AI forward settling a lot

[Synth]

Is anyone else getting a feeling that the AI is forward settling just for the sake of it? In the game I'm playing right now, Victoria decided to found her three cities beside mine, even ignoring a natural wonder that was close to her.
I have no problem with the AI forward settling to take my resources (I mean, I will take those cities, I'm just saying it makes sense to me), but ignoring better terrain just to piss me off? That's just asking to be wiped out completely.

 

[Truronian]

It's what I do, so I don't really have a problem if the AI is doing it as well.

 

[Plus Ultra]

I've seen the AI do some crazy stuff for strategic resources, they sure love those horses/iron/coal.

 

[Mustakrakish]

Yes, they're MAD sometimes. I got Kongo dude to my north placing a city at the very western point of my civ between my 2 cities with space just enough to fit the damn city and there was nothing there, not a single resource, a couple of plains and desert (well 1 fish). The only thing there was the road between my cities. I got so pissed at that I reloaded and bought the tile. I even saw his settler circumventing my empire and thought "I wonder where he's going..." I didn't even amuse myself with the thought that YES, he indeed goes for that pathetic space in there. I just thought he's got to be wondering aimlessly or something.

Anyway after reloading and buying the tile, a few turns later he does the same trick, only this time between my city (one of those previous) and Brazil's, again just enough space to fit it, even so that his city center actually touched my border And again nothing there to justify this madness (again... fish). Then he had the audacity to appear to me next turn and complain about MY TROOPS on HIS BORDERS!

All that... all that while he has half the continent empty to the north of him...

 

[Aldor]

On the positive side...your land must really be nice that they come from so far

 

[roscoepfox]

Is anyone else getting a feeling that the AI is forward settling just for the sake of it? In the game I'm playing right now, Victoria decided to found her three cities beside mine, even ignoring a natural wonder that was close to her.
I have no problem with the AI forward settling to take my resources (I mean, I will take those cities, I'm just saying it makes sense to me), but ignoring better terrain just to piss me off? That's just asking to be wiped out completely.

Does the AI "see" resources that aren't evident yet? I know in Civ 3 they could. That may be one reason.

But yeah its annoying when the AI decides to settle smack dab in your territory. Cleopatra came from a different land mass with an unescorted settler the very second I had cleared a barb camp in a spot I wanted. I was so ticked off I declared war and captured it.

 

[bbbt]

Is anyone else getting a feeling that the AI is forward settling just for the sake of it? In the game I'm playing right now, Victoria decided to found her three cities beside mine, even ignoring a natural wonder that was close to her.

Victoria makes sense because her whole agenda is settle other continents.

In general, I think the "place your city here"calculation is a little wonky (and is probably exactly what the AI uses). In my latest game, for my third settler, it's suggested best-city location was far away from my capital right next to the Aztec capital. Not near the natural wonder next to me. So it's probably doing the same for the AI.

 

[Synth]

Victoria makes sense because her whole agenda is settle other continents.

In general, I think the "place your city here"calculation is a little wonky (and is probably exactly what the AI uses). In my latest game, for my third settler, it's suggested best-city location was far away from my capital right next to the Aztec capital. Not near the natural wonder next to me. So it's probably doing the same for the AI.

We weren't in different continents, I checked it. It might be that other thing, thoug.

 

[Lord Khorak]

It's one of the things that's killing this game for me.

Once again, as per usual, they give absolutely no way to 'teach' the AI any cause-and-effect, so they will obnoxiously and aggressively dump cities directly on your border no matter how far away from their own lands, then consider YOU insane when you get angry, declare war, and burn the whole lot to the ****ing ground.

Can you issue a proclamation of 'settle within two tiles of my borders and I will have a casus belli to burn your city to the ground'? Nope, of course not. Instead, you can tell people not to settle near you.....AFTER they settle near you. And it lasts like 30 turns even on Marathon, and then you have to wait for a now smugly self-satisfied promise keeper to do it AGAIN before you can tell them NOT to do it.

...and then I'm a warmonger for burning their cities to the ground. Everyone else declares war. I burn down all THEIR cities they dumped directly on my face. Then I get fed up, realise I'm winning fairly effortlessly because I know how to use ranged units properly, and destroy all opposing enemy civilisations so they can't continue this broken-record cycle of being calculatedly passive-aggressive, and then acting like I'm Satan because I denounce and declare war on them.

This happens in every single game, no matter how I want to play the game. The AI is so literally mindlessly aggressive in its choices that I end up forced to obliterate my entire starting continent. Every. Single. Game.

 

[Staal]

It's one of the things that's killing this game for me.

Once again, as per usual, they give absolutely no way to 'teach' the AI any cause-and-effect, so they will obnoxiously and aggressively dump cities directly on your border no matter how far away from their own lands, then consider YOU insane when you get angry, declare war, and burn the whole lot to the ****ing ground.

Can you issue a proclamation of 'settle within two tiles of my borders and I will have a casus belli to burn your city to the ground'? Nope, of course not. Instead, you can tell people not to settle near you.....AFTER they settle near you. And it lasts like 30 turns even on Marathon, and then you have to wait for a now smugly self-satisfied promise keeper to do it AGAIN before you can tell them NOT to do it.

...and then I'm a warmonger for burning their cities to the ground. Everyone else declares war. I burn down all THEIR cities they dumped directly on my face. Then I get fed up, realise I'm winning fairly effortlessly because I know how to use ranged units properly, and destroy all opposing enemy civilisations so they can't continue this broken-record cycle of being calculatedly passive-aggressive, and then acting like I'm Satan because I denounce and declare war on them.

This happens in every single game, no matter how I want to play the game. The AI is so literally mindlessly aggressive in its choices that I end up forced to obliterate my entire starting continent. Every. Single. Game.

A tad over reaction I think. They do forward settle but 50/50 it is a decent spot anyway that you would've taken. "Killing the game" is blowing it way out of proportion. Keep some perspective please.

 

[Zantetsuken]

I don't mind it mostly, sometimes they do place odd cities, India placed one right adjacent to my borders one time, except everything out that way was desert, and he didn't have petra or access to fresh water, or even any strategic resources, it was strange

I was playing Gorgo and it annoyed me so I just went and wiped him for culture

 

[x2Madda]

Does the AI "see" resources that aren't evident yet? I know in Civ 3 they could. That may be one reason.

But yeah its annoying when the AI decides to settle smack dab in your territory. Cleopatra came from a different land mass with an unescorted settler the very second I had cleared a barb camp in a spot I wanted. I was so ticked off I declared war and captured it.

Since civ2 the AI can see the land resources without the required tech but yes they still can in civ6. In the long term its for the best since the AI was notorius for settling in terrible locations for no good reason which as far as i can tell, they don't seem to in civ6.

 

[Staal]

I do agree they can perhaps put in a rule that you cannot settle adjacent to another cultures border regardless of proximity to another city.

 

[beorn]

A tad over reaction I think. They do forward settle but 50/50 it is a decent spot anyway that you would've taken. "Killing the game" is blowing it way out of proportion. Keep some perspective please.

Actually, I think that Khorak's reaction is pretty much what the designers are going for. Not the "killing the game for me" but the rage leading to wiping out the rest of the continent.

I'm thinking the idea is to get emotional engagement in the game. Civ V, a lot of the time, I was yawning by mid-game. I was ahead and had no real feelings about my neighbors. In VI, I'm still ahead, but I am furious at my neighbors, yet hemmed in by various realities (warmongering penalties, limits to diplomacy, needing to stay focused on my main goals, etc.) Ahead, sure, but definitely not yawning.

 

[Staal]

Actually, I think that Khorak's reaction is pretty much what the designers are going for. Not the "killing the game for me" but the rage leading to wiping out the rest of the continent.

I'm thinking the idea is to get emotional engagement in the game. Civ V, a lot of the time, I was yawning by mid-game. I was ahead and had no real feelings about my neighbors. In VI, I'm still ahead, but I am furious at my neighbors, yet hemmed in by various realities (warmongering penalties, limits to diplomacy, needing to stay focused on my main goals, etc.) Ahead, sure, but definitely not yawning.

Haha fair point!

 

[van der Knivet]

Interesting... in my first game it was exactly the opposite. They almost didn't settled at all. It was already 1900 ad and most of the civs had only 1-2 cities, even with good spots free and opened just next to them.

And on my home landmass all of the iron ores spawned just one tile away from the borders of the AIs... so I couldn't settle there, and they themselves couldn't catch. So none of the civs of my home landmass (including me) had ever access to swordsman.

Amazing, isn't it?