The Great AI Doc Hunt of '06

[Fyron]

There are apparently a great many AI docs of antiquity hidden deep within the forums, written by people such as Atraikus, Rollo, Master Belisarius, and others. I think it would be great idea to try to dig all of them up and gather them in a central location. I've got the results of this thread (http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/threads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=UBB23&Number=178745) and the AI docs posted on SEnet (http://www.spaceempires.net/home/downloads-cat-25.html) to get us started! Ultimately, I hope to gather them all up for posting on SEnet, and/or possibly the SEWiki.

Threads with enlightening results from discussions are also of use.

So, let's get searchin'! Post yer links here.

(this thread inspired by IRC)

[Atrocities]

Great idea.

[Rollo]

funny =)
this topic seems to crop out every two or three years.

AI Text Files Tips & Hints (http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/threads/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=40176)

[Rollo]

and this:
AI modding: research.txt (http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/threads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=UBB23&Number=45361)

[Fyron]

Rollo said:
funny =)
this topic seems to crop out every two or three years.

Damn, looks like I forget the "semi-annual" part of the title!

You can cut out everything in the urls after the "Number" variable (plus its value!, up to the & part) to make cleaner thread URLs.

[Atrocities]

Rollo pointed out today that Personallity Types in the AI-settings file do not have anything to do with anger, demenour or politics. They are simply used for placement of AI races during game set up.

This I did not know, and I know that when I have asked this question before many others also did not know that this was there purpose.

[Rollo]

Imperator Fyron said:Damn, looks like I forget the "semi-annual" part of the title!


Wouldn't that be bi-annual?

Okay, here is a little more detail on the personality numbers:

As said yesterday in IRC, these numbers have no in-game effect and are used only at game start to get the distribution of random empires.

They are linked to this these lines in the /data/settings.txt file:
<font class="small">Code:</font><hr /><pre>
Random Player Personality Groups := 4
Random Player Personality Group 1 Percent := 30
Random Player Personality Group 2 Percent := 30
Random Player Personality Group 3 Percent := 30
Random Player Personality Group 4 Percent := 10</pre><hr />

So, how can a modder use this?
Well, stock SE4 uses this to get a decent mix of AI races who are friendly and not-so-friendly (that's probably where the confusion comes from regarding the race demeanor). All races with similar behavior use the same personality number.

DevnullMod Gold uses this to make a random selection of the Monster race highly unlikely. They have a personality number of -1.

And from top of my head, here is another idea how personality numbers could be used:
Put all the races that have the same howeworld type and/or atmosphere in one group. That way you could improve the selection of races with differrent colonies and breathers. And don't end up with another game of 'yawn, everyone is Rock/Oxygen'.

[Atrocities]

Well now I have an update for STM. Thanks Rollo, with this new info I can better set up the races from game start. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif