Balance Mod Available for SE:V

[tmcc]

Captain Kwok said:
Resupply Depots are now the second facility after Spaceports to be built in a new system. Although this doesn't appear as the only hiccup for expansion, but it does seem to help somewhat.

Captain Kwok, with all due respect I think it is more logical to build the Resupply Depots first. Either way it is six turns until the colony is building "revenue" generating facilities, assuming no emergency build. If you build the Resupply first then 3 of those 6 turns the planet will be generating supply and ordnance. If the Spaceport is 1st then it just sits there providing no value for 3 turns while Resupply is being built.

The one exception that I use is when another very high value planet in the same system will be colonized and have it's first facility complete in less than 6 turns. In that case I will build the Spaceport first, but only if I need the resources pretty urgently. Probably too complex a decision for the AI though.

[Captain Kwok]

I did place the RDs first but for some reason the AI wouldn't get to building a spaceport for a much longer time and lots of resources would be lost when other planets were colonized - although this is not what should have happened. I did note at the time though there was some resource issues and dropped construction so I'll have to do more testing to identify the cause. But I agree that is the most "human" behaviour to build the RD first.

It's not really possible to have the AI to use the "hop" method of colonizing to claim as much space as possible because you can't explicity tell it to build a colony ship at the frontier colony etc.

[AngleWyrm]

Thinking about Frontier Space Yards concept, I came up with this idea:

lst_Frontier_WarpPoints : int

which is a count of warp point space objects in colonized systems that don't lead to other colonized systems.

I'm not sure how sorting works in this game; is it parallel lists? If so, it might be possible to sort a list of colonies, filtered by spaceyard, on lst_Frontier_WarpPoints.

[Captain Kwok]

The script already marks "frontier" WPs as those that are not explored or ones that are connected to systems owned by other empires. The code is in the Fx[Examine_Solar_System] in Script_AI_Lists.txt which marks them for primary and secondary "patrol" locations. They are also interpreted as locations to drop satellites, mines, and build bases if SY Ships are around.

[AngleWyrm]

Not sure if I'm reading this right, but it looks like after executing Examine_Solar_System which contains:Code:

---

      // Warp Points to unseen systems or systems with enemies.

      if (plr_has_colony) then 

        if (not Sys_Have_Seen_System(sys_long_Player_ID, dest_sys)) or (lst_AI_Enemy_System_Strengths.Get(dest_sys) > 0) then

          call lst_AI_Patrol_System.add(sys_index)

          call lst_AI_Patrol_Sector.add(wp_sect)

        else

          // Warp Points in system where we have colonies to systems where we don't.

          if (not Sys_Player_Has_Colony_In_System(sys_long_Player_ID  , dest_sys)) then 

            call lst_AI_Patrol_Secondary_System.add(sys_index)

            call lst_AI_Patrol_Secondary_Sector.add(wp_sect)

          endif 

        endif

      endif

---

will result in lst_AI_Patrol_System with a list of frontier systems, and lst_AI_Patrol_Secondary_System will contain a list of adjoining unexplored/enemy systems.

If so, then maybe we get/sort a list of colony shipyards that are in PatrolSystems. Then that list of shipyards would be well suited for expansion colony ships

[Uncle_Joe]

I'm holding out a lot of hope for this mod. Because really, I've given up on the base game. Hopefully y'all can get the AI sorted out!

[Captain Kwok]

Excellent news. I compiled the scripts I made earlier today when I got home and the difference is amazing. The only problem now is that the AI is not finding planets fast enough to colonize!

Here are the turn 25 stats of a test game with AI low bonus only:


As soon as I fix up the silly treaty business I'll upload the new version.

[Tim_Ward]

That is a sight for sore eyes.

Uncle_Joe said:
I'm holding out a lot of hope for this mod. Because really, I've given up on the base game. Hopefully y'all can get the AI sorted out!

As far as I'm concerned, this *is* stock.

[Raapys]

Ooooh, excellent! Kwok saves the day( and the game).

When the research paths have been optimized this should definitely be considered for a stock-patch IMO. 1.08 stock is frankly a joke.

[Tim_Ward]

Compare and contrast. Turn 25 of version 0.91. Same settings as Kowk. I'd changed settings so that planets and warp points can be seen without exploring a system, to aid the AI in it's finding planets to colonise (I'd notice it not exploring systems, and just leaving a ship at the warp point for a bit then sending it home, thus leaving potentual breathable atmosphere planets just out of sight.) Without that, I don't the AI would even have done this well.



(No, I wasn't trying very hard, just spamming colony ships and moving a few frigates I built around. still got third.)

You'll notice that the top rated AI player has a score lower than the lowest ranked AI player in latest version. And that was the Eee, who should benefit more from being able to see all the planets. No other AI came close.