Almost a week now has passed since Utopia was released. Many have built their megastructures, made a deal with SPOILER which SPOILER, made their people into robots or ate some unfortunate species.
I however saw that something was different from the galaxies I knew from Kennedy, and so I began to investigate ...
1 Methodology
I ran exactly 100 games each in 1.4 Kennedy and 1.5 Banks with Utopia, all with 21 AIs. Thus I ended up with 2112 AIs for Utopia and 2116 AIs for Kennedy. The difference to the expevtec 2100 for each is due to the Commonwealth-UNE anomaly as well as one game in Utopia where most likely a primitive civilisation reached FTL in the first month.
The raw data can be viewed here.
2 Results
2.1 Kennedy
For 1.4 Kennedy, the following distribution of AI personalities was observed:
Total - Raw number of AIs with this personality observed
Percentage: Contribution of this AI personality to the total of 2116
Average - Average amount of AIs of this personality ovserved per game
High - Highest number observed
Low - Lowest number observed
Occurrence - Percentage of galaxies this AI personality occurred at least once in
Hegemonic Imperialists stand unchallenged at the top, while Federation Builders, Evangelizing Zealots, Spiritual Seekers and Erudite Explorers form the rest of the backbone of the AI personalities.
Slaving Despots, Hive Minds, Migratory Flocks and Decadent Hierarchies are fringe personalities.
2.2 Utopia
In Utopia, the following picture emerged:
Δ Total - Change of raw number of AIs observed in relation to Kennedy
Δ Percentage - Change of contribution to total in relation to Kennedy
While the top 4 remain unchanged, they all underwent losses, with the exception of the Evangelizing Zealots. Slaving Despots saw a massive surge in numbers that catapulted them from the fringe right into a meta-shaping position.
Fanatic Purifiers, Decadent Hierarchies and Migratory Flocks form the new fringe. Even though Decadent Hierarchies saw a big increase in raw numbers.
2.3 Visualisation of AI personalities shift from 1.4 Kennedy to Utopia
2.4 AI Behaviour shifts from 1.4 Kennedy to Utopia
In the end however, AI personalities are little more than fancy names attached to a bunch of behaviour modifiers. In theory, the distribution of AI personalities could shift drastically, but the behaviour of the galaxies would largely stay the same. The AI Behaviours shifted in the following ways:
Conquerors, Dominators, Slavers, Subjugators and Robots Exploiters are up; Liberators, Multispecies, Robot Liberators and Uplifters are down. To put the data in two fancy charts:
Take note that the Propagator Behaviour was not considered as it is functionally identical with the Hive Mind AI personality.
3 Interpretation
3.1 The Shedding of the Core Personalities
In 1.4 Kennedy, there were without doubts three to five "core" AI personalities, which appeared often and regularily contributed the majority of AI personalities in a galaxy: Hegemonic Imperialists, Federation Builders, Evangelizing Zealots, Spiritualist Seekers and Erudite Explorers.
With the exception of Evangelizing Zealots that remained stable, they all saw losses with the transition to Utopia. Imperialists and Zealots in particular were preyed on by Slaving Despots (later more on them), while I heard that Paradox has artificially lowred the chances of Pacifist AIs spawning which would account for the dramatic collapse of Federation Builders and the smaller hit Spiritualist Seekers took.
But why did Evangelizing Zealots remain stable despite Slaving Despots rising? Well, a small change was made to the preset Empires: The Kingdom of Yondarim is no longer a Spiritualist Seeker but a Evangelizing Zealot. This alone sufficed to keep their postion stable.
3.2 Slavery on the Rise
The biggest upset however where without a single shred of a doubt the Slaving Despots, which gained 120 AIs in comparision to 1.4 Kennedy. To a lesser extend, Decadent Hierarchies and Ruthless Traders also gained, all of which are ok with enslaving people. I however want to focus on Despots and Hierarchies in particular.
Their rise can be attributed to a single factor. Whereas in 1.4 Kennedy a species needed to have the Decadent trait to become either of them, in Utopia having the Slaver Guilds Civic - available to all Authoritarian regimes - now suffices to make Pacifists into Decadent Hierarchies and everyone else into Slaving Despots. Thus, Decadent Hierarchies absorbed like half of the Harmonious Collectives of 1.4, while Slaving Despots feasted on Hegemonic Imperialists, Evangelizing Zealots, many former Fanatic Purifiers and many, many old Hive Minds.
Slaving Despots are a thing now. Decadent Hierarchies are still not even close to being a thing.
3.3 The Price of annihilatory Power - Fanatic Purifiers
While Fanatic Purifiers gained a lot of sheer destructive power in Utopia, they had to pay a price for it. Only Militaristic Fanatic Xenophobes can now be Purifiers, while in 1.4 Kennedy Collectivistic Fanatic Xenophobes would also receive this AI personality (notwithstanding the one bug I had were a Fanatic Purifier got the Slaving Despots personality assigned to it).
Thus, their numbers dropped quite a lot, with the Collectivist mostly migrating to the Slaving Despots and Hegemonic Imperialists. But even a single successful Purifier is nowadays nothing short of terrifying.
4 Final Thoughts
With slavery and conquest and subjugation on the rise, with Hive Minds encroaching on the free willed and the old champions of justice nowhere to be found, an old adage rings as true as always:
Si vis pacem para bellum
I however saw that something was different from the galaxies I knew from Kennedy, and so I began to investigate ...
1 Methodology
I ran exactly 100 games each in 1.4 Kennedy and 1.5 Banks with Utopia, all with 21 AIs. Thus I ended up with 2112 AIs for Utopia and 2116 AIs for Kennedy. The difference to the expevtec 2100 for each is due to the Commonwealth-UNE anomaly as well as one game in Utopia where most likely a primitive civilisation reached FTL in the first month.
The raw data can be viewed here.
2 Results
2.1 Kennedy
For 1.4 Kennedy, the following distribution of AI personalities was observed:
Total - Raw number of AIs with this personality observed
Percentage: Contribution of this AI personality to the total of 2116
Average - Average amount of AIs of this personality ovserved per game
High - Highest number observed
Low - Lowest number observed
Occurrence - Percentage of galaxies this AI personality occurred at least once in
Hegemonic Imperialists stand unchallenged at the top, while Federation Builders, Evangelizing Zealots, Spiritual Seekers and Erudite Explorers form the rest of the backbone of the AI personalities.
Slaving Despots, Hive Minds, Migratory Flocks and Decadent Hierarchies are fringe personalities.
2.2 Utopia
In Utopia, the following picture emerged:
Δ Total - Change of raw number of AIs observed in relation to Kennedy
Δ Percentage - Change of contribution to total in relation to Kennedy
While the top 4 remain unchanged, they all underwent losses, with the exception of the Evangelizing Zealots. Slaving Despots saw a massive surge in numbers that catapulted them from the fringe right into a meta-shaping position.
Fanatic Purifiers, Decadent Hierarchies and Migratory Flocks form the new fringe. Even though Decadent Hierarchies saw a big increase in raw numbers.
2.3 Visualisation of AI personalities shift from 1.4 Kennedy to Utopia
2.4 AI Behaviour shifts from 1.4 Kennedy to Utopia
In the end however, AI personalities are little more than fancy names attached to a bunch of behaviour modifiers. In theory, the distribution of AI personalities could shift drastically, but the behaviour of the galaxies would largely stay the same. The AI Behaviours shifted in the following ways:
Conquerors, Dominators, Slavers, Subjugators and Robots Exploiters are up; Liberators, Multispecies, Robot Liberators and Uplifters are down. To put the data in two fancy charts:
Take note that the Propagator Behaviour was not considered as it is functionally identical with the Hive Mind AI personality.
3 Interpretation
3.1 The Shedding of the Core Personalities
In 1.4 Kennedy, there were without doubts three to five "core" AI personalities, which appeared often and regularily contributed the majority of AI personalities in a galaxy: Hegemonic Imperialists, Federation Builders, Evangelizing Zealots, Spiritualist Seekers and Erudite Explorers.
With the exception of Evangelizing Zealots that remained stable, they all saw losses with the transition to Utopia. Imperialists and Zealots in particular were preyed on by Slaving Despots (later more on them), while I heard that Paradox has artificially lowred the chances of Pacifist AIs spawning which would account for the dramatic collapse of Federation Builders and the smaller hit Spiritualist Seekers took.
But why did Evangelizing Zealots remain stable despite Slaving Despots rising? Well, a small change was made to the preset Empires: The Kingdom of Yondarim is no longer a Spiritualist Seeker but a Evangelizing Zealot. This alone sufficed to keep their postion stable.
3.2 Slavery on the Rise
The biggest upset however where without a single shred of a doubt the Slaving Despots, which gained 120 AIs in comparision to 1.4 Kennedy. To a lesser extend, Decadent Hierarchies and Ruthless Traders also gained, all of which are ok with enslaving people. I however want to focus on Despots and Hierarchies in particular.
Their rise can be attributed to a single factor. Whereas in 1.4 Kennedy a species needed to have the Decadent trait to become either of them, in Utopia having the Slaver Guilds Civic - available to all Authoritarian regimes - now suffices to make Pacifists into Decadent Hierarchies and everyone else into Slaving Despots. Thus, Decadent Hierarchies absorbed like half of the Harmonious Collectives of 1.4, while Slaving Despots feasted on Hegemonic Imperialists, Evangelizing Zealots, many former Fanatic Purifiers and many, many old Hive Minds.
Slaving Despots are a thing now. Decadent Hierarchies are still not even close to being a thing.
3.3 The Price of annihilatory Power - Fanatic Purifiers
While Fanatic Purifiers gained a lot of sheer destructive power in Utopia, they had to pay a price for it. Only Militaristic Fanatic Xenophobes can now be Purifiers, while in 1.4 Kennedy Collectivistic Fanatic Xenophobes would also receive this AI personality (notwithstanding the one bug I had were a Fanatic Purifier got the Slaving Despots personality assigned to it).
Thus, their numbers dropped quite a lot, with the Collectivist mostly migrating to the Slaving Despots and Hegemonic Imperialists. But even a single successful Purifier is nowadays nothing short of terrifying.
4 Final Thoughts
With slavery and conquest and subjugation on the rise, with Hive Minds encroaching on the free willed and the old champions of justice nowhere to be found, an old adage rings as true as always:
Si vis pacem para bellum
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