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[Zarkis]

New v0.6 released (04/19/08)


 Zarkis_AI_for_Phoenix_Rising___beta_0.6.zip   315.7KB   553 downloads


Zarkis AI mod for PR 1.0 (v.0.6)

WARNING: This mod will not work with any savegames. If you want to keep your ongoing games, apply this mod to a second installation of PR.


Installation:

Since there are extensive changes from the previous version, this mod should be installed over a fresh installation of PR 1.0. It will NOT work with any savegame due to the many changes. To do a second installation of the PR mod just rename your original installation with no spaces in the filename (for example to 'Phoenix_Rising_Space_Original' ) and do a second install. Then copy the contents of this zip file in your 'Phoenix Rising Space' directory (.../data/mod/Phoenix_Rising_Space) and overwrite the files when prompted.

Compatibility:

The mod is compatible with all versions of DalMP's aesthetics pack for PR 1.0.

Changes of v0.6:

- difficulty adjustments:
easy: same values for player and AI
normal: AI builds 15% quicker and gets 100% more money
hard: AI builds 30% quicker and gets 200% more money
- more improvements to upgrading and building behavior of the AI (for example Empire AI will build more stardestroyers instead of only preators)
- set building restrictions of barracks, factories, academies, and planetary guns back to the values of PR 1.0 (2 structures per planet)
- player and AI can only build up to 8 research facilities
- Rebel AI no longer uses Quasar fire-class bulk cruisers in attack missions
- some bugfixes

Changes of v0.5:

- all land heroes are now used by the AI in offensive missions (only the Emperor stays at Coruscant)
- all space heroes got a AI variant (usually the best upgrade for that hero) and are used in offensive missions by the AI
- neither the AI nor the player can rebuild named heroes now, so take care of your guys and better don't use Boba Fett, Mara or Kyle for assassinations or Han as smuggler, but use them as land heroes instead (you can't rebuild upgraded heroes in PR 1.0, so to make heroes more consistent I decided to implement this change until a better solution is found)
- you can only have 4 fleet and 4 field commanders at any time (good personel is hard to come by)
- several small fixes for heroes (which includes a fix for autocombat in space)
- On hard difficulty the AI units get a 10% bonus to shield, health and damage as well as more money (3x) and quicker building times (66% of player). Normal difficulty is basically the same as hard but without the 10% bonuses to units. On easy the AI gets 2x the money of the player, but otherwise no bonuses.
- tweaked all offensive scripts some more to get better force strength as well as force composition for the AI
- tweaked tactical space scripts to stimulate better attack behavior by the AI
- added Dalmp's retreat fix for space tugs, which prevents the AI from giving up level 5 stations without a fight
- no more doubled ground units in the campaigns
- fixed the problem with the AI attacking with too little forces
- removed the test galaxy from this mod

Features of previous versions:

- AI builds the most important land buildings and space structures
- Empire AI upgrades its space stations properly
- AI researches many upgrades over time
- AI builds up its planets quickly and efficiently (vehicles factories on planets with production bonuses for vehicles; barracks and academies on cloning worlds; XQ5 platforms on planets with high base income)
- damaged AI ships will seek out friendly repair ships
- scout fix: AI no longer sends fighters and corvettes on useless scouting missions
- on standard planets only one mining facility is buildable, while on mining planets you can build up to 4
- only one custom space station (XQ5 platform) can be build per system (this is more logical anyway)

Known bugs/glitches of this version:

- CSA AI does not work properly (looses autobattles even with favorable odds; seems to stall after some time; story xml files don't work). Therefore I disabled the AI for the CSA, so they act like Pirates now.
- didn't test the mod for skirmish

Have fun!

Edited by Zarkis, 19 April 2008 - 11:21 AM.

[Dalmp]

This is from curiosity, not a critique:

Why the new set of varient 'AI' units used in the campaign setups? Legacy from a troubleshooting method? Or is it involved with something else that I'm not spotting?

Edited by Dalmp, 02 February 2008 - 12:51 PM.

[Vitek]

Hello.
I tried your patch and am sorry, that I have to say it's not too good. Great thing is that AI really upgrades it's fleets. I saw lot of upgraded Carracks, Acclamators, ISD and TIE Bombers as I can remember.

BUT, on the other hand, AI is behaving really strangely in other aspects. I played Inner Rim as Rebels. And Empire took only few planets and often they tried to conquer planets not neighboring with theirs. More, they were constantly trying take planets in my possesion although many planets were still pirates.
And even more they tried to take my planets only with one land unit each time (later they brought Venator with this unit). And they kept sending units again and again even when my fleet was in orbit.It were not raids,the unit initiated space combat each time (and was defeated, of course). It was very annoying and useless.

In first weeks, they once attacked with big fleet and destroyed my space forces above my planet and when their space units were defeated, they retreated to this planet. Over time they had lot of land units there and they haven't taken the planet. The planet was unguarded and no defensive structure was built there. In fact no structure was there.

After few weeks even this sttoped and they did almost nothing for a long time. They were almost unactive, until I started to conquer planets around them. Then they started to send land units again. But this time at least guarded by Venator. And even they started to attack me with star fleets. It seems they needed to be greatly cornered, to start play.

In addition, they don't bulid too many space units. But I think, that could be at least partially because, they had only few planets and were not able to upgrade fleets and build ships at the same time.

I really wish you the best and hope you will be able to fix the problems. But in present state, it brings more problems than fixes.

Anyway, good luck with next version and I hope this pile of rambling wolud be helpful to you.

Bye,
Vítek

Edited by Vitek, 02 February 2008 - 02:52 PM.

[Dalmp]

Great thing is that AI really upgrades it's fleets. I saw lot of upgraded Carracks, Acclamators, ISD and TIE Bombers as I can remember.

That's not great. That's really great. Good news indeed. Nice work Zarkis!

Edited by Dalmp, 02 February 2008 - 03:17 PM.

[Zarkis]

This is from curiosity, not a critique:

Why the new set of varient 'AI' units used in the campaign setups? Legacy from a troubleshooting method? Or is it involved with something else that I'm not spotting?

I use 'cloned' buildings for the AI, so I can guide the AI to where it should build certain buildings and where not. Therefore I have to use cloned units too, since the regular units can not be build with the cloned stuff. It's not a big deal since the units are exactly the same.

Hello.
I tried your patch and am sorry, that I have to say it's not too good. Great thing is that AI really upgrades it's fleets. I saw lot of upgraded Carracks, Acclamators, ISD and TIE Bombers as I can remember.

BUT, on the other hand, AI is behaving really strangely in other aspects. I played Inner Rim as Rebels. And Empire took only few planets and often they tried to conquer planets not neighboring with theirs. More, they were constantly trying take planets in my possesion although many planets were still pirates.
And even more they tried to take my planets only with one land unit each time (later they brought Venator with this unit). And they kept sending units again and again even when my fleet was in orbit.It were not raids,the unit initiated space combat each time (and was defeated, of course). It was very annoying and useless.

Thanks for the feedback. The building part seems to work fine, but the offensive AI needs some more work. I will upload a slightly changed version with some modifications to the offensive scripts. The AI no longer should attack you with only one land unit (or at least it should happen seldom). Actually it can also happen in vanilla, because I didn't change what the AI favors to attack, so thats vanilla. Usually it will go for less defended systems and since pirates in this mod are rather strong, it may prefer to attack you instead of them (which is not a bad thing).

In first weeks, they once attacked with big fleet and destroyed my space forces above my planet and when their space units were defeated, they retreated to this planet. Over time they had lot of land units there and they haven't taken the planet. The planet was unguarded and no defensive structure was built there. In fact no structure was there.

Yeah, I noticed this behavior too. Not shure what causes it yet. Maybe may script changes will help here.

After few weeks even this stopped and they did almost nothing for a long time. They were almost unactive, until I started to conquer planets around them. Then they started to send land units again. But this time at least guarded by Venator. And even they started to attack me with star fleets. It seems they needed to be greatly cornered, to start play.

In addition, they don't bulid too many space units. But I think, that could be at least partially because, they had only few planets and were not able to upgrade fleets and build ships at the same time.

Yeah, the latter is a problem. I think I can make them build more spaceships, but then upgrading will suffer.

Edited by Zarkis, 02 February 2008 - 05:56 PM.

[anakinskysolo]

Hello.
I tried your patch and am sorry, that I have to say it's not too good. Great thing is that AI really upgrades it's fleets. I saw lot of upgraded Carracks, Acclamators, ISD and TIE Bombers as I can remember.

BUT, on the other hand, AI is behaving really strangely in other aspects. I played Inner Rim as Rebels. And Empire took only few planets and often they tried to conquer planets not neighboring with theirs. More, they were constantly trying take planets in my possesion although many planets were still pirates.
And even more they tried to take my planets only with one land unit each time (later they brought Venator with this unit). And they kept sending units again and again even when my fleet was in orbit.It were not raids,the unit initiated space combat each time (and was defeated, of course). It was very annoying and useless.

In first weeks, they once attacked with big fleet and destroyed my space forces above my planet and when their space units were defeated, they retreated to this planet. Over time they had lot of land units there and they haven't taken the planet. The planet was unguarded and no defensive structure was built there. In fact no structure was there.

After few weeks even this sttoped and they did almost nothing for a long time. They were almost unactive, until I started to conquer planets around them. Then they started to send land units again. But this time at least guarded by Venator. And even they started to attack me with star fleets. It seems they needed to be greatly cornered, to start play.

In addition, they don't bulid too many space units. But I think, that could be at least partially because, they had only few planets and were not able to upgrade fleets and build ships at the same time.

I really wish you the best and hope you will be able to fix the problems. But in present state, it brings more problems than fixes.

Anyway, good luck with next version and I hope this pile of rambling wolud be helpful to you.

Bye,
Vítek

I had the same problems.

[Zarkis]

Released beta 0.3 (download in the first post). This will be the last version for some time.

I tried to address some of the issues mentioned. The AI should now more reliably invade planets and build more spaceships, especially capital ships (expect Mark 4 ISDs and the like...). However, keep in mind that the AI attacks usually with a big fleet first and sends the ground units in later. So if you manage to retake the space over a planet the AI just attacked with its space force you will get attacked by land units later. That's how the vanilla scripts work.

I also added script changes for the retreat fix by Dalmp (the one which changes tugs from transports to fighters to prevent the AI from retreating when level 5 starstations are present). You have to apply Dalmps fix for yourself, but when you do, the AI will not build lots and lots of tugs thinking there are fighters.

[Vitek]

Released beta 0.3 (download in the first post). This will be the last version for some time.

I tried to address some of the issues mentioned. The AI should now more reliably invade planets and build more spaceships, especially capital ships (expect Mark 4 ISDs and the like...). However, keep in mind that the AI attacks usually with a big fleet first and sends the ground units in later. So if you manage to retake the space over a planet the AI just attacked with its space force you will get attacked by land units later. That's how the vanilla scripts work.

I also added script changes for the retreat fix by Dalmp (the one which changes tugs from transports to fighters to prevent the AI from retreating when level 5 starstations are present). You have to apply Dalmps fix for yourself, but when you do, the AI will not build lots and lots of tugs thinking there are fighters.

It's not like that. I know this is happening. But here AI sends land units over and over, many times on the same planets. Easily ten times on one planet in few weeks. In Inner Rim campaign i played they even sent them on Bothawui, which was my starting planet, so there is no possibility, that i took it before they land forces arrived.

But I have to say it really made me scared to hear "enemy fleet incoming" many times a week.

Bye,
Vítek

Edited by Vitek, 04 February 2008 - 10:52 PM.

[Zarkis]

In the last release (0.3) I forgot to swap one script, so the AI would attack the player with insufficient forces. This is rectified in version 0.4 (download in the first post). I also increased the money bonus for the AI to 3x the players money. Since the AI in this mod builds much more stuff, it usually has too little money in the first 20 weeks of a campaign.

Edited by Zarkis, 06 February 2008 - 04:02 PM.

[Phoenix Rising]

Cool stuff, Zarkis! I'll have to check this out at some point. I was under the impression that the HealsVehicles property already caused damaged ships to seek out repair, but I take it that's not the case. Also, what is the status of freighters?

[Zarkis]

It's not like that. I know this is happening. But here AI sends land units over and over, many times on the same planets. Easily ten times on one planet in few weeks. In Inner Rim campaign i played they even sent them on Bothawui, which was my starting planet, so there is no possibility, that i took it before they land forces arrived.

But I have to say it really made me scared to hear "enemy fleet incoming" many times a week.

Bye,
Vítek

No idea what should cause this behavior. Does this happen with v0.4 too?

EDIT: I now think that was caused by my additional attack script in the first versions. I experimented with letting the AI choose a target not bordering to it. That was causing the AI to send single units en route to the target over your planet. Should not happen with v.0.4.

Cool stuff, Zarkis! I'll have to check this out at some point. I was under the impression that the HealsVehicles property already caused damaged ships to seek out repair, but I take it that's not the case. Also, what is the status of freighters?

The changes for ships seeking out designated repair ships are in pgevents.lua. Look for 'lib_healer_property_flag'. You can assign which category of ships will seek out which category of healers (I will send you a pm about this).

Edited by Zarkis, 11 February 2008 - 01:41 PM.

[Phoenix Rising]

Mmm, thanks. I had poked around some of the tactical scripts and had seen mention of those flags, but I had just assumed that the AI knew what it was doing (my mistake ).

[Vitek]

No idea what should cause this behavior. Does this happen with v0.4 too?

EDIT: I now think that was caused by my additional attack script in the first versions. I experimented with letting the AI choose a target not bordering to it. That was causing the AI to send single units en route to the target over your planet. Should not happen with v.0.4.

Yeah, it doesn't seem happening now, though I only tested it for short time. Now it looks much better.

Bye
Vítek

Edited by Vitek, 11 February 2008 - 04:15 PM.

[anakinskysolo]

After testing the AI for a few days, I found some bugs that may interest you.

1. AI is sending small fleets to heavily defended planets that cannot be defeated with such small fleets. For example, it sent a Venator and an ISD to Corellia, defended by a Lvl 3 Space Station, several squadrons of fighters, a Mon Calamari cruiser, 3 Recusant Destroyers, 2 Light Mon Calamari Cruisers, a couple of Nebulon-Bs and some Corellian Corvettes. It happened always on Corellia.
2. I believe this is an issue that dates back from the vanilla EAW but otherwise its important to have it corrected. In tactical combat, the AI doesn't group it capital ships, making them much easier to destroy. For example, in the battle mentioned above with the ISD and Venator, the Venator attacked my forces on its own, while the ISD tried to get around a nebula, instead of coming together.
3. Same as before, this may be a vanilla issue: the AI keeps sending it (non-upgraded) transports on the attacks.

Other than these few issues, your AI is much better than PR original AI. Congratulations!

[Zarkis]

After testing the AI for a few days, I found some bugs that may interest you.
1. AI is sending small fleets to heavily defended planets that cannot be defeated with such small fleets. For example, it sent a Venator and an ISD to Corellia, defended by a Lvl 3 Space Station, several squadrons of fighters, a Mon Calamari cruiser, 3 Recusant Destroyers, 2 Light Mon Calamari Cruisers, a couple of Nebulon-Bs and some Corellian Corvettes. It happened always on Corellia.

No idea yet, what may cause this. Does the AI retreat immediately or does it realy fight you? If the latter is the case, then the AI obviously overestimates the power of its ships compared to what you have.

2. I believe this is an issue that dates back from the vanilla EAW but otherwise its important to have it corrected. In tactical combat, the AI doesn't group it capital ships, making them much easier to destroy. For example, in the battle mentioned above with the ISD and Venator, the Venator attacked my forces on its own, while the ISD tried to get around a nebula, instead of coming together.

I know what you mean, but I didn't change anything here. So yes, it's a vanilla issue. The AI just doesn't care about formations. Not sure if I can influence that.

3. Same as before, this may be a vanilla issue: the AI keeps sending it (non-upgraded) transports on the attacks.

Thats something Phoenix needs to fix. Unarmed ships have to be in the transport category (with the exception of tugs, otherwise we get that retreat problem with level 5 stations).

Other than these few issues, your AI is much better than PR original AI. Congratulations!

Thanks for the praise! A new version with some more improvements is in the making.

[anakinskysolo]

After testing the AI for a few days, I found some bugs that may interest you.
1. AI is sending small fleets to heavily defended planets that cannot be defeated with such small fleets. For example, it sent a Venator and an ISD to Corellia, defended by a Lvl 3 Space Station, several squadrons of fighters, a Mon Calamari cruiser, 3 Recusant Destroyers, 2 Light Mon Calamari Cruisers, a couple of Nebulon-Bs and some Corellian Corvettes. It happened always on Corellia.

No idea yet, what may cause this. Does the AI retreat immediately or does it realy fight you? If the latter is the case, then the AI obviously overestimates the power of its ships compared to what you have.

No the AI does not retreat until I destroy its Venator, then it does. Maybe it has something to do with the Venators...

[bioanger]

I have been playing (and enjoying) this AI mod, and I too have noticed that the AI sends weak fleets sometimes. Recently a Bulwark and an MC120 were sent to Byss by the AI, where it faced more than 50 of my ships, including 5 ISDs and lots of cruisers, as well as the station and golan. The bulwark retreated after the MC120 was lost. I have had many battles like this, but I noticed one pattern: the AI fleet almost always has the most expensive ship in the battle.

As far as I can tell the AI thinks that having the most expensive or biggest ship will win against all odds. It thinks a bulwark can take on a huge group of ISDs, it thinks a Mon cal can take on a huge group of cruisers, and it thinks a Nebulon-B can take on a cloud of bombers. So whatever mechanism the AI uses to decide which ship to use must be at fault. I don't know if any of you are able to change that but I think it is worth looking into. I noticed a related pattern going on with the graph in the history screen that shows military power between the two sides: when either side builds a big ship, there is a huge rise in their "power" while smaller ships barely affect the graph. If the AI tracks its power the same way the history screen does, it will be fooled into thinking that smaller ships present no threat.

[Zarkis]

I have been playing (and enjoying) this AI mod, and I too have noticed that the AI sends weak fleets sometimes. Recently a Bulwark and an MC120 were sent to Byss by the AI, where it faced more than 50 of my ships, including 5 ISDs and lots of cruisers, as well as the station and golan. The bulwark retreated after the MC120 was lost. I have had many battles like this, but I noticed one pattern: the AI fleet almost always has the most expensive ship in the battle.

As far as I can tell the AI thinks that having the most expensive or biggest ship will win against all odds. It thinks a bulwark can take on a huge group of ISDs, it thinks a Mon cal can take on a huge group of cruisers, and it thinks a Nebulon-B can take on a cloud of bombers. So whatever mechanism the AI uses to decide which ship to use must be at fault. I don't know if any of you are able to change that but I think it is worth looking into. I noticed a related pattern going on with the graph in the history screen that shows military power between the two sides: when either side builds a big ship, there is a huge rise in their "power" while smaller ships barely affect the graph. If the AI tracks its power the same way the history screen does, it will be fooled into thinking that smaller ships present no threat.

I assume you all play with the latest version (0.4). I looked into the offensive scripts and noticed, that the only script which allows the AI to attack the player with less then 4 ships in a fleet is the unrestricted grab space script. However, this script does not fire if the target has a starbase level of 3 or greater. That doesn't fit to what Anakinskysolo reported. All other offensive scripts against the player have a minimum requirement of 4 ships. And if the pirate only script accidentially gets triggered, the attack force should at least have one land unit. So the question: Were there any land units on the side of the AI? If not, then there is something basically wrong. Maybe the AI doesn't get the timing converging a bigger fleet on the target right. Were there more attacks incoming immediately after the weak attack?

EDIT: I think I found the error. I forgot to update one of the files. Stupid me...

Edited by Zarkis, 22 February 2008 - 06:06 PM.

[Casen]

Would the CSA even want to conquer the galaxy? They are merely a group that governs a small area. They should have an AI that secures their assets not goes all imperialist.

Hmm maybe we can feature Star's End...

[Zarkis]

V0.5 is now available from the first post. It has some major changes, so read the readme! You need a fresh installation for this one!

Edited by Zarkis, 23 February 2008 - 11:03 AM.