IRM : Update.

Well, it will include the latest of your betas . But i made sure my mod had no conflict with yours so it's just a pasting files over issue...

I haven't said any release date for my mod though. I wrote that update to show i still work on my mod, even though i haven't done much in the last 2 weeks. But now that i have started again, the boulder will keep rolling. The worst thing for me is when i stop working on my project, it takes me a lot of energy to restart it. My inertia is building up again .

I found why my purchasing system was so buggy since 1.25. Some bug in 1.25 prevented it from counting colonies. This screwed the whole algorithm that was colony count heavy. I fixed it now, but i also changed how it works, using some ideas from Kwoks new purchase system. But mine works differently though, i don't use "demand" system, it would not have worked well with my huge number or design types.

My new purchase system also make use of unused production. I found a way to make the AI queue up more than one item, while not over-queuing. So my AI can build more than one ship a turn, or combine ship with unit building, or facilities with units. Still have to work out the weighting, but the basis works. I also included the scrapping scripts of Kwok, but i will have to revise it a bit as i think it scrap units too soon and don't check if they are actually obselete (it just check the age).

On the bugs front, i found a big one in the script that made satellites. I had a duplicate entry that checked for a weapon that did not exist, preventing the design from being completed. I also made another script cleaning and started to add comments (better late than never). My scripts are a mess, i pitty thoses that tryied to use my code as basis. But i'm fixing this, the next release of my scripts will be cleaner and more documented.

Well, i should check it again, but it seemed to me it wasn't checking if it was obselete. Well, i did not spent much time on this, i might have read it wrong...

Well, if this is going to be fixed, it's good news.

It's more useful for the AI to get extra units/ships than it is to finish a planet infrastructure. But the AI can queue more than one structure, but it need a lot of resources to spare for that, i noticed facilities drain a lot of it when they are queued (surely a bug).

I might release a new version before the next patch as it is. This won't fix all the AI's issues but it should do a lot better than 0.8c...

Well, when i play, i tend to queue up several ships at once as to not have to check my build queues every turns. My new script make the AI manage it's build rate better and net let them idle as much as it would in stock. The improvement especially help when the AI has only a few colonies.

Btw, i found out that the AI don't seem to send it's fleet anywhere right now. I double checked the code, fixed a few things but the AI don't seem to attack. Is this another stupid bug introduced in 1.25? I'm sure my AI was capable of attacking before 1.25...

Well, i believe the bug is one that was introduced in 1.25, not something i can fix. From what i understand, the AI uses lists that it generate over time to know what to attack. But thoses lists seem to be broken with the patch. I ran many tests since i fixed the purchase system (in my current build) and the AI seem to scout a few systems then suddently stops for no reason i can find. The current version is full of bugs, even if i can fix them they might get broken again by the next patch.

In previous versions, i started adding task forces to the AI fleets. It seemed harmless at first, there was only 2 and the second one would be created as soon as a supply ship would come around. The problem is, the fleet won't move until all TFs have something in them. In 0.8c, there are several TFs to be created. That's why a fleet of over 30 ships stay idling while the empire is being destroyed. So the solution for now is to remove theses extra TFs until i figure a way to create them on a need them basis...

That's because IRM is meant for the initiated only . Seriously, i have a readme for it in the 0.8c thread. But since i have an FTP now for it, i will provide a link in my signature along the next version of it. But to make things short, my mod is a conversion of the stock game, wich change a lot of things from technologies to the AI. It's still a work in progress though, it's still in beta stage.

The changes has been extensive. The purchase system has been greatly improved, the upgrading bug fixed and the AI design names are being changed. Having help with coding and bug hunting has put the mod on second gear. At the rate it's going, we might have a new version before the end of this week.

Yep, just added that to the "to do" list. But for the colonizer issue, i made the AI not build too many at once so it has some time to build up it's colonies before trying to get more. Having many fledging colonies is crippling for the AI, and it's very difficult for it to defend them so they are easy grab for a human player... But it's not hard in stone yet, might change it later on when the AI gets stronger...

The next IRM should be out this week. We are currently rooting out bugs that we created while trying to revamp the script, but they should be ironed out soon.