AI not expanding

[bardliam]

I have been playing a game for +/- 250 turns so far, playing the Jotnar on Prince level. I have over a thousand points, where the nearest AI has 250. Granted, I took over a huge amount of barb cities and wiped out another civ, but there is plenty of expansion room on the map and most civs only have 1 city (I'm playing with 16 civs, now 15). Do I need to activate something to get them to expand? Not that i want to make it incredibly hard for myself, but it shouldn't be the cakewalk it's been on Prince.

 

[Valkrionn]

It's a result of the animals... They escalate a bit too fast, and kill AI expansion. Should be fixed next patch.

 

[Vermicious Knid]

Playing at lower difficulties really, really messes with the AI. Without the bonus starting units they have no chance vs. upgraded animals. This won't get much better in the next version, I fear.

Solution is to play the higher difficulty level.

 

[Sarisin]

I think it really depends on the map you are using, size, game speed, etc. And, even then, with the same variables you often get different results.

Some games I notice the same thing as the OP, and, honestly, I am very happy with it as before I thought the overexpansion of the AI ruined many games.

However, same variables (playing at Monarch), my current game, the AI has had no problem at all expanding. No civs have gone down on the Standard size map and it is pretty full with little room for expansion. A bad side effect of this is the increased time between turns. Obviously, there are virtually zero animals on the map as well.

 

[bardliam]

I always play on a Huge map with between 16 and 20 civs, I like the variety. I'm going to start a new game and turn off the two 'more animal' options I've been using.

 

[Riot_Starter]

I'm finding the current patch unplayable (or at least, no fun) because even with no animal invasions the AI just fold to the animals. Standard Erebus continent, normal speed, immortal AIs. At least 1 civ seems to die every game and those that survive only have 3-4 cities when I have around 6 without any from conquering barbs or civs.

 

[lordrune]

I'm finding the current patch unplayable (or at least, no fun) because even with no animal invasions the AI just fold to the animals. Standard Erebus continent, normal speed, immortal AIs. At least 1 civ seems to die every game and those that survive only have 3-4 cities when I have around 6 without any from conquering barbs or civs.

Hmm, it's not so bad. I play without animal invasions and sometimes an AI Civ will still die - but that can just be Orthus or bad luck with some other kind of barbs.
I've moved up to Monarch and most of the AIs keep pace with me up until late game, where I'm usually able to pull away (There are usually a couple of straggler AIs that barely get past their first city but that's normal).