Stock AI Question: Ship Analysis?

Zereth · #1 January 26th, 2006, 04:07 PM

Does the stock AI ever take ships it's captured/been traded and analyze them for the technology, and if so, at what difficulty levels?

Captain Kwok · #2 January 26th, 2006, 06:23 PM

I don't think the AI analyzes ships ever in any circumstance.

The difficulty levels really correspond to how many ministers the AI has turned on, not so much as increased "skill".

Arkcon · #3 January 26th, 2006, 06:47 PM

The AI doesn't analyze ships, its simpler that way, the AI files determine what ships it builds, based on the tech it has.

Often, the idea that the AI should analyze ships is brought up. It has been pointed out that you could easily trick the AI this way: Hit it hard with some design, wait a bit while it adapts, hit it with a design its not ready for. So that's prob. why it doesn't.

Captain Kwok · #4 January 26th, 2006, 06:57 PM

Well I think it would analyze the ship to gain potential new technology and not in the sense to counter with new designs.

Zereth · #5 January 26th, 2006, 07:42 PM

Yeah, using the "Analyze Ship" option under the recycle menu, not "Oh he's using missiles time to roll out mass quantities of PDC'. And I know it turns on more ministers rather than actual skill, I'm just wondering if one of the ministers does this.

Kamog · #6 January 27th, 2006, 03:39 AM

That "analyze ship" window is sometimes misleading. If the captured enemy ship has racial tech like crystalline or organic components, it lists the research potential to be big but of course you can't get those techs if you didn't pick that racial trait for your race. So you analyze the ship and get nothing.

PvK · #7 January 27th, 2006, 10:00 PM

I don't think the AI deconstructs captured ships and analyzes them to increase its tech levels.

IIRC, it could be worse for the AI if it did, because of the way the AI creates ship and unit designs. Sometimes if an AI has technology that it was not scripted to research itself, it will decide it is good to use it in its designs, even though it may only ever get tech level one in that tech area, so it gets stuck building ships with Meson Blaster I instead of Quantum Torpedo V. Though, that may just be when the AI isn't scripted carefully (e.g. an AI modded used cut & paste from some other race when doing the ship design), but I do remember it happening to some AI's who were traded low tech levels in techs they don't usually research themselves.

PvK