Impunity to SE choices

[sammy1339]

Is it possible in SMAC to make the impunity and penalty functions for SE choices work when editing faction files? I wanted the AI to make better SE choices, so I tried to apply bonuses and penalties to the SE choices on a faction by faction basis such that stopping Deirdre from playing Fundamentalism (as she so often and so stupidly does) wouldn't stop Miriam from playing it (as she so often and so stupidly doesn't.)
For example, I put this line in Gaians.txt:
TECH, Ecology, TECH, Biogen, SOCIAL, -MORALE, SOCIAL, -POLICE, SOCIAL, ++EFFIC, SOCIAL, +PLANET, FUNGNUTRIENT, 1, FACILITY, 3, IMPUNITY, Green, PENALTY, Police State, PENALTY, Fundamentalism, PENALTY, Power
(Free tech and tanks were based on the idea of speeding up early research and slowing it down later.)
When I opened up a game I found that the impunity and penalty functions didn't take effect at all. However I had no problems with direct SE modifications to the faction files, and the tanks did appear. Do these functions simply not work, or did I type them wrong, or were they fixed in a patch I don't have? I think they should work in SMAX since I think the Consciousness has impunity to cybernetic, but I lost my expansion CD.
Thanks for your help.

[Kataphraktoi]

i think you need to have all those on one line,if it drops down,they seem to get cut off. IIRC

[sammy1339]

They are all on one line, actually. It's just that when I cut and paste in here they get split up.

[Senethro]

A faction can only have eight properties. In that instance, you've given the Gaians twelve.

I know, I know, its sucks. Its also uncircumventable as its hardcoded. Its perhaps one of the reasons I would like a Civ4 SMAC mod.

[Illuminatus]

You can have 8 traits maximum per faction (including technology). You have 12 in your file. This is why the last 4 aren't taken into account.

[Kirov]

Which reminds me: does _anyone_ use Power during the war? I'm under the impression that even when you're a psychotic warmonger it's better to live with the Wealth penalty than the Power one...

[Chaos Theory]

There are actually two types of traits: those subject to the limit of 8, and those not subject to any limit. Here they are:

Limited to 8:

Specified free tech (TECH, Ecology)
FACILITY or FREEFAC
UNIT
SOCIAL
ROBUST/IMMUNITY/IMPUNITY/PENALTY
FUNGNUTRIENT/FUNGMINERALS/FUNGENERGY
VOTES
REVOLT
NODRONE
FREEABIL
PROBECOST
OFFENSE/DEFENSE


Unlimited:

MORALE
PSI
RESEARCH
TALENT/DRONE
ENERGY
INTEREST
COMMERCE
POPULATION
HURRY
TECHCOST
SHARETECH/TECHSHARE
Unspecified free tech (TECH, 1)
TERRAFORM
MINDCONTROL
FREEPROTO
ALIEN/AQUATIC
COMMFREQ
FANATIC
WORMPOLICE
TECHSTEAL


In building scenarios, any starting tech and units need to be inserted manually anyway, so those can be stripped from each faction, leaving more room.

[Kataphraktoi]

ah ha,i was wondering why i had a faction with 14(AI) working ++'s

[GeoModder]

Chaos, are these two lists combinable? I mean, if you put the traits which aren't bound to a limit after the ones who are limited to 8, will the limited ones still appear?

[Chaos Theory]

Yes, they're combinable. When I add traits to factions or design custom factions, I list the unlimited ones before the limited ones, and I make sure the last trait is one whose presence I can easily check. If that trait is absent, I made a mistake somewhere.

[Commy]

Originally posted by Kirov
Which reminds me: does _anyone_ use Power during the war? I'm under the impression that even when you're a psychotic warmonger it's better to live with the Wealth penalty than the Power one...

I personally go for knowledge...once you have the +2 economy from free market, +3 isn't that much better...

There are some instances where +3 economy speeds up research more than +2 research and +2 economy, but it is rare...the +1 industry is also nice, but I'd much rather keep my high morale units...considering I play university which has -2 probe, -4 probe isn't any worse...

I think that if war is suddenly declared on you, however, it is beneficial to stay in wealth for 4-5 turns to quickly build a larger military, then switch to power to recieve the morale and support benefits...

[Chaos Theory]

+3 economy is significantly better than +2 economy into the mid-game, since +2 energy at each base can amount to a substantial portion of your total energy output. +1 industry, if you have +0 factional industry and are running FM, amounts to a 11% boost to all mineral production and a corresponding 10% cut in hurry costs. FM/Wealth is undoubtedly the way to go for building, whether it's building colony pods (though sometimes Planned is better for this), formers, infrastructure, or an army. FM/Knowledge is often better for straight research, but you need to build to take advantage of that research.

[binTravkin]

To make someone use / not use some SE choice, or aim/run from some social bonus use these lines:

Positive line (1):

Politics, Fundamentalist, PROBE

Means, faction will take Fundamentalist in 90% cases (there are som Force Majeurs which distract AIs from it) and will like ALL SE choices which have a bonus to PROBE.
The bigger the bonus the more likely faction is to choose that SE.

Negative line (2):

Values, Knowledge, RESEARCH

Means, faction will NEVER take Knowledge because it simply does not have that choice and will dislike ALL SE choices which have a bonus to RESEARCH.
The bigger the bonus the less likely faction is to choose that SE.


Works just the other way too.

Like if a choice has --RESEARCH and you switch the negative line to have RESEARCH as the disliked bonus, it is likely to take this choice.

If you have 2 SE which have both of those choices in combination which conflicts, you can determine which one AI's choosing by:

1.Say you set positive to PLANET
2.Say you set negative to GROWTH

Take Green Choice for example.

It has ++PLANET, so it has a malus of 2 from the first line
It has --GROWTH, so it has a bonus of 2 from the second line

Result is 0.

So if you set Free Market to not have ANY GROWTH or PLANET bonuses/maluses it will be 50/50 which one of them a faction will take if Planned is disabled (because Planned is the usual choice of all factions for at least first 100 MYs).

I use this scheme to make AIs a lot smarter in the games I create. I also used this scheme in the Aldebaran mod, making AIs really competitive (along with the other bonuses they had).

[Kirov]

I also prefer Wealth to Knowledge, at least in most cases, due to the ind bonus. Even at war Wealth penalties hurt less that Knowledge - 2 Probe (IMHO even if you're playing Zak, who when running Knowledge gives his bases for nothing).

[Commy]

Keep in mind that the disadvantages for negative probe stop at -2, so -4 isn't any different...also, unless you have +3 probe, all bases all vulnerable to mind control and tech stealing (although at varying degrees and costs)...really, you should have one or two probe teams in every one of your bases, making your probe rating irrelevant...except for unit controlling, though I find escorting any stack of units (though I have few stacks as stacks are bad) with a probe team or two does the trick...

Since I make use of military factories (two or three bases that work 3 or 4 boreholes and solely produce units), none of my bases ever need to produce military units, unless at war...also, with my 'advanced terraforming' (boreholes in as many squares as possible, followed by condensors and then echelon mirrors), most bases have so many minerals, by the time I actually can do wealth (I get ecological engineering before industrial automation, I don't use crawlers), the +1 industry is irrellevant because I hurry just about everything, so it would only save me a little money...

Units cost more to hurry, so I don't hurry those and let my military factories build them...I only hurry facilities, which are relatively cheap, and I rarely run out of cash...

I find that +1 efficiency and +2 economy can get me more energy than +3 economy, strangely enough, so I stick with my Knowledge...plus, I can actually build elite units...