Don't forget that the technology has to be in the AI_DesignCreation or AI_Construction_Facilities file in order to be used! So, it's really not to the AI's advantage to analyze anything and everything it acquires. It might just lose the use of the ship and still not be able to apply the technology! If you start putting in designs to handle any and every technology it might acquire then weird things could begin to happen. What if it gets level 1 Phased polaron beams? If it's not designed to research them and doesn't acquire any further levels then it'll keep building these wimpy ships with level 1 phased polaron while other races research plain old A-P beam to level 12 and toast those ships from a distance. So there probably need to be some major changes in the AI to make it more 'adaptable' before it should be analyzing things. Maybe it needs to check if the techs on the ship are in its normal research path?
If they would normally be researched then it would be worthwhile for the AI to analyze the ship.
[This message has been edited by Baron Munchausen (edited 02 August 2001).]