AI Question

I'm 42 years old and just finished my first term in Computer Science at University of Wisconsin.
From what I see the game AI works off of the modable files and doesn't really care about your mods, except the values you give them... like any computer programmer would do.
What that means is... Change what you want the AI will work with them within the values of the parameters of what you put in the files. Will that be balanced? No. Not until we create true Artificial Intelligene that can sort the wheat from the stuff that isn't wheat (value=0).

I don't think AI is Aarons aim, and as much as I don't want to kiss up, I think he just wants a good 4x game, that people can become numb with after hours of play, go to sleep, dream of planets, fleets and friendly and alien races, wake up and kick some ass!

If you're an AI programmer who wants to help, initiate a convo with Aaron. If you're not, I suggest you not complain about the AI. Why? Cause, it's easy to say... well, we want better AI. Harder to do. Have you seen this game, played it? The programmer is kicking working hard! And AI programming isn't easy. So if you think you can do better, then help out! The kind of game we have here is not played by people who think gaming is a nice way to relieve stress (well maybe some of us do). I'm happy with what we've got here, and if this offends you, then do something constructive about it... such as help!

Original topic on the mods, the AI works with the values you put in the ini files, I'm sure, otherwise, the whole system would be broken. I'm sure there are ranges to those values, but any good programmer treats text as text. Numbers are something that the AI would use, since teaching AI text is well processor intensive (and programmer intensive) Any values that are text must be in a range that the AI understands, or it should ignore it. It's not you, btw, if you tell it to warp to Alpha Centauri to get a Hot Dog for you, it won't understand. Programmers, even in this day work with algorithms that understand numbers for specific things in ranges. There you go. Computer Science 101.

You can't make the program sit like you can Fido. Hope that helped.

Casca
The Immortal Soldier

Generally, the answer to your question is that it will cause errors depending on what's changed or added. Be ready to update your AI too.

Personal experience here. I overhauled the engine system then ran a test game to see if the components were working properly. When I ran across an AI race I found out they were building ships w/o engines because the AI didn't recognize the components/need to research said areas. So when I'm done with modding the components I get to delve into AI modding ..... yea.... fun.... (sarcasam intended)

"Trying to teach me to be politically correct is like trying to teach a dead dog to play fetch.... futile."

They certainly don't make AI modding as easy as data file modding. Shameful and sad...

Although SE5's scriptable AI is a lot more flexible than SE4's "list" AI.

Space Empires Depot | SE:V Balance Mod