This change will give the AI (and the player if you really want?) additional food income based on the difficulty slider at the start of the game.
Testing showed that is save game compatible. Thanks Dresden.
Table: campaign_difficulty_handicap_effects
In this table, you're going to be adding brand new entries. Here's an explanation of what each column should have in it.
For the AI, the campaign difficulty handicap value goes, in order of Easy to Legendary, -1 to 3.
For the player, the campaign difficulty handicap value goes, in order of Easy to Legendary, 1 to -3.
The Human True/False column is self explanatory.
Name of the effect is rom_payload_food.
Effect_Scope should be this_faction.
Value is a flat addition to food income, so putting in 50 will give the player/AI 50 additional foods on top of whatever income is provided by buildings. Note this will count towards the food bonuses of Growth and Replenishment.
optional_campaign_key should be left blank.
Example:
In this example, the AI has been given a faction-wide bonus of 3 extra food on Normal, 6 extra food on Hard, 9 extra food on Very Hard, and 12 extra food on Legendary.
I think this will be a very promising solution to the AI's food crisis.
If anyone tests this out, be sure to come post your results.