AI files in Proportins

[PDF]

Ok, now I've been converted to Proportionism , start a PBW game and also want to play vs AI (to provide for some training ! ).
I've read how to create player AI .emp files, and got Oleg's generic AI files.

I'm still wondering how works exactly the various AI files, and why they could not work well with Proportions - ie if I take the TDM races AI files, what happens ? Do they work or not ? Do they work badly, with AI using strategies made bad by the mod ?
I'm sure some people here already discussed that and can answer...

[dogscoff]

There are lots of reasons why Standard or TDM AIs won't work well in Proportions, but the most important ones are:

Facilities: Say a standard AI sets up a mining colony. The computer fills up the build queue by asking itself "What available facility gives the best mineral production?" In the standard game, this will cause the AI to build monoliths or mineral miners.

Unfortunately, in proportions, the answer to that question is "Cultural Centres", which tie up build queue for several thousand turns. Same for radioactive colonies, farming colonies, resupply depots. The trick (as I understand it) is to persuade the AI to ask a different question=-)

Also, AIs need to be adjusted to deal with the quasi- newtonian propulsion and all the new components (ie the different combat sensors.)

In addition, I think the balance of ship supply has been changed in Proportions, so AI designs which would be fine in the standard game are crippled by low supply storage in Proportions.

I'm sure there are a dozen other reasons, but these are the ones which occur to me, and on their own they are enough to require a major redesign of the AIs.

[PDF]

Thx Dogscoff,
From what I saw in the various AI file, it looks pretty easy to make AI ship designs better for Prop by just putting "Supply Storage" as a priority item.

As for facilities I can't see how it can be done, as only the "wanted effect" (mineral prod for example) is indicated, not the facilities themselves, and there is no "limit" factor to prevent AI from building CCs ... How can you get the AI to change its "reasoning" ?

[dogscoff]

I think it's done using certain "useless" abilities. For example, you can give the "star unstable" ability to any component or facility. Obviously it will have no effect at all on these items (ie it won't cause stars or ships to go nova) , but the AI construction files can then call for that ability. If you look at the data/facilities file in Proportions you will probably find some apparently inappropriate abilities attached to the mineral miners and farms etc.

If you then look at one of the AIs' files (whichever one dictates colony building) you'll see that those abilities are required when determining what facilities to build.

BTW I'm not a modder, so this might all be wrong=-)

[ 24 April 2002: Message edited by: dogscoff ]

[PDF]

Thx Dogscoff, it's just as you said !

I checked the files, indeed the Mineral facilities have a "movement bonus" bogus feature and AI construction try to implant "Movement bonus" at first priority in its Mining Colonies !

So "proportionalization" of AI files could be a somewhat easy task, if we just had the list of "bogus" feature implemented and what they're used for.

PvK could provide that I suppose

[PvK]

Yes, look at the top (comment area) of the Facilities.txt file in Proportions. I added a section that explains what all the bogus entries there are.

I haven't yet documented the bogus abilities for components, but I will work on that. These are needed to make appropriate choices for cargo storage, efficient engines, and armor.

The pseudo-Newtonian movement system requires a fair amount of work to mod AI for. Since each ship size has a different number of max engines, and some use of efficient engines is desirable, I had to break out "attack ships" into many different entries ("attack destroyer", "attack light cruiser", etc). I'm also starting to add second types per size, so attack ships include more supplies and efficient engines, and defense types include faster engines and more combat equipment. That's sort of a design decision rather than a requirement. However it helps if the AI has at least some ships with good range (meaning efficient engines and/or supply storage) - this is why the current AI has problems with zero-planet systems. In 2.2 I have started adding Explorer designs to the AI which help a lot, but you have to tell the AI to barely build any, or it may build too many. It really only needs about one dedicated long-range explorer.

Another consideration is the empire ability selection - these mostly cost different points now, so as Oleg started, and I've done some more work on, the AI's should have customized choices for their abilities and traits, or they may not use all of their points.

Here are some notes I started to prepare for Suicide Junkie after he asked what it would take to add Proportions to his automatic AI-conVersion utility. They aren't finished, though:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Suicide Junkie:
How many changes do you have to make to AIs for your mod? There's always more room in the AI Patcher for more mods, assuming the changes required are not too complex!

---

Here's a list. Let me know if this looks reasonable or not, or if you have any questions. I'm not getting real specific, because I have the feeling it's probably too much for you to want to tackle.

ai_settings.txt:
Adjust tonnage build times.

ai_politics.txt:
multiply accept surrender threshold by 100 times.

ai_designcreation.txt (massive changes):
Must duplicate the attack ship design into one design for each ship size (!). Attack Escort, Attack Frigate, Attack Destroyer, Attack Light Cruiser, Attack Cruiser, Attack Battlecruiser, Attack Battleship, Attack Dreadnought, Attack Baseship. Changes to most values of every ship design.

PvK