defenses.

I suppose you could mess with the AI and build a "decoy" war factory/strategy center somewhere far away, but it's still a little unfair.

Yay, Christmas day post!

Sorry if I missed it in a changelog/post, but how's the AI coming along Pend? In the most recent version, I started a game with 2 (insane) tank gens on a very large, comp stomp style map, but the lag spikes were unbearable. So I switched the AIs to the Robot general. After a minute into the game, it started raining orbital troopers, bombs, mechs, and the like. The Robot gens had tier 5 powers and used them all at once before they even touched any of my units, before the first wave could even travel to my base! How!?


I think you need to tone down the rank hack insane generals get. I know they are supposed to be bosses, but getting smashed to pieces by ALL the 5 star powers before I even build a war factory is just plain unfair.

Ya, just played against the robot AI to test out the new laser gen. He tends to stagnate if he runs out of space at the start, but otherwise, he puts up a good fight.