this is a rough idea that will take alot of time and even more coding then needed but I think it would scratch that itch that the rts and faction side of the community
would like along with a solid build for future improvements on how AI in general are used in avorion.
1. players that want to start an empire but dont want to manage it can turn on The AI, but to start this you have to have to have
an HQ Station, Trade station, and a set amount of resources to get the ball rolling.
2.after establishing a solid first secter with little trade or a resource stock off your own travels, you turn the ai own and it will take everything from how much manpower, stations, ships
resources, and credits into account and off of that it will determine what to build, when to build it, and weather or not it can push or retreat to other sectors.
3.Ai ship combat, the AI would take secter knowledge into account provided by itself, the player, or allied faction/players movements. based off of that
the ai will send a big enough force of self or player provided ships to take the secter or it will not cause of its calculated major loss's, or the player having
an option to set said ai to be more aggressive then turning the ai to just take the chance with or without information.
4.Ship Production. ship production would be based primarily on how many stations and sectors that it has at its disposal, along with resources and credits as the secondary.
now what types of ship would be made by the ai? just for example: if you have less than 5 sectors with 1 shipyard the ai will build fighters, bombers, Gunships, corvettes,
and at best a destroyer. 10 sectors with 2-3 shipyards would then produce cruisers, and finally having 30+secters with 6 shipyards would start making Battlecruisers.
5.So as for controlling the AI itself a menu would be implemented for the faction overall and sub menus(optional) for each secter on how it reacts, such as combat if set to passive the ships in your
faction will just patrol and only engage when necessary, but set to aggressive then will rush sectors with no prior knowledge and will attack indiscriminately anything
resembling a threat.
All in all this would add a incentive to make an empire, pursue to build it better to compete with other players factions, and to make a vast amount of income, resources, and
fleets to you as a players and changes to the universe as a whole.
