Changes in 3 games:
AIP11 x-col: AI Value set to 9 for first level techs.
Research Center set to 26 fro 20, Academy to 20 from 15.
Game 1:
Torian only done Aquatic II and Heavy II. Korx picked Barren II, Heavy II, Aquatic I, but not all in one go. Arceans picked a lot but with nice gaps between each tech. Iconians skipped Adaptation tech unfortunately. Altarians picked Aquatic I, Heavy II, Toxic I. Yor failed to research Xtreme Colonization, Drengin done Toxic I and Heavy I.
Game 2:
Altarian Heavy II, Research Academies, Manufacturing Centers, Democracy
Iconian all x-col techs, Invention Matrix, Replicators II, Democracy. Still grinded x-col but great techs overall.
Torian - Democracy, Barren II, Heavy II, Toxic I. I set their University to value 26, they grabbed it, but never gone past them. Picked Republic and Democracy late and in one go.
Korx - Toxic I, Academies, Xeno Factory, Republic.
Arcean - they work on Barren I. Democracy, Research Centers, Manufacturing Centers. Good mix of all techs but x-col is late.
Drengin - Heavy II, Toxic I, no government. Good mix of all techs, but no economic exploitation.
Yor - Barren II, Heavy II, Radioactive I, Republic. Good mix of other techs.
Game 3
Arcean - Republic, Research Center, Manufacturing Center, Barren II, Radioactive II, Heavy II, Toxic I. Still went crazy with x-col, low labs.
Torian - failed to get University, never researched any x-col, got Democracy. They spent most TP on weapons
Altarian - failed to get Research Center, work currently on Democracy, got Heavy II
Korx - grinded all x-col except for Toxic, Research Centers, Democracy before RC.
Yor - Invention Cities, Republic, all x-col but Toxic II, Collectives IV + Vortex, Efficiency IV. Even as they grabbed almost all x-col, they were moderate with them, all in all changing Extreme Colonization tech to category Biology with value 10 seems to work fine for both them and Drengi. Only once Yor failed to research it.
Drengin - Aquatic I, Barren II, Radioactive I. No government tech again. Pretty low level of labs and industrial, but overall it's all good.
Iconian - Research Academy, Democracy, Replication II, all x-col but Heavy, good mix of all other techs.
I think I'll remove this tweak from the AIP11 techtrees. They won't go for government tech until late in the game but right now it's throwing off their research far to much.
In case of Torian they fail to research even University, even with value 26 on it.
Extreme Colonization tech for AIP7 can be safely set to category Biology, AI Value 10 - AIs failed to research it only on one or two occasions, they don't go all in into x-col techs. Note, I mean Extreme Colonization itself, not basic x-col like Toxic, Barren etc.
I suggest leaving Research Center set to 26 and Academy to 20 in both Yor and Iconian tech trees, Iconian Republic tech set to category Pure Research, and Iconian first levels of x-col tech set to value 10 or 12. They both do phenomenal work with this setting and are strongest civs around for couple of games in a row. Also, Iconian Universal Translator to -10 and Xeno Communications to 30, just to be sure.
Playing with AI value for first x-col techs for other AIP11 gives mixed results. Altarians failed to pick it up set on 10, and Torians failed when set on 9 in 3rd game, Arceans picked first tech very late into the game, and still there is a big chance of someone grinding the tree. Back when it was set on 15, everyone still research it, but grinding was almost same as on value 26. Still, I think reducing it to 15 for AIP11 (except for Iconians) should tame them at least a little bit.
I've experimented with lower AIValues but they cause the AI to ignore these techs all together.
Yep, agreed.
Xeno Entertainment needs to be set to 35 - it is relatively cheap tech for it's bonuses (15 morale + better improvement), and without it AIs fail to research it on numerous occasions.
Xeno Economics can be set to 25, as AIs pick it up more often. Without it they sometimes leave this branch for far too long or don't pick it up at all.
Only Arcean and Iconian picks Medium hulls quite reliably - once every 1-3 games. Torian and Drengin picked it once. No one else bothered to research hulls. It may be because it's a Medium map with loads of AIs, so I will start testing it on Large maps with less opponents. Also, I'll try testing how AIP8 reacts to changes in Xeno Entertainment and Economics.
AIP11 skipped Hyper Mainframes half the time - it can be because governments are set as Research.
Almost no one researched any defenses.
Edit:
I like all the changes. Except hulls.
StarRep
-AIValue from 30 to 20
StarDep
-AIVaue from 35 to 30
Is this for everyone or just AIP11? Did AIP11 also got reverted back to their previous category?
Everyone gets Reinforced Hulls and Hardend Hull Design
Not sure I agree with this one, Thalans are supposed to have weaker hp, as their weapons are very strong. I agree with Altarian and Drath, as they don't get that much +weapon from their techs anymore. Korx can stay as they are, I don't see why they need to be buffed in late late game. Just look at their ship designs, they look fragile