What's the function of the lines beginning with "AI"?

from Stardock Forums
I've started to poke at some modding... not entirely sure why I'm bothering, since some things like the entire Constructor/Starbase upgrades paradigm is mired in Micromanagement Hell that I can't fix, but nevertheless here I am trying. My investigations of the text files has led to some questions, the first being about lines like this one, from GCTech.TECH:

AI 20

Similar lines appear in other .TECH files and .imp files. What's particularly confusing to me is that not every "definition block" contains this line. I can't for the life of me figure out what this statement does.

Can anyone explain its purpose?

Mark
1,693 views 4 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top
It determines how much of a priority AI that use a semi-random research pattern put upon researching that tech, and how much of a priority AI puts upon building that improvement.

Techs without the line get researched only if the AI has nothing else worth researching.

Improvements without that line don't get built unless the AI needs the bonus and nothing else with an AI line is available, and often not even then.

~SDC~
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top
Arturus:

Do you also know the "direction" of the value? Do smaller or larger values increase such likelihood? Are the values 0 or -1 valid, and do they have any special significance?

Mark

~SDC~
Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top
Do you also know the "direction" of the value? Do smaller or larger values increase such likelihood? Are the values 0 or -1 valid, and do they have any special significance?
End of quote


Larger values make the tech seem more valuable. I don't think there are any '0' entries... I believe those are simulated by leaving the line out entirely. I wouldn't expect much, if anything, from '-1'... if there were some special meaning, it would be used for something by the defaults.

One other thing I was going to mention earlier... I'm pretty sure those numbers also affect how much the AI will ask/offer in trade for the tech as well. It would certainly explain why they ask so much for military ship techs, etc.

I'm curious if anybody knows the details of how the AI goes about using these values though. Does it only compare techs that are immediately available for research, or will a high value cause it to prioritize the pre-reqs for that tech as well?

I'm working on a tech mod now, so if I figure out any more, I'll let you know. :)