Although it is more than an AI mod, the new Balance Mod 1.12 has some new AI stuff in it, like "19. Added - Support for AI Alliance diplomacy".

I am currently using Balance Mod 1.12 with part of FQM beta 13 and some home brewed materials and tweaks.

I recommend BM 1.12

I've played both balance mod and the Gid Mod. I like them both. I recommend try both.

Awolf

Challenging as possible? Whichever AI mod you grab, you can further tweak how challenging it is by choosing Team Mode and/or going to Settings.txt and giving the AI a custom bonus higher than the default 'high bonus'.

---Sig---
Playing Touhou games (Go to this Wiki if interested. No, nobody else is that good/insane as that replay). No rush for SE

I've only played the Unnamed mod, and the BM mod (balance mod by capt kwok) ver.1.11. So i'll try to give u some constructive critisizim on those.

BM.....so far to me this is the best A.I. in the realms of SE5. It is truly a challenge to beat (for me anyways), and it seems to be quite ruthless at times, and even fights as though it wants to win. I actually fear running into some of these races encountered in this mod, lol. Some of the changes made to the components, sizes effects new armors etc., seem to work fine and do add some interesting game play to the basic game. I'm not too happy about the loss of ship level myself. In the basic game ship levels go from 1-10 on hull structure and size for each hull class, more choices to create with, but in the BM mod this has been changed and reduced to about 1/2 i believe, to me its like removing the rook and bishop and making them into a queen in the game of chess, instead of 16 pieces your down to 14 now, less pieces, less options, less strategy and tactics, just my personal opinion,(i've only played 2 campaigns in this mod, due to the fact i'm still learning about the game and my lack of knowledge of its inner workings forced me to play a less challenging mod, for now til i get better at the game). However this does seem to be the most popular mod out there and with fryon's maps and planet graphics in it ( a truly impressive mod in its self, v cool) the benefits out weigh any disadvatages and with out a doubt this is a great mod, kwok is a genious and fryon a real artist.

Unnamed mod latest version...

This is a very good mod in its self. There are a few quirks as there are in most mods somewhere, but not enough to me anyways, to hurt the game. The A.I. is definately an improvement over the brain dead A.I. in the basic game, and its more of a challenge. This mod was designed to improve the basic games A.I. and still play the basic game with out any real changes to game play. To me, this is a must play mod for those wishing to learn more about the game and be more of a challenge to the player to test thier knowledge of the game. I'm currently on my second campaign in this mod and my game play has improved a great deal with the knowledge i've gained and being put to more of a challenge. This mod is like an advanced version of SE5, the next step to learning the game better in my opinion, with out losing any of the original game play or major changes some mods make to the game.

Ofcourse the only way to truly pick a mod is to play as many as you can to determine what one suits your needs from a great game as this one. My needs and goals are simple from this game....to get good enough to join league and play other players, without having my A$$ handed to me on a platter after a few turns lol. Since BM seems to be the most popular mod amongst most players i want to reach the goal of getting good at it and learning to adjust my gameplay to get good at the mod its self, and its changes, although i do hope more ship design and levels are added back to the game as the original had at the least, i am anxious to learn this mod better non the less.

Ofcourse this is just my opinion and no offense to any of the modders mentioned are intended, after all, these modders go thru a great deal of time and effort to enhance our game play and enjoyment of an already good game and i couldn't do what they do, so i salute you modders and thank you for all you have done, and please keep up the great work that you do. I hope this helps you with your questions about picking a mod...good hunting and kill well. 8D

I've tried Unnamed and Balanced, both the most recent version, as well as with the FQM most recent version just the last few days. First time installing mind you both of them. Couldn't tell you how good either works at all. Very first thing I do in the game is make some Scouts to explore with and the Autocomplete button would not work in either instance. Game pretty much stopped there.

Since I play with the FQM normally, am assuming something has changed either in the most recent game patch, or the most recent update for the game patch in these two Intel Mods to make that happen. Or the combo with the FQM does it. No idea really.

On the flipside tho, I did look over the tech changes with Balanced and must say from what I have seen am not really a big fan. But that is probably because I was just getting used to the stock Tech chart.

In the future I will probably attempt to somehow rip out just the Intel aspect of the Balanced and compare it to the Unnknown once I figure out why the Autocomplete during ship design no longer works. (Works fine stock or with just the FQM.)

If you manage to get either to work with the FQM, and have the Autocomplete actually function, please let me know.