AI Improvement Mod (1.05 Extended Release)

[Icemania]

Thanks both for the confirmation that the Dropbox linked worked as I can now update the link in the OP.

[CptDrake]

Have found that to download from MediaFire it's necessary to remove/exit your Anti-virus software. For some reason the download never starts, or if it does the result is corrupted. I use Chrome here.

[Icemania]

One problem with Dropbox is that I can't tell how many people have downloaded Extended. If was interesting watching the downloads with Vanilla and Extended 1.01 released at the same time. I knew most people played Extended but wow credit to Haree78, there were easily 4x as many downloads for Extended.

By the way, thanks for all of the screenshots of crazy battles and the AI beating you up, it's really appreciated!

[PsyKoSnake]

ORIGINAL: Icemania

One problem with Dropbox if that I can't tell how many people have downloaded Extended. If was interesting watching the downloads with Vanilla and Extended 1.01 released at the same time. I knew most people played Extended but wow credit to Haree78, there were easily 4x as many downloads for Extended.

By the way, thanks for all of the screenshots of crazy battles and the AI beating you up, it's really appreciated!

Or you can upload the file on the same site as the vanila version.
Tinyupload.com work fine.

[Icemania]

ORIGINAL: PsyKoSnake
Or you can upload the file on the same site as the vanila version.
Tinyupload.com work fine.

As mentioned a few posts ago tinyupload has a 50MB limit which is not sufficient for the Extended version. Obviously that was my preference.

[Tanaka]

With the new patch out finally starting a new game and one thing I noticed that also might help improve the AI is it possible to set all AI fleets to attack system targets instead of nearby? Ive noticed if fleets are set to attack nearby they will ignore pirates and monsters in the system that are causing havoc in other parts of the system...

[spiralaxis]

Now that the patches are live and I've been able to install this, I've noticed an issue: none of the bases (Banoserit/Hard/Starting) have more than 1 energy collector. Just thought I'd raise a flag on it.

[spiralaxis]

Would this redirect count trick for bit.ly work?

http://blog.bitly.com/post/58375278/cha ... t-ly-today

[spiralaxis]

Icemania: My phone browser crashed when I tried to post it but I turned up something called orangedox for dropbox that may let you count downloads. Know nothing else about it though.

[Icemania]

ORIGINAL: spiralaxis
Now that the patches are live and I've been able to install this, I've noticed an issue: none of the bases (Banoserit/Hard/Starting) have more than 1 energy collector. Just thought I'd raise a flag on it.

This is part of the Developer Support Wishlist in the OP.

The design templates clearly state the game will ensure there are an adequate number of energy components.

This developer bug was raised in Technical Support on July 7th and there has been no response.

[Icemania]

ORIGINAL: Tanaka
With the new patch out finally starting a new game and one thing I noticed that also might help improve the AI is it possible to set all AI fleets to attack system targets instead of nearby? Ive noticed if fleets are set to attack nearby they will ignore pirates and monsters in the system that are causing havoc in other parts of the system...

Agree. We have no Mod capabilities in this area.

[aZmoDen]

hey Icemania, ive started a couple of new games with this mod and havent run into the ancient guardians yet, its 2100.03.09 game time.

Has your mod changed the way theyre introduced into the game/map? changed a trigger or something? have i missed them? has someone already destroyed them?
i have all the story lines activated and am reluctant to continue the current game until i know if theyre going to be present.

[Icemania]

ORIGINAL: aZmoDen
hey Icemania, ive started a couple of new games with this mod and havent run into the ancient guardians yet, its 2100.03.09 game time.

Has your mod changed the way theyre introduced into the game/map? changed a trigger or something? have i missed them? has someone already destroyed them?
i have all the story lines activated and am reluctant to continue the current game until i know if theyre going to be present.

No change except that Ancient Guardians ships are more powerful.

I upgraded the Shakturi as well but the game does not use Shakturi templates we make in the Return of the Shakturi Event.

This developer bug was raised in Technical Support on July 26th and there has been no response.

[aZmoDen]

yeah i raised teh same concern in the same forum, found your thread and commented too, as wlel as in the new release notes.
Thanks for the heads up im going to start one more game and see if they turn up, if not im going to have to redact teh tweeks i made to this mod
as it is more than likely something i did as apposed to you did it seems.

[sayke]

Icemania - thank you for your excellent work on this! It's awesome =D

[Erik Rutins]

We have a lot on our list and unfortunately we can only do so much for each update. Things have been a bit slower with first Elliot's vacation and then mine, but there are more fixes and changes on the way.

We do however read each post in the Tech Support sub-forum.

[Icemania]

I appreciate your post Erik.

Please understand our perspective, we think you are probably working on some of this, but it's been very quiet for some time. It would probably help if Elliot posted more, at least while you were on holidays, so we know what was cooking, and we would certainly appreciate more engagement.

I understand feature changes need to be weighed up and may or may not happen. More my concern is the bugs as some are quite significant e.g. doubling populating growth, energy collectors.

With the AI Improvement Mod the AI is far more focused on building wonders, researching to double population growth is a important strategy which simply doesn't work at the moment. This is amongst many examples of improvements in this Mod that many of us would argue should be in the Vanilla game.

[Hikikomori]

I am not sure if i messed something up with the install, but i am puzzled by the fact that the design templates do not include any fighter bays in carriers at start. I have downloaded the DWU-Extended version of the ai mod, also the templates are called 1.9.0.0.

Did i mess up or is this working as intended?

[aZmoDen]

Hey quick question Icemania, Im still not gettin ancient guardians, but my new theory is i have too many ai players for them to spawn.
Ive run 15x15 1400 ;37 empires, 15x15 1000 25 then 24 empires (current game), and im pondering that too many extra AI players might negate the ancient guardians spawning.
So the question is (i guess) how many ai players do you have in the latest game youve played, where the ancient guardians have spawned?

Also, in the weapons research screen, Super Area Weapons is separated from the rest of the research tree, with no links.
Is this supposed to be such:

PROJECT ;274, Super Area Weapons, 9, 10, 0, 23, 3, 0.0,
COMPONENTS ;24

This has it on teh same level as the top level of gravatic weapons (gravatic resonance, advanced gravatic resonance, superiour gravatic resonance).
imageproof

[Icemania]

ORIGINAL: Hikikomori
I am not sure if i messed something up with the install, but i am puzzled by the fact that the design templates do not include any fighter bays in carriers at start. I have downloaded the DWU-Extended version of the ai mod, also the templates are called 1.9.0.0.

Did i mess up or is this working as intended?

In the default game the AI does research and also builds designs using a smorgasboard of weapons. As a human player I'm always able to build significantly better ships than the AI and one of the main reasons for that is due to focusing on particular weapon types. I was also concerned that some weapons were not used enough in game.

In the Extended AI Improvement Mod there are six races that focus on fighters: the Caleph, Mortalen, Napoar, Securan, Shandar and Tairoshan. While smaller ships will use Missiles or Torpedoes, as the ship designs get larger, you will find more and more of a focus on Fighter Bays for those races. Research is targeted appropriately. The AI will build a far larger proportion of Carriers once you have the technology compared to default.

For other races, since they focus on other weapons types the Carrier designs are unused and redundant.