What map sizes are best for the AI?

I think playtesting is done primarily on medium maps. Tiny maps the AI doesn't handle the rush. I like Tiny, though--I can try out new strategies there.

I don't think it is an issue of size, so much as it is an issue of planet #, and star density.

It seems tome that if the AI has only a few planets, or if there is a great distance betweeen empires of empty space, then it has trouble really getting going, or conducting expansion/war.

Hmm, I see. Maybe the better question, then, is what map settings the AI does best with? Do we know what's usually used for testing in that respect?

i agree. 1 player on a tiny map with abundant stars/planets/habitables will do okay. 2 might work, and 3 would easily push it to that breaking point. AI players have difficulty when they're crammed together without enough basic resources. of course, so do i.

star density seems to affect the colony rush more than the number of stars. when stars are crammed together, players in a good position to expand will of course do better. when they're evenly dispersed, AI that handles the rush does better. i prefer loose clusters to give the most play between the two. of course, i find that on sizes below large, the star density algorithms don't do nearly as much as they do on larger maps, which is only common sense.

the following is based on no systematic play testing, it's just my off-the-cuff sense of things; setting planet factors to max, the following map sizes could handle up to the following number of AI players:
tiny maps: 1-2 AI players
small maps: 3-4 AIs
medium maps: 4-7 AIs

not sure what you're looking for, myself. i personally love larger maps, just with fewer planets.

Yeah, I tend to prefer larger maps. Usually i Play large though I've been contemplating going up from there.

The larger the map, and the more planets available, the more the ai will be able to entrench, expand and build up infrastructure before the player (or another AI) can get to them.


I personally dont think the game is really experienced short of a large map, because ship range/sensor range doesnt start to become a real factor until that sized map, though it takes much longer to play. Let me insert my obligatory observation on how life support (ship range) and sensors should scale with mapsize, to make sure these are factors on every map size, not just the biggest.

Frogboy has said the AI is strongest on medium map, scattered stars, abundant inhabitable, 5 AIs. That was for DL.