In the "Best Strand" thread, The Macology.com Team wrote:
Quote
**We created a very simple plug, everyone knows how, that simply
made a new system next to Sol, where there was always an Azdgari warship
and an Igazra warship.
In the head on battle, (at least every time we watched), the Igazra decimated
the Azdgari warship. Firstly, it took out all the fighters, almost 1 per pass,
and was only down to around 65% to 75% shields, depending.**
I was very surprised to read this, because it is directly contrary to my own
observations with 1.02. In most the AI Igazra vs AI Azdgari Warship battles
that I have witnessed, the battle has been quite lopsided in favor of the
Azdgari, with very few (if any) Azdaras lost, and almost never any damage to
the Azdgari Warship itself.
I assume we're both talking about 1.02, and that neither of us is using
any plugs that alters the stats of the ships in question.
So.. what could explain our different experiences? Is there some other
variable that would effect the AI's performance, so that different players
would see differ AI-vs-AI results?
Yes. I just figured it out: THE OBSERVING PILOT'S COMBAT RATING. I recall
something about this in the 1.02 readme... the AI's aggressiveness is a
function of the player pilot's combat rating.
When I start a new pilot, my shuttle can fight off a renegrade Krait. Why?
Because that Krait pilot is lazy. He punches me up in his computer and
sees that I'm "harmless" so he doesn't worry very much. But when I'm
Ultimate, he fights as hard as he can. (Not that it does him any good, since
Ultimate-rated pilots tend to fly much better ships than shuttles.)
The combat rating of the player doesn't just effect how the AI fights
against the player, though. It effects how the AI fights in_general.
That includes Azdaras attacking an AI-piloted Igazra.
I hypothesize that Macology.com Team did their Igadzra-vs-Azdgari Warship
tests using a new or low-rated pilot. Macology, do your tests with an
Ultimate pilot and I think you will see the battle go the other way.
Assuming I'm right, then, the conclusion is that the Igadzra are superior
near the beginning of the game. And then the Azdara pilots get ahold of
some UE-vs-Voinian war footage, and it shows one particular budding and
promising new human pilot who fights like a demon. They watch this
human pilot and learn his techniques, thereby gaining an edge over the
Igadzra.
...Which just goes to show how intelligent and adaptive the Azdgari are. 
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Have a Sloppy day!