AI get second city on turn 8?

[Heerlo]

So I just started a new game on Civ 5 using VEM on a huge continents map.I find some ancient ruins that give me a map that shows more ancient ruins to the south.I start heading that way, and start getting some of them.

And as I'm running around down there with my warrior I see a little bit of Roman territory, but not close enough that I actually meet them.

And eventually while the game is processing AI turns, in the area that the map revealed for me I see the Romans plop down a second city on turn 7 or 8.

Is this normal?I don't ever remember seeing this happen before.I don't think I even had my starting monument done yet!

 

[The_J]

Low difficulty and they found a settler in a ruin maybe?

 

[TheMarshmallowBear]

Or high difficulty and they started out with 2 settlers.

 

[Seek]

Low difficulty and they found a settler in a ruin maybe?

Or high difficulty and they started out with 2 settlers.

Definitely one of the two. If you have other questions while using VEM, feel free to post in the subforum here (or check out the documentation on the website here). There's a ton of information and many friendly people who will be happy to help you out.

 

[gozpel]

Low difficulty, maybe Settler? Otherwise it would be impossible for Rome to *plop* down a second city on turn 8.

Or high difficulty as TheKingOfBigOz said, on Deity the AI get 2 settlers.

Still, it feels funny, if it was Deity why would it take 7-8 turns to found the next city?

 

[DavidCAD]

Still, it feels funny, if it was Deity why would it take 7-8 turns to found the next city?

Difficult terrain or maybe the AI tried exploring in one direction but found an ocean and had to double back to get enough room to found the second city.

 

[gozpel]

Difficult terrain or maybe the AI tried exploring in one direction but found an ocean and had to double back to get enough room to found the second city.

That sounds right, but we don't know yet what difficulty the OP played. If it wasn't Deity, the only candidate to build a fast new city is Nappy, I've seen him settle a new city on turn 12.

 

[Heerlo]

It was prince difficulty.That's what I usually play on, and I don't usually see this happen.

 

[TheMarshmallowBear]

It was prince difficulty.That's what I usually play on, and I don't usually see this happen.

8th turn... 8th turn...

Well that is bizzare, the only thing i can think of is a very lucky ancient ruins that gave him enough Culture to adopt Liberty and that Free Settler policy.

THAT.. or he encountered El Dorado somewhere and gotten enough cash to purchase a Settler.

 

[Heerlo]

It just seems odd to me that an AI could get a settler, send it north of his capital and found a city, in less than nine turns.And the game had just started.

Weird.

 

[Seek]

Militaristic AIs receive a free settler in VEM (to compensate for general poor performance). I don't know why I didn't think of that when I posted earlier.

 

[Heerlo]

@ Seek:

I did not know that.That could very well be what it was.

Thanks all.

 

[apocalypse105]

Free culture free culture from ruins pick settler from liberty

 

[primordial stew]

Don't know if it's intended, or a bug, but when I found a new city prior to the 1st policy, there is no increase of the policy cost.

The situation is being the Spanish and finding a wonder first, which gives 5x (5x100) gold, which is more that enough to buy a settler.

 

[Heerlo]

I know that it was Rome.I don't have any DLC anyway.

It may have just been what Seek said.

 

[NotSure]

It's not just in VEM. AI can produce settlers on turn 8 or 9 in vanilla. I see it regularly. It's probably just another AI bonus.

 

[blackcatatonic]

8th turn... 8th turn...

Well that is bizzare, the only thing i can think of is a very lucky ancient ruins that gave him enough Culture to adopt Liberty and that Free Settler policy.

VEM aside, this is another possibility. I've seen a variation on this on Emperor level, where an AI (think it was Oda) went for Honour first and ended up with a Great General on turn 8. Must have found a couple of culture ruins.

 

[Seek]

I asked Thal about the bonus settler to confirm, an he said it was removed in favor of other bonuses so I agree it must be culture ruins.

 

[TheMarshmallowBear]

You also have to keep in mind that higher difficulty, like Diety, the AI recieves free settlers for the difficulty bonus, but the OP cleary stated he was playing on Prince which is the 50/50 difficulty.

 

[The_Quasar]

You also have to keep in mind that higher difficulty, like Diety, the AI recieves free settlers for the difficulty bonus, but the OP cleary stated he was playing on Prince which is the 50/50 difficulty.

The AI plays in Civ V, iirc, at Warlord, and gets bonuses at Prince... in Civ IV it was Prince that was (supposed to be) level.