What really P***** me off!!!

[SpaceBadger]

Originally posted by narf poit chez BOOM:
it's been mentioned that the AI's attitude toward you counts for nothing.

It has been mentioned but I do not think it is quite accurate, at least not if taken literally. The AI attitude can give you some indication of how things are progressing in your diplomatic relations with that AI. I have never had a Brotherly AI declare War on me - they may become Brotherly during the course of a long slow War without ending the War, but that is different. Similarly, I have never had a Murderous AI agree to treaties with me - although even a Partner may become Murderous after the treaty is made, and may then either break the treaty or not. A Brotherly AI does not refuse your gifts, nor does a Murderous AI accept them.

I am using Brotherly and Murderous as the extreme examples, but the in-between levels are still not "nothing" - they give you an indicator of which way the AI's temper is moving, so that you can try to bribe them or at least have some idea which way they may be going in the future.

I am somewhat confused by some of the things that cause the AI attitude levels to move up and down. For example, in a current game I have found that even when I immediately duck out of a neutral system after making first contact, and have no further contact with them except for giving them gifts and offering treaties or trades, every single one of the neutrals I have met has gotten progressively more angry with me until they are all Murderous. I don't get it - they cannot come out of their system to see my colonies, they aren't seeing any of my ships because I have pulled my ships out of the system - what is ticking them off? (They are not xenophobes, I checked.) Is it my breath?

SpaceBadger

[Cyrien]

It is probably because you can go through wormholes and they can't. They're just jealous. Don't let them judge you!

[narf poit chez BOOM]

i think the nuetralls view you as MEE.

[Fyron]

Originally posted by geoschmo:
Is it possible you selected the neutral happiness type by accident when you set up your empire?

Or Bloodthirsty. Either of them get angry when you do things like sign treaties and colonize planets. It is generally a bad idea to take either of them, ever. It is easy to have jubilant pop on all worlds with Peaceful, even when being a brutal warmonger.

[Atrocities]

Originally posted by geoschmo:
Is it possible you selected the neutral happiness type by accident when you set up your empire?

Possible, and if I did, ................ me not be happy.

[Baron Munchausen]

The problem that everyone is dancing aorund here is the simplistic AI. It's got a single linear scale of how much it 'likes' or 'dislikes' you and some randomizing factors that make it jump the tracks occasionally. Not at all realistic.

At the very least we need an AI with two 'scales' one of "like/dislike" and another of "fear/non-fear". So, if you are really powerful you might be offered a treaty by the AI simply because they are afraid of you. This sort of treaty is likely to go 'poof' if your own military strength suffers a setback, of course. But if you can see the two Ratings (they ought to both be available just as the single 'attitude' is now) you can guess why you have been offered the treaty and plan accordingly.

Ideally, of course, we ought to have some sort of 'cultural ties' that also grow stronger with time and make good alliances (not 'fear' alliances) difficult to just throw away. Even when war breaks out between two empires with a long history of good relations the AI ought to be smart enough to try to keep it a 'limited' war for just one particular objective, not turn it into an instant campaign of genocide.

Of course, there also ought to be completely different types of treaties with widely varying terms. The rigid linear scale of treaties is also annoying.

[ November 01, 2003, 19:25: Message edited by: Baron Munchausen ]

[Mephisto]

There is already a modifier for the relative strength of an empire, for example this line: "Propose Treaty Anger Modifier For Percent Stronger Player". There are many more in the politics file. But I agree, the AI still acts highly artificial.