Tech trading bugged?

Which part of untradable does the AI not understand?

from GalCiv2 Forums

A few questions regarding tech trading in TA:

1. I've traded for a number of racial techs from the AI that according to their description are not tradable or stealable. Is this restriction bugged somehow? Or is it just that the AIs can't trade them, but the human player can?

2. I keep seeing AI techs in the trade window that I would like to trade for, but no matter how much I offer (up to 100+ planets, 10K bc, about 2 dozen techs, and a couple of ships), the AI simply does not agree. Once my offer exceeds a certain point the AI states something along the lines that it will just not trade that tech. It's not that I'm at war with them, or the standing is super-bad. I don't understand why they list a tech for trading when no offer I make (and I'm not even saying reasonable offer) is sufficient. Might as well not list those at all.

Note that I did successfully trade for some techs (such as the racials mentioned above) that caused the AI to initially state somethig along the lines they would cost me my firstborn and the firstborn of my firstborn, to start with. (or an arm and a leg, depending on who I was talking to)

3. This is just a minor one, but I saw several events from Minors stealing techs from majors and offering them to me. Only that they didn't have anything to offer. I realize this may be due to me having disabled tech brokering. So that's ok. But the event still seems odd and shouldn't happen any longer with that setting!?

8,139 views 6 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

1. No idea.  It is quite possible that the restriction is bugged.  Or it's flagging a tech as restricted when it's not.

2. The diplomacy is a little bit buggy too.  There was one time that I cashed out an entire civ, took all their worlds in exchange for peace.  It's a bit less quirky now but still, in my current game with the Iconians set on their default personality which is apparently broken, they gave me their homeworld and a fair bunch of planets in exchange for peace.  So I'd say it's still not completely fixed.

3. Random events don't pay attention to game rules.  They happen when certain conditions are met, yes, but if those conditions happen to be nonsensical because of the game rules, it'll still throw it out there.

Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

On number 3 I would also add that if they steal tech that you already have it wont appear on the screen.

Sins of a Solar Empire II
Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

2. Note that the techs that show up in the trade screen are all the AI's techs, not necessarily the ones they would trade under any conditions. And it's known that the AI will simply never trade certain technologies, in particular when it comes to weapons. I believe space mining and a few technologies related to morale are also impossible or nearly impossible to get via trade.

Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

I think that's correct. Furthermore, after my most recent observations, I now belive each AI treats this differently:

I did trade for Xeno Entertainment, and could trade for Space Mining, but both were/are very expensive (and I don't bother about mining). However, I only see SM offered from the Terrans and am pretty sure others have it as well (hard to check though).

I did some further testing and found that some techs (including weapons) are considered tradable, though expensive, by some AIs but not by others.

Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

If they have access to a certain tech, it will show up in the trading screen. Whether they are willing to trade it for any price, is a different matter.

What also makes a big difference between civilizations is their level of diplomacy compared to yours - this may make a trade with 1 civilization feasible, and totally impossible with another.

Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

i think the reason why some AI don't trade certain tech no matter what is solely dependent on the timing and relationship issues. AIs are more likely to trade tech that they initially unwilling to trade with you, if you are 1. his/her ally 2. high trade ratio/ high diplomatic contrast 3. the timing of the trade is way off the hook that the tech at that point is pretty much obsolete compare to other techs that you have. i have found however, if you completely decimate all AI's military, and offer peace treaty with several powerful ships in return(the ship that killed many many of their ship) then they will be very likely to trade you, most if not all of their techs for those seemingly costless toys. its just another way of saying that AI is not very intelligent. :(