ah ok...I play TA exclusively now

Both!

I figured that slamming a different value to anything in that file, alters how & when AIs research their stuff.

The "N" column to the right left side is their ID_Numbers as listed in the order they are in the xml; that's the only way to identify what they are in the Sandbox results.

The thing is a simple snapshot of an XML-Marker program listing where i "reduced" the width of elements to keep everything i needed to insert the darker black numbers (5-10-15...etc). The yellowish tags are simple shortcut expanders of whatever sections selected.

Certainly easier than notepadding the stuff to find correspondances. Even the top tags can re-order these to say, highest costs above to the lowest.

When you have more than 215 (or more in TA) techs, anything is a lot simpler to analyse in trees.

Might as well share a tricky "process" i've used to determine effectiveness of tech loops as used by AIs, ScoutDog.

But, it is a huge task to setup.

1- They mostly pick from the fastest (weeks as listed on the sidebar, btw) available.

2- Create a brand new mod folder.

3- Call it TechQuest.

4- Pick a Major, blank their tech list, zero the customization points and hand it over to an opponent status.

5- Do the same for yourself - BUT, as the custom race only.

6- Start a game in Cheat mode. Keep tech trading ON & No-Brokering OFF.

7- Tiny map, One vs One, no Minors.

8- Nullify all YOUR research resources.

9- Stack a bunch of cash.

10- Go to the trade screens often enough to keep track of that AI particular choices.

11- Buy out.

12- Keep Going until every "possible" steps has been recorded.

13- If you're lucky you now HAVE the whole track record for that AI, based on its RC values such as political, ethical alignment & abilities.

14- See the complexity?

15- Adjust ONLY the tech value for Xeno-Engineering 30+ in a temporary TT.xml.

16- New game(s).

17- Watch the evidence.

18- Repeat for everything you need to know.

That's how i figured some specific tech paths last summer. I'd still be at it to detect 215 DA-techs worth in highly variable parameters of 12 Majors or not -- and, i'd yet have a few years more ahead of myself.

There ARE more important things in life, i'd agree. (No wonder i have so many diplomas in a drawer somewhere!)

Weekend? what weekends. I start at 11:30AM Fridays and stops at 8:00AM on Mondays, extenuated enough for working almost round-the-clocks. Insomnia, maybe but that's exactly what the responsabilities are.

Pay is good though.

Yep, it's looking like nobody wants to give away their precious "personal strategy" plans!

Have you tried the above monitoring attempt within cheat mode?

Cuz, it releaved a *LOT* to me a few months ago. It took me a whole week to summarize the essential, but with some patience the algorithms became much more evident through simple deduction.

Wow,

Wow, you really have a lot of time on your hands. There's a much easier way to figure this out. Simply raise your espionage on a specific civilization to the appropriate level (high, I believe) and go to the Foreign Stats->Report page. The report will list, in sequence, the technologies researched (or rather acquired, I should say) by an enemy civilization. By removing, tech capturing, brokering, and trading you can easily see exactly what each civilization researches in sequence.

I mean, I actually haven't tested this theory, but I'm pretty sure if you look at the order in which the technologies appear in the Espionage Report you'll at least understand why I thought this to be true.

I do not usually follow a "standard" research path. What and how I research depends on what races I am facing and what I can pick up through trading.

I usually play a custom race and I have Xeno Researcg and Stellar Cartography as starting techs. The first tech I actively research is usually sensors. I generally start a game by building a couple of Scouts. Once I have Sensors, I can upgrade the scouts to a "Surveyor" class I designed, which are able to explore anomalies. I will then worl on propulsion so that I can upgrade the Surveyors to the faster "Surveyor II" (also my own). After that I will concentrate on military rsearch until the times for researching the "Trade" techs drop to a reasonable level. I try not to get stuck researching things that are going to take more than about 10 turns or so. And I try to get medium and large ship-building techs as quickly as possible, too. There really isn't much that can be built on a small hull that will not be blown into little bits the first time it encounters - well, anything!

As I said, I do not have a specific research path I follow, but more of a general strategy. The actual research path will differ from game to game, depending on other game factors.