Master of Orion the SwanSong patch (1.40n)

[bjg]

I believe it's a well known issue. If you let AI to put a ship on an orbit of your unprotected colony it'll start sending waives of troops to overtake it. It will do so even if you have a NAP.

[kyrub]

I believe it's a well known issue. If you let AI to put a ship on an orbit of your unprotected colony it'll start sending waives of troops to overtake it. It will do so even if you have a NAP.

OK, thanks for clarification.
AI should think twice before attacking you (it does not currently, the invasion is a 100% decision). I will put there a routine for the AI to check when to send troops, when it is a good, favorable move in the game, and when not.


On the other hand, it is important that the AI can break the NAP and attack you, what do you think? By itself, it is not a bad move?

[bjg]

I believe it's a well known issue. If you let AI to put a ship on an orbit of your unprotected colony it'll start sending waives of troops to overtake it. It will do so even if you have a NAP.

OK, thanks for clarification.
AI should think twice before attacking you (it does not currently, the invasion is a 100% decision). I will put there a routine for the AI to check when to send troops, when it is a good, favorable move in the game, and when not.

On the other hand, it is important that the AI can break the NAP and attack you, what do you think? By itself, it is not a bad move?

AI doesn't brake the NAP in that case - that's the thing. They don't consider it an act of war somehow.

[Ianus]

AI doesn't brake the NAP in that case - that's the thing. They don't consider it an act of war somehow.

In my experience (with 1.3) the AI tends to be pretty reliable to abide by NAPs as long as the attack fleet is not already en route when the NAP is signed. I've also had attacking fleets in orbit of my planets when peace is signed and the fleet just sits there waiting to be chased away, and not drawing invasion forces. I like that. But of course the AI is notorious for sending invaders to planets which are out of range but have been orbited by a long range scout. In general the AI has a very loose interpretation of "acts of war".
I think it improves the flavor of the game that SOMETIMES an AI will ignore a NAP and invade. That just shows that they are backstabbing warmongering trash and need to be eliminated like a rabid dog for the good of the Galaxy!

[toddestan]

I think it improves the flavor of the game that SOMETIMES an AI will ignore a NAP and invade. That just shows that they are backstabbing warmongering trash and need to be eliminated like a rabid dog for the good of the Galaxy!

That's one of the things that I've always loved about MOO is that sometimes the AI just blatantly ignores whatever agreements it has with its opponents and does something anyway. With that said, it would be nice if the AI didn't do this every time. Besides checking to see if it's a favorable move, the emperor's personality could also come into play here too. An honorable would not normally break a NAP like that, but an erratic... watch out!

[kyrub]

OK, I got the idea.
a) Upon entering NAP, AI will always stop its transports incoming [bug]
b) AI will reconsider breaking its NAP with player, whenever it feels it can use an advantegous position to send troops to enemy position
c) the NAP will be formally dissolved once the AI sends the troops, with AI informing you about it (?)

Is that right?

Re: Personnalities, these are almost certainly going to disappear, as they help immensely to the human player. Instead of personnalities, the AIs will use (hidden) long term strategies. For example, an Alkari AI with long-term strategy "Sit-back-until-you-get-HEF" will have tendency to avoid early conflict.

[bjg]

a) Upon entering NAP, AI will always stop its transports incoming [bug]

It would be helpful if they stop sending new ones (as a partial fix).

[Tiltowait]

If this is a new direction and not just a bugfix patch, I'd give it a new version number. I was confused about m and n there for a minute. Maybe v1.5, or even v2.0?

Swansong? Does that mean the end?

I think it's really cool that kyrub is releasing new versions. That is just spectacular. I always recommend the v1.4 patch whenever I hear people talking about MOO. Typically they've never heard of it and rush to download it. It always feels great to let people know that this beloved DOS game has an improved version. You know how some people can get...they're reluctant to play some old game from 20 years ago. But tell them it's still being updated and a lot of that resistance disappears. I just hope that Master of Magic can get some love soon, too. Good job kyrub, I don't know anyone else who hacks .EXE files like you do, it really is an irreplaceable talent and the game is much better for all your efforts.

[kyrub]

Maybe v1.5, or even v2.0?

Good idea. Next issue will be 1.5.

Swansong? Does that mean the end?

Culmination, hopefully (which is one of the forms of ending, so yes).

Thanks for all kind words, but I see the old patch on Moo as the raw-est, most unfinished work I have ever done. This patch aims to make amends. In general, I grew bored with gaming and with exe. editing. Swansong, that's it. If zitro's mod for MoM is as good as it looks to be, I may do some remaining AI issues for MoM in the future. Who knows.

[rboplayer]

Are you able to fix the planetary production calculation when transports are leaving the planet? Most importantly how much needs to go to ecology to keep the planet clean, but also everything else would be nice for those who like to do micromanagement in the early days.