Re: Balance Mod Available for SE:V
For low tech, the only weapons that are available are the DUC and CSMs, so that's why their use is prevalent with the AI. However, the AIs will use other weapons if available depending on their race, but they're just not getting to that point yet with a low tech start. You will notice though that AIs with racial traits will use their racial weapons etc. as they become available.
At the same time I'm building new infrastructure in the AI data files to support a new weapon distribution scheme. Currently the AI is setup to have a primary, heavy, and special weapons at various percentages. I've added a secondary category for flexibility. I'm also working out what weapons each of the major empires will use, particular the combinations for the races without a dedicated racial tech area. For example, I'll probably have the Terrans start out as DUC/CSM mix leading into an APB-Torp combo, complemented by specialized ships with WMGs and perhaps ionic dispersers or something.
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The PD ships are not built in too large a quantity and they do have some offensive capability as well and it's better to have a few rather than none as a preventative measure. I'll also be adding specialized Explorer/Surveyor ships in the next version - essentially unarmed ships with lots of supplies for peaceful races, and single-weapon armed ships with supplies for more aggressive empires.
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I'm currently organizing the research pathway to alleviate most of the noted problems with tardy research in important areas. The layout of the original file was not very good, particularly after the balance mod changes. I've actually got the file opened right now and I'm hoping for a v0.93 tomorrow with the changes.
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I did some work with the attack algorithm. I increased the attack chance for the more aggressive empires. One problem I still need to work out a solution for in the code is the fact that the AI will does not want to enter the attack state when there are still unexplored systems.
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Originally I had Destroyers coming in at level 2 of frigates (like the staggered arrangement for all larger ship sizes) but many said it was available too early - even though I personally thought it was good because each ship hull had its own qualities (and I still might change it back that way). I guess the redeeming feature of the current layout is that the destroyer can be retrofit to the larger size and more useful size.
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