AI and World Maps

[Benjamin Miller]

Why does the AI value it's world maps so much? I'm playing as England on a huge world map, and I've got territory maps form everyone in the Old World, but they want 22 gold per turn, and 2 techs just for a crappy world map! This is stupid! I tried paying this and then declaring war on the civ, but then no one wanted to trade with me so I reloaded.

How valuable can a bloody world map be?

 

[Shaitan]

Overall value in deals goes up or down based on your relative strength with an AI, his attitude towards you and your current agreements. You could be seeing any/all of those factors in the map deal. I haven't been able to pin down what drives map value exactly but it definately is affected by how many tiles are revealed on the map and how long it has been since the last map deal. Land tiles are worth much more than water tiles, also.

 

[rangers85]

Yeah, the tiles revealed is a big factor too. Maybe he's discovered a new island that you don't know about, or something like that. I know before if I do that, I can get around 15 or so gold a turn and maybe a couple other things for my map, even why my military is a little under to about even with the AI.

 

[Ouchgeddon]

Early game maps let you find open territory and build there...Especially if you can take a luxury or block other civs in. It also lets you in on what other civs are where, in case you want to meet them personally rather than trade for contacts. Later it means easier attacks and nuke strikes.

 

[No.Dice]

In some of my games i've started delaying my first settler (no more than 2 turns) for an extra scouting warrior or two. Helps even out the value of the early map trades.