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Independent AI Economy (Beta) for Dynamic Campaign

Tired of every mission feeling the same?

In vanilla Conquest, the economy was fake. Very predictive and without variety. Just endless waves that mirrored your army. Small force? Small waves. Bigger army? Bigger waves. Stronger units? Even stronger waves.

It never mattered how much you looted or what powerful troops you unlocked — the AI always matched you. You never got to feel superior. You never got to be the one sending the hordes. At the same time, you were never punished for stagnation. The AI always adapted to your strength. There was no incentive to grow, and a lot of potential fun was lost.

This mod aims to change everything.
The AI now runs on it's own (configurable) economy model. Looting, growth, and resource management actually matter. Missions finally have variety. Progression feels real. And now, the stakes are real too — you can become the overwhelming force crashing down on your enemies, or you may face hopeless missions where retreat is the only way to save your men.

Conquest is turned into a campaign of contrasts. If you like the mix of chil missions and brutal high-stakes then this mod is for you. Of course there is a tool included that allows you to tweak the AI economy to your needs.


(Note: This is a beta version for vanilla, designed to gather feedback to support further fine tuning and improvements.)

The AI now has its own independent economy. They no longer care about your army strength and can have their own highs or shortcomings.

NEW: There is a configuration tool in the mod folder (...Steam\steamapps\workshop\content\400750\3575635370\) which allows to tweak the AI economy to your needs.

The economic setting "Loot" gives the game a new survival character. Resources will be scarce, and your main MP income is based on looting. You never know what to expect in your next mission, and you might be forced to retreat to save your men.

The tactic of fielding a small army to 'cheese' the weak AI is no longer effective.

Missions are unpredictable. If you grow stronger, you might be superior, or you might be forced to retreat due to overwhelming opponents. You never know what to expect, so it's best to invest and choose the risk wisely.

Officers provide intel about the AI's army strength (if deployed quickly at the beginning of each mission).

AI armies might be weak, have cut-off supply lines, be about the same level as yours, or be overwhelming.

Looting will become essential as you need to win the economic race. Manpower (MP) income is now scarcer.

Buying expensive units will no longer buff the AI army strength.

The AI's budget or army strength is based on probability influenced by the difficulty setting, risk factor, and day of operation.

The more days pass, the higher the AI budget (the AI has had more time to grow).

The higher the risk factor (1-3 Stars), the higher the chance of facing a strong opponent.

The higher the difficulty setting, the higher the chance of facing a strong opponent.

If you wish to change your own income, you can adjust the economic settings (Loot Mode recommended).


The mod is currently in a Beta state. Please feel free to provide constructive feedback.

This mod is not yet compatible with other mods. However, it may work if it is loaded last. This can only be achieved by using a mod manager (like Mr. Cookie's) or by editing the profile file manually. You cannot do it by activating mods in the game in the correct order. Be aware that combining this mod with others can lead to unbalanced gameplay and side effects. I cannot provide support in such cases.

It is by design that some missions are challenging and others are easy. The enemy budget is randomized to a certain degree to increase unpredictability. While it's rare, you might encounter a streak of impossible (requiring retreat) or very easy missions. If this outcome is consistent, however, it indicates that other mods may be enabled that are overriding the AI budget settings.

2-Star or 3-Star missions can increase the difficulty massively, so only choose them when you feel confident, have enough firepower and munition supply.

Please ensure that the game.log file is located in ...[User]\AppData\Local\digitalmindsoft\gates of hell\log\ or [user]\Documents\My Games\gates of hell\log", otherwise you can try the following workaround.

It is recommended to play on Difficulty = Normal or Hard with a Low Economic Difficulty = Loot (your main income is based on looting).

So far, this is a programming-based mod. There is no new graphical artwork.


In the image section on top are screenshots that illustrate examples of the risk model.

There is an average expected AI budget for each day (depicted as red curve in the screenshot). The budget grows based on the difficulty level (harder difficulty = stronger growth).

To add unpredictability, the 'base budget' is multiplied by a random value which is based on the risk factor (number of stars) for the mission. The higher the risk factor, the stronger the deviation and the more likely it is to favor the AI budget. The blue line in the screenshots represents one possible budget progression during a conquest run. So choose your risk wisely, listen to your officer, and consider retreating



If you have balance issues (like no units attacking) please restart the game, start a conquest mission and open your game.log file. Search for "Day of operation" and copy the next view lines into the comment section. It should look something like that:

[01:02:30] [LUA] Day of operation: 01
[01:02:30] [LUA] RF: 2
[01:02:30] [LUA] Difficulty: 2
[01:02:30] [LUA] Growth: 0.08
[01:02:30] [LUA] Mean: 1
[01:02:30] [LUA] stdDev: 0.3
[01:02:30] [LUA] Clamped random multiplyer: 1.3495563861782
[01:02:30] [LUA] Budgetcap is 1909.6465495824
[01:02:30] [LUA] Ratio: Enemy/Player Army value: 4.4410384874009
...



1. Locate the game.log file on your pc

2. Open
...\Steam\steamapps\workshop\content\400750\3575635370\resource\script\multiplayer\bot.iae.lua

3. Enter the path of your logfile into the custom_folder variable .
Example:
custom_folder = "c:\\my_path\\log\\game.log"



Compatibility versions for CE and MACE.

Overhauling the research tree to encourage players to invest more broadly and diversify.

Adding new infantry squads to provide more variations.

Research point rewards will increase over time, allowing for a more natural transition into later war phases and advanced technology.

Making infantry cheaper but less tanky so infantry-heavy strategies become more viable and feel more authentic.

Allowing soldiers to find valuable documents by searching enemy bodies. These documents will provide valuable buffs to the economy.