My research mods.

[Sinapus]

God Emperor, I think you wanted to see what I was doing so far to modify the AI research files.

I think I have everything that wasn't in the modpack. The only thing I've done to the modpack's files is add entries so they can use the changes I made to vehiclesize.txt. (Essentially, Construction up to lvl 4 and Ship Construction up to lvl 12.)

It's also in the mod directory, but I'll put a copy here as well.

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"What do -you- want?" "I'd like to live -just- long enough to be there when they cut off your head and stick it on a pike as a warning to the next ten generations that some favors come with too high a price. I would look up into your lifeless eyes and wave like this..." *waggle* "...can you and your associates arrange that for me, Mr. Morden?"

[God Emperor]

Sinapus,
Just downloaded your mod and am starting to check it out.
One question though, why have you left such a large gap between researching Physics and Shields in some of the races? Have you left it deliberately?
I believed this to be a problem in the original game files. What are your thoughts?

[Sinapus]

Actually, shields are one of the things I haven't done anything with at the moment.

Although I've got to admit it's rather difficult to prioritize these things perfectly. The AI can't alter the list AFAIK, while I move and reorder research projects on the fly when I play.

I haven't added in stellar harnessing or anything since I'm not sure where it should go.

[This message has been edited by Sinapus (edited 19 March 2001).]

[God Emperor]

No probs...
In my mod I have given it a very high priority as the AI is dog-food in combat without them, due to the fact that it doesnt optimise the distance it maintains from enemy ships. This does appear to have been improved in the recent patch for ships on "maximum weapons distance" orders, but, the bottom line is that the AI fights much better with Shields...(or at least this is my observation during play testing of different races).

[God Emperor]

Just a few more comments/ Queries;

1) Why did you choose to have the races research armour before shields? I have generally found that the AI seems to do better if it possesses shields. Have you seen the opposite? Is there some other reason?

2) With the Amonkrie, why do you research Smaller Weapons so early on?

3)With the Amonkrie, why do you research Explosive Warheads early on? Do you intend them to use extensive ramming tactics in combat?

4) In the races I have checked out to date, all have a large gap between Military Science and Combat Support. This was an issue in the original files..

5) You also seem to have a lot of duplicate entries in the files. I dont believe that they cause any problems but it does make it hard to set up the files and follow them, eg;
Amonkrie;
2 x Smaller Weapons 3,
2 x Industry 1 (first one isnt followed by computers),
2 x Adv Mil Science 6.

Drushocka;
2 x Chemistry 1 (first one isnt followed by armour)
2 x Propulsion (first is 6, second is 3)
3 x Construction 1

Apologies if I seem to be picky. I suspect many of the double entries and tech gaps are from the base files you used. Would have been better I think if you had used mine as a base as I have gotten rid of all of these inconsistencies (I think!). Too late now I guess. Will be hard to collaborate I think. What are your thoughts?

My files are quite reasonable in the early to mid stages of the game I think, but, still need a lot of work done in the mid and later stages (I never seem to play past turn 70 as a new patch either comes out, or I'm a clear winner by then)....

Anyway, happy modding Sinapus!

[DirectorTsaarx]

quote:

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Originally posted by God Emperor:

3)With the Amonkrie, why do you research Explosive Warheads early on? Do you intend them to use extensive ramming tactics in combat?

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IIRC, Explosive Warheads also improve the warheads available for mines...

[Lucanos]

DirectorTsaarx wrote:
"Explosive Warheads also improve the warheads available for mines..."

Yeah, but when God Emperor asked if sinapus was thinking of kamikaze pilots I got the chills.

I usually get the chills when I recognize a good idea (I'm a scriptreader/writer), and the Amonkrie would do rather well with kamikaze pilots...
...thematically of course. They sacrifice themselves to save their people against the horrible aliens (they are xenophobic so they should be more afraid of the "aliens" than their own death).

Great idea - looking forward to play your mod Sinapus.

[God Emperor]

My comment about Explosive Warheads arose because mines were not researched for a very long time afterwards......

[Sinapus]

Well, Combat Support is further down the list because I was mainly planning on having the AI research Point Defense earlier w/the discovery of Military Science. I didn't do anything w/Combat Support at all in any of the mods.

As for explosives, I placed it up on the list so it would have explosives 3 when it got to researching Mines.

I'll probably move Repair a bit further down the list, so long as it reaches lvl 3 before Base Construction 2 is researched. The AI doesn't build stations and/or ships with nothing but repair bays. It only adds them onto the Base Space Yards if there's room left.

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--
"What do -you- want?" "I'd like to live -just- long enough to be there when they cut off your head and stick it on a pike as a warning to the next ten generations that some favors come with too high a price. I would look up into your lifeless eyes and wave like this..." *waggle* "...can you and your associates arrange that for me, Mr. Morden?"

[God Emperor]

Sinapus,
Thanks for the reply!