Spoiler Tech advancement?

[themousemaster (OP)]

So I ran into what I assume to be the swarm.  As far as I can tell, they didnt exist until I opened them up by exploring a system.

Their tech was ludicrous.  they obliterated me, my allied NPR, 2 other NPRs, and though I wasnt around to see it, it appears they annihilated 2 systems worth of Invaders as well.

I KNOW they weren't always this tough.  back in VB6, they were only more threatening than the precursors if you went all-missile, and even then, not always.

Now I got to see a fleet of 7 of them dismantle an NPR that had hundreds of defenders around their homeworld, while eating thousands of missiles and flying around at 25,000 km/s.

Is the swarm just that insane now?  Or did they tech-up?  Or something else?

[Andrew]

Not in the spoiler forum again

[nuclearslurpee]

Can you share your game settings? 25,000 km/s is extremely high, so my first thought is if you turned up the difficulty slider or something. Alternative explanation would be if this is a slow conventional-start game and you're 200 years in or something.

[themousemaster (OP)]

I am 200 years in.  I've had a 50-year "running" battle with the Invaders, which I was finally about to unlock my next-gen engine and laser tech to finally be able to dominate.... and then the galaxy got out-of-context'ed ;p.

By that statement though, I can infer that their tech level --IS-- advancing?  That's good to know, I guess I know to go with more than 100 tech labs in my next game ;p.

(difficulty was 100%, tech was set to 50%)

[nuclearslurpee]

I am 200 years in.  I've had a 50-year "running" battle with the Invaders, which I was finally about to unlock my next-gen engine and laser tech to finally be able to dominate.... and then the galaxy got out-of-context'ed ;p.

By that statement though, I can infer that their tech level --IS-- advancing?  That's good to know, I guess I know to go with more than 100 tech labs in my next game ;p.

(difficulty was 100%, tech was set to 50%)

Yes. Swarm tech advances with game time, since they generate throughout the game rather than having a fixed tech level at game start like Precursors or Invaders. A swarm generated after 200 years will be much higher-tech than a Swarm generated after 10 years for example.

AFAIK this is a unique mechanic as the only other spoiler race which advances in tech is the Raiders, who generate at game start and advance tech by their own unique mechanics. I'm not sure, but the Rakhas may also generate with advanced tech later in the game since they spawn in uniquely per system like the Swarm does, but I don't know since I usually avoid playing with Rakhas on.

[themousemaster (OP)]

by any chance, is there a Timeframe, within some sort of Standard Deviation, whereby they learn how to go through an unstabilized jump point?  or do they start with it?

[nuclearslurpee]

Pretty sure they start with this capability, as there are a few recent AARs showing Swarm invasions through jump points quite early in the game. Rainyday's Manticore AAR is one example, if you go a bit older then Steve's Crusade test campaign also features some relatively early (~10 years?) Swarm activity.

[Snoman314]

Yeah Swarm and Raiders always used to curb stomp me in long slow games as well. It was just the standard way games always ended for me - NPRs spawn in and wipe out the galaxy.

In 2.2 Steve got rid of the bug that Raiders and Swarm tech would keep advancing right from the start of the game, regardless of how slow everyone else was going, before they even spawn in. This guaranteed that when they did spawn they'd be end-game tech, while I usually only had ion engines by that point. Now they are created and start advancing their tech when you hit the trigger number of explored systems you defined when you created the game, and then have a chance to actually spawn in with each additional system you explore.

[Garfunkel]

Swarm have always had the capability to traverse jump points. I had a game back in VB6 days where one Swarm spawned 2 jumps from Earth and I only had two small carriers. After eating my survey ships, the Swarm jumped into Alpha Centauri, ate my carriers since they were too slow to escape and then began eating civilians and the evacuation ships that were bringing colonists back. I restarted the game when they jumped into Sol and proceeded to do the same to Earth. Fun if a short game, that one.

[themousemaster (OP)]

Ahh... so, they start TECHING when you reach the system-count in the options menu, regardless of when they actually spawn.  That's good to know.

Is that the number of systems that --I-- know, or the total created between me and all the NPR's combined?

[nuclearslurpee]

Is that the number of systems that --I-- know, or the total created between me and all the NPR's combined?

It is the number of systems known to all PLAYER races. So not NPRs nor spoilers, but if you have multiple player races the cap is cumulative (adjust accordingly!).