Best Mods & settings for single-player game?

[oleg]

AIC is IMHO the best mod for solo play.
This is why I think so:

It is indeed not easy to mod SE AI. One of the reasons is the way AI calculates how many ships to build. It is primarily based on the number of colonies (with some minimum number reserved). The computer bonus does not come directly into account. If for example AI is programmed to build a cruiser per every two planets and it has 100 planets, it will build 50 ships no matter what (if it has enough resources of course). But the same 100 planets produce 5 times more resources if AI has bonus ! So, what should Ai modder do ? Make AI build a lot of ships for high bonus game and go broke in no-bonus game ? Or be safe and let AI underperform at high bonus but not get bankrupt in low-income game ? As it is, there is no way to make different AI files for different bonus games and let AI automatically decide what set to use. SE AI files must be universal, which automatically means underachivement in high bonus games. This is exactly what you are complaing about - AI does not build enough mean ships. In fact, one can relatively easy mod AI to work much better than now in high-bonus games, but it will not do any good at weeker settings !

John Sullivan decided to solve this dilemma by modding AIC in a way AI has a bonus even in no-bonus game. It is always on steroids and extra AI bonuses are only for extra enjoinment

[ June 02, 2003, 00:16: Message edited by: oleg ]