Quote Originally Posted by Raygereio View Post
So long story short; hard coded means it's way more difficult and in some cases impossible to mod, but more importantly, you're not allowed to.
Where does that leave us with the diplomacy AI? Well, unless one of the developers posts all the information on the diplomacy mechanics, we can only guess and extrapolate from what we observe.
Broadly correct, although hard-coded simply means it cannot be modded. It can be recoded if you have the source code, but that falls under programming, not modding. Very few companies give out the source code, and when they do it's generally for old releases.

For clarity: the source code is not some kind of password, but actually the program itself written in "programming language". Based on the source code, a compiler-program creates the .exe and assorted files.

Quote Originally Posted by Subotan View Post
It's not like they make any money off it anymore.
They do actually: they still get money for the sales of "classic games" editions, and so on. Also, parts of the R:TW and M2:TW code will have made their way into E:TW. Releasing the source code would be giving away their programming tricks to their competitors.