Icemania
Posts: 1847
Joined: 6/5/2013 From: Australia Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Miravlix Human player controlled race is missing AI research in the research overview. (Without the Mod is shows, but reports it need an event to unlock.) Since the AI thingy is part of winning condition for humans it seems worrisome it's missing. (God knows if it shows up, since I've yet to have a game last long enough to make it. I think all non-unlock racial research shows in the list.) This mod is an extension to the Default Distant Worlds Universe theme, not the Ancient Galaxy theme, so Machine Intelligence is not relevant. All racial technologies are given the appropriate high focus in the Research Build Orders and Ship/Base designs. quote:
ORIGINAL: Miravlix I just love pre-warp, so I start the AI on pre-warp too, but I found that I won those games without a large group of the AI's not having researched colonization, by the time I won the game. I'm hoping your research fiddling ensures they do research colonization. Colonisation Research is still important with this mod for all races. It's typically about #7 in High Tech but the first Wonder target has priority. quote:
ORIGINAL: Miravlix The size of designs seems crippling, the AI can't make Explorers for a long time. Since it need to research size 300 construction, won't that cripple it badly, since it will take forever before it scout the hyperdrive unlock? This is an important topic. One of the biggest problems with the AI are the pathetically small ships that are used so I am certainly pushing the envelope here. You will need Size 230 not Size 300. Thankfully the game shrinks some designs to a reasonable degree so you will have all Exploration Ships, Escorts, Frigates as well as all Private Ships available at Size 230. Noting there are always variations between games here is a Pre-Warp comparison with default and with the mod (settings Normal difficulty, Excellent Homeworld, Normal Research, No Pirates, both tests with Quameno): Default A lucky start in this test the AI starts building immediately 1. Build Large Spaceport (complete 2100.12). Research is at about 2/3rds of capacity. 2. Build Energy Research Station (complete 2101.01). Research is at about 80%. 3. Build Energy Research Station (complete 2101.03). Research is now at 100% but 2/3rds is Energy focused and it will remain that way for a long time (hence any competent human player will be far superior to the AI with Weapons and Wonders). 4. Build 2 Exploration ships (complete 2101.03). 5. Upgrade Large Spaceport (complete 2101.06). 6. Build Construction Ship (complete 2101.11). 7. Upgrade Large Spaceport (complete 2101.06). 8. Build Construction Ship (complete 2102.07). 9. Build 4 Gas Mining Ships, 4 Mining Ships, 6 Freighters and another Construction Ship (most complete 2102.06). 10. Build an Escort and 2 Destroyers (complete 2102.08). 11. Build first Mining Station (complete 2102.08). 12. Build Defensive Base (complete 2102.12). AI Improvement Mod An unlucky start in this test as sometimes it takes a month or two before the AI builds anything 1. Build Medium Spaceport (complete 2100.11). The Medium Spaceport is designed so that 100% of research potential is used when it is complete. 2. Build 1st Construction Ship (complete 2101.02). 3. Build Defensive Base (complete 2101.05). 4. Build 7 Exploration Ships (complete 2101.06). The Exploration Ships have more Engines and Fuel Cells than default. 5. Build 4 Gas Mining Ships, 4 Mining Ships, 6 Freighters (complete 2101.09). The Mining Ships have more Extractors and more Engines than default. The Freighters have more Engines and Cargo Bays than default. 6. Build 2nd Construction Ship (complete 2101.09). 7. Build first Mining Station (complete 2101.11). The Mining Stations have more Extractors than default. 8. Build 4 Escorts (complete 2101.11) and 4 Frigates (complete 2101.12). The Escorts and Frigates are larger and more powerful than default. 9. Build Troop Transport and another Exploration Ship (complete 2102.02). The result is improved performance with research, resources and also exploration. Difficulty and Homeworld Settings If you give the AI a Normal Homeworld on Normal Difficulty, it's going to struggle regardless, much more than a human player on Default or with this Mod. I recommend starts that help the AI at least a little i.e. improved Homeworld starts and/or increased difficulty. Research Settings This creates a catch-22. If you play on Expensive Research or above, as it takes some time before Size 230 is available, the AI will not build Explorers, Military or Private Ships in the meantime. On Expensive the delay is a year or two but on Very Expensive Research the delay can be many years. I could simplify the designs but this means that the benefits of extra Extractors, Engines, Weapons and Fuel Cells would be lost on the other Research settings. I would be more than happy to design a mod that works well for all circumstances but until conditional logic is available in the ship design templates this is problematic. Where I have particular hesitation in making changes is for Military Ships and Private Ships due to the magnitude of the performance difference. For Explorers I'll reduce them in size for the Alpha build. The AI doesn't know when to get rid of them anyway so they sit around even after the galaxy is explored so this change helps reduce maintenance costs. The first batch of 7-8 Explorers will also start building as soon as the Medium Spaceport is complete so it was also further reduce the time required to find the Warp Ruins. What I could do is release a second version of this mod for Expensive Research and above later which would use smaller Private Ships and Military Ships.
< Message edited by Icemania -- 7/13/2014 6:56:06 AM >
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