idontlikeforms said:
Are you saying that this line here effects colonization?
Code:
# The amount of provinces we try to colonize at the same time
expansion = 6
If so how exactly does it work. Because having it on 0 seemsto stop exploration, but I'm not 100% sure.
Does the AI shut down exploration later if it explores more than it was ordered to for lack of orders?
Yes, that is, what it is for, ‘expansion’
As the text says, this is the number of simultaneous province the ai tries to colonize. The number is not fully exact. Especially on low numbers, like 1-2 it might run as many as 3-4 colonies / tps at a time. On higher numbers, say 10, it is pretty accurate.
Meaning if expansion is 10, he will start as many as 10 colonies / TP at a time, before finishing any of them. That does not mean he will not finish any before reaching 10!
He will not begin any more before at least one has reached +1000 / level 6 TP.
The most predominating reason for colonization, or rather lack there off, is money! You give the ai 50.000 and he will colonize none-stop.
Spain and Portugal ai needs money to do it right! – that is why I give them money! Now I know several people have question why I do this (in my ai). Ai cheat blab blab… Portugal and Spain cannot fight on good fate and ‘historical event’; they need full-scale soldier producing city colonies at the fire point. Not 50 years later, but now!
There certainly is no lack of colonist by both – what they lack is MONEY! to use them.
As you stated a zero expansion value, completely stops colonization and exploration. That goes for both explores and conquistadors.
‘Continent’, ‘region’ and ‘area’ are for both colonization and exploration. If you ask me, this is not good made by paradox. It makes it unnecessarily hard to make good exploration, without having the ai colonize every province on the road.
See, ex. Portugal, you cannot just tab in, says Ceylon. Well you can, but it does not work this way. The ai does not like extreme long exploration missions, where all or most is unexplored. He will eventually go there, but it might take 50-100 years, in the meantime he will just tick around in the Atlantic, make a couple of America mission or sail the African coast.
What you got to do is, slowly guide him there. Slowly down the African coast, up again, to Indian, down Indian, - and Ceylon. But in this slow process you risk him colonizing the very area you have to use to make him explore.
This is test over and over again. You wanna use all available areas to make those quick missions the ai likes, and followers, but at the same time you might not want him to colonize. So it’s an ever battle of making the explores explore, but remove the area from the list before he can colonize it. Here comes the ‘expansion’ value and the money he has, in.
Knowledge of what explores what country has at what time is crucial!
But there is more. You also don’t want to let the ai hanging on areas to colonize, because then he will, like explores, begin on anything that is available. And that you don’t want either.
For Portugal and Spain this is not the greatest problem, as they will only colonize inside the TOT, always – regardless if it has popped or not (hardcoded).
But take somebody like Polen in stock. He has only an expansion of 1, but he will slam down on everything that is available.
‘Tradingpost’ has an indirect effect on exploration. A zero value does not mean the ai always makes colonies, as 100 also not mean the ai exclusive makes tps. The Provinces in themselves has a say in this. Btw any tps will eventually be made a colony regardless.
But for exploration. If you set ‘Tradingpost’ to 100, he will often (but not always) make tps. He may make 40 tps to one colony or something like that. Anyway if, staying with Portugal, Portugal only make tps on the Africa continent, his explore mission is still very long, even if he has discovered all around the African coast – and he does not like that.
Explores work, in what I would call, explore missions – and here it is!! - the ai uses only ONE explore at the time. You can give him hundred; he will use ONE only at any given time.
This might account why some people don’t think the ai explores during war-time (which he does), seeing a horde of explores lying in port (Portugal, Spanish, Dutch).
So these ‘explore missions’. One ai sails out explores something and returns to port, at the same time a new explores sets out. At the very time the current explore begins his return voyage, the next sets out. This is the only time you will see more than one ai explore of the same country at sea at the same time.
So if your Da Gama does not explore, it’s because another one is at sea.
Now if he only has tps, he has to return all the way to Portugal, and eventually sail from there again. It would be much nicer if Portugal has a colony (with port) on the western coast of Africa – cause then his explore mission are short, and that he likes.
These 1-2-3 years explores that Portugal has in stock around Da Gama time, are, in short, useless!! They in fact only take up good explore time from the longer ones. It is direct negative on the ai. Believe or don’t!
For ultimate performance, sleep ALL explores of all nation when ai played. Give those in need 1 random explore every 12 years none-stop. Then you will see ai exploration.
After Da gama dies, there is one explore left (to 1530) and Portugal is explore-less till 1600 and this is the time when he has to make money from the yet unexplored Indonesia, are you kidding me?? I give him explores none-stop in these 70 years and that I why I have heat (Dutch, Spain etc..) in Indonesia and Stock and AGCEEP don’t!. Well there is not really much to fight about in Indonesia in AGCEEP, it is mostly already taken.
So in a nutshell (still Portugal case) if Portugal does not have a port colony on the western coast of Africa, or at least the southern part of the eastern side, he will be experiential much worse of in the exploration of Indian and Indonesia.
Ohh I could go on like this for some time. There are a lot of tricks and a lot of things to consider.
