Incredible AI city placement

[KayAU]

So, I decided to start up a huge map game as Russia before the expansion comes along. I landed in the south of a nice enough continent. After some scouting, I found my only co-inhabitant, Gandhi, in the north. Great, I thought, we are going to be best friends. I'll build my empire down south, and he will prosper up in the fertile north. Then this happened:

So, just what is the advanced AI planning that I am not seing here? Gandhi has loads of uninhabited, prosperous land up north. Why does he send his settler 25 hexes south to settle in the tundra, in a resource poor spot far away from any support?

I wonder if the AI will still do things like this once the loyalty mechanism is in place.

 

[Very Mad Max]

Thing ive noticed is that in every single game I play, every god damn AI will find a settle-able place right next to my land and settle there. It's like the devs want to encourage war but that's kind of pointless when the AI can't even use an archer's ranged attack.

 

[Thormodr]

There is probably oil, aluminium or uranium there.

Hopefully the loyalty mechanic in the expansion will get rid of this silly behaviour.

 

[Very Mad Max]

There is probably oil, aluminium or uranium there.

Hopefully the loyalty mechanic in the expansion will get rid of this silly behaviour.

The AI should only be able to see resources once they unlock them in the tech tree tbh.

 

[Thormodr]

The AI should only be able to see resources once they unlock them in the tech tree tbh.

Oh, I totally agree. The AI cheated big time in Civ III and cIV, though, when it came to knowing where strategic resources were. Not sure about Civilization 5, though.

 

[KayAU]

@Very Mad Max
That was the one thing which occured to me as well, that this might be a dumb mechanism to annoy the player into attacking the AI. However, that is neither fun nor good for immersion, as it is a terribly irrational move by the AI. Even if the AI knew how to do combat, Gandhi currently stands at a little more than half my military strength, he only has that single Varu defending his new city, and no way to bring in reinforcements in time. Also, he just wasted a settler and about 20 turns just to come down and annoy me.

@Thormodr
Hah! Well, if that were the reason, I would somehow feel better about it, even if it is not a consideration the AI should be able to make in the Classical era.


Perhaps I'll find something else to play until R&F is released.

 

[Noble Zarkon]

hat was the one thing which occured to me as well, that this might be a dumb mechanism to annoy the player into attacking the AI.

I think that's exactly what's going on.

 

[UWHabs]

Well, they at least get Diamonds in that spot, so if they don't have them elsewhere, it might not be the stupidest city. I probably would have settled on the other side of the river to also get the pearls in closer.

*actually, if you look they also have ivory in the 3rd ring of it, so they might be valuing this city that gives them 3 luxury resources, even if it takes forever to stretch culture to the 3rd ring.

 

[agonistes]

Well, they at least get Diamonds in that spot, so if they don't have them elsewhere, it might not be the stupidest city. I probably would have settled on the other side of the river to also get the pearls in closer.

*actually, if you look they also have ivory in the 3rd ring of it, so they might be valuing this city that gives them 3 luxury resources, even if it takes forever to stretch culture to the 3rd ring.

Plus it makes the city easier to defend.

 

[Sagax]

So, just what is the advanced AI planning that I am not seing here? Gandhi has loads of uninhabited, prosperous land up north. Why does he send his settler 25 hexes south to settle in the tundra, in a resource poor spot far away from any support?

Clearly he’s been planning a nuclear foothold all along.

 

[Thormodr]

Clearly he’s been planning a nuclear foothold all along.

It’s a plan that’ll take thousands of years to come to fruition. Crafty Gandhi.

 

[agonistes]

I think that's exactly what's going on.

Yea, I think so too. Sadly I don't think the designers play as much as we fanatics, so they actually don't understand the game as well. From comments I've seen about the Let's Plays, this seems to be the case. I don't watch the vids anymore except for First Looks - they drive me crazy.

 

[kaspergm]

There is probably oil, aluminium or uranium there.

Sad thing is, that doesn't even seem to be a thing in Civ6. It was in Civ5, but in 6 they just seem to plop down a city whereever there is a hole, even if it's literally right next to the borders of several civs. Can't wait for this to go away in the expansion.

 

[Depravo]

Thing ive noticed is that in every single game I play, every god damn AI will find a settle-able place right next to my land and settle there. It's like the devs want to encourage war but that's kind of pointless when the AI can't even use an archer's ranged attack.

As a rule of thumb, go to the settler lens. Any green hex is going to be settled by the AI sooner or later.

 

[Kyro]

Well you see, the Devs can't have you playing peacefully so they must do something to make war inevitable.

 

[Disgustipated]

From what I've seen of the Plays of Korea, Netherlands, and India it looks like the AI is avoiding forward settling in the new expansion thankfully. It's very frustrating behavior.

 

[Trengilly]

I would bet its the three resources. And for three new resources I've settled in some really strange far off places myself! But of course I better defended them.

The new loyalty thing is going to totally stop the forward settling issue. Or if they try the city will just flip to you shortly anyway.

 

[Leyrann]

As a rule of thumb, go to the settler lens. Any green hex is going to be settled by the AI sooner or later.

In my experience they tend to prefer grey hexes over green hexes... I guess they're colourblind and think those hexes are actually red hexes. (it can be quite hard to see; luckily I can count)

 

[spfun]

I hope If i city like that flips to the player he has the option of razing it to the ground.

 

[Lord Lakely]

It's astounding how often you'll spawn directly next to an AI even on a huge map (I only play huge, with 9 opponents and 15 CS)

Gandhi also likes to expand into tundra territory away from his capital for some reason. Happens often in my games as well. I think he's programmed to get as many different religions as possible in his cities.