Options to adjust/disable L-Gates

[BakedPotato]

I've been having a bit of a problem in my recent games. I like to slow tech and tradition down to x2 while playing with an admiral or grand admiral AI with all empires set to advanced starts. Gives more time to use tech and slows me down a bit, as well. I set the mid-game to 2225 and end-game to 2425 (give the AI a little extra prep-time for crisis) and basically ease off the tech lab spam via house rules so I don't always blow the current AI out of the water in terms of tech. I'm an odd player, I guess, I try to give the AI a fighting chance by mixing in roleplaying and self-handicapping house rules.

But, there's one thing I can't control, and that's when the AI decides to open an L-Gate and subsequently screw over half the galaxy. In my last two games, it's occurred in the 2280s and 2320s. The problem is, while I'm usually able to muster a defense in my games (not the 2280 one though, I got pwned and lost by 3 backdoor L-Gates), the AI cannot. It sucks watching over half the galaxy turn into lifeless nanite worlds, which is what happened in my 2320 game where I couldn't do anything about it, no L-Gates nearby.

So I'd like to see an option to adjust the amount of L-Gate clues required (attempt to delay how soon they are activated), how many L-Gates there are, or even the option for their appearance in a game to be randomized (like not all leviathans appear in every game). Oh, and if you haven't figured it out by now, I always, alwaaaaays, ALWWWWWWWAAAAAYS, get the Gray Temptest. I'm not even aware of any other outcomes lol. 10/10 of my last games were Gray Temptest.

tl;dr, the way the L-Gates are setup, they heavily favor a game with default settings and the current AI routinely gets roflstomped by what should be considered a mid-game crisis, but turns more into an endgame crisis.

 

[sillyrobot]

Probably the simplest thing to do would be reduce the weight of the AI choosing to do the L-Gate research after acquiring the clues. Add an ai_weight block and either set it very low or to zero if your want to guarantee they don't do the research.

The L-gate tech is in common/technology/00_distant_stars_tech.txt

 

[MathyM]

I know this is probably an off-topic response, but since this is posted in the general forum rather than as a suggestion, I'll allow myself to derail a little with this comment:

Why don't you try a mod that makes the AI smarter, instead of sabotaging yourself via handicaps and galaxy settings? I get that there is a lot of merit to your suggestion, yes the AI shouldn't be dumb enough to open the L-Gate before it can take on a Gray Tempest, let alone when no one in the galaxy can, but seeing as that is a current limitation of the AI, why don't you look for other ways to challenge yourself?

Or apply sillyrobot's solution, that one might work as well (assuming they are not gaining Insights from Curator Enclaves, which I don't know if they do).

 

[BakedPotato]

I know this is probably an off-topic response, but since this is posted in the general forum rather than as a suggestion, I'll allow myself to derail a little with this comment:

Why don't you try a mod that makes the AI smarter, instead of sabotaging yourself via handicaps and galaxy settings? I get that there is a lot of merit to your suggestion, yes the AI shouldn't be dumb enough to open the L-Gate before it can take on a Gray Tempest, let alone when no one in the galaxy can, but seeing as that is a current limitation of the AI, why don't you look for other ways to challenge yourself?

Or apply sillyrobot's solution, that one might work as well (assuming they are not gaining Insights from Curator Enclaves, which I don't know if they do).

Because if I start relying on mods to make the Stellaris experience a viable one, how will Stellaris ever improve? I've got a lot of hours in the game, about 3k, so I'd like to think I know the game fairly well by now, and therefore I'm keen on seeing it improve. The game needs people to point out its failures, bugs, flaws, shortcomings, and whatever, not mask them with other mods that tend to have their own bugs and balancing issues.

 

[sillyrobot]

I know this is probably an off-topic response, but since this is posted in the general forum rather than as a suggestion, I'll allow myself to derail a little with this comment:

Why don't you try a mod that makes the AI smarter, instead of sabotaging yourself via handicaps and galaxy settings? I get that there is a lot of merit to your suggestion, yes the AI shouldn't be dumb enough to open the L-Gate before it can take on a Gray Tempest, let alone when no one in the galaxy can, but seeing as that is a current limitation of the AI, why don't you look for other ways to challenge yourself?

Or apply sillyrobot's solution, that one might work as well (assuming they are not gaining Insights from Curator Enclaves, which I don't know if they do).

My solution doesn't rely on where they get the clues. The general sequence is collect clues --> research tech --> special project to open gate. My solution removes/reduces the middle task.

 

[cinnamonkelly]

I thought I was the only one having this issue with the L-gates outcomes, every time ether me or the AI activates the L-gates its always the Gray Temptest which can be soo annoying and frustrating. I've never had any of the other outcomes from opening the L-gate only Gray Temptest and I've started 6 new games cause I gotten tried of having the same outcome dealing with them. The odd thing though is that on the xbox one there is an option to choose how many L-gates there is in the galaxy (don't know if this option is removed on console) but on pc there is no option for it which is very odd.

I would really love there to be a L-gate adjustment option/advanced option to scale outcome of L-gate opening, option to have L-gates/amount of L-gates active in galaxy. Would be amazing to see this option available can be very frustrating dealing with the Gray Temptes time and time again cause it ruins the experience since it cripples AI's very easily.

 

[unmerged(350868)]

I have not had the AI open it for a while, although I have had the warning a couple of times.

Perhaps there could be a delay, or warning if the Gray stuff are in waiting than means the AI wont open it until their fleet size is above a certain size?

I wouldnt want the L Gates totally disabled, although I do think the reward is totally underwhelming. Either nothing, a nanite ship/governor, or a ton of nanite worlds that wont grow fast enough to make a difference to your empire.