[Master Belisarius]

Originally posted by cybersol:
How would the AI go from Exploration to Prepare for Attack? Or to Incursion?
When is Prepare for Defense used?
How long do Prepare for Attack and Prepare for Defense typically Last?

Good questions... and I have only a few answers.

Defend Short Term: The most important thing, is know that 95% of the time during the game, the AI is under the "Defend (Short Term)"...
IF the AI see a enemy ship into a system where the AI have a single planet, then the AI will change to "Defend (Short Term)".

Exploration: the AI always start into the Exploration state until the first contact. The AI could move again to the Exploration state, after some time without see ships/planets of another race.

Infraestructure: can remember that Aaron said that the AI move to Infraestructure state, after a long time without change the current state.

When Gold was near to be released, some beta testers had a chat into a Shrapnel forum with Aaron (I was unable to be Online when this happened ). Can remember that Aaron did a post explaining how the AI change the state, but now this forum was erased.

Anyway IMHO, because the AI most the time will be into the Defense Short Term (and exploration in the early game), the modder should consider the these states as the most importants.