Even at Transcend level it seems like there's only ever two AI factions that are actually going full speed. Two will be in slow motion, and two will basically be almost completely dormant - no terraforming, no tech, no development. The two active ones are pretty good about using aircraft (planes not choppers), but with the two in slo mo, it's exactly like you say. They build unit after unit after unit, but don't really do anything with them.

It is a great game, but once you have it figured out, it's relatively easy to beat. There are some patches out there that I think have a souped-up AI, which is probably necessary to keep the game interesting.

Thanks for replying. I've never noticed any faction doing a decent job with its large airforce, but I'd have to play again with what you said in mind.

The Needlejet chassis is more expensive in my SMACX AI Growth mod, so the AI doesn't like to build that many of them anymore. The ones it does build, it uses in the traditional AI manner, to kill your Formers. That's not exciting, but at least the AI isn't obsessing and overproducing something it doesn't use effectively.

Generally speaking my AI fights better. It's not a genius though. I improved the resource and support basis, and altered some of the research foci which does seem to influence its performance in various ways. But I only do *.txt modding, I don't mod the binary and introduce new AI code. It can only be as smart as it ever was in the original game. I've just "unbottlenecked" some things, like not overproducing useless Needlejets.

Hm, maybe it's because the other half of Needlejets are Anti-Air and can't attack ground units? I haven't played SMAC in a long time and I don't think I notices slacking jets. When Yang builds them at 1 per turn in all his cities, you certainly feel the pressure.