AI Expansion Limits

Left alone, a successful AI company keeps branching out — into software, the Internet and telecom, and into one product class after another. Version 12.5 adds three new-game options that set a ceiling on that growth. Use them to keep the AI out of a sector you want for yourself, to make rivals more focused, or simply to make the game easier. Each limit is Unlimited by default, so the game plays as before until you change it.

Digital limits: Digital Age DLC · product class limit: Subsidiary DLC. The two digital-firm limits are on the Digital Age DLC page; the product class limit is on the Subsidiary DLC page. Scenario scripts can set all three whichever DLCs you own (see For scenario authors).

The three options

Option	Where	Range	What it limits
Max Digital Firms per Diversified AI	New game → DLC → Digital Age DLC → Game Rule Modifiers tab	0–20, Unlimited	The digital firms each diversified AI company (and every other AI company that is not digital-focused) may own. 0 keeps them out of the digital sector altogether.
Max Digital Firms per Digital-Focused AI	Same tab	1–30, Unlimited	The digital firms each digital-focused AI company may own: the companies built around an operating system, software, smartphones, the Internet or telecom.
Max Product Classes per AI Company	New game → DLC → Subsidiary DLC → Game Rule Modifiers (third row)	1–30, Unlimited	The product classes of consumer goods each AI company may produce.

Each option is a slider. Drag it to the number you want; the far-right end of the slider means Unlimited, which is where it starts. Like other new-game settings, changing one sets the difficulty level to Custom, and your choice is remembered for your next custom game.

The Game Rule Modifiers tab on the Digital Age DLC page is new in version 12.5. It is the last tab, after Settings, Advanced Settings and (with the Smartphone DLC) Smartphone DLC.

What counts as a digital firm

Counts	Does not count
Software firms Internet companies, including app stores and e-commerce sites Telecom firms Factories making packaged software or game discs	Factories making hardware such as computers and smartphones (normal manufacturing — the product class limit covers them) Retail stores that sell software TV stations, radio stations and newspapers

An AI company that has reached its limit stops building software firms, Internet companies, app stores, e-commerce sites and telecom firms, stops buying them, and does not take over a private digital company whose digital firms would take it past the limit. A diversified AI company at its limit stops considering the digital sector at all.

What counts as a product class

A product class is a group of related products, such as Cars or Beverages. A class counts for an AI company when the company produces a product in it, has a factory or farm being set up to make one, or runs a service firm that offers one.

Only classes of consumer goods count. Raw materials and parts do not, so a company at its limit can still build the supply chain behind the products it makes — the farm that grows the cotton for its clothing, for example.

A company at its limit still grows inside its classes: it adds new products and brands there, builds more factories and opens more stores. What it no longer does is start a product in a class it does not make yet — whether by building a factory, farm or service firm, by researching a new product, or by buying a firm that would add a class.

How the limits work

Only new expansion is limited. An AI company never closes or sells a firm because of a limit. A company that is already over a limit simply stops growing in that direction.
Mergers are not blocked. When two AI companies merge, the combined company may end up over a limit; it then stops expanding further in that direction.
Every AI-run company is limited, including subsidiaries you own but leave to their own management. Your own decisions are never limited.
Scenarios set their own limits. The limits you choose for a custom game are reset to Unlimited when you start a scenario or a tutorial, which use their own settings instead.

Effect on the difficulty rating

Limiting the AI makes the game easier, so tighter limits lower the difficulty rating — and with it the score multiplier. The reduction is larger the tighter the limit and the stronger the AI field (more AI companies, more capital, more aggressive). Unlimited changes nothing.

Limits (with the AI settings of difficulty level 5: 15 AI companies)	Rating change, about
Max Product Classes per AI Company = 8	−13
Max Product Classes per AI Company = 3	−28
Max Product Classes = 3, and diversified AI kept out of the digital sector (0)	−37
Max Product Classes = 1, diversified AI 0, digital-focused AI 1 (the tightest)	−58

Hover over the Difficulty Rating on the setup screen’s first page to see the rating broken down by part; the limits appear as AI Expansion Limits. In Survival Mode the AI companies do not count towards the rating, so the limits do not change it there.

For scenario authors

Scenario scripts can set the limits with two keys. When a key is missing, the limit is Unlimited.

Section	Key	Values
`[DIGITAL AGE DLC]`	`Max Digital Firms per AI Company=<n>[,<m>]`	`n` 0–20 for diversified AI; the optional `m` 1–30 for digital-focused AI (left out = not limited)
`[COMPETITORS]`	`Max Product Classes per AI Company=<n>`	`n` 1–30

For example, Max Digital Firms per AI Company=0,5 keeps diversified AI companies out of the digital sector and lets each digital-focused company own up to five digital firms.

Make the digital sector yours. Set Max Digital Firms per Diversified AI to 0 and the big diversified companies leave software, the Internet and telecom to you and the specialist AI companies — and a tight limit on the specialists leaves room for you to grow there before they fill the market.

See also: Version 12.5 new features.