[NFP] [IMPROVEDw1.0.8.4] [1.0.5.11] AI buys Uranium only in tranches, but for an excessive price

[Pfeffersack]

Initial 1.0.1.501 report

I already opened some threads for trading issues and while the following stuff is partly covered there though, here is more:

1. Even for the most advanced strategic ressource in the game a pricing beyond 50 Gold per unit feels off for me:

2. However, the AI will only by it in chunks - 5 Uranium is already too much in one deal:

3. Finally, Uranium in neither treated like Iron/Horses/Niter with a purchase limit of 40 nor like Coal/Oil/Aluminium (22 units) - for some reason, the AI will pay that steep price for up to 62(!) units of Uranium (provided that you are willing to accept the clickfest of making more than a dozen separate deals), which means a gain of more than 3000 Gold for a greedy human player:

Now I'm not thinking that a higher purchase limit is a problem per se - on the contrary, I can't stress how much I think it would be good for slower game speeds and also for Coal/Oil/Aluminium because of the often high turnly consumptions - but Uranium, especially at that price, might be the (modern) resource where this is least needed or beneficial to the AI.


To reproduce with the attached save:

Load it and trade with the L6S of the Maya as shown in the pics.

Moderator Action: Spelt out Uranium in full each time as unusual abbreviations can be confusing especially for non-native English speakers --NZ

 

[Pfeffersack]

This occurs still in v.1.0.3.31:

Spoiler :

To sum my issues with this up again:

1. For my taste offered the price is too high, but that might be debatable - especially if you strictly calculate from the amount of power you can convert one ressource unit. I would however still not reflect that lineraly - the more "powerful" a ressource is here, the more likely is that some power units are wasted (Uranium can give 16 units of power - and very likely a bigger part of those is wasted then if you take Coal, where only up to 3 units can be wasted in the worst case!)

2. Even if the price is deemed to be ok - why does the game force me into trading small chunks?

3. I'm not sure if it is wise for the AI to buy up to 62 units. They often run out of Coal, Oil or Alumimium, unless I constantly supply them and will only accept paying up to 22 units of those ressources. Maybe the limit of 40 for the non-power ressources could act as sweet spot here?


To reproduce:

Call up L6S and trade Uranium with her - you will get the "best" price per unit (59 Gold) for trading in chunks of 3 or smaller, somewhat less for trading in chunks of 4 units (51,5 Gold per Unit), while everything above 4 units of Uranium offered in a trade is effectively wasted, as she will never pay more 206 Gold in one trade.

 

[Pfeffersack]

Still happens in 1.0.5.11:

Spoiler :

For my up to three issues with this, see that previous post.

To reproduce with the attached save:

Call up Ethiopia and offer the displayed deals. Do the 4 Uranium-for-10-GpT one and see that you can do it again, so Menelik buys a lot of Uranium for a high price - but only if you see it in 4-unit-charges. (if you run out of Uranium to sell him, Kongo is happy to help out BTW - they sell you their entire 92 units for 5 lump Gold, see attached pic...but that's probably a different trading problem. I wouldn't mind of cause to see both fixed )

 

[Pfeffersack]

Though not explicitly mentioned in changelog, this issue seems to have received some treatment with the 1.0.8.4 patch:

The situation has improved somewhat (as you can now trade up to 13 units), though the basic problem persists (you are best of selling the last 7 units in a separate deal in this example):

Spoiler :

An interesting detail is the fact that selling a 14th unit in the initial deal goes through for additional 3 Gold (824 Gold total), which is then the upper limit for single deal (even if offering 20 units at once). Aside from this small oddity and a modest price decline in the 2nd deal (only roughly 57 Gold per Unit instead of ~63 initially), the high price tag for Uranium has remained unchanged.

I wouldn't call it a true "fix", but I appreaciate that at least the number of needed clicks has been seriuosly reduced