So we have been told from the beginning but atleast pre 1.5x AI did tech trade with each other like horny bunnies.

Possible solution, assuming that the AI is indeed using the same rules for all players: more feedback from the AI during trading. For example, if you have a deal they don't want to accept, they shouldn't just give you the old "Yeeeeaaaaah no." routine. They should suggest a counter offer... a trade they'd accept instead, a money value they'd accept (or, if they won't accept any reasonable level of cash), and perhaps more rationale for not liking the trade ("The tech you want to give us doesn't have any practical value for us" or "I could research that tech in a day.")

They don't, it's all recorded in debug.err and it's quite clear that the AI's trading much more lightly under 1.5X. That's a good thing IMO, as is the fact that it's harder to get all your technology from trading. Research is worthwhile again.

I love that every time the SD team improves the AI everyone jumps to the conclusion that it's cheating against the player. You people have been playing too many bad strategy games.

I guess it's all in the eyes of the beholder my friend. When two AI's trade what I would consider 'good techs' like weapons or something to benefit your economy, then I have issues with that. They won't trade in a similar fashion with me, regardless of what I offer, and that's okay, so long as they don't do it amongst themselves. Even AI's I'm allied with won't trade weapons tech/econ tech, etc., again, regardless of what I offer.
So yes, the AI may not be trading like horny rabbits anymore, but they still trade, and if you ask me, the trades they make to one another are way better than what they trade me. How do I know this? I don't really, I am making an assumption based on what I am seeing and right now, when I KNOW I am researching techs as quickly as one can while the AI is busy spending for ships and maintenance, I find it quite hard to believe that the AI has no problem researching all the top time consuming techs in a very short time and then parading those techs immediately. My games don't flow that way, so why would theirs?

Not really. Either the AI can't tell who the human is or it can. That'd be hardcoded into the AI itself, so it's simply a matter of whether the devs are lying about it or not. I honestly can't fathom why they would be, nor do I see any hard evidence that they are, so that's pretty much that from where I stand.

Because there are fewer trades going on in general and you simply didn't have anything they wanted?

Okay, short of 'reviewing' the debug file, which I WILL do to appease some people, let me use this recent example. I am the only one who has researched mass drivers completely, as well as armor. Now my 'allies' begin to pound on my door in an attempt to trade for some driver tech. They only offer one tech, and a useless one at that (the exact one escapes me at the moment, but it shouldn't matter, it's useless to me). I counter and they laugh... fine, no trade. This goes on for a little while, every few turns or so, an ally approaches me for a trade to get driver tech from me. As this goes on, I notice their techs... suddenly it seems that they have the first few in the line of mass driver technology, strangely, they've gotten them a lot faster than I did, and my research rate is pretty damn good at this point. I would have to say that they traded for the tech.
I could care less if I get a trade or not, it's no reason for me to get upset. I do care if the AI's can and do freely trade amongst each other techs which they won't trade to me, regardless of the cost/offering for trade. This is what I think is happening. Furthermore, how did my allies know I had the mass driver techs? When this started happening I hadn't built a single ship armed with ANY type of mass driver weapons/defenses. There were no spies that I was aware of, and I think I would see them on my planet, wouldn't I?
Like I said, I don't study this game to the point where everything I look at becomes a number, that's not my playing style. I didn't think to read the debug, but now I will. I just get a little annoyed when people think that from what I am saying I am somehow 'accusing' the computer of 'cheating'. I never looked at the computer as cheating, just using any and every advantage it has to better it's odds, which is fair enough considering it does have to compete with an actual live person. But if I'm playing at normal diff or easier and see something 'odd' happening with regards to the AI, then I want to know what gives, even if it's something as mundane as trading for technology.
So cool the jets people, I am merely stating my observations regarding this, and since I've noticed it quite a bit since I started playing DA, my opinion hasn't changed. I could be totally wrong... it could just be me or my game. At least I'm willing to look at all the possibilities, even if it is something due to me. Until then, I will stick with what I've observed and it seems to me that so far I am right.

Actually, its more reasonable to offer a fair deal than to accept one. If a player comes to you with a deal, even if it seems 'reasonable', they must have a good reason, and given that this is mostly a zero sum game, the player subject to the offer should take it skeptically.

I just tested it out

these are the trades in the game I played

Xeno Comm for Ion Drive
Xeno Factory for Toxic Atmosphere Reductor
Xeno Facotry for Radioactive World Tech
Xeno Economics for Xeno Medicine
General Life Support for Basic Mini
Planetary Improvements for Advanced Computing
Aquatic Col for Heavy Gravity Col
Interstellar Govt for Xeno Medicine
Research Centers for Radioactive World
ECM for General Life Support *2
ECM for Xeno Economics
Research Centers for Xeno Industrial
Adv Diplomacy for Trade
Manu Centers for Toxic Atmo
Research Acad for Manu Centers
Aqua for Manu Centers
Resear Centers for Adv Mini


Most of the trades seem rational- but the Ai wouldn't trade tech for tech with the human at all, and wouldn't take 5-6 techs for one good one.

Conclusion: The AI is being too finnicky about trading with humans, or the AI to AI trade system needs revamping. Or I should do what everyone else seems to do and turn tech trading off, since the AI for that is lacking (AI everywhere else is solid)

I never got any of those. That was in about 3 yrs gameplay time

I don't know about you all but even in the latest patch to DA I can trade anything with anybody . If I don't have a tech the AI wants to trade straight up for a tech they have then all I have to do is throw in some money and they always accept the trade . Usually it's just a few billion not much . Try throwing in cash I promise you will always get the trade you want .

I think a lot of these comparisons are simply apples to oranges. Isn't it considerably more difficult to trade tech on higher difficulty settings? If so, this discussion is silly without stating what dif setting each person is playing on.