AI Campaign => For a Challenging AI opponent

[JLS]

AI Campaign UPDATE 2.10
~~~~(Release date, soon)~~~~

==================

New* Repair Base Station Component's ~ Des, PTF
New* Miniaturized Life Support replacing HLS ~ PTF
Revised SYS Component Repair ~ PTF
Revised Some Structure KT Sizes ~ PTF
Organic Race Facilities fixed and Revised ~PTF
ECM VII fix ~Des
Medium Tech Starts Fix ~ Des
Revised some Fighter Weapons and Tech Requirements ~ GLV
Extra levels for the Combat Bridge ~ GLV
New* Fighter Solar Collector ~ LAN
Lowered Some AI Mine Sweeping Abilities ~ LAN
NEW* Finite Friendly Dual Race Class CCs~ DES
NEW* Ships Engineering Component ~ Krsqk
NEW* Sick Bay Component; Cures level 1 plagues and increased Crew performance. ~ LAN
NEW* Basic Crew Qtrs at 5kt. ~ LAN
NEW* Religious Culture Centers complete with built in Fate and Nature Shrines.

Added some race specific abilities on all Culture Centers.
Planet Engineering and Utilization research tree streamlined basically back to default se4.

No Warp-Style Games optimized
Reduced Sizes and Costs on some Stellar Manipulation Components.
Tweaked AI Research and Const Vehicle Files.
NEW* Two new Warp Open Components added for Humans Players; starting at Stellar Manipulations Tech ONE.

[ April 25, 2003, 21:21: Message edited by: JLS ]

[JLS]

Originally posted by Krsqk:

quote:

---

Krsqk,
Do you think there may be a way we could design a DAMAGE CONTROL COMPONANT, that would be a cross between or incorporating both a low value Shield Modifier and Ablative armor, at a reasonable tonnage kt? That would be a optional but a critical ship install and this component would be gained thru Repair Tech?

I was going to suggest something like this, but was too sleepy to come up with any specifics. Probably Shield Generation, along with Emissive Armor? I guess you'd need a Version for regular shields and one for after phased shields are researched (using Shield Generation and Phased Shield Generation abilities, respectively). Maybe even a small crystalline effect or shield regeneration. Of course, any shield generation abilities would be nullified by shield depleters, and the component would be damaged by shield disruptors.

There will probably have to be some combination of shield generation, shield regeneration, emissive ability, and fairly high tonnage structure. The structure shouldn't be too high, though, because it shouldn't outstrip the protection of armor--after all, the point of the component is to survive.

I seem to recall such a component being discussed in a thread a while back, but I can't find it right now.

---

Krsqk,
This design seems to play well, do suggest any additions or changes?

Name := Damage Control
Description := Quarters for trained crew members assigned to ships Maintenance and Damage Control Parties.
Pic Num := 50
Tonnage Space Taken := 10
Tonnage Structure := 60
Cost Minerals := 100
Cost Organics := 30
Cost Radioactives := 5
Vehicle Type := Ship\Base
Supply Amount Used := 0
Restrictions := One Per Vehicle
General Group := Construction
Family := 352
Roman Numeral := 0
Custom Group := 0
Number of Tech Req := 4
Tech Area Req 1 := Repair
Tech Level Req 1 := 2
Tech Area Req 2 := Ship Construction
Tech Level Req 2 := 5
Tech Area Req 3 := Advanced Design Engineering
Tech Level Req 3 := 1
Tech Area Req 4 := Human Balance Tech
Tech Level Req 4 := 1
Number of Abilities := 3
Ability 1 Type := Armor
Ability 1 Descr :=
Ability 1 Val 1 := 0
Ability 1 Val 2 := 0
Ability 2 Type := Armor Regeneration
Ability 2 Descr := Repairs in Combat.
Ability 2 Val 1 := 15
Ability 2 Val 2 := 0
Ability 3 Type := Modified Maintenance Cost
Ability 3 Descr := Increases Ships Maintenance Efficiancy.
Ability 3 Val 1 := -1
Ability 3 Val 2 := 0
Weapon Type := None

[ April 19, 2003, 11:03: Message edited by: JLS ]

[Suicide Junkie]

Damage control, to me would be more like the organic armor regeneration ability.

Put one point on any component that can possibly be repaired during battle, and give the damage control team 20 points of OA ability.

When the combat sensors are hit, the damage control team rushes over to fix it. As long as there are only one or two components damaged each combat round, they can keep up.

[JLS]

Originally posted by Suicide Junkie:
Damage control, to me would be more like the organic armor regeneration ability.

Put one point on any component that can possibly be repaired during battle, and give the damage control team 20 points of OA ability.

When the combat sensors are hit, the damage control team rushes over to fix it. As long as there are only one or two components damaged each combat round, they can keep up.

I like it SJ, I already received 3 Emails saying YES-YES, we like SJ way�.

So you are basically saying put some Regenerating Armor on some key Components when Damage Control tech is reached, for example:

Bridge
Life Support
Crew Qtrs.

[Grand Lord Vito]

Originally posted by JLS:
AI Campaign UPDATE 2.10
~~~~(Release date, soon)~~~~

==================

New* Repair Base Station Component's ~ Des, PTF
New* Miniaturized Life Support replacing HLS ~ PTF
Revised SYS Component Repair ~ PTF
Revised Some Structure KT Sizes ~ PTF
Organic Race Facilities fixed and Revised ~PTF
ECM VII fix ~Des
Medium Tech Starts Fix ~ Des
Revised some Fighter Weapons and Tech Requirements ~ GLV
Extra levels for the Combat Bridge ~ GLV
New* Fighter Solar Collector ~ LAN
Lowered Some AI Mine Sweeping Abilities ~ LAN
NEW* Finite Friendly Dual Race Class CCs~ DES
NEW* Ships Engineering Component ~ Krsqk
NEW* Sick Bay Component; Cures level 1 plagues and increased Crew performance. ~ LAN
NEW* Basic Crew Qtrs at 5kt. ~ LAN
NEW* Religious Culture Centers complete with built in Fate and Nature Shrines.

Added some race specific abilities on all Culture Centers.
Planet Engineering and Utilization research tree streamlined basically back to default se4.

No Warp-Style Games optimized
Reduced Sizes and Costs on some Stellar Manipulation Components.
Tweaked AI Research and Const Vehicle Files.
NEW* Two new Warp Open Components added for Humans Players; starting at Stellar Manipulations Tech ONE.

Looks like a lot of great additions, and I am glad you changed Planet Utilization back to usual and the Organic Facilities look great

The Religious Culture Center is awesome Im going to play another Finite game this time with some Religion

When are you going to be done with v2.10 upgrade? Looking forward to a No Warp Finite game.

[ April 25, 2003, 21:47: Message edited by: Grand Lord Vito ]

[JLS]

Originally posted by Grand Lord Vito:
-
Looks like a lot of great additions, and I am glad you changed Planet Utilization back to usual and the Organic Facilities look great

The Religious Culture Center is awesome Im going to play another Finite game this time with some Religion

When are you going to be done with v2.10 upgrade? Looking forward to a No Warp Finite game.

Tech trees have less bombs now, and I increased Out put from Research Facilities 25 to 50%.

I added something extra to All the Culture Centers; Racial and other wise, that may help the Human Player. After the release I am sure their will be tweaks and desires from other Players.

I like the Racial Facilities now. With many thanks to PTF, Oleg and yourself of coarse GLV.

I am testing the Components File for a few days. This upgrade should be released by the end of the week.

[ April 27, 2003, 17:07: Message edited by: JLS ]

[Grand Lord Vito]

The only research tree that showed at none was Planet Engineering, and you fixed that.

I like the new Temporals CC, what do you think about a small system intell bonus instead of the Pychic traning bonus on the new Psychic CC?

I know theres not much else for Psychics.

[SunDevil]

JLS,

I have looked over your files, and I must say you have done a great job fixing the AI. I was just wondering what your progress has been on the individual races in regards to these files: settings.txt, anger.txt, and politics.txt files.

Through my research I found that the main cause for the ai to act toward a human player and the other ai races are directly related to these files.

Based on the races that I looked I had some questions for you:

1.Cue Cappa: If another race treats them well, that race will be treated well in return, but should another race treat them badly, they can be quite dangerous. (FROM the general.txt file)
Demeanor := Honorable
Culture := Merchants
Happiness Type := Peaceful

Anger.txt File
Receive Offer Counter Treaty Proposal := 20
Receive Propose Trade := 15

In this short example, this race will have their anger increase by 20 points if a race provides them with a counter treaty proposal. In the next example if this race receives a trade request their anger automatically goes up by 15 points.

If this race is peaceful and will treat another race based on their dealings, the setting just within this one file contradicts the initial concept of this race.

Politics.txt File

Score Percent For Demanding Tone = 60

By setting it to this value a peaceful and honorable race will start a demanding tone when their race has a score of 600 and the target race has a score of a 1000. If this is a peaceful race why would they start a demanding tone to a another race that is stronger than them?

Settings.txt File

Get Angry Over Allied Colonizable Planets := True

If this is a truly peaceful race then they should not get angry over allies have colonizable planets. This will only increase their anger and not leave much of a difference in anger total and tolerance between an enemy and an ally.

Also remember that the happiness type is also based on what the actions of the race performs. This race is peaceful which means it likes treaties and trades but not war. The anger.txt file, politics.txt and settings.txt file should also reflect this.

There are many of these issues throught these files for each race. Because of these issues the ai races will always hate not only the human player but the other races as well. I was just wondering your take on these issues and if you planned on addressing these issues in a future update. Thanks again for your hard work and additions to the mod community.

[JLS]

Good questions SunDevil.

Originally posted by SunDevil:

JLS,
Cue Cappa:
Demeanor := Honorable
Culture := Merchants
Happiness Type := Peaceful

Anger.txt File
Receive Offer Counter Treaty Proposal := 20
Receive Propose Trade := 15

Receive Offer Counter Treaty Proposal := 20
If excepted at se4 default that you may be used to; then they won�t get a little ticked when the Human Player just turned down his Military Agreement Proposal to use your Human Resupply Bases when the human countered with a TR.

With se4 Anger file instead of insulted he would get happy with a net -3

Receive Offer Counter Treaty Proposal := 0
Receive Accept Treaty := -3
Cue Cappa and the Terrans are Merchants and they feel the Galaxy is for free trade and they want to use your bases. The Cue Cappa may get a {briefly a little} ticked and this is also were that (3%) below starts to add up LATE in the game.

But the Terrans who are not Honarable but Aggressive, eventually can get darn right Hostile at times if not allowed use of your bases or star charts.

I know I would not be happier if I kept getting turned down polity or otherwise

In regards to:
Receive Propose Trade := 15
This in conjunction with
Accept Trade From Friend At Percentage Value or Greater of Received = set at 2 for 1 in favor of AI.

Slows down the ability for the Human Player to make constant resource trades with the AI; bleeding his resource reserves just so the that human player can subsidize a LARGE FLEET with those reserves to crush him in the end
~

The other entries are calibrated to get the results preferred for this mod.

For example

Get Angry Over Allied Colonizable Planets := True

But also as you may have noticed is only at 3%
All though it is very unlikly the Honarable Cue Cappa will break the treaty over Planets,it could get him near brink only very late in the game.
Break Treaty Base Anger Level := 70
Break Treaty Anger Modifier Per Other Wars := 40
Break Treaty Anger Modifier For Percent Stronger Player := 250
Break Treaty Anger Modifier For Percent Stronger Player Amount := 50
Break Treaty Anger Modifier For Percent Weaker Player := 50
Break Treaty Anger Modifier For Percent Weaker Player Amount := -20
With other crossed entries involved as well, that we have not discussed.

See for yourself, this does work.

Percentage of Enemy Planets to consider as Attack Locations for Anger := 5
Is higher, for once the treaty is over, this Prideful Honorable Cue Cappan race will less likly to go back freinds
~~

If this is a truly peaceful race then they should not get angry over allies have colonizable planets. This will only increase their anger and not leave much of a difference in anger total and tolerance between an enemy and an ally.

As you know from your research SunDevil what AI races in base Space Empires 4 {use the anything other then the Happiness Type := Peaceful}

Even the Psychotic, Berserk Xi'Chung must use Peaceful do to the se4 default Happiness programming.
Demeanor := Psychotic
Culture := Berzerkers
Happiness Type := Peaceful
~~

There are many of these issues throught these files for each race. Because of these issues the ai races will always hate not only the human player but the other races as well. I was just wondering your take on these issues and if you planned on addressing these issues in a future update. Thanks again for your hard work and additions to the mod community

If I explained myself well enough then you can see there is little to no changes needed in this area.
However, with thousands of entries changes in all these AI files I made , sure there can be typo or a glitz and I am sure a few will pop up, but so far so good

The Cue Cappa gets along with everybody for most if not all the game, it�s the Violent races that choose war with them more times then not.
Now, if you have first Contact the Cue Cappa late in the game they may not like you from the go, then all bets are off, but if they like you and you get any possitive Treaty, it is unlikly they will break it for some time.

This AI has been tested and played countless hours in that area and I have received a lot of positive feedback on AI Campaigns AI behavior from the Players. That�s not to say their won't be tweaking, I tweak every update, if not just so the AI won't get stale and or familiar
~~~
However SunDevil I still am having complications with the Xiati they are Schemers, I want them to be very friendly and then stab the weakest player in the back, maybe you can help me with this AI, what are your thoughts?

[ April 29, 2003, 15:33: Message edited by: JLS ]

[SunDevil]

JLS,

Thanks for answering my questions, I understand your points I guess I have to play with your mod a little more.

Anyway, off the top of my head with the Xiati, I would look into the politics.txt file. The anger and the settings file is to generic. Now based on the score percentage, if the Xiati have a high enough score percent in relation to a particular race or group of races that fall below or equal to that score percentage then they would be aggressive.

Score Percent to Send Want a tribute := 100/200
Will Send To Friend Want a tribute := True
Will Send To Enemy Want a tribute := True

Score Percent to Send Demand your surrender := 800/900 (You have this right now at 15)?
Will Send To Friend Demand your surrender := True
Will Send To Enemy Demand your surrender := True

Score Percent to Send Remove your ships from system := 200/300
Will Send To Friend Remove your ships from system := True
Will Send To Enemy Remove your ships from system := True

Score Percent to Send Remove your colonies from system := 600/700
Will Send To Friend Remove your colonies from system := True
Will Send To Enemy Remove your colonies from system := True

Score Percent to Send Leave planet := 500/600
Will Send To Friend Leave planet := True
Will Send To Enemy Leave planet := True

Now based on the score percent, regardless if the weak race if friend or foe the Xiati will not be nice. If the other races are closer in score to the Xiati then the they will not be bothered with these demands. Like I said, this is just off the top of my head and I hope this helps.

[ April 29, 2003, 03:33: Message edited by: SunDevil ]