That's not a problem as such. I thought it was intended to make resources something that's worth fighting over

The newly discovered problem with the AI not building farms bugs me a lot more, isn't that something that could also be fixed in this patch?

While you are at it, would you mind reverting city level bonus from +10% to +0.5 flat? +10% makes cities ridiculously strong. The faster this is gone the better.

I think research improvements need a boost, too.

Thanks for the additional information.  We'll look into it.

Ok, EazyWin beat me to it, I just looked for the original post he found

How does that then correlate with zuPloed's XML observations (and those of other players that just don't see a lot of farms on enemy planets)? Can you explain how farm building works if it's not determined by this "shopping list" in GovernorDefs.xml?

I feel like the game just gets more and more imbalanced with every patch. I think the Farms and Cities mechanic is cool, but I have had much higher populations in every game since this change. It's much easier to build up population with cities than it used to be with Farms.

Thank you for the update!

A few comments:

1. I think it is a good thing for balance to increase the costs of cities. Given how powerful the population factor is now, increasing the opportunity cost of investing in lots of cities makes the choice more meaningful.

2. Could we get more detail on what the AI does now, and how that justifies the reduction of bonuses they're afforded? Pretty excited to see what they do.

3. I've definitely seen the AI build farms and cities. They just don't go out of their way to dedicate entire planet of two to food production, which some players do to build up a high number of cities. Maybe the AI could benefit from a dedicated food governor?

If people have observed farms my theory is false. Unless:
in 2.33 the AI still has Food in the GovernorDefs.xml but I presume the people having observed it play on more recent versions?

Why the HELL this???

So it the final nail into the coffin of diversity and variability of the game. What is the difference between carbon based and synthetics right now?

Very bad "balance" (i.e. dumbing down) decision.

Synthetics should use Durantium in the same way Organics use food.....

Rather than a one time expense it should be a constant use based on population....    No per turn cost  when TOTAL population is 5 or less...  and then 2 durantium per turn per population point above that....   Research can lower that to 1 and then .5  or something.

soft walls and steps are so much better than hard stops that look and feel artificial.   

**and yes I know the 2 per turn is rediculously expensive even on big maps or late game**  

I see that as a feature, not a bug. Providing a reason for conflict is great compared to just random warmongering.