I'd be wary of trying to force AI weapon choices that way, AgentPiltdown. The AI seems to choose weapon types at the beginning of the game, and I would guess that it has no way to tell which weapon types are actually in the TechTree. So, your missile Drengin could end up choosing beams at the outset and have a strong bias against researching missiles and no missile boats in the shipbuilder. That said, I can't be certain of how the AI would react. Perhaps it wou
[quote who="Chris Gallop" reply="423" id="3136493"]Comments and questions.[/quote] Thanks to you for trying my mod. I have all the AIs set to Generic in the mod. Well, to be precise I have them set to AIPersonality 11. With those settings, the Altarians, Arceans, and Korx will default to their unique personalities, which are based on AIP 11. Those settings should make for a good game without you needing to change anything. While it is true that starting
Thanks for the feedback, bbr91 . We, as modders, can't change the basic behavior of the AI. Minors building influence bases and the AI obsession with starbases are things we have no control over. It actually works pretty well for the AI. Those who are slower to build warships will build tons of constructors. Those constructors will fortify the
Nearing completion here. I need a little feedback, though. I settled on 10b population for each planet, along with 1pp, +% farms. 10b makes it so you don't have to deal with fractions if the farms have 10% increments. I'm testing with 20/40/60 farms for 12b/14b/16b populations. Is 16b a good cap, or should I go 30/60/90 to top out at 19b? I'm happy to say that the Drengin are doing fine. I gave them a logistics type GA that also has 50
Whoops. I just went and took a look at the ships and I removed all the weapons and defenses except those few that remain. I guess it falls to me to design the new ranger. That thing is ridiculous, though. Three Doom Rays, three Nightmare Torpedoes, and four Black Hole Guns. Mix those up with two each of Aeron Missile Defense, Zero Point Armor, and Ultimate Force Fields along with a splash of other weapons and modules and you get insanity squared!
[quote who="MarvinKosh" reply="410" id="3126998"]Yeah I think that in the absence of a technology requirement, the AI will happily spam the smallest weapon it can find onto a ship design. That's usually going to be lasers.[/quote] In my mod, all weapon types have identical characteristics. The drive to beams seems to be due to "just because." Those who have gotten around to weapons research have all gone for beams, so it's just the flavor of the game, I
So I'm 3 years into a playtest where I dropped the requirements for all the basic weapons and defenses - the stuff you would get with the corresponding theory tech. I also dropped the tech requirement for Battle Stations I, Starbase Defenses I, and the attack and defense modules you would get with the theory techs. Turns out there's another chokepoint for warship production - Interstellar Construction. For whatever reason, the AIs didn't have any fighters in th
Thanks for the pep-talk. I think I was just stunned when I imagined the amount of work that would be necessary to avert early wars. After some breathing I'm feeling much better. It's funny, I said that the Drengin and Korath lag economically, which is true in general and during the first two years of my latest playtest. Then, I play out a couple more years and the Drengin economy rockets up to 3rd place. Unfortunately, the superpower Drath are right next
Getting past the first stage is the toughest part. In my mod, I imagine it's even harder to keep up with the AI since I took out all the fat and wasteful research. You've identified the limiting factor - the economy. You need to get comfortable with the idea of running a deficit while you expand, then balancing the budget and pulling ahead. Don't let your deficit stop you from expanding. Your tax income is based on your population. The more pl
Well, I think I'm reaching the end of what I can do with this. Or, at least the limits of the scope of my work. I think I've hit just about every tech, improvement, and module in the game. The major question is what to do with colony population, farms, and morale structures. Is it perfect? Hardly. I think I'm hitting the point of diminishing returns, though. Either that or I'm suffering modder fatigue and it's time to hang it up fo
Welcome to the limits of AI. Well, video game AI circa 2003, anyway. Which isn't to say that video game AI has improved much since then - from what I've seen it hasn't. You really do need to set limits if you want a competitive game, especially with your settings. In addition to what HighWater and Marvin have said, I'd add a limitation on treaties and limit paying the AIs to fight each other. For treaties, no swooping in on the first possible tu
[quote who="Tolmekian" reply="393" id="3121630"] The Pain Coordination Grid Icon and Query became my Yor +% farming improvement, to match the Food Distribution Center. I like the idea, though. Which tech mentions it, and what did you make the requirement?[/quote] Ok. I'll answer my own question. The Agony Coordination Grid requires . . . Agony Coordination Grid. Yeah. And I checked the difference between my Drengin and Korath TechTrees.&n
[quote who="MisterAedan" reply="390" id="3121089"]Quoting Tolmekian, reply 389For the Drengin and Korath, I have Artificial Slavelings upgrading Slaveling Training and the Wretched Harverster upgrading the Devil's Forge. Does this mean that the Wretched Harvester is no longer Korath-only, or just that only Korath get the upgrade and this remains one of their unique, powerful techs? I always thought it was one of their most characteristic improvements, which instantly s
[quote who="qrtxian" reply="12" id="3120800"] Quoting Sole Soul, reply 10Recently, in a modding effort of mine, I've seen multiple AIs decommission the starport on more than one planet near game start-in a gigantic all-abundant, no less. And Neilo, it sounds like you'd prefer a model closer to SOASE's. Have you played it? This, I've never seen. Do you have any idea what caused it?[/quote] Pretty sure I've never seen it, either, but
[quote who="ChainsawSchmalz" reply="388" id="3120537"]Commentary . . .[/quote] Thanks for that. I tackled the problem of +% structures for v3.1. Each now has a base production proportional to its +%, and costs/mainenance have been brought down so the AI doesn't get stuck spending a year to put up a power plant or research coordination center. I also reduced the AI value to prevent spamming. It's more in line with the AI for factories and labs, b
[quote who="MarvinKosh" reply="6" id="3119586"]I can only imagine that the AI is virtually clicking on the starbase and thinking 'Zero defences? Awesome!' when it does that. Same with all the little scout ships that I parked in the shape of a smiley face.[/quote] The obsession with starbases needs to be worked out. Whether it's sending fleets across the galaxy to pick off a worthless base or sacrificing half the armada against a well fortified base, the d
Ouch. I just saw the spectacular farm on the Precursor Library trick recently. I don't have any fancy pictures, and I don't know if it makes the "Best" category, but AI transport use deserves special mention. Which planet to invade? The one right next door? No way! Let's go get the one across the galaxy! Or, my favorite: 1 - Send fleets to destroy defenders. 2 - Send transport toward undefended planet, poised to invade.
[quote who="MarvinKosh" reply="309" id="3119233"]Good grief, no wonder the Iconians have been so economically backward, their economic techs are wrongly categorised, and the Merchant Emporium doesn't upgrade the Barter Station. Plus I need to do some serious retooling of their tech tree.[/quote] Ouch. I vaguely recall those problems. As I've been ironing out the kinks and trying to balance everything, I just started kicking around the idea of giving everyone t
[quote who="qrtxian" reply="383" id="3117275"] Quoting MisterAedan, reply 382 Quoting Tolmekian, reply 3818 - Going back to unique AIPs, the Arcean AIP seems to be quite good at warfighting. It may be a one off thing, but they did an awesome job of getting their transports moving and actually conquering planets while the other AIs were just picking off defenders with scarcely a transport in sight. Is it an actual programming difference? Well, probably not. It was n
I, too, have liked the results of adding the changes we're talking about - governments, planetary defense, morale techs. There have been a few issues to work out, but it's coming along. 1- Failure to militarize. Since I finally rounded out the AIValues and the AIs are pursuing more balanced and complete research plans, it seems that the weapons techs have been left behind. That's right. Believe it or not, with all the other techs finally on the tabl
[quote who="geminisama" reply="372" id="3116495"]I saw you mention Marvin Kosh's space weapons fix mod, so does your excellent mod work with that one?[/quote] Thank you for your kind words. The two mods are different attempts to both fix Twilight's problems and improve gameplay overall. They overlap in so many places that they are completely incompatible.
