AI suggested Settler position, is it the best?

[Baba Yetu VI]

Game Settings:

No Turn Limit
KING Difficulty
Continent Map
QUICK Speed

I am about to found a second city. The AI seems not suggesting a very good location. I intend to build the Stonehenge and Observatory later. The AI doesn't take this consideration?

What you reckon?

 

[Takfloyd]

You should never listen to the AI in games like this.

 

[Plus Ultra]

Maybe, just maybe, Japan's AI has been tweaked to reduce or even limit the recommended distance between cities in order to make the most of its UA.

If we apply occam's razor... well, probably the AI is doing some dumb thing again.

 

[Frank327]

The northwest spot is kinda decent because you can build an aqueduct without losing all those forests. But the best spot might actually be the tile connected to all three suggested locations. It's weird how two of the suggested locations have no option for getting fresh water. I guess the AI doesn't value fresh water nearly enough.

 

[Dukkha]

The northwest spot is kinda decent because you can build an aqueduct without losing all those forests. But the best spot might actually be the tile connected to all three suggested locations. It's weird how two of the suggested locations have no option for getting fresh water. I guess the AI doesn't value fresh water nearly enough.

Agree with this. But only if you want to settle in that direction. I would found my second city somewhere along the river with iron and stone in northeast corner of map.

 

[dac050]

The AI isn't recommending anything. If you look at the lower right hand corner where it shows your settler is selected, the colored bar chart is the Water Availability Guide. Red, you cannot build, whitish/gray, you have no direct access to water, light green you have access to water, but not good fresh water, and dark green, you have access to nice fresh water. So, the colors on the map merely show where the water is. That's all.

 

[Dukkha]

So those symbols of a city isn't meant to be a recommnedation? What are they there for than? The coloring is pretty clear though and quite useful. (But of course as the case have been in every Civ game, as soon as you no longer are an absolute beginner, never trust the AI for settling of cities).

 

[dac050]

It's just like the bar chart says, water availablility.

Dark Green = +3 Housing
Green = +1 Housing
Gray/White = Neutral
Red = Cannot Settle here.

 

[Frank327]

The AI isn't recommending anything. If you look at the lower right hand corner where it shows your settler is selected, the colored bar chart is the Water Availability Guide. Red, you cannot build, whitish/gray, you have no direct access to water, light green you have access to water, but not good fresh water, and dark green, you have access to nice fresh water. So, the colors on the map merely show where the water is. That's all.

So those symbols of a city isn't meant to be a recommnedation? What are they there for than? The coloring is pretty clear though and quite useful. (But of course as the case have been in every Civ game, as soon as you no longer are an absolute beginner, never trust the AI for settling of cities).

Yeah the colors are water availability and the city icon's are AI suggested city locations. So the AI is definately recommending something and two of the recommendations are bad.

Actually now that I look at it some more, the NW suggested location is very good. Both in the short and the long term. But the first city should go to the river in the north to prevent other civs from settling that.

 

[Dukkha]

Yes, as I stated the colors are easy to understand, but there are three symbols of cities also showing in his picture above, and you'll see the same symbols in the game when you have a settler or use the settler filter for the map. Those symbols are clearly suggestions from the AI where you should put the city.

 

[Promethian]

The city symbols are recommendations. That person is just stupid.

Someone else said it but I would go for the Iron. You can place a city on fresh water that starts with a 2/2 output tile and will get to the Iron in short order. Those 2/2 tiles are amazing for a city starting out.

 

[Xyriach]

I'd be heading north to set up a military production city next to that Iron...

 

[Dukkha]

As I stated in my first reply, totally agree with you Promethian and Xyriach that the best location for the second city is close to the iron.

 

[Katakanja]

For a third city though, surely over around where the ai is recommending wouldn't be a bad idea? Settle between the two horses, aqueduct over to the lake with a holy site between the mountain and the natural wonder for a solid faith adjacency bonus (you said you planned to build stonehenge, so I figure you want to have a strong faith output to fuel your religion later) and since this is a continents map, you can put down a harbour later on the coast if you want to expand across the sea.

 

[Xyriach]

In fact, if you place it on the inside curve of that river to the north, you can snag the iron, the diary, the stone and the horses and then with a little tile purchasing, smack a campus in the corner of that jungle for a +3 adjacency bonus with an industrial zone next to the city capturing all three hill tiles with quarries/mines.

 

[inthesomeday]

I'd settle north, on the plains river forest hill with two cattle to its south.

 

[Lord_Azazel]

If we apply occam's razor... well, probably the AI is doing some dumb thing again.

Thanks for making me learn something new today.
I had never heard of Ockham's razor

 

[Baba Yetu VI]

Thanks everyone for your input. Now I learn something new from this version. Very good UI I say, with this mnemonic feature.

I just wonder if the AI recommends more locations as I move north west.

If I found the city on a forest tile between the river to its left and the little mountain to its right, would that be a good choice also? The I will have the 2 cattles, 1 iron, horse and stone.

The AI recommendation should be dumped.

 

[Xyriach]

I don't know about dumped, but I imagine it helps new players and potentially could be reduced to being part of the tutorial tips and therefore deactivatable.

 

[Victoria]

The AI may be being very clever and realising you are not an AI is trying to gain the upper hand by making you die of thirst.
Alternatively one would suggest the weighting is too much in favour of luxury resources and proximity which for a second city is not of the highest order.
Now if you had enough money to spam an aqueduct then perhaps it would not be such an unfortunate choice.

To correctly answer your original question as best as possible... no, it does not take into account what you are thinking very well unless you have the psychic plug-in activated.