AI does not use iron?!!!

[klopolov]

A little intro:
I'm playing a game with my girlfriend on LAN (yes, I got her to stop complaining about me playing so much and start playing herself ), that's the reason the game difficulty is warlord. Normally I played on monarch and am moving up to emperor now. I have also seen AI build a city in the middle of nowhere for no apparent reason before, just to find out later that it's the only oil supply for that AI...

The story: I'm playing for Maya and I share a continent with Incas and Americans. I have no iron and no horses. The Incas are in between me and Americans. Americans have horses but no iron, Incas have no horses and only one sourse of iron by the city that is pretty close to my border. There is a natural mountain range border between me and Incas. For at least 3000 years now there was not a period of peace longer than 5 turns between me and Incas. They started the war by taking my unprotected newly built city for no reason whatsoever. They make peace and give me some cities and all their gold just to attack the next turn and destroy those cities. Due to the lack of resources, I have created a sort of a Maginot Line on those mountains with spearmen and javelin throwers. Incas send archers at them to die a heroic death, but they did not connect that iron, despite knowing it is there for 2000 some years!!! By the time they did, I built the Knights Templar and am stock piling the crusaders now, I also destroyed their road to the iron and fortified 5 spearmen on that hill, while my city close to it is growing culture to take over that iron.

A few questions:
1. How come if the AI knows where the resourses are at the beginning of the game, they did not use iron? (it could not have taken them so long to build a road to it, their capitol is less than 10 tiles away from it)
2. Why did they just attack for no reason and not demanded money or techs first?
3. Why do they keep declaring war on the next turn after they make peace?

This is the craziest AI I have ever seen so far...

 

[mikehunt]

I've had war declarations come out of no where with no warning. once I had an alliance and on the turn the alliance ended the civ I was allied with attacked me

 

[wilbill]

1. How come if the AI knows where the resourses are at the beginning of the game, they did not use iron? (it could not have taken them so long to build a road to it, their capitol is less than 10 tiles away from it):

Do they have the necessary tech to use the iron? There's no reason for them to connect to it if they can't use it.

2. Why did they just attack for no reason and not demanded money or techs first?

They're deceitful and conniving. Seriously, you just don't always know why the AI does things. There's an element of randomness built into the AI's decision making process. Leaving an undefended city anywhere near an agressive AI is an invitation to them to go to war.

3. Why do they keep declaring war on the next turn after they make peace?

They're probably going after something - a lightly defended city, a resource, a luxury. Or maybe they're just deceitful and conniving.

 

[klopolov]

Well, they were the ones I got Iron Working from, so I assume they have it and could build the swordsmen insted of archers to attack me with... that would be an incentive...
I also forgot to mention that before I set up the line of spearmen on the mountains that completely blocks the access to my territory, Incas' archers kept running back and fourth trying to squeese through whenever there was an opening...
I do have three variety of luxuries in my territory, so they could be after them, but why did they not use iron to get there a lot faster??? witorses out iron and horses myself, they could eventually overrun me with swordsmen, but they didn't use them because they didn't use their iron!!! they could as well overrun the Americans since they didn't have iron either!!!

 

[Roxlimn]

I can only surmise that the Incans were able to connect to Iron long after they've maxxed out their programmed unit max on Archers. The AI occasionally is stupid this way, particularly with attack units on specific resource requirements. You will likewise occasionally find the AI high on Longbows and low on Cavalry late in the Middle Age, even when they've got Saltpeter on their territory.