AI FAQ?

[Wenin]

I've been looking on and off for the past couple days and can't find one. Does anyone know where I can get one?

[Urendi Maleldil]

I don't think there is one right now. I've learned a lot about how the AI works just from tinkering around with it. Let me know what you want to know about, and some of us modders can answer.

I know a lot about the AI_DesignCreation, the AI_Research, the AI_Construction_whatever files, the AI_Settings, and the AI_General files.

Actually... an AI FAQ would be pretty cool. I'll try and whip something together later this evening.

[Wenin]

I've modified the game settings to allow up to 2000 mines in a sector (yes an insane amount). I picked this amount because I'm wanting players to not know just how many mines they can face. With the default setting of 100, you just need two level 5 Battlecruisers made into minesweepers and you're good to go.

Anyway, the AIs are still only placing 100 mines in a sector.

[Rollo]

That's odd. I see minefields > 100 regularly with the Devnull Mod Gold AI, where the limit is 500.

I suggest doublechecking that you edited the correct value, and start a new game. Perhaps the mine limit is only read at game setup.

[Fyron]

There are several AI docs floating around:

http://www.spaceempires.net/home/downloads-cat-25.html

There is nothing very comprehensive, though.

[Wenin]

Maximum Mines Per Player Per Sector := 2000


In the settings file.


I set it prior to starting the game.

[Tampa_Gamer]

Also check out this thread Wenin. While not a FAQ per se, it was an attempt to get tips from a number of AI modders about each specific AI file.

http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/threads/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=40176&page=3&view=collaps ed&sb=5&o=&fpart=1

[Atrocities]

There is not much to tell about the AI. The best way to get an FAQ is to ask question about specific AI things.

SJ pointed out some AI issues for the General Txt file. That the AI will stop adding traits when it hits zero points. This mean all of the zero or negative racial points need to be added in a specific way in order to ensure that they are all used by the AI.

The AI choose to design by either the order or size of an entry in the Design Creation file. What that is exactly I do not know. (There is a current cheat sheet for this)

Research - The AI needs to have Not Connected entries or else it will not research correctly. There are several rules of thought about what to set the defualt Tech Area Min Percent to. Some like 34 while others like 25 or even 50. I like 34. (Note there is a reason not to use 33 but I don't know it.)

There are a couple of basic AI understanding tutorials on SE.net.