There is very little I can do about the AI's building pattern. I could increase the AIValue for the 1pps again, but it is unlikely to have that big of an effect. If the AI doesn't want to build something, it won't. As for the Korath "not demolishing improvements to make room for something better", this is common problem with all AI personalities. I only ever saw them do it once in the seven years I've been playing. More often, the AI simply builds over the Recruiting Center. However, in most of those cases, there already was enough space for a new improvement, so building over the RC wasn't necessary at all.


I'm already adjusting the AIValues. Going through them tech by tech, however, isn't an option, because there are several more factors that go into the AIs decision in what to research. As for the tech-costs, do you have anything specific in mind?

The Korath are currently doing okay in my tests. Not great, but they at least manage to win from time to time. The Drengin, on the other hand, worry me. They seem to have degenerated quite rapidly since my last tests. I'm not sure why though. The only tech I changed was Xeno Propaganda. This shouldn't have had any effect on the AI's willingness to go for Slave Pits or Diabolical Research at all. I managed to rectify this somewhat, but had to increase the AIValues for those techs much higher than usual. Still, the Drengin are a far cry from being decent. They sometimes manage to hold their own, but have yet to win a game.


The Arceans had a similar problem as the Drengin. They weren't researching beyond Planetary Improvements, which means, that they couldn't get better factories and labs. I managed to rectify this by tweaking some of the AIValues.

The Korx are a different matter altogether. Their biggest problem is trade. I haven't had a look if that is still the case since my newest changes, but I would guess so.


During my last testing-phase in February, the Arceans did quite okay and managed to win from time to time. However, during my current tests, they haven't won a single game, but at least manage to hold their own for a while. I really wonder why that changed.

In a few of my tests, the Korx managed to either win outright or at least ally themselves with the final victor. We'll see, if that is still happening.


You mean one maintenance-cost for all improvements of a certain type? I can't agree with that. Some races have a strong economy, while others have a weak one. If all factory-types would have a low maintenance, then the races with a strong economy could afford to build even more, while the bonus for the races with a weak economy would get diminished. Same thing with a high maintenance-cost. Economically strong races would have no trouble with it, while the weak ones would be unable to compete.

Not to mention, it would reduce the uniqueness of each race, if all buildings were too similar.


That is the trade-problem I mentioned above. The Korx value trade very high, making them build freighters when colony ships would have been better. However, I can't reduce the Trade-bonuses from the techs anymore, without making trade worthless for everyone else (except the player, of course). Part of the problem is the Super Trader-ability. It makes the Korx start out with all techs that provide a Trade-bonus, as long as the tech doesn't has a alignment-requirement. This means, that I can't split up the bonuses over several techs. I also can't make several Evil- or Neutral-only techs, because the Korx don't research Xeno Ethics that often. Even if they do, they rarely go beyond it, making the techs pointless. I already moved some of the bonus to the Korx-only Trade Monument GA. This helped somewhat, but there is still the problem, that the Korx don't research the necessary tech for the GA.

In the end, it comes down to a trade-off between the Korx doing well in the colony rush, and trade being a viable source of income for the AI. I prefer the latter, because it benefits all AIs, not just the Korx.

Beta 5 is out and a lot more changed, than I expected.

Some of the changes have already been discussed, but here are the details:

Drengin: Xeno Propaganda has become a bit more powerful. It now provides +10% to both Influence and Loyalty, and unlocks a new Culture module (Propaganda Station: +25% culture-bonus). The Propaganda Machine has been renamed to Brain Washing Machine, and is now unlocked by Xeno Brain Washing. Its bonus to Culture modules has also been increased from +50% to +100%. The Aul Power Center is now Drengin-only. The tech no longer requires an Evil alignment, is now placed after Graft of Ages, and no longer provides an Economics-bonus. Slave Pits and the other advanced manufacturing-techs no longer provide any Mining or Production-Assist modules. Instead, the modules from the Industrial Starbase Construction-techs got more powerful.

Korath: The following techs are no longer availalbe: Xeno Propaganda, Xeno Brain Washing, Devil's Forge, Death Furnace, Enhanced Slavelings, Artificial Slavelings, and the aforementioned Aul Power Center. Dark Influence got a +10% bonus to Influence. Wretched Cloning and Aul Incineration have been moved back to their old place behind Xeno Medicine, and have been turned into Biology-techs again. The Korath also got two new techs: Advanced Cloning and Superior Cloning. They are pretty much identical with Enhanced/Artificial Slavelings and are meant as a thematically more fitting replacement. Like the Drengin, the Korath also saw some changes to their starbase modules. Advanced Production-Assist modules are unlocked by Wretched Cloning and Aul Incineration, while advanced Mining modules are unlocked by Advanced/Superior Cloning.

Arcean: The Navigation Center now has the statistics of the Advanced Navitgation Center, which got removed. Interstellar Navigation no longer provides a Speed-bonus, and costs now 400 instead 250. Sub-space Drive also saw a cost-increase (from 400 to 800). Advanced Navigation Centers saw a name-change (Advanced Interstellar Navigators), got a +10% Speed-bonus, and a cost-reduction from 3500 to 1800. Overall, this means that the Arceans have it a little harder early on to increase their speed, but the total cost is lower.

Maintenance: As mentioned earlier, I went back to a fixed maintenance-cost for labs and factories. This is done mostly to help the AI, which has a hard time coping with the increasing costs. For the moment, the values are:

Factories (3bc)
Slave Pits (1bc)
Replicators (2bc)
Collectives (2bc)
Labs (5bc)
Slaveling Labs (2bc)
Schools (3bc)
Research Collectives (4bc)

There are more changes, but those were the major ones.

Work on the AI continues slowly, but steady. The Drengin are doing better now, but still refuse to research certain techs (or only do so very late). The Korath win quite often currently. As long as they have a reasonably good start, they can put up a good fight. The Terrans and Yor are currently the best races, in my opinion. Both have a very high chance of winning. The Arceans and Korx saw some slight improvements. They managed to win a couple of times now. The other races are pretty much the same as before.

If no more changes to the tech trees come up, I will try to make the campaigns compatible with Autumn in my next version.

Yeah - it doesn't look like it can be fixed.

At least, not without modifying the AI which is currently not possible.

By that I mean by a line of improvements, such as everything from the Traditional Factory to Industrial Sector for Humans costing the same maintenance.

 

Note sure if this has already be implemented or not - I have not examined each improvement.

 

 

 

Yeah I think it's going to have to stay the way that it is.

Right now I am going to split performance into tiers. Note that these are based on v4 and strictly my observations - limited sample size is a problem here.

 

Well performing

Human - well balanced tech tree; can rally others to cause too; they are average early game, but tend to get better and better as the game draws on

Yor Collective - seem to be able to capitalize on their industry; average start-up like humans, but as the game draws on them seem to get progressively better

Torian - strongest  early game of all the races; able to expand very quickly, and this inertia tends to lead to a strong performing end-game race

 

Average

Korath (provided that settings favor AI 7) - could use some work though as discussed

Drath - they do ok, but their key right now is their super-ability, which tends to lead to an evil-neutral-good struggle later in the game
Altarian - similar comments like that of the Drath; going to war with Altarians tends to lead towards an ENG sided war later on

Iconian - seem to be "fixed" compared to AI 10, but they have not distinguished themselves to me either

Thalan - interestingly enough, they do not do that well late game; seem to be quite aggressive too, which is not necessarily a bad thing - from my experiences, they are very potent mid-game

Krynn - the quintessential average performer if you will; not too aggressive, does ok during the initial phase, but at the same time, they usually don't tend to end up on top later on

Below Average

Korx - discussed earlier; trade reliant; seems to be inherent; perhaps could buff economy later on, but that's all I can think of

Drengin - not too sure why this is, perhaps a combination of AI 7 and other weakness; they are aggressive, but often cannot win? A radical solution may be to make the Drengin AI 11 with 100 aggression?

Arceans - they seem to have issues expanding early on, in some cases they can "catch up", in other cases, they seem to languish behind late game

I do not know how this contrasts or corroborates with your experiences, but there seem to be some overlap, for example we both seem to agree that the Drengin right now are having a tough time.

 

Right now my Drengin seem to have issues earlier in the game. They often do not research the right technologies and do not expand aggressively enough.  Late game though, they do ok, especially in a good starting zone, but more often than note the early game tends to leave them behind enough that they cannot catch up.

 

Edit:

I can also provide a more detailed account of the strengths and weaknesses race of each on request.

In that case, we want the same thing. I changed the maintenance to work like that now. Apparently, I wasn't clear enough with my description. However, I can't do this with every race. I.e., Traditional Factory to Industrial Sector have the same maintenance for all races, that use them.


Pretty accurate assessment. In my tests, the Arceans and Korx sometimes play above average, but that seems to be rare. The AI of the Arceans seems to be quite militaristic, favouring research in weapons above colonising planets. I'm currently considering to reduce their aggressiveness a bit. Hopefully, that will help them. The Iconians are a strange case. On maps with lots of extreme planets, they can get quite a headstart due their Super Ability, but they often lack the money to fully utilise this. In most of my test games, they refused to research Xeno Communications, which prevents them from getting their economics-techs. I tried to address this in the new version, but had only limited success. The less said about the Thalan the better. They are about as problematic in getting them to research better factories and labs as the Drengin.


Same here. It's gotten better, but not nearly enough. I'm considering to change them to AIP 8, if I don't make more progress soon. This will also have several drawbacks (mostly having to restart their adjustments from scratch), but at least I can be sure, that they research up the Slave Pits line of techs.


Thanks, that would be great.

I'm going to be playing more games soon enough.

 

I do not know how you collect information, but in my games, I am usually an active player with a modded race. I find that being an active player does give me an interesting perspective.

Active playing is the best method of getting information, but also the most time consuming. I just don't have the time to always do that (primarily because I'm a slow player), so I use mostly AI vs AI plays, and occasionally take control of a minor race for the first game year.

However, both these methods have some serious drawbacks. In the first one, there is no human player. The players actions usually influences how the AI reacts. Plus, each turn is extremely short, which gives the AI not much time to think. Not to mention, that, when war brakes out, it can be quite hard to stop the auto-turn to take a look at the races. You usually have to wait until the war stops or one of the races got wiped out. This is extremely bad, if the race you want to look at gets wiped out, before you had a chance. In the second method, there is a human player, but I'm not doing anything. At least the turns are longer, because I'm constantly checking what the AIs are researching.

Despite their flaws, both methods can give an indication on how the AI would act in a regular game. They just don't work as a permanent replacement for active play-testing.

Hello community!

 

I just bought the game on steam, and heard about this mod that balances the game, and decided that I should install it.

 

But at install step 2, ( Start the game and go the Options-menu. On the 'Game' tab, activate the 'Use Mods' option and change the 'Current Mods Directory' so it points to Autumn Twilight. ), I simply cannot select the mod folder.

 

When I click Change, I see the Current directory pointed to Galactic Civilizations II - Ultimate\Twilight\Mods\default, and I can't select anything.

 

Any idea on what can I do to select the mod path?

 

 

That is strange. Does the Steam-version use a different path for mods? My Stardock-version has the mods-folder directly under the main-folder. In any case, installing the mod under that path, instead of the one I mentioned in the OP, should do the trick.

However, if that still doesn't work for some reason, you could also change the mod-path manually. To do that, edit the line ModsDir in the pref.ini file, so it points to the correct location of the mod. You can find the file under User Name\My Docs\My Games\GC2TwilightArnor.

If that doesn't work either, just drop a line. I'll see what else I can do to help.

Thank you for the help!

 

The Twilight Folder didn't have a mods folder, but I created it, moved the Autumn Twilight mod there, and then I could select it in the options.

Glad to hear that.

Well, beta 5b is up sooner than intended.

I found a pretty bad typo on my part, that needed to be fixed immediately. The Korath Stellar Harvester and Incineration Center modules provided a +25% bonus to production, instead of the intended +10% and +15% respectively.

Besides that, I included a bug-fix provided by Danielrota. The specifics can be found here.

I also removed the maintenance cost for the Yor Maintenance Grid and the Torian Temple of Memories.

The AI is still relatively unchanged compared to beta 5, except for some small tweaks to the Arceans.

Ok I'm going to split races into category again:

 

In Good Shape

Humans - Seem to build up, and mid to late game, have a tendency to end up in the Evil-Neutral-Good wars on either the neutral or sometimes the good side. Sometimes the neutral races don't "gang up" together. Good empire management is what I think distinguishes the humans above many of the average races.

Yor - Although they aren't the best at the start, they are "ok" in a sense. The longer the games go, the better they seem to do and in a few cases, can end up being the dominant AI race in many of my games. They and the humans are the best AI for late game. They tend to rule in production. Also, I think that the fact that they are not as aggressive may be helping them build up a potent empire for later in the game.

 

Torians - They are the strong starters. As the game goes by they do lose some of that advantage, but they're usually among the top races at times. Later in the game, Yor and Humans tend to have better managed empires, but the Torians still do relatively well, especially if they have established a solid lead.

 

Drath - Right now even though their empire isn't the most potent, their ability to manipulate wars can make them a very ... interesting addition to any game. Empire wise, they do ok. Usually not at the top in terms of income, production, research, but they have a tendency to do reasonable well. I'm going to leave this as "in good shape" with the Altarians because well, they're fine. They may not consistently be near the top, but they're not constantly getting destroyed either.

 

Altarians - Adding these guys tends to result in a ENG race more so than any others. Note that at times, the neutral races do not participate with each other, it can be an E-G competition solely. Their performance like that of the Drath is what you'd call generic. They seem to have a higher penchant for going to war than the Drath. Average though in terms of Empire management.

 

Perhaps the Drath and Altarians need a bit more to make each race distinct - although that may be asking for a balancing nightmare. It should not be a priority though over other issues and only at a later date.

 

Krynn - They are doing ok. I have not seen any times where, barring a bad starting location, they consistently underperform. Empire management looks decent. I would like to see them expand a bit more frequently, but otherwise I have no issues with them.

 

Korx - To be honest, I debated between putting them as "fine" or moderate attention needed. Average income, average empire management. We've already discussed the trade issues barring an unhealthy overemphasis early game on trade. Maybe a slight buff to their economy would be nice.

 

Could use moderate attention

Iconians - I do not know if there is anything to be done about this, but their unique PP improvements such as the 50% economy one are very potent, and favor not having specialized worlds, but the AI does not seem to build their PP improvements at every planet at times. Otherwise ok.

 

Thalan - Their late game could use some attention. Perhaps their top end improvements and abilities could use a slight buff? And a few atlas modules for their ships? They are very aggressive at times, but also decent at building an empire. Earlier on they do ok.

 

Korath - If they are on a non-AI-7 map, they're in trouble. Especially with a bad starting location. Otherwise they are ok. A few balancing issues could go on here and there. As expected they do tend to get themselves in war a lot . Empire management is decent, but could use some improvement - they do not take advantage of all of their PP improvements. Perhaps in some cases this is good as it may not be economical to do so. In other cases though, they're missing out.

 

Needs improvement

Drengin - Despite this tech tree's similarities to the Korath, they have issues. AI-7 as noted earlier can be an issue. I do not know why but their empire management seems to have issues. Production and income tend to be frequently less than that of the Korath. Their research at times can be sporadic as well. As you noted, an AI-11 or AI-8 with 100 aggression may be able to fix this. Another serious problem is that they have a tendency to go to war with empires a lot stronger than they are.

 

 

Arcean - They can do well, but their empire management is not great. They are below average during the colony rush. They also tend to be aggressive. Like the Drengin though, when they go to war, they often do not have an economic base that can support the kind of conquest that they so want. They seem to favor military too much. Often they can be out-teched as well.

Also another recommendation would be to look into the racial recoloration mods and integrate them in.

 

The reason why I say that is because it can be hard to "see" the extend of the Korath Empire, especially on the minimap. Their grey color is a bit hard to see compared to the rest of the minimap.

I just finished a game with this mod and I love it. I like how you made every tech useful somehow and how weapons are scaled. The AIs seem to be doing well and they're building and upgrading starbases well. I've even seen some abandoned influence starbases. I was able to defeat the Dread Lords in this game, and the game didn't crash when the Dread Lords appeared, as some people reported. The only thing I want to point out is that everyone except the Drengin developed beam weapons. But this happens in other mods and in vanilla too, everyone developing the same weapons.

Overall great mod, this has become my main mod now and I've combined it with HRG mod to fully enhance my game experience. Congratulations and please keep it up! I'll try to provide actual useful feedback the next time I play.

Thanks again for the feedback,  UnleashedElf!

Agreed, they do pretty well overall. However, that has changed in my current tests, for some reason. They are consistently under-performing right now, and get either crushed by the Torians or the Drengin. It could be, that I accidentally broke the Terrans with my current changes. I really need to look into this.


I'm currently testing them on AIP 11. Combined with some changes to tech-categories, this has made the Torians even better. They actually research their morale techs now. There are still some issues, but, overall, it is a nice improvement.


It's weird. The Altarians' Aggression is set to 0, which should make them pacifists. For the most part, this is also the case. Yet, sometimes their holier-than-thou attitude makes them go on a crusade. It doesn't make any sense. They shouldn't declare war more often than the Drath. They shouldn't declare war more often than any other race, period!


I'm not sure, what else I could do with them. Maybe I should take another look at the original design plans. Still, not everything Stardock wanted to do with the races in TotA is possible with this engine.


I already gave the Korx a boost to economics via their racial abilities. Not sure, if another boost is necessary, if the Korx would do better at research. They seem to have improved a little in my current tests, but I still have an eye on them.


I set the AIValue for their 1pp improvements very high in my latest release, yet the Iconians still refuse to build them everywhere. This could be especially bad in case of the Dream Conclave, as that could easily lead to high-pop low-morale planets. Another problem is their unwillingness to consistently go for Universal Translator. Without it, they can't research their econ-techs. Despite all this, they do seem to do pretty well currently.

In my latest game, I played as the Korath and got crushed by the Iconians. They were fielding Large Hulls with Photonic Torpedoes and PD Combo by the end of 2229. I only had Medium Hulls with Harpoon III and ECM III at that point. The Harpoons were actually stolen from the Arceans, whom I also was at war with. Without them, I would still be using Stinger II. Still, I'm not quite sure, if I was loosing because the AI got better or because I just plain suck at playing the Korath.


The Thalan already have a defensive atlas-module, but that is Good-only. I'm not sure, if I should give the Thalan access to more, because the AI can't use them. The biggest problem for the Thalan is, that they get out-researched by the other races. Even by the Torians, who are supposed to be weak researchers. The Thalan have no access to research boosters, like the Research Coordination Center or the Pain Amplifier, nor do they get as many bonuses to their research ability as the other races, and the Technology Matrix is pretty mediocre at 12RP. To make matters worse, their techs are also more expensive than those of the other races. I finally decided to increase the Technology Matrix' output to 16RP, bringing it on par with the Discovery Sphere. This should help them to keep up with the other races. Now, I just need to bring the Thalan to research better, but that is going to be an even bigger problem. Their AI is more uncooperative than that of the Drengin.


Well, after my recent changes, the Drengin seem to be finally doing okay. Compared to before at least. Watching them crush the Torians and Terrans was a huge relieve for me. Sure, I saw the Drengin win before, but this time around they actually had Slave Canyons and Slaughtertoriums on their planets. They still need work, but it's getting there. I also reduced their Aggression from 100 back to 70, but haven't tested it yet. If all goes well, I may actually not need to change the Drengin to a different AI.


Just like the Drengin, the Arceans are getting slowly better. Keyword is "slow". I had them on 70 Aggression, but their AI seems to be quite militaristic already. Now, it's back on 50, but haven't been able to test yet, if it has any effect. My other changes, however, seem to work. The Arceans are now better are researching the right techs to build up their infrastructure. It's not as good as I'd like, but it's an improvement.


I don't want to incorporate other people's mods into my own. Nor do I like to make changes to the races, if I don't have to.


However, I happen to agree with this. There is also the problem, that some races are hard to tell apart. Mainly the Iconians and Korx, and the Thalan and Yor. Their main colours are too similar to each others. I'm going to take a look, if I can find some better colours for them. Something that fits their race, but is also more easy to distinguish. The colours themselves are all set in the RaceConfig.xml, so changing them isn't hard. I just need to find the right RGB-values.


Thanks, I will!

Slight addendum: I tested the Terrans again, and it apparently was just bad luck on their part. My new changes had some effect on them, but they are still pretty good. In some areas, they are actually even better. For example, they are more willing to research their morale and, sometimes even, research techs.

 

Fundamentally, the big problem you're always going to have is a limited sample size. You, myself, and a few other people here are experimenting with the mod.

 

The reason why I do look for some consistency is to see if we have multiple games with similar results; it gives me a higher confidence level (statistically speaking) to suggest that it is not just bad luck and something that needs to be changed on your part.

Altarians - I really am not sure why they are going to war so often. It could be a sample size issue, but they do seem to have this tendency to go to war. Their empire is usually not particularly weak so they aren't the "weak race getting picked off" so to speak.

 

To be honest, at this point, making Drath and Altarian distinct should be a low priority - getting the other things right should be higher.

 

Korx - should be fine if the changes you said were made.

 

Iconians - I think it may just be a fundamental AI limitation - they aren't building their powerful PP abilities. Other than setting a higher AI value, I'm not sure what else to do. You could try moving these PP improvements further down the tech tree, but that has other balance implications.

 

Drengin - will need to see your changes in action more to comment, assuming you're referring to a newer version. I do agree though with lowering their aggressiveness - they need to go to war only when prepared. Otherwise, they'll be fine as AI 7.

 

Arcean - lately they're going ok in some of my games. I will need to see if they go on. Like the Drengin they do tend to go to war prematurely, so lowering aggression should help.

 

Thalan - should be ok then in terms of points. In terms of choosing the right technologies, I think you'll need to go through the tech tree again at some point and make changes.

 

 

Pretty much the only thing I can think of is the color issue, which can be helpful especially at higher resolutions (I play at 2560x1440).

 

 

Getting a bigger sample size will always be a problem. The forums aren't as frequented as they used to, and the amount of active posters will always be lower than the lurkers. Heck, until a little over a year ago, I was a lurker myself.


At the moment, there is no consistency with the Terrans. Right after I made the last post, they started to loose again. I'm going to use the AIValues from my last release, just to make certain I didn't brake anything.


Could be. I'm still not sure what to make of it. It sometimes seems like the Good alignment is overriding the Aggression value. However, it isn't always the case, because the Altarians will also declare war on other Good or Neutral races, not just the Evil ones.


If I change their tech trees later on, I will have to adjust their AI again. This would increase my work even more. Still, the point is moot anyway, because I have no idea what to do with them. The original concept doesn't help either.


I'm not sure, where else I could move them. The Iconians already start out with three of their 1pps. The next three are unlocked just by going up the manufacturing tree. Only the Merchant Trade Complex is problematic, because the Iconians don't often research up the diplomacy tree.


I do. Sorry, if I wasn't clear enough. I already made several new changes, mostly to the tech categories, but don't expect a release this month.


It's too early to judge, but the Drengin won several of my last test games. It remains to be seen, if they are still as good against a human player.


As strange as it sounds, I actually like their tech tree, because it is completely different than those of the other races. The Thalan's problem, however, isn't the way the tech tree is build, but that their AI is unwilling to research certain types of techs. I have a hard time getting them to research Technology Adaptation I. Even if they do, they most likely remain at the first level. Same with Industrial Adaptation. I can see neither rhyme nor reason with them. Other races with AIP 8 love to research manufacturing techs, yet the Thalan don't. At least not for the most part. I'm considering to change them to AIP 11. Maybe that will help.

Edit: ... or I cave in and make some changes after all. That works too.

I moved Remedial Engineering between Xeno Engineering and Interstellar Construction, and increased the Research-bonus to +10%. The Thalan also no longer start out with Interstellar Construction. Instead, they get Xeno Engineering. They just had too many techs to choose from at the start of the game, making it problematic for the AI. This change should help with that. The AI still has a problem with the economy, however. Once it has Industrial Adaptation, it will build begin to build Manufacturing Matrices L1, thereby wrecking its still weak economy. By the time it has recovered from that, the other races will have a huge headstart.

I can think of four ways to solve this: make the AI research the economy techs first (hard to do), reduce the maintenance cost (easy to do, but no guarantees it will help; it could also be OP), limit the amount of Manufacturing Matrices L1 you can build (easy to do, but can lead to other problems, especially if the AI takes a long time to research the more advanced techs), or do as the original design said, and combine the Manufacturing and Technology Matrix into one building.

The last one takes probably the most effort (except maybe the first idea), and while it isn't guaranteed, that it will help the AI's economy, it does remove some problems. Mostly, that the AI isn't researching either Technology Adaptation or the more advanced versions of it. However, there are still some problems with it. How do I adjust the techs? The text for both tech lines needs to be combined, but I don't see how I could do this so it still makes sense. Then there is the question of how to balance the cost of the techs and the maintenance of the improvement. If either one is too high, it will not solve the original problem with the AIs economy. However, if either one is too low, the Thalan will be OP compared to the other races. The question of balance is the main reason I haven't tried this approach before.

2nd edit: Forget the last idea. I just tried out, if it could work, but it's a no-go. The AI doesn't take full advantage of it, and still won't research the more advanced versions. I'm starting to think that the reason for this is that the output of the improvements don't change. They already start out at full power. Maybe the AI sees this and thinks, that there is no point in continuing the research, overlooking the reduction in maintenance? It could be. One way to solve this would be change the improvements to work all the others, but that would go against the design and lore of the Thalan. Another way would be to just remove the additional techs and make the first one provide the most advanced version of the buildings. However, that could easily be quite OP. I'm really not sure what to do in this case. Before I make any decision, however, I'll try AIP 11. Maybe that one can deal better with the Thalan tech tree.

I have a request. In some other mods then put in the description of a building what it's specific effects are. There's an information window for that but it's not always clear, specifically with projects that can give planet or empire wide bonuses. Some of them will list two of the same bonus and not say which is for the planet and which is for the empire. Usually you can tell going by how big the bonus is but I've still managed to be fooled and build something on the wrong planet.

One thing they made pretty confusing was with just the wording of things affecting moral and approval. They seem to use both terms interchangeably and for a while I wasn't sure if they were the same thing. They should have used moral for planet happy and approval for empire wide happy.

I already tried to make it as clear as possible in my mod what the bonuses of the improvements do. If the bonus works empire-wide, I make specific mention of it. If it is just planetary, then I don't. The only exceptions are the Trade Goods, but their bonuses work always empire-wide.

Morale and approval are essentially the same thing, but I can understand why it could be confusing. However, I'd use morale for the empire-wide happiness, because of the Morale ability. Approval would also fit more for the planetary happiness, because the stat is called "Approval" on the Colony Management screen.

Still, if you find the description of certain improvements confusing, just give me their names and I will take another look.

Well, the AI doesn't want to cooperate with me today, so I decided to tackle the colour issue.

After taking a closer look, the Yor and Thalan are not quite so difficult to tell apart as I thought. Not at all, actually. However, I noticed that some races use different colours for their interface than they use for their race and sector. To be specific, this is the case for the Terrans, Drengin, Thalan and Krynn. It will be fixed in the next version.

For the Iconians, I decided to use white as the main colour, because they were already going in that direction. However, the game doesn't show it as pure white. It comes more across as dirty white/light grey. Thankfully, I guess, because pure white could be quite blinding.

The Korath used a brown colour I had a hard time to adjust. Too dark, and you can't see it on the map. Too light, and you could confuse them with the Krynn or Korx. The Drengin, on the other hand, use red as their main colour. So I decided to use a darker tone of red for their cousins. The tone I use is called "Red devil" according to Wikipedia. More than appropriate for the Korath, I think.

 

Here is a picture of the Galaxy Map with all the races (except the Altarians and Arceans). The Korath are in the middle and the Iconians at the bottom.

What does everyone think?

Edit: Nevermind, I'm an idiot.