[Suggestion]Give AI option of surrender

Hmm, I have to admit I like this a lot.  A request for surrender makes sense as they can leave the AI to still be a little cowardly so it accepts when people just want to stop bludgeoning a finished enemy.  On the other hand, for those that want to crush every AI object in existence, they'll never surrender on their own.

The AI surrenders when they know they are going to loose, so wouldn't really make a difference I think.

It would currently as many have reported the AI appears to stop building even if you select to continue playing.

ive had ai surrender before i even do anything to them

its a pain because the surrendered before canceling the trade agreement so i couldnt mill there trade ships

I hope there will be a hotfix/patch soon that adresses this issue.

Even if they know that they have a bigger disadvantage, they should at least show some resistance and defend their remaining planets, especially if their economy is still intact. They just surrender way too early.

Well, the AI is almost as finiky as Age of Empires 2 AI, when it believes it cannot make do, and ALL the AI's will surrender. So........

The SoaSE AI should offer, not give, a surrender. And when you do not honor it, they should start fighting back.

the AI does give up the fight to easy if you nail its starbase and a cap it will run. then if you just swamp the homeworld it normally say i surrender the AI should try to hit you back in your weak spots to draw your fleet away to buy time to rebuild but i doesnt once i hit every planet at the same with siege frigates they wouldnt of last but it surrender the AI does need some type of overhaul

Yeah, the AI in this game is weird. Played my first MP game 2v2 unfair AI's, comp gave up after I was sitting above his homeworld and my ally was moping up some of his first planets, I didnt even understand what had happened, it was the first time I had a AI surrender to me. Played a 1v1 with a AI after that, I was able to bum rush his homeworld before he could colonize anything (he tried to get a desert planet, but I beat him to it ) and just sat there bombing him till he was gone. Weird that the second AI didnt surrender (even once all his orbital stuff was gone) but the first AI who still had a few systems did.

maybe even give them a bonues to speed and damage? like after they ask for surrender 3 times and u deny, they throw everything into one push and they have a speed and damage bonues to make up for your obvious advantage, and then if they capture a few more planets maybe they can start playing again?

i mean, they are fighting for their existence here, its natural to assume they'd fight hard

well, for one, I'd like the ai keep its thougnness even, if I am declared winner, but want to continue. I mean I'm not sure I ever will do that, but fighting on against an enemy that stops building stuff and leaves everything on autocommand? what's the use of that?

the other thing: I heard some comments about the ai surrendering too early, i.e. when its fleet was still intact and it had several planets under its control. assuming the ai routines are not faulty and it really does see itself in a hopeless position, instead or rather before surrendering, it should launch a last all-out attack. sort of like going down in a blaze rather than being wittled down bit by bit. I'd think of that last ditch effort the narns attempted in B5 abainst the centauri. a revelation that continuing as before would lead to defeat, so it's better to do something while it still can instead of waiting for the inevitable. after that fails it can still surrender and at least the player would have had a nice and good fight and afterwards it really would be merely cleaning up, if the main fleet was destroyed.

Lol Just made me think of the Battle of the Line.

yeah, that one is awesome. I also really like the president's speech before it.

but let's not digress.

if we are already talking of expanding this function in the 2d xpack, I'd like it to go a bit more in the direction of a civ IV like surrender + vassal state or sth. would be kinda cute to negotiate 'you are defeated, surrender, let me have 50% of your income, restrict your fleet size to 200 and I shall let you live. otherwise, prepare to be annihilated.' because, if you look at it politically, defeated nations were conquered, occupied, vassalised, but rarely completely neutralised. the conqueror would install a friendly leader figure, try not to bitch of the general pop too much and leave for other stuff. long term occupation is expensive you know.

I think a lot of these ideas could work to improve the AI surrender/death issues.  Whether a surrender routine is initiated by the AI, or human player, the AI should continue to fight and play normally until both the AI and the human player agree on the AI surrendering.  And while I think this is true when there is only one (or only one remaining) AI opponent, it is especially true when there are multiple AI opponents in a single player game.

The complexity of a FFA with multiple AI can decrease quickly if AI that are in control of multiple worlds and still have a fleet get discouraged and quit early in the game.  I understand that in some sense their position probably had become hopeless, but really, who cares?  Having to decide whether to allocate forces for wiping them out or to concentrate on the stronger AI enemies is the kind of tactical decision that makes the game fun.  And if the weak AI is lucky and the focus of fighting turns away from them, or if I, for instance, enter into a cease fire with them to have a quiet flank, then perhaps they may have time to re-group and put up a reasonable fight.

On a minor related point, do weak AIs enter into cease fires and peace treaties more readily?  You would think that would be be a good idea, since it would make them more viable, and reflect a realistic kind of diplomatic decision-making, as well.

dev request to add AI options panel so behavior can be tweaked.  surrendering can then be turned on and off.  what other AI tweaks could be added to this area?

also make the AI aware of certain text chat messages.  maybe it could be used to entice the ai into traps or demand surrender etc.

Would be really awesome to have a AI become a puppet state to you, only to turn on you later. Say right after you go to war with your next enemy. lol