I'm delighted to hear that more patches are in the works. I just bought the Ultimate Edition last month and I'm glad that I did. If we're making suggestions for ToA, then:
1) The way that the AI develops bonus tiles needs to be fixed. I'm tired of capturing an enemy planet and finding that the AI has built an entertainment network on top of a Precursor Library square or a farm on a morale bonus square. This is especially crippling for the AI Iconians- who rely on one-per-planet buildings that grant big bonuses if built appropriately (i.e. on bonus squares)- and for the Thalans, whose early research and manufacturing buildings have such high maintenance costs that they usually can only be built on bonus tiles for the Thalans to remain competitive.
2) The autoupdate feature should improve buildings that are on bonus squares first. If I have five factories on a planet that need to be updated and one of them is built on a Precursor Mine granting a 700% bonus, the factory on the bonus square should be updated first since it will allow the other four factories to be built much, much more quickly.
3) The AI should be more proactive about improving buildings to better equivalents that are not on the same research paths. For example, the Altarians can research Drath Temples and healing pools, which have the same maintenance cost as entertainment networks but are much more effective. Once the appropriate technologies are available, the AI should gradually replace its entertainment networks with Drath Temples or Healing Pools.
4) The AI should look at planets' development potential when deciding where to place capitals and super projects. This means building them on planets with appropriate bonus squares and intrinsic multipliers (like the ones provided by rings, moons, and settlement events) and ideally only on high quality planets. This is especially true for the economic capital, since it should be on a planet that can sustain a high population. The AI should also be more cautious about building super projects and trade goods on planets that are far from their main sphere of influence.
5) I know it's been repeated many times before, but some of the AIs are too eager to research really expensive technologies before they have the cheaper technologies that they need to build up their infrastructures and economies. For example, the Altarians and Korx always seem to want to spend 50 turns researching Planetary Invasion before they even have Space Weapons or Planetary Improvements, and then they spend all their mps on transports that they are unable to fill (because their populations are so low) or defend (because they don't have any military vessels).
6) I guess this isn't really a bug, but weapon techs seem really expensive to me in ToA, especially when compared to DL/DA. It always feels like a huge sacrifice to spend 8 turns researching a laser that's only one unit smaller than the previous laser, especially when you can research defensive techs four times as fast. On large and huge maps at Tough difficulty the game is often over before any civ can get beyond the first level of Particle Beams/Harpoon/Pulse Cannons.
7) AIs should be more keen to research Sensors and build small/tiny/freighter-hulled survey ships. I usually find that I get almost all of the anomalies that pop up in the mid- and late-games because I'll have 3 or 4 very, very fast survey ships zooming around the map, while the AIs only ever use their flagships (which often get destroyed). I always add weapons, defenses, and HP-boosting modules to my flagship once I have Medium Hulls, since it's often a very strong ship by that point (high level and extra HP from anomalies); it would be great to see the AI do this as well rather than having their flagship destroyed the first time that they go to war.
Deweyjohn, I often see the Krynn researching Terror Stars- they are available unusually early in the Krynn tech tree. The other AIs don't seem to prioritize Advanced Starbase Construction, but if you research it yourself and trade it around you'll be more likely to see terror stars show up late in the game on bigger maps.
I agree 100% that the AI needs to make better use of support modules. I always design a support ship to throw in with my fleets that carries either a defensive/offensive booster or Fleet Warp Bubbles; it would be great to see something similar from the AI. The AI should also be smarter about putting transports in fleets together to produce stronger invasion forces; this kind of fleet would be an ideal place for the AI to toss in a small ship with sensors and a Warp Bubble module
Marvinkosh, I agree that an Advanced Mining Module might not be a bad idea; allowing multiple mining modules/ship would be an even easier way of implementing this. I often find that there are long periods between researching mining techs when my miners are just sitting around with nothing to do, though. It might be neat if mining stations required periodic maintenance in addition to constructed improvements; this would ensure that mining ships stay in use throughout the game and would make defending them more critical. It's also frustrating to have your Ultimate Industrial modules destroyed by any passing fighter; perhaps mining ships could evolve into hybrid mining/combat vessels that protect contiguous asteroid tiles and get offensive/defensive bonuses from being stationed in asteroid belts.
