Stellaris - AI seems to have trouble managing ecumenopolises

[aqmery]

Description
AI doesn't really do anything with ecumenopolises

Game Version
Herbert v3.2.2 (abcc)

What version do you use?
Steam

What expansions do you have installed?
Synthetic Dawn, Utopia, Leviathans Story Pack, Apocalypse, Megacorp, Distant Stars, Ancient Relics, Lithoids, Federations, Nemesis, Aquatics

Do you have mods enabled?
No

Please explain your issue is in as much detail as possible.
I switched over to an AI empire to see what they were doing, and they don't seem to really do anything with ecumenopolises, (I assume because they achieved their economic goals)

edit:
more detail in the comments

Steps to reproduce the issue.
Get into late game with an AI that builds ecumenopolises and check their planets

Upload Attachment
File(s) attached

 

[pmchem]

yeah, that AI also has a mineral and food deficit -- I wonder if it's super confused on what it can/should build without making parts of its situation worse. same to see an ECU go so underutliized though

 

[hart30]

Does the ai actually create ecumeopoly from normal planets with the ascension perk or only via upgrading relic worlds? And if it does so via perk, does it know the correct ecu / normal planet ratio to keep in its empire?

 

[aqmery]

Does the ai actually create ecumeopoly from normal planets with the ascension perk or only via upgrading relic worlds? And if it does so via perk, does it know the correct ecu / normal planet ratio to keep in its empire?

As far as i can tell they have the Ascension perk, i also noticed they have big deficiencies in the strategic resources. so maybe because they already have full planets they can't get enough strategic resources and lock up because they don't know what to do. (despite all that, the AI is so much better then before great job devs <3)

 

[aqmery]

I did some more testing, turns out, the AI does have the ascension perk, however, they also have the world shaper (create gaia worlds) ascension perk, and they do turn planets into gaia worlds (I assume, all their planets are gaia or ecu.'s).
However, they happily turn a gaia world into an ecu. , without the normal requirements being met, normally you can only have city and industrial districts on a world before you can turn it into an ecu. , this is not the case for the AI (not sure if that's designed that way) it however leads to the problem where the AI values ecu.'s higher than gaia's (speculation) as they are turning their gaia worlds into ecu.'s, leading to the problem of not having enough minerals/food to sustain the ecu's leading to them being half empty.
I attached the save file as well

 

[Mcgan]

However, they happily turn a gaia world into an ecu. , without the normal requirements being met, normally you can only have city and industrial districts on a world before you can turn it into an ecu. , this is not the case for the AI (not sure if that's designed that way)

That part is done on purpose:

    allow = {
        if = {
            limit = { owner = { is_ai = no } }
            custom_tooltip = {
                fail_text = decision_arcology_project_requirements
                free_district_slots < 1
                num_districts = { type = district_farming value < 1 }
                num_districts = { type = district_mining value < 1 }
                num_districts = { type = district_generator value < 1 }
            }
        }
        num_uncleared_blockers < 1
    }

So they only need to clear all blockers. I think I read somewhere that the AI couldn't plan properly to make Ecus, so that would make sense as a solution to this problem.
Turning all worlds to Ecus is just bad though.

 

[gamerk2]

The reason the AI isn't using the Ecu is quite simple: they don't have the mineral income to justify spending it on Alloy/Factory districts. That part makes sense; it doesn't want a larger mineral deficit (remember this patch tries to maximize Mineral income first).

The "real" problem is the AI converting *everything* into Ecus. There *has* to be logic in place that they AI does so only if it determines they don't need the resource districts. Given the above logic, I'd guess the AI is favoring Ecus over Gaia's and just blanket converting everything without understanding the consequences of doing so.

 

[hart30]

I was afraid of that happening and hoping there would be at least some preferred ecu/normal planet ratio to be found in the code.

 

[gamerk2]

I was afraid of that happening and hoping there would be at least some preferred ecu/normal planet ratio to be found in the code.

What is really needed is an Empire Economic Manager that can look ahead and decide based on the planet's it has access to and the things it will eventually want to maximize (tech/alloys) what each planet's individual build plan will look like.

As humans expand, we have a general idea what each planet will look like based on the others we have access to. The AI needs to do the same.