A few questions about odd bits in BOTF

[Veristek]

Hi, all!

I haven't played BOTF in ages, and today I suddenly had the urge to play BOTF again. So far, it has been a blast, but I've noticed a few odd bits. I've been wondering how to fix these issues, since Microprose is gone and there's no chance for new patches and such. I have BOTF vanilla version 1.0.2.

Here goes...

1. I've noticed that the AI, especially Federation, never builds the ships it should build. Take the Federation AI for example. I have never seen it build anything other than Destroyers, Command Cruisers, and Heavy Cruisers. I have *NEVER* seen an Federation AI build or own a Defiant (Heavy Escort), Sovereign (Dreadnought), Constellation (the Stargazer, but forgot what in-game ship type it was), etc.

2. In a couple of games, the AI suddenly lost systems. No Borg or enemy bombardment. For some reason these systems break away or something from the empire they were under. For example, the Cardassians controlled like 10 systems, then for some reason a few systems suddenly didn't belong to the Cardassians anymore, but still show "Inhabited by Cardassians".

3. After a certain point in the game, the AI refuses to re-colonize systems. Case in point, I bombarded a few AI systems to 0 population. For some reason the AI refuses to re-colonize these systems even though my warfleets left like 50 turns back, and sitting safely over my homeworld. I think the same principle holds if the enemy AI bombards other enemy AI star systems to 0 population, and neither AI re-colonizes.

This way, I can pretty much nuke all the star systems occupied by the AI, leaving their homeworlds alone and intact. Then wait like 1000 turns, and the galaxy is still empty, and the AI's are still sitting in their homeworld systems. I had this problem in Version 1.0, but haven't reached that point in Version 1.0.2 (I have yet to bombard enemy systems in Version 1.0.2)

4. I have also noticed that sometimes the AI refuses to make peace with me. For example, whichever empire I play colonizes a few systems and gain a few minor races as members. Then when I meet up with an AI empire, sometimes they'll go up to Affliation offers after a while. Other AI's get "enraged" quickly, regardless whether they're Vendetta foes or not. Later on, some of the AI's who were buddy-buddy Affliated with me get to "Enraged" or "Hostile" mood.

Even more later on, wars start happening. I never declare war on the AI's. They are declaring war on me every 10 - 30 turns, regardless of whether they're Vendetta foes or not. I try to make peace with everybody. I throw oodles of cash at them as gifts to increase their diposition. I get them up to "Cordial" or better. Then I try to do peace treaties with them. They refuse peace treaties, even at "Worshipful" levels.

I can understand refusing if I've betrayed them like 100 times, but I have never betrayed or broken any treaties with any AI player during the course of the game. So I should supposedly have no black marks on my reputation.

What gives?

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I was wondering if any of you modder's can give me any ideas or suggestions on how to fix these issues? Any editing or hexing I can do to fix these problems? If these problems are fixed, my BOTF games will be so much more interesting and exciting!

Thanks!

[beepo]

try using Ultimate Editor and a mod. Try Gowron's Balance of Power mod.

[stardust]

Point 2 in the list.

It's probably because the morale in said colonies have reached such a low level they've declared their independance from the empire.
i've been able to make the most of this and conquer these free floating systems without having to declare war on the empire they came from

Point one is something to do with the actual ship list.
Where they're placed in the list determines what the AI builds. i can't tell you how to change this because i'm still new to modding games but there' plenty of veterans on here who'll explain better than me.

As for the contuinous stream of war declarations you're recieving i'd put that down to other empires signing war pacts against you just to appease whoever's after your blood.

It's rare for me to have a peaceful stint in game so i just make ready with a large fleet and whoever's stupid enough to declare war with me, i'll spare no quarter with

[eber3]

2. In a couple of games, the AI suddenly lost systems. No Borg or enemy bombardment. For some reason these systems break away or something from the empire they were under. For example, the Cardassians controlled like 10 systems, then for some reason a few systems suddenly didn't belong to the Cardassians anymore, but still show "Inhabited by Cardassians".

As stardust said, that is completely normal for empires with bad moral. The same thing can happen to you. Say you are playing as the feds, if your moral gets bad enough you will have rebellions in your colonies and they will part with the federation. The only way to get that colony back is to conquer them, which will cause them to act like conquered systems from other empires, or to bombard them out of existence and start over.

3. After a certain point in the game, the AI refuses to re-colonize systems. Case in point, I bombarded a few AI systems to 0 population. For some reason the AI refuses to re-colonize these systems even though my warfleets left like 50 turns back, and sitting safely over my homeworld. I think the same principle holds if the enemy AI bombards other enemy AI star systems to 0 population, and neither AI re-colonizes.

I have seen this happen with some systems, on the other hand I've seen some get recolonized more then once.

[ketteringdave]

1. I've noticed that the AI, especially Federation, never builds the ships it should build. Take the Federation AI for example. I have never seen it build anything other than Destroyers, Command Cruisers, and Heavy Cruisers. I have *NEVER* seen an Federation AI build or own a Defiant (Heavy Escort), Sovereign (Dreadnought), Constellation (the Stargazer, but forgot what in-game ship type it was), etc.

The AI will only consider the first ship of each type (destroyer, cruiser, or command) that it comes across in the shiplist. So, for example, since the Galaxy Command Cruiser is listed before the Sovereign Dreadnought, the AI always picks the Galaxy. You can use the Ultimate Editor to rearrange the shiplist, as long as you watch out for Utopia Planitia ships (Heavy Escort, Dreadnought, and Heavy Cruiser [maybe? I forget]).

[jonboylondon]

Welcome back dave!! You gonna sign up for the MP tournament?

[Martok]

Welcome to the forums, Veristek!

4. I have also noticed that sometimes the AI refuses to make peace with me. For example, whichever empire I play colonizes a few systems and gain a few minor races as members. Then when I meet up with an AI empire, sometimes they'll go up to Affliation offers after a while. Other AI's get "enraged" quickly, regardless whether they're Vendetta foes or not. Later on, some of the AI's who were buddy-buddy Affliated with me get to "Enraged" or "Hostile" mood.

Even more later on, wars start happening. I never declare war on the AI's. They are declaring war on me every 10 - 30 turns, regardless of whether they're Vendetta foes or not. I try to make peace with everybody. I throw oodles of cash at them as gifts to increase their diposition. I get them up to "Cordial" or better. Then I try to do peace treaties with them. They refuse peace treaties, even at "Worshipful" levels.

I can understand refusing if I've betrayed them like 100 times, but I have never betrayed or broken any treaties with any AI player during the course of the game. So I should supposedly have no black marks on my reputation.

What gives?

Unfortunately, the AI in BOTF is a bit broken, especially in regards to diplomacy. I don't know that there's anything that can be done about it, as I'm pretty sure the AI is hard-coded. For me, the diplomatic model (and the way the other empires handle it) is probably my single biggest frustration with this game.

[Veristek]

Thanks for the informative replies, guys!

I just had an idea. Would it be possible to solve my Issue #3 with the AI never re-colonizing planets by editing the planet system back into that particular AI's control? In other words, if I bombard a Fed system, System ABC to 0 pop, can I edit System ABC to 20 pop with Fed ownership in the next turn or something?

If so, which editors are the most ideal?

Secondly, are there any editors that can edit the AI back into peace mode with me? In the last game I played yesterday, around turn 75 or so, *ALL* the 4 AI empires declared war on me, and some of them are still unknown / no first contact with each other. Fast forward to turn 280, and I have yet to recieve a peace treaty offer from any of the AI's even though I destroyed like 100 - 200 ships from them. Besides, I built like 10 - 20 orbitals in each of my systems closest to the AI"s so ground invasion isn't an option.

I do love war, but sometimes I like to be a peace guy while stealing the AI's warships via espionage, and see the AI's go to war with each other. Then later on, I invade the AI's with a huge fleet of 20 - 30 stolen ships. Its so incredibly sweet to watch Galaxy ships go at each other's throats. (evil grin)