It can get way better than that, if you get an event that boosts tourism and then pass the UP law that opens up the tourism market.

I had both of those

Wow, so much other stuff going on I completely forgot about this project. Resuming work on it now though and am opening with both a question and the first new civilization I will be adding to the galaxy.

Question: What is a good range to work with for deciding the Research Cost and AI Value of technologies? I'm thinking three ranges, one each for early, mid and late game techs.

First Civilization: Lady Deidre Skye leading Gaia's Stepdaughters. They will have a good number of technologies that will work toward making Gaian planets galactic paradises. By learning to control a planet's weather and environment they will be able to achieve great things. Don't think they will be pushovers in a fight though, their weapons might not be as powerful but there has not been a race yet that could stand against the fury of a planet's natural forces.

Currently I have 10 new planetary improvements, among them Gaia Seeds, a new trade good and the Garden of Gaia, a new galactic achievement. Off to a good start so far I think

Welcome back!

Sadly, there is no clear-cut answer to this. You have to figure the values out on your own. For tech cost, I usually take a look at similar techs and adjust the value accordingly.
Finding the right AIValue is a little bit more tricky. If the tech is very useful, you want the AI to research it ASAP, but not at the expense of everything else. Using the current AIValues as a baseline, however, is an exercise in frustration. One point more or less can sometimes make the difference between the AI ignoring the tech and the AI researching the tech at all cost. The AI personality and in-game circumstances also play a big role in this. What works for one AI in one game might not work for a different AI in another game (or even the same AI in another game).
It is probably best, if you set all AIValues to a baseline (like 10). Seeing the AI play all by itself will more easily reveal certain likes, dislikes and priorities in the different personalities. All you need to do then is to adjust the values accordingly and sometimes change the category of a tech. It might take a while longer, but, in the end, will be less frustrating (except for the Thalan, they are a nightmare to adjust).


I really need to play SMAX again. It's been over two years since my last game.


Adding new improvements is the easy part. Making sure that the AI uses them properly is the hard one. As a guideline, try to refrain from improvements that are only useful on a specific planet. You can make some, but try to make them useful, even if they are placed on a non-optimal planet. Otherwise, this could put the AI in a bad position, as it will not always make the best choice in placing them.

The thing to remember is that a tech's category can have a very strong effect on whether it gets picked next.  If the AI is falling behind in military terms you can expect it to keep going for military techs.

Some categories should not be used except on those techs that they were intended for.  Colonisation, for example, should only be used on techs which open up new extreme planet colonisation techs, that's it.

Nearly done putting the Gaian's together, Got all their techs (including their History tech which I almost forgot about) done, most of the improvements added in, a new political party, the race logo and image and a new invasion tactic.

Still going through my idea files to find one or two more improvement ideas.