Man, this game is great ...

[SunDevil]

Raynor:

1. Poor Choices building on Planets:

Goto Default_AI_Construction_Facilities, this is where the ai models itself on what to build. If you have the default Version(as in not made any changes yet) you will see that for most colony types they have like six options. If you check out the latest mod pack 1.01 I think and look at the Darlock file (Dalock_Ai_Construction_Facilities) it has twenty-six options on what to build. Copy this and make it the default one and all ai races will build colonies with many more varied facilities. Next go to Default_Ai_Planet_Types, you will see a list of different choices the ai makes in order for pick a planet for a specific colony type.
There has been numerous Posts about modding this document, so trying searching for it on the board.

2. The way Ai attacks other races:
I've done some recent modding on all default races making them actually do what their race description says. With future patches and/or more upgrades to my mod, the aggressive/war monging races will attack faster and longer than the default files are currently set for.

3. the AI has no ability to design its ships:

This problem can be fixed/modded in the file called Default_Ai_Design_Creation. You can make the ships hold and carry whatever you want. I haven't played with this much yet, but if you want the ai to be able to build better ships and what them to have the weapon capability to handle numerous situations, then this is the file to mod.

All the things you have mentioned can be improved ten times over, someone has to do it first. With all the other modders and myself we will sooner or later fix all this, unless of course this stuff is covered in next few patches. But anyway, if you want a challenging game and be a huge help to this community, then start reading/editing the data files and make changes that improve the ai. I think that is how all the modders so far have gotten started. You bring up very good points and you're right the game is awesome. But each time someone Posts a new mod that helps make the game more realistic,
the better the game gets. I hope this answers some of your concerns, I hope you have the time/desire to fix/revise any of this above mentioned. If you have any questions let me know.

[pathfinder]

As I have said before, guess ahm an idjit as I have only beaten the AI once and that was a neutral, 1-system race and the only other opponent I had!

So sure I out-resourced it.

But since then and I only give the AI medium ability, low extra and medium #'s and it still knocks the stuffing outta me. But guess what, I do not care....one day I WILL beat it...this is a challenge for me. and yes, I have played Civ 2, alpha centauri and MOO2...still this one beats them hands down...IMO anyways.

[raynor]

SunDevil,

I hope you are right about being able to correct some of these deficiences through mods. Won't know until I try.

I wonder how far one could tweak it with mods. For example, is there a limit on starting technologies for a race? My apologies if it has been asked before.

But your most excellent post makes me wonder how the Borg race is coming. What would happen if you created a race that started out with a ton of technologies and its first ship design was a dreadnaught? Can you do this with mods?

Thanks.

[raynor]

quote:

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Originally posted by Emperor Zodd:
I have a cable modem,and I think it will be a totally different game once we play each other!

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*Cowering in the corner*

Uh... I'm scared. Cloaking, boarding ships, mines, stellar manipulation. I'm too young to die!

[DirectorTsaarx]

raynor - didn't mean to offend those of you who are trying to get a good game out of the AI; I was aiming my post at those few gamers who give their race every possible bonus (including minimizing certain "unused" traits - I believe the favorite of these is physical strength, since many people prefer to force a surrender rather than invade - and use the extra racial points to increase, say, ship combat to incredible levels) and then complain about how "easy" the AI is.

Anyway, as I stated in my Last post, another tweak for the AI may be using the player strategy above - decrease certain stats to match the race descriptions, and use the extra points to give them better bonuses in stats that also match the descriptions. For instance, the Amonkrie should probably have their physical strength reduced and ship combat increased (From the Amonkrie_AI_General file: "Though physically weak, they make up for it with powerful warships."). However, I also recall reading somewhere on this board that trying to mod the AI to take advantage of this isn't really working. But it's certainly another place to "improve" the AI.

I also applaud the modders' efforts in improving the AI - although the AI also has to learn how to use some of their facilities after they've built them. I destroyed a planet that had a ship training facility and a fleet training facility, but there were no ships at all in that system; I don't even think there was a space yard nearby. I also found a planet with the "Events Predictor" (temporal facility that improves combat response); again, no ships anywhere in the system. Although this one at least had a space yard, but still...

Anyway, I again apologize if I offended you, raynor; by now, we're probably all "preaching to the choir" about how to make the game challenging for you experts out there. Personally, I considered myself an expert at the Space Empires series; I've played SEII and SEIII, and beat the AI's rather handily in both. But the AI in SEIV is giving me more of a run for my money. It's not perfect, and I would be dead ten times over against a human opponent (this time - I haven't been nearly as aggressive as I could be, since I _want_ the game to Last a while), but I think this AI is actually an improvement over SEII & SEIII. It certainly colonizes a lot faster than it used to, and is a bit more aggressive about ship building; but you're right about not attacking often enough. I tend to attack every planet in a system within the space of two turns (three if there are a lot of planets and/or they're spread out), but the AI only seems to attack one planet at a time. I'm sure there are reasons for this, but it could probably be improved anyway. The AI also doesn't seem to be moving colonists around very well - I've found a lot of low pop colonies, and have yet to find a cargo transport (not to mention I have half (!) the colonies of the strongest opponent, yet twice the population).

[SunDevil]

Raynor:

The file you would need to mod is in the data file folder. It's called TechArea.txt. The only problem you would run into, is that all races would get a technology bonus, not just your race. I haven't ever heard of being able to have seperate data files per race. If you can, then your suggestion is possible. If I were you I would post this suggestion in its own topic and see if anyone knows for sure if you can/can't have seperate unique data files per race. Remember I'm taking about the files in the data folder NOT the ai default files. I hope this helps.

[This message has been edited by SunDevil (edited 30 January 2001).]