How well do you find the AI adapting to the new ships design? I think it's a step forward - the fact that defense can now keep up with offense.

I don't see the AI favoring any particular class right now, but my bigger concern is that they don't always respond well to my choices.

Out of curiosity, has anybody ever had an AI fight the peacekeepers and win?

Edit:

Also Twilight default directory is:

Stardock Games\Galactic Civilizations II - Ultimate Edition\Twilight\Mods\Autumn Twilight

Some of the AIs design decisions are a bit questionable (like weapons on colony ships, constructors, and freighters), but that has always been the case. Overall though, it's pretty good.

It's weird though. I've tried to improve the defenses for almost three years, but all of my previous attempts just didn't work out as I had planned. I guess, it's as the saying goes: if at first you don't succeed, try again, and again, and again...

In all the years I only had one encounter with the peacekeepers, so I really can't answer that.

Only if you've clicked on "Default". In a fresh install, the directory is the one I listed in the OP.

You're welcome.

That's okay, as long as you don't publish the combined mod.

No, that is perfectly fine. I don't use most of the sub-folders.

Could you tell me where you have installed the game, where you have installed the mod, and maybe post the contents of the debug.err file (you can find it under My Docs\My Games\GC2TwilightArnor)? Especially the latter could give a clue as to what's going on.

Thank you for the kind words. However, Autumn Twilight has become outdated, due to the Community Update. The CU contains several of my changes and fixes, but is much more refined and balanced. Even better, it will eventually get integrated into the core game. So you won't need to mod GalCiv 2 anymore, in order to improve the AI (or fix the bugs, for that matter).

I'm not sure yet, if I'm going to upgrade Autumn. However, once the CU has become part of the game, I'll definitely add a disclaimer that Autumn is obsolete.

Well, you would have actually been correct with that assumption up until two months ago. Nobody suspected that Stardock would ask the community for help to fix the remaining bugs.

Hey everyone! I've uploaded a new version of the preliminary update.

So, what is new? Well, the Torians and Iconians are back on AIP 10, thanks to the new executable provided by Frogboy. You'll have to download the .exe from one of the links in the Community Update thread, in order to make use of the fixed AI.

The Drengin, Altarians, and Korx have their old starting abilities back. Though the Drengin now start with a Logistics of 20. Some of the other races also saw some adjustments to their abilities. The races who saw the biggest changes are the Torians (they've lost the bonus to Luck again, and now have a -10% penalty to research), Iconians (their Morale bonus is now 25%, they've got a -10% penalty to Soldiering, and their Logistics score is now 14), and the Krynn (they've lost their Diplomacy bonus, and their Espionage bonus is now at 25%).

All political parties now have a -25% penalty to Espionage. This is one of the new additions in the Community Update I really like. Well, sort of. The change itself is a bit too "in your face", in my opinion, but still necessary. The AI is simply wasting too much money on espionage, so something had to be done.

I've also made another pass through the ability bonuses. Some of them are now closer, if not identical, to the original values (mainly Morale, Military/Social Production, Research, Pop. Growth, Influence, and Diplomacy). Others are bit different (e.g., Economics, Range, and Luck).

The starbase modules saw a major overhaul in some areas. The Starbase Fortifications techs are back, and the defense modules (starting from Battle Stations II and Defense Grid (now called Fortifications) onward) have been moved to them. The culture modules saw some minor changes (Foreign Relations Center is back, while Galactic Forum, Supreme Forum, and the Drengin modules are gone; Utopia is back to it's old bonus). The production-assist and mining modules saw the biggest change. They changed both in the number of individual modules, and in the total bonus for each race. Overall, the total bonuses are now much closer to the original games, with only some small variations here and there (the production-assist bonus for the Factory-users and the Drengin is 1%, and for the Iconians and Yor 4% higher; the mining bonus for the Factory-users is 4% lower, and for the Yor 3% higher).

I reduced the power of the new invasion tactics a little. Stellar Marines now has the same values as Mini-Soldiers. Shock Troops now has the same values as Gas Warfare, with the exception that it doesn't reduce PQ and is slightly more expensive (300 instead of 250. Mechanized Warriors is now a bit more expensive than Stellar Marines (600 compared to 500, has a 10% higher min- and max-value (50-80%), and a much higher chance to destroy improvements (40-50%). Terror Drones now have a fixed bonus of 50%, a fixed chance of 30% to destroy improvements, and costs 400bc.

The planetary improvements saw a major overhaul. Several buildings are back to their original values (or close enough). For example, the Space Cannon and the Wretched Harvester have their morale bonus back (though the latter's is now at 10%, instead of 5%), the Capital SPs now (again) provide a 50% bonus to their areas, instead of 100%, morale improvements have an increasing maintenance-cost again, etc. The racial wonders are now all SPs (with the exception of the Propaganda Machine, because it's bonus only works for GAs). This is another addition from the Community Update. I'm not entirely happy with it, because some of the racial SPs provide ability bonuses. Those will stack, if you get additional copies of the improvement. However, this is only an issue if you play with multiple custom races using the same tech tree, so I let it slide.
Neutral felt a bit weak now, compared to Good and Evil, so I re-activated the Historical Preserve and made it Neutral-only. It provides a nice boost to influence (both planetary and civ-wide). The Drath also got a unique starting SP, the Diplomatic Brain Trust. It provides a small boost to planetary influence (25%) and a moderate bonus to Diplomacy (10%).

The Arceans still felt a bit weak compared to the other races. I decided to re-activate the Advanced Navigation Center. However, it is now a separate building, the Temple of Navigation, and not an upgrade for the Navigation Center. I also moved the Speed-bonus from the tech Advanced Navigators (now renamed to Temple of Navigation) back to Interstellar Navigation. This makes sure, that the Arceans get an immediate speed-boost for researching the tech. However, this still didn't quite feel enough, so I turned the Stellar Forge into an SP. This way all Arcean planets can produce high-quality ships. The increase in 1pps shouldn't be a problem for the Arceans, thanks to the 10% PQ-bonus from Weather Control.

There are a lot more changes (small and not so small). However, the post is already long enough as it is.

Overall, the mod is pretty much done now. I still need to write a new readme for the final release, and do some minor bookkeeping. The biggest remaining issue is the changelog. I haven't decided whether to use v2.04 or the Community Update as base for it. Using the former would make things simpler, because I could just use the existing changelogs (with some minor clean-up). However, it would make the file extremely big (even bigger than my previous one), and hard to go through. Using the latter would make the changelog much shorter, but would also require more effort.

Speaking of the Community Update, I still haven't had a proper look at the latest version, only skimming through it a little. I'm curious what changed since I left the project.

Which is why I ended up using the CU as base for the changelog. This also helped me find some bugs in my files (one minor and one major). Plus, it triggered me to make a few more adjustments (primarily regarding the costs of the ship weapons and defences).

I'm almost done with the changelog. Only the tech trees remain. If everything goes smoothly, I'll upload a new version of the preliminary update by the start of next week.

True. However, I'm doing this update mostly for myself. I simply don't like leaving half-finished stuff behind.

Hey everyone! I've uploaded a new version of the preliminary update.

It's only a minor update, containing the new readme-file and some small changes:

1. I made some edits to the GC2_Conversations.xml again. This should finally fix the text-less war declarations. I haven't gotten them in any of my test-games since the change. So, cross your fingers.

2. The Economic Direction Unit of the Thalan now only grants a 25% economics bonus again.

3. I moved the Ultra Spices TG back to Extreme Entertainment.

I've also updated the opening post, because the integration of the CU into the base game seems to be getting closer, from what I gathered.

PS: I'm considering doing another pass over the weapons and defences. They still feel a bit too streamlined, and beam weapons not really worth researching. Though maybe that is just my impression.

Hey everyone! I've uploaded a new version.

It's another big update. In some cases even more so than the last one. So, let's get started:

Campaigns

I've noticed that I forgot to change the names of some of the Campaign-files. This means that, despite my claim to the contrary in the OP and readme, they will overwrite some of the original files when installing them. Sorry about that. While trying to fix this mistake, I noticed that my changes didn't work properly. They got overwritten somehow. I looked into it and made an astounding discovery: the campaigns do work from the mod-folder. According to the the modding-guide and the structure of the mod-folder, campaigns are supposed to be placed in the folder Mods\Mod Name\Data\Campaigns, but they don't actually work from there. They do, however, work when placed into Mods\Mod Name\Campaigns.
What does this mean for Autumn Twilight? Well, installation just became a whole lot easier. No need for installation-instructions just for the campaigns anymore. No more messing around with the game-folders, risking overwritting original files. Just place the whole mod into the designated mod-folder and you're set.

General tech changes

The Life Support techs have a bonus to the Range-ability again, although lower than the vanilla value (max. 100%, instead of 160%).

Industrial Revolution provides a 10% bonus to Social Production again.

General planetary improvement changes

Traditional Factory, Advanced Factory, Xeno Factory, and Manufacturing Center have their vanilla buildcosts again (50, 75, 100, and 150 respectively), while the Industrial Sector costs now 250.

The Fusion Power Plant, Anti-Matter Power Plant, and Quantum Power Plant are back to their old selfs as upgrading 1pps. The only difference to the vanilla versions is that the AMPP has a maintenance of 3bc (instead of 4bc) and the QPP a buildcost of 375 (instead of 450). I just wasn't happy with the changes. They just never felt right. The factory-users either ended up too weak or too powerful compared to the vanilla game. There is still the risk that the player or the AI end up being unable to rebuilt the Power Plants under some circumstances (the reason why they got changed in the first place), but I think it's worth taking. I mean, the 1pp-bug has been around for years, and how many people have complainged about being unable to build the Power Plants or the Navigation Center? It's too rare of a occurence to dictate game balance, in my opinion.

I've increased the cost of the Research Lab, Research Center, Research Academy, Invention Matrix, Discovery Sphere, Research Coordination Center, and the Neutrality Learning Center to 50, 75, 100, 150, 250, 200, and 455 respectively. They used the same cost-progression as the factories, and I want to keep it that way.

The standard morale improvement are now slightly cheaper, and the Entertainment Network and Multimedia Center use different Icons and QueryGraphics.

The pop. growth bonus of the Fertility Center is now +50%. I'm still not sure, if that is too high, but it definitely helps the AI in quickly growing its population.

The Artifical Slave Center has its old tech requirement, cost, and Icon and QueryGraphic. It just felt odd that the Drengin/Korath got the same kind of bonus from the same tech multiple times.

The Omega Defense System no longer provides a planetary defense bonus.

The Propaganda Center now costs 300, the Mind Control Center 1200, the Galactic Bazaar costs 900 again, the Galactic Showcase 1200, the Temple of Evil/Righteousness/Neutrality cost 1600 again, and the Secret Police Center cost 300 now.

The Tir-Quan Training now has a +50% planetary defense bonus.

I removed the Historical Preserve GA again.

Cleaned up some of the descriptions.

Terrans

The Innovation Complex SP has its vanilla bonuses again. The Creativity bonus just felt too strong.

Drengin/Korath

The Xeno Slavery tech no longer provides bonuses to Military Production and Research, and the Social Production bonus is +5% again.

Enhanced Slavelings and Artficial Slavelings no longer provide a bonus to Social Production.

Pain Amplification only provides a +5% bonus to Research again.

The Death Furnace 1pp has a maintenance of 5bc again.

The Slaveling Training Center and Artificial Slave Pods 1pps are back (cost 250 and 330 respectively, maintenance 5bc, +20% manufacturing).

The Slaveling Imagination Lab and Improved Slaveling Lab cost 40 and 60 again, while the Ultimate Slaveling Lab now has a maintenance of 5bc, a cost of 180, and provides 12rp again.

I also removed the Agony Coordination Grid 1pp again. It made balancing research too difficult.

Altarians

They no longer have access to the techs Good and Evil, Concepts of Malice, Concepts of Righteousness, and Balanced Vision again.

The tech requirement for Creative Good, Paradise Worlds, and Righteous Might is back to Xeno Ethics.

Arcean

They no longer have a Courage bonus.

The Navigation Center 1pp upgrades to Temple of Navigation again

Torians

They no longer have a Courage bonus.

Yor

The Maintenance Grid has its old Icon and QueryGraphic again.

The techs Efficiency Studies I, II, III provide a Economics bonus of 5%, 10%, 10% respectively again, and the Efficiency Center 1pp is back (cost 100, maintenance 2bc, +25% economy). I ran a few tests, and the tax income is actually higher this way (despite the maintenance of the Efficiency Center).

The tech Biological Studies no longer provides bonuses to Social and Military Production, and instead has a +10% bonus to Morale.

The Distributed Energy Matrix is a 1pp now, costs 250, has a maintenance of 5bc, and gives a manufacturing bonus of +30%.

Drath

They no longer have access to the tech Creative Good.

I removed the Diplomatic Brain Trust SP again. It just didn't feel fitting.

Thalan

They no longer have a bonus to Loyalty.

They've lost access to the techs Good and Evil, Concepts of Malice, Concepts of Righteousness, and Balanced Vision again.

Their unique Ethic tech require Xeno Ethics again.

Defense Industries no longer provides a bonus to Military Production.

Iconians

They no longer have a bonus to Research, and their Logistics value is now 20.

Their strength is now designated as "+ Precursor Technologies" instead of "+ Research".

The tech Precursor Studies no longer provides a Research bonus again.

The Precursor Library improvement has its vanilla stats again (1pp, cost 50, maintenance 5bc, 16rp, +10% research).

Korath

They have their +25% bonus to Morale again.

The cost of the Graft of Ages 1pp is back to 300.

Krynn

They have their +25% bonus to Diplomacy again.

All in all, the balancing is almost back to vanilla status. Just a bit more fine tuned. I'm actually quite pleased with the results.

Well, I hope you like the changes too and have fun playing!

Off topic, but I get the impression that by 2020, we're going to need a GC3 variant of this at some point.

It is still very early in the development cycle of GC3, but I think it's probable. The good news is that it is a 64 bit game, so there is a lot more potential for development. The AI though I think is the current weakness of GalCiv  3. I also am not a big fan of the micro-ing with starbases, which now play a larger role.

Congrats!

Yeah I think that the bulk of the community has moved onto GC3 by now, but it's nice to see this mod being maintained.

Hi,

is your mod modular?

After the CU has been completed with the last corrections I want to try it first without all the changes made by your AT mod.

But I would add immediately the smarter minor races, if possible. Thanks