AI building boats in lakes

[Basajaun]

Hello there! Ive made a quick search on the forum but I couldnt find a thread.
Why does AI do this? Im sure its been brought up many times but it strikes me as unintended behaviour.

Spoiler :

Civ6Screen0016

• Basajaun
• Dec 5, 2019

AI filling lakes with boats

 

[Victoria]

it strikes me as unintended behaviour.

There is a raft of water logic missing from the game. This is the most noticeable although you can argue to whole of water combat just appears to be missing.
This issue has been laughed at many times before and I guess no-one reports as it is expected someone else has already done so.
Now if it was a lake full of battleships that all would shoot sensibly in unison it would be a different situation. at least in your screenshot they are quads so not quite as useless as galleys.

 

[Tech Osen]

In my last game Hungary had a destroyer in a lake. He moved it into the city when we were at war. It's anti air almost cost me a few bombers cause I wasn't paying enough attention.

 

[Basajaun]

There is a raft of water logic missing from the game. This is the most noticeable although you can argue to whole of water combat just appears to be missing.
This issue has been laughed at many times before and I guess no-one reports as it is expected someone else has already done so.
Now if it was a lake full of battleships that all would shoot sensibly in unison it would be a different situation. at least in your screenshot they are quads so not quite as useless as galleys.

I can see that scenario happening, but here for example, those quads wont be frigates until about 100turns later, and theres more than enough room around the city to make 1range naval units irrelevant for defense. Plus, being Gitarja, and buying boats with faith, just buy them on the coastal city (which ironically, would be much more useful to defend the inner city from ranged attacks .

In my last game Hungary had a destroyer in a lake. He moved it into the city when we were at war. It's anti air almost cost me a few bombers cause I wasn't paying enough attention.

Sure... maybe one, relevant like in your case. The only thing those boats will be useful for, is avoiding the city to be sieged, which, with Victor you can already achieve.
So, considering there is a chance those units will be useful in the future, this is not "unintended" behaviour then? I still cant see the logic in why it would consider this a priority over buying/building those boats in Mataram for example and use them to explore/attack coastal settlements, and perhaps later use them for defense when Barbarossa gets pissed about her spreading her holy word.

 

[japanesesamurai]

Yep. Melee boats in single tile lakes
Its to prevent the enemy AI from embarking in front of their city
In the case of the OP though, they can eventually build a canal to free those boats.
Battleships in lakes can be quite powerfull, though. As they can’t be attacked by melee units

Fwiw, this was also an issue in Civ V

For the majority of the time, they build whatever they can without any reasoning. If they have horses, they build cav. If there’s water, they build boats. If its gandhi, he’ll build 10.000 elephants

 

[Basajaun]

Yep. Melee boats in single tile lakes
Its to prevent the enemy AI from embarking in front of their city
In the case of the OP though, they can eventually build a canal to free those boats.
Battleships in lakes can be quite powerfull, though. As they can’t be attacked by melee units

Fwiw, this was also an issue in Civ V

For the majority of the time, they build whatever they can without any reasoning. If they have horses, they build cav. If there’s water, they build boats. If its gandhi, he’ll build 10.000 elephants

I can see that, but considering its epic speed, and her progress in the tech tree, those boats wont be touching ocean at least for 100turns more. The thing here is that she has built or bought, 4 units that will be useless, and costing maintenance, for at least 250 turns.

 

[japanesesamurai]

Yeah for sure it’s a dumb move by the AI. It’s fairly easy to insert a code to prevent this I guess. But since AI has been doing this since civ V, I don’t think firaxis cares that much.
“If city is not adjacent to ocean coast, dont build boats”
The AI keeps spamming useless units all the time. Either 32 catapults or 32 melee ships or 32 warriors. I’ve seen them go to war in like the 17th century with 15 warriors

 

[ghost88]

Yeah for sure it’s a dumb move by the AI. It’s fairly easy to insert a code to prevent this I guess. But since AI has been doing this since civ V, I don’t think firaxis cares that much.
“If city is not adjacent to ocean coast, dont build boats”
The AI keeps spamming useless units all the time. Either 32 catapults or 32 melee ships or 32 warriors. I’ve seen them go to war in like the 17th century with 15 warriors

You need to change V to I or "since civ I,II,III,IV, and V" and before V having seaborne "stacks of doom" ……….

 

[Leucarum]

The worst example I ever saw of this was on my first ever GS game



I still see the AI building the occasional boat but I have never seen anything on that scale since.

 

[Basajaun]

The worst example I ever saw of this was on my first ever GS game

View attachment 540287

I still see the AI building the occasional boat but I have never seen anything on that scale since.

wow...one would think that after realizing its a lake, he would stop building. But gotta boast about navy! Its actually a pity, they could be putting those resources to much better use

 

[blackcatatonic]

Sadly I see this all too often. It also frustrates me no end that the AI doesn't understand canals. The number of times I've taken an AI city only to discover that the one tile that could have been used for a canal has another district on it!

 

[Lily_Lancer]

A frigate is cheaper than an encampment.

 

[Bangau]

It's one of those seemingly easy fixes. Hope they will, it always makes me sad seeing the AI do this.

 

[japanesesamurai]

You need to change V to I or "since civ I,II,III,IV, and V" and before V having seaborne "stacks of doom" ……….

I’ve never played IV or below. So they built big boat stacks in lakes in IV?

 

[ghost88]

I’ve never played IV or below. So they built big boat stacks in lakes in IV?

Don't remember if the AI ever built large stacks of ships on lakes in Civ II , but the AI could build large ship stacks and most certainly did build ships in lakes.