AI Improvement Mod (1.05 Extended Release)

[jadelith]

I have i5 3750k at 4.1 & 980 evga, and I still have performance problems with fighters. Also i feel like fighters waste a lot of time flying towards targets, so that a lot of their theoretical dps is lost, so i don't really like them.

Torps are still beasts IMO. Jack of all trades and still very high armor pen. & damage. I actually want to use railguns, but the fact that they're relatively bad vs everything else puts me off. Maybe I'll manually increase their stats to make them on par with others at end game for fun (increase range to say 900 but decrease damage with distance?)

And this mod ruined vanilla for me.. I can no longer play it :/ mostly because I no longer have to redesign everything for 10 min at the beginning of each game :p

[solops]

ORIGINAL: jadelith

Gahhh I can't decide which weapon type to use... I guess that's a good thing balance-wise, but it's driving the min-maxer inside me crazy. Torpedoes, phasers or beams?? Or hell, even missiles? What do you guys prefer? I'll use one for both ships (I only use capitals - the game is extremely micro-heavy as it is without managing multiple ship types) and for bases/mining stations. Pls help me : p

I use everything because I like lots of different colors and sounds during combat. Pretty.....

[Sithuk]

What happens if I select torp research for a race that has its designs optimised for missiles? Will the game code adapt the designs once the higher level research is available for the non-default weapon type?

[Icemania]

ORIGINAL: Sithuk
What happens if I select torp research for a race that has its designs optimised for missiles? Will the game code adapt the designs once the higher level research is available for the non-default weapon type?

The designs will work in that case ... but it only works for very similar weapon types ... and this is hard coded.

Even then keep in mind the designs would not be optimised. For example Missiles and Torpedoes are slightly different in size, and as the design templates use a fixed number of components, those numbers vary in the race design templates depending on the race's weapon preference.

So when I play my customised Quameno race I change both the research orders and design templates in combination.

[Sithuk]

So when I play my customised Quameno race I change both the research orders and design templates in combination.

You copy over the contents of the "designTemplates" folder from a race which uses the default weapons types that I would like to use?

[NZFade]

Hey Icemania,

Thanks for this mod, it is great, using the one that also includes DW:U extended. One thing I have noticed as an avid thief of tech from other races, is that the Banoserit do not actually research their Far Sight Sensors. Not sure if that has been noted before, but looking at your included excel file they research sensors (research #198) as their 23rd Hi Tech project but at no time does Research project #391 appear.

Given the good balance you already have with the races and research can you suggest the placement for these techs? or just a 1 for 1 replacement with normal long range sensor tech? Best possible outcome for me will be if you just post an amended race file but that is only because I am lazy.

Thanks again for the work to date on this mod, really hope that you are able to work with/advise Osito on his Research Unleashed mod as well to bring the customised research orders. Currently playing on 280k research costs to drag it out a bit more, but more tech would also be pretty cool.

Edit : I have not read any form of bug tracker or in detail on this thread so you may already be aware of the issue, in which case I shall apologise and slink into a corner and wait for an update like everyone else.

Regards.

[Icemania]

ORIGINAL: Sithuk

So when I play my customised Quameno race I change both the research orders and design templates in combination.

You copy over the contents of the "designTemplates" folder from a race which uses the default weapons types that I would like to use?

Yes and then modify to suit my personal preferences. For example I prefer more fuel cells on Explorers but doing that in the Mod that can cause problems for the AI.

[Icemania]

ORIGINAL: NZFade

Hey Icemania,

Thanks for this mod, it is great, using the one that also includes DW:U extended. One thing I have noticed as an avid thief of tech from other races, is that the Banoserit do not actually research their Far Sight Sensors. Not sure if that has been noted before, but looking at your included excel file they research sensors (research #198) as their 23rd Hi Tech project but at no time does Research project #391 appear.

Given the good balance you already have with the races and research can you suggest the placement for these techs? or just a 1 for 1 replacement with normal long range sensor tech? Best possible outcome for me will be if you just post an amended race file but that is only because I am lazy.

Thanks again for the work to date on this mod, really hope that you are able to work with/advise Osito on his Research Unleashed mod as well to bring the customised research orders. Currently playing on 280k research costs to drag it out a bit more, but more tech would also be pretty cool.

Edit : I have not read any form of bug tracker or in detail on this thread so you may already be aware of the issue, in which case I shall apologise and slink into a corner and wait for an update like everyone else.

Regards.

Quite right, I completely missed that, cheers! I have a 1.05 release but the changelog is very small at this point so you've just helped me add an item. Hopefully Larry Monte will continue his Let's Play series because the plan was to use that to keep an eye out for other changes.

In the meantime here is the proposed research order to put in the Banoserit race file:

HighTechResearchProjectOrder ; 212,249,253,227,254,282,219,235,225,224,220,182,188,204,391,245,255,236,223,239,398,394,395,392,183,189,205,213,228,262,256,284,251,184,190,250,263,264,265,185,191,186,192,187,193,266,267,243,198,199,205,206,207,214,222,397,221,396,226,399

I'll definitely comment on Osito's mod at some point.

[NZFade]

Great thanks.

If that is the Extreme play through with with Human Race and Shakturi events on, I too have been watching that, been a good play to pick up tips and see what people do differently.

I do note that the Banoserit are actually forced to double research to some extent because the long range sensors are tied into the stealth research. Is it possible to link their first sensor as an alternate path to stealth or maybe just make unlink the long range sensors to that tech. lets face it, you need the long range sensors so people will still research them.

[Icemania]

Good point about the Banoserit NZFade. I'll consider that for the next release (although note a new release isn't planned ... but might happen one day).

[Tanaka]

Hi Ice would it be possible for you to updated the extended part of the mod to the latest patch as Haree is no longer updating?

[Icemania]

The latest patch really doesn't have anything that merits any material change to the AI Improvement Mod. Or do you have something specific in mind?

As for Haree's Mod, that is up to Haree, but I would have expected a similar response. Once integrated here they have somewhat diverged e.g. tech tree changes.

[Tanaka]

ORIGINAL: Icemania

The latest patch really doesn't have anything that merits any material change to the AI Improvement Mod. Or do you have something specific in mind?

As for Haree's Mod, that is up to Haree, but I would have expected a similar response. Once integrated here they have somewhat diverged e.g. tech tree changes.

Yes no updates to your mod but to Harees mod that he no longer updates. Ah I see are you saying that the updates only affect the tech trees and since this changes in your mod it no longer applies to Harees mod?

[Icemania]

I won't be modifying Haree's mod Tanaka. The Extended AI Improvement Mod is the version I play, so if I do further modding work, it will be here.

[bobthe]

The Mod is recommended for use on higher difficulties i.e. at least Very Hard. That said, it will work on Normal and Hard, but there are limitations in how well the AI can be improved, so the benefits only become significant at higher difficulties.

As someone who is not knowledgeable in the modding details for this game, can you explain what you mean by this part of the above excerpt:

it will work on Normal and Hard, but there are limitations in how well the AI can be improved

How is the AI limited by how much it can be improved on these difficulties? Or maybe it would be better to ask what the harder difficulty settings let you do with the AI that the easier ones do not?

[mordachai]

At harder difficulty settings, the game is more generous to the AI (it's like they get to play on easy). So they have more money, happier citizens, etc., all the things you'd expect on easy.

This means that despite the inherent inability to *think*, the AI has lots of resources to throw around, and is far more likely to follow the orders that the modder designed, and less likely to 'get stuck' on some issue like being out of a given resource such as cash or casalon (easy mode, remember: easier to afford to mine what they need, easier to get quantities of it, easier to build ships to exploit it, etc.)

So, higher difficulty = AI's get more $, resources, etc., = they are able to take advantage of the "smarts" endowed by this mod.

^^^ my assumptions, could be wrong

[Icemania]

mordachai is correct. The other factor is the Modding limitations. For example I can get the AI to increase the number of explorers built ... but I can't get the AI to retire that higher number of explorers once exploration is complete. So some of the changes result in higher costs for the AI.

[Tanaka]

ORIGINAL: Icemania

I won't be modifying Haree's mod Tanaka. The Extended AI Improvement Mod is the version I play, so if I do further modding work, it will be here.

Yes same here your extended AI mod is the only version I play. Not talking about modding his mod rather than updating the part of it in your mod to the recent patch so that it works correctly. I know he stopped updating it many patches back. But if the only part of his extended mod in your mod that needs updating is the research and your mod already updated that then it may not need updating...[:)]

[Icemania]

The AI Improvement Mod doesn't need updating, I have checked each patch and used anything interesting. Beyond that there are a couple of ideas for a 1.05 release from recent posts but nothing major.

[ASHBERY76]

The biggest A.I killers and player exploits is bombardment and you have them only building planet shields at 5000 pop and half of the races do not even get the tech.I put them on all my colonies at 1000 at the most as the colonies pay for them at that rate.

Bombardment makes the A.I still very easy to beat in this mod.I am also not convinced about the capital ship ratios.It is very expensive for the A.I and gives them less space cover in numbers.