Neutrals: eliminating their research

[Siegebreaker]

How can I eliminate research for the Neutral races?
I want them to build only what they can with the starting techs in a middle tech setting start, and to not research anything at all.

I realize that this will make them only a bonus for the AIs, but that's the idea.

Those Battleships without warping ability that the Neutrals build are turning my imagination off.

What happens if I delete the research.txt file for the Neutrals?
Will they stop researching?
Or will they start using somebody elses research file?
Is it research hardcoded?

Also, is it possible to make a conquered Neutral to respawn somewhere else in the quadrant?

[geoschmo]

Neutrals use the Default_AI_research.txt file located in the Ai folder. To modify a neutrals research priorities without modifying the default research file, which will affect non-Neutral AI as well, you need to add a Neutral00x_AI_Research.txt file to each of the neutral folders located in Pictures/RaceNeutral.

If this file does not exsist, the race uses the default. But if it exsists and is empty, the race should do no research. Unless there is some hardcoded overide I am unaware of.

If this works it will cause the Neutrals to not research, but they will still have research facilities on their homeworld. That's a bit of a waste of space. There may be a way around that, but it would be kind of complicated. It would involve setting up a "Can research" racial trait and giving that trait to all teh non-Neutral AI and the human players in teh game.

EDIT: It just occured to me an easier method of dealing with the problem of neutrals wasting spots on research facs. Give them a raacial trait and a special research fac that only generates 1 point of research (So the AI will select it when filling out the research facility homeworld requirement) and also generates standard resources they can use. THis way you only have to change the neutrals, and not all the other races.

Of course, if you don't mind them having the handicap, you don't have to do either.


Geoschmo

[ March 08, 2004, 15:26: Message edited by: geoschmo ]

[Siegebreaker]

Thanks, Geoschmo.
I will create the empty file for each Neutral.

About the HomeWorld facilities, I'm using Proportions, so they start packed whith those multifunctional Cultural Centers.

I'm adding a tiny-fighter and a tiny-troop with no tech requirements, which together with the infantry units and small weapon platforms should make the Neutral homeworlds a memorable land battle.
Basicly, their Homeworlds will be defendable, but their system will not, because they are going to have only escorts and scouts to fight in space.

The goal I had in mind was to make them look like a mid-21st century Earth.

[Phoenix-D]

There is in fact a hardcoded element to research. Once they hit the end of the file the AI will start to research other items, IIRC.

[geoschmo]

Originally posted by Phoenix-D:
There is in fact a hardcoded element to research. Once they hit the end of the file the AI will start to research other items, IIRC.

Ah, well if that's the case my first idea won't work. However, the second idea would almost work. They'd research, but at such a slow rate you'd likely see little or no tech progression.

[Siegebreaker]

How about reducing the research points they get from the facilities?
Is it possible?
Like a research penalty or something.

[Combat Wombat]

There is one simple answer here that I am suprised no one has said. Make a tech area that costs an insanely large ammount of research points and make the neutral ai research that. The tech area will cost so much the neutral can't finish it and will therefore not research anything else.

[geoschmo]

I did a test and Phoenix is correct they will start researching other stuff if you don't give them anything to research in the files. Although, I can't quite figure out the logic behind the research choices. It almost seems random. One neutral started researching cargo. Another started researching ice colony, although there was not a preponderance of ice colony worlds in their home system.

Originally posted by Combat Wombat:
There is one simple answer here that I am suprised no one has said. Make a tech area that costs an insanely large ammount of research points and make the neutral ai research that.

That would work of course if the objective is to only restrict their research and not give them some compensation for the wasted facility space as I was trying to do.

For that matter you don't really need to modify the tech file. You could make them research only applied research to the max. It would take them longer to get through that track then any reasonable game would be likely to Last. Or you could let them research other things that would make sense for a system-bound race. Space yards, sattelites, resource generation, etc.

You could also modify the AI_general files and set their research attribute to 50%. Use the points to raise their rates of resource extraction in the other areas. It's a less effective, but also less mod-intensive way of doing my previous idea of modding the facilities themselves.

There are a lot of ways to do this. It just depeneds on what other factors you'd like to change as well.

[Fyron]

You could make the research facilities require a new racial trait. Human and regular AI empires would all take this trait, neutrals would not. No more research possible, except through trade, which would be rather slow.

Give them a raacial trait and a special research fac that only generates 1 point of research (So the AI will select it when filling out the research facility homeworld requirement) and also generates standard resources they can use

This is unecessary. If there are no research facilities available to use on the HW, mineral facilities will be used instead.

[ March 08, 2004, 18:26: Message edited by: Imperator Fyron ]

[geoschmo]

Edit: Never mind. My brain took a little vacation there.

[ March 08, 2004, 18:39: Message edited by: geoschmo ]