Autobuild Mod - v0.1


The goal of this mod is to significantly increase the quality of the
ships that the autobuild makes (and thus that the AI opponents use)
while minimally otherwise impacting the game.

This mod should be available from http://web.mit.edu/munch/www/moo3/autobuild/

Visage

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Changes 
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1) Removed Damper Field.

2) Mount changes:
Mount	 FireDlay	Size*=	Cost*=
-----	 --------	------	------
PD	 0.375		0.53	0.67
Light	 0.8		0.8	0.75
Standard 1		1	1
Heavy	 1.2		1.75	2
V. Heavy 1.4		2.75	3
U. Heavy 1.6		4	4.5
Spinal	 1.75		1.9	2.25
Imp Spin 2		3.5	4
Ult Spin 2.5		6	7

3) Change sequence of mounts in TechTables:  Point Defense, Light,
   Standard, Heavy, Spinal, Very Heavy, Improved Spinal, Ultra Heavy,
   Ultra Spinal.

4) Autofire (DF Weapon Mod): make it just UniSpace *=0.67.

5) Improved (DF Weapon Mod): give it Unispace*=0.999.

6) Continuous (DF Weapon Mod): make it Unispace*=0.999, MaxAcc*=1.2

7) Reverse sequence of SCF and Interceptor in TechTables.

8) Make all missile warheads have a FireDlay of 1.  

9) Make all missile chassis have a FireDlay of *=45; same for Missile
   Silos. 

10) IF, CV, Colony, Outpost set to 20% system speed in TaskForceRules.

11) Torpedo: Neardamg and FarDamag to *=6, Unispace*=2, SystCost*=4

12) Missile AP mods: ArmrPier *=0.67, UniSpace*=1.2

13) Defense Class assignments in TaskForceRules: LR, SR = 1; CV, IF = 3;
    Trans, Recon, PD = 2.

14) Remove Very Light armor weight; mark Light KEEPTHIS.

15) Reverse the sequence of shield generator sizes in TechTables.


**********************
Explanation of Changes
**********************

1) The AI can't be taught to use the Damper Field correctly, so either
   it needs to be nerfed to the extent that there's a point to Large
   Damper Fields or it needs to be removed.

2) PD mount now is about as good as Light at killing the larger Flotsam,
   and better at killing the smaller ones.  Even if they'd fixed
   MultFire, the PD mount was still inferior to the Light under the old
   stats.  The changes to the Spinal series means that they aren't so
   hideously expensive and that you don't lose out as much when your DF
   TF fires off its main armament at inbound missiles or that lone tin
   can.  Thus the AI's love affair with Spinals makes more sense.

3) The resequencing means that the AI will use appropriate Heavy-Series
   mounts if it's lacking the Latest and Greatest Spinal mount.  Spinals
   are reasonable weapons for mid-range combat and almost as good at
   short range as the heavies.

4) Means that the AI will always use the autofire mod when available.  I
   wish there were a way to keep the multfire behavior and get PD to use
   it, but making you able to fit 1/3 more weapons is a reasonabl
   approximation. 

5) Means that the AI will always use Improved, whereas up until now it
   only used it for SR.

6) Means that the AI will always use Continuous.  Its overall
   effectiveness is about the same, though it's now actually an
   improvement at Point-Blank range.

7) The AI will primarily build interceptors on its CV forces.  It's
   probably the case that interceptors now bombard, not SCFs.  

8,9) Fix the display bug that shows missiles as having a reload time of
   the chassis' multiplier instead of the real value.

10) Far more in line with what players build.

11) It was either move the torpedo so that the AI won't use it if it has
    something better, or make the torpedo better than other chassis.  In
    this form, the torp is usually a bit better than the other chassis.

12) It was either remove the AP mod from the game or make it useful.
    This version of the mod is only moderately useful for most of the
    game, but becomes very useful in the very lategame.

13..15) The effect of these changes is to make LR and SR always have the
   best possible shield and armor, and for everything else to have
   reasonable armor and either a small (CV, IF) or Standard (Recon, PD,
   Transport)  shield generator.  Oh, and Planetkillers are in with LR
   and SR, even though I didn't list it.


***********************
Possible Future changes
***********************

1) Remove LFG as overpowered.

2) More fully revise mount system to accept that the AI only understands
   one axis of mounts.  Possibly add an Extended-Range mod to most
   weapons. 

3) Revise FireDlays for all weapons and mods so that the AI knows what
   the best PD weapon at a given tech level is and uses it.

4) Make the DF armor piercing mod useful and make the AI use it.  

5) Make Enveloping what it was in MoOII: a higher damage output in
   exchange for more of it hitting shields.

6) Swapping TF AIs around so that LR does a better job of maintaining
   distance.  

7) Rebalancing elements of the system.
