BIG AI problem in Proportion games with "classical" movement :( :(

[PsychoTechFreak]

Originally posted by oleg:
Do NOT change "population growth check" ! It should stay the same as in normal Proportions. Not sure about other parameters. Ans do not forget to change Replicant centers in facility.txt or they will become a joke !

Sure, every population modifying file entry needs to be tweaked (unless it does not calculates percentage-wise).

To change pop growth check I would need 0.1 % steps anyway. If 1 pop unit is multiplied by 200 it just would better reflect the "real" population development (if SE4.exe computes 3 decimal places?), I think. But most likely I will not change pop growth check.

[PsychoTechFreak]

Setup is finally done, first investigations:
No AI transport problems so far, but it could be that it just occurs less often. Probably it is even a kind of calculation/rounding problem with the cargo values . The unmodded game has always round numbers from 150/200/250 components, this is different from proportions (e.g. 1004kT).

Cosmetic problem with this setup:
The population bar next to the planet is calculated by the old numbers, I mean 1000M/400B displays a full population bar.

Possible issue:
How does the AI really handle this, I mean, does it "consider" things like a 3750M/400B planet could be filled, don't send more transports and such.
Need some more experience with this setup. If somebody has got any ideas how to check the possible issues with any modifications to accelerate it - post it, please.

[ March 14, 2003, 18:29: Message edited by: PsychoTechFreak ]

[PvK]

Originally posted by PsychoTechFreak:
PvK, I need some hints:

How to modify the following, in case of 200 pop units now would reflect 1 in proportions 2.5.3.1:

Population Defender Attack Strength := 3
Population Defender Hit Points := 100

If you want the same toughness of population, you'll need to divide both by the number you multiplied population by, which for 200 is impossible. Set both to 1 for the closest results. Militia will be twice as tough and have about 67 times as much firepower as before. That's probably not disastrous, though.

Damage Points To Kill One Population := 200

Same deal. Set to 1 for same toughness of population and facilities versus bombardments.

And, because I think the scores would go up with 200 times the old populations:

AI Uses Mega Evil Empire := True
AI Mega Evil Empire Threshold Score Thousands := 600
AI Human Mega Evil Empire Score Percent := 400
AI Computer Mega Evil Empire Score Percent := 500

Not the whole scores, just the effect of population on scores, which isn't so big a deal. I wouldn't change this, at least until a clear effect was observed.

Maximum Population For Abandon Planet Order := 50

Multiply by 200.

Can I modify...
Reproduction Check Frequency := 10
... back to 1 and use 1/10th of the according pop grow factors (facilities and such). I doubt, because of 1% min., right? But would be nice.

You can, but it will bring back the unmodded population growth rate (except with less effect from the minimum growth). So, I would say you shouldn't, unless you want that.

Has anybody tried to change this one to "true" already, and does it work?:

Simultaneous Games Show Strategic Combat := False

Yes, it works, but what it does is show the game master the colored-dot zoom-out map of the tactical combat, zooming along at high speed, for every combat in the quadrant, even of aliens the human player hasn't met. It's fun to watch, but isn't something a player should see if they want to preserve fog of war. It has no effect on PBW or PBEM - it just shows dots fighting each other once during the turn resolution.

PvK

[PvK]

BTW, I asked oleg to do a test Last week of just increasing population capacities and effects by 10, and he said this seemed to work ok. 10 has the advantage over 200 that it keeps the numbers reasonable if read literally (that is, 40 billion is a reasonable homeworld population limit - 800 billion seems kind of extreme, as does 2 billion to get normal colony production).

I don't remember if oleg said this (x10) was solving this particular AI bug or not, though. oleg?

PvK

[oleg]

No, it did not solve AI problem

[oleg]

Originally posted by PsychoTechFreak:
Setup is finally done, first investigations:
No AI transport problems so far, but it could be that it just occurs less often. Probably it is even a kind of calculation/rounding problem with the cargo values . The unmodded game has always round numbers from 150/200/250 components, this is different from proportions (e.g. 1004kT).

Cosmetic problem with this setup:
The population bar next to the planet is calculated by the old numbers, I mean 1000M/400B displays a full population bar.

Possible issue:
How does the AI really handle this, I mean, does it "consider" things like a 3750M/400B planet could be filled, don't send more transports and such.
Need some more experience with this setup. If somebody has got any ideas how to check the possible issues with any modifications to accelerate it - post it, please.

The bar becomes "half full" when planet has 200 population units. "Full" bar indicates 1000 population units. AI minister ships population untill planet has 500 population units then goes to another planet. Population mass or planet capacity are irrelevant.

It would be nice if you find the highest population mass after which AI becomes stagnant. Really helpfull !

[PsychoTechFreak]

All right, this is what I have observed unfortunately, but probably it helps a bit.
Reproduction Check Frequency := 10000, to investigate the real transport issue without influence of reproduction.
WPs not connected, to keep the observation area small.
Krill population transporter can carry 211
Krill colonizer can carry 202
All planets of the isolated system are colonized.

I do NOT see the "cannot load cargo" message anymore, but the transporters do not leave homeplanet anymore if the colony levels reach 500 obviously:
4 Colonies have got 624 M (which is from 1 colonizer + 2 transporters)
1 Colony has got 835M (1 colonizer + 3 transporters)

I just can see the loaded transporters remaining at the homeplanet. They are "flashing" (I have set animation to ON) at the beginning of each turn, but they don't move anymore.

You are right with the 500M stagnation, oleg. This one is hardcoded, right?