Icemania
Posts: 1847
Joined: 6/5/2013
From: Australia
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Icemania
Distant Worlds is the best current Space 4X game. The reason I can't say it's the best Space 4X game ever is because of one reason alone ... the AI.
The Matrix response:
quote:
ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins
- AI ship design now increases size of Carrier designs (beyond default design template) when construction size allows (like Capital Ships already did)
- added medium and large freighter designs to AI ship design shrinking process (attempt to fit within current maximum construction size)
- now optionally allow setting battle tactics, invasion tactics and fleeWhen settings for designs in design template files. To do this, for any design template file for any race, use the following entries (Entry name with possible values after the colon):
TacticsWeaker: Evade, Standoff, AllWeapons, PointBlank
TacticsStronger: Evade, Standoff, AllWeapons, PointBlank
TacticsInvasion: DoNotInvade, InvadeWhenClear, InvadeImmediately
FleeWhen: EnemyMilitarySighted, Attacked, Shields50, Shields20, Never
- ship decision whether to use tractor beams to pull or push a target now uses optimal attack ranges defined by battle tactics, e.g. when set to Point Blank then will pull within close range, when set to Evade will always push. Spaceports defending a colony will push when enemy troop transport gets too close in an attempt to prevent them from dropping invading troops at the colony
- idle automated AI fleets and troop transports will now unload troops at colonies that have pirate facilities but insufficient troops to clear them
- independent colonies now recruit more defending militia troops
- AI now gives higher preference to mining station build locations that are closer to space ports, colonies, etc
- strategic resources used in construction (for components) now weighted slightly higher when considering stockpiles at spaceports and elsewhere
- AI ship design now properly adds damage control components when repair bots are unavailable
- further optimized AI ship design process to allow shrinking designs with maximum construction size while still ensuring critical components are present (e.g. weapons on military ships)
- added optional ship design template files for planet destroyers in themes. To use, place a custom ship design template named "PlanetDestroyer.txt" in the appropriate race folder
- added new super weapon types, allowing different types of planet destroyer weapons: in addition to the default super beam weapons can now also have super torpedos, super missiles, super rail guns, super phasers. Any of these can be set to be planet destroying weapons when damage is 10,000 or greater (weapon component Value1). Particularly useful in conjunction with new planet destroyer ship design templates mentioned above. To add these new super weapons to a custom theme, use the following values in the components.txt file (Type): 62=SuperTorpedo, 63=SuperMissile, 64=SuperRailGun, 65=SuperPhaser. You can also focus an empire's tech efforts to these new areas using the following new values in the race policy files (ResearchDesignTechFocus1-6): 30=SuperTorpedo, 31=SuperMissile, 32=SuperRailGun, 33=SuperPhaser
- decreased chance of counterintelligence intercepting enemy intelligence missions, especially when targeted enemy agent has high mission skill level (i.e. harder to catch)
- AI ship design now better at shrinking mining ships when maximum construction size is low
- AI ship design now better at shrinking military ships with fighter bays when maximum construction size is low
- NEW MODDING FEATURE: defined Research path. Optionally allow specifying project order for a race for each tech tree (see new entries in race files: WeaponsResearchProjectOrder, EnergyResearchProjectOrder, HighTechResearchProjectOrder)
- further improved AI ship design: no longer add too many extra reactors, nor remove too many shield components, when attempting to shrink a new design to fit within construction size limits
- increased chance of counterintelligence missions successfully intercepting enemy intelligence missions, especially for agents with high counterintelligence skill levels
- random government selection more balanced (no longer frequently choosing Military Dictatorship)
- reduced number of spaceports empire builds when has low population
- AI empires now check whether colony is safe to build at prior to initiating research station construction (e.g. check for nearby pirates)
- lowered effectiveness of counterintelligence, now better accounts for duration of intercepted mission (3 months vs one year, etc)
- AI ship designer now always adds sufficient reactors to ship designs (possibly more than one) to enable hyperdrive to operate at full speed
- AI ship designer now more willing to shrink new designs to fit within current construction size limits, especially when first obtain hyperdrive technology
- NEW MODDING FEATURE: allow restricting any research project to specific races using the new ALLOWED RACES line in the research.txt file (updated header comments of research.txt explains)
- improved AI research pathing to better emphasize tech focuses from empire policy (ResearchDesignTechFocus1-6), while still researching other important techs
- Shakturi now have faster construction and lower ship maintenance (updated Shakturi.txt race file)
- Shakturi ship design templates now use more weapons and other components (military ships, medium & large spaceports, defensive bases)
- Shakturi empire policy now builds more large military ships and less small military ships
- empires are now more willing to use excess cash on hand as factor when deciding whether to build new ships (e.g. low or negative cashflow, but large cash reserves on hand), especially when at war
- fixed AI empires starting and then quickly ending Trade Sanctions - now always honor minimum time period
- fixed RepairBot components being downgraded to Damage Control by AI ship design (updated fix)
- adjusted default ship design templates for each race: Large Spaceports have more docking bays and construction yards, Mining Stations have more docking bays, shields and weapons
- low colony tax rates do not increase population growth rates as much as previously, but now make colony more attractive migration destination
- civilian ships now ensure they have enough reactors to power hyperdrives at full speed (same as state ships already did)
- AI now willing to build more military ships when at war, especially when have large cash reserves and powerful enemies
- AI now more willing to build more research stations at home colony at game start
- AI takes more care to avoid overspending on troops
- Exploration ships now scan for resources more quickly, moving on to next exploration target immediately once resources and ruins investigated
- increased amount of automated Exploration ships that are assigned to simply scout systems for colonization targets and ruins instead of performing full resource scan of system and all resources
- AI fleets are now better at coordinating multi-fleet attacks within own empire against single enemy target (beyond just coordinated fleet attacks with allies)
- increased ratio of AI-created large fleets versus small strike forces (i.e. more large fleets)
- now properly limit coordinated fleet attacks within own empire only to automated attack fleets (not defense fleets or manually controlled fleets)
I've been holding off on saying this for a while.
I was going to wait until later, there are still some quirks and improvements needed. We always want MORE!
But it's time. I can't fool myself any longer.
Distant Worlds is the best Space 4X game ... EVER.
< Message edited by Icemania -- 8/27/2014 2:32:10 PM >
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