Armed Settlers vs Artificial Intelligence

embryodead

Caliph
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Hello,

I have some bad experiences with settlers that have movement of 2+ and/or attack/defense values. Maybe someone can put me on the right track here...

A settler with a movement of 2 is quite pointless for the AI because it still requires an escort which will generally be a unit with movement of 1... Only works fine if there is no threat around, then the AI will send a settler without escort and utilize the bonus movement point.

A settler with attack/defense values (does not seem to matter if it's only defense or both) causes problems. First of all, the AI will still escort it... Secondly, if the AI sends a normal unarmed settler alone and discovers a threat, it will move the settler back home for escort. But if such settler has defense value, it fortifies and stays in place :rolleyes:

If I set the defense value to be higher than the usual escort units... it gets out of hand, as the AI will build the new settler both as a settler and the best defensive unit... considering it costs 2 pop, it means the AI is screwed.

Any ideas how to make AI-friendly militant settlers? Of course, yeah, it works... but so far I see it either giving advantage to the player only, or actually sometimes delaying the AI's expansion.
 
Well for starters remove the "Requires escort" flag then they will move it without an escort. Also if you don't give it the "defense" flag then they won't build it for defense.
 
Well for starters remove the "Requires escort" flag then they will move it without an escort. Also if you don't give it the "defense" flag then they won't build it for defense.

Sorry but that's wrong for both ;) Settlers don't have "Requires escort" flag in the first place, it's for carriers; and the AI uses superior defensive units for defense even without the defense flag.
 
Well for starters remove the "Requires escort" flag then they will move it without an escort. Also if you don't give it the "defense" flag then they won't build it for defense.
Like ED says, this seems to only be for naval transport and carrier units. Settlers don't have it in the normal game.

I'm not sure how to do this without going to the (rather extreme) lengths of having a wonder (or Palace) that auto-produces a settler with high defense value, then having the normal settler available for building. The AI should hopefully use the militant settlers without waiting for an escorting unit, while it can still build and send out the normal settlers once it has escorting units available. However, assuming that the human player has the same build options as the AI this still doesn't address the issue of the human having a slight advantage over the AI in the initial rush to grab territory. Sorry I can't be of much help. :(
 
I don't have problems with the settlers in my mod.

They (almost) all have 1 defence. The computer still guards them - which is good. And he doesn't build them as defence - which is also good.

But the question is, why do you want high defence/attack settlers ?
 
I don't have problems with the settlers in my mod.

They (almost) all have 1 defence. The computer still guards them - which is good. And he doesn't build them as defence - which is also good.

Well, yeah, but to me the fact that the computer guards them is not good - because if the settler can defend itself, the human player will likely not use escorts and thus, expand faster.

Also, as I said, if it happens that the AI sends out an unescorted settler with defense values, it can get stuck. Not a game breaking issue, it may just cause the AI to "waste" a settler sometimes, still it's a small perk that the human player doesn't get.

But the question is, why do you want high defense/attack settlers ?

I don't, that was just experimentation, to see if defense of 2 would stop the AI from escorting. I just want a settler that can travel without escort, so that it's not an advantage for the human player only, and preferably with movement of 2+, not slowed down by the escort :cry:
 
That makes fast attack units less useful, with no retreat available.
 
a wild suggestion: give all defending units a movement of 2+ :p ;)
If you had a defensive unit with a movement of one, but that treated all terrain like roads would
That makes fast attack units less useful, with no retreat available.
no longer be an issue? Or is that case still treated like a "fast" unit?
 
That would most certainly work, but I can't make all defensive units like that in the mod :( I tried some different settings like "capture" flags, different HP etc. still the same :(
 
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