Limiting AI city settle distance

[greyTiger]

In the AI battle royale stream by Firaxis one of the most idiotic moves by the AI for me was Russia settling it's second city on the opposite side of the map where it had no hope of defending it. This settling strategy for me is a large issue. I have thought about a possible solution and would appreciate some feedback.

I propose a new mechanism that would limit the distance the AI can settle away from its current borders. Each new era would increase this range so that civs would still be able to settle other continents as the game progresses. e.g.

Ancient era - maximum of 8 tiles from current borders
Classical era - maximum of 12 tiles from current borders
Medieval era - maximum of 16 tile from current borders
Renaissance era - maximum of 20 tiles from current borders

We could then have a civic that unlocks the ability to settle at any distance in the Renaissance era. This could represent the age of colonization.

I feel that this would provide a more realistic expansion of AI empires, and would help the AI as it would have more units in a smaller area to help protect it from attack.

This expansion limit would not apply to conquering cities which could be at any distance from the AI's borders.

 

[KrikkitTwo]

Just have a part of the AI code that decreases how valuable a city location is based on distance to closest city.....and have that effect get eliminated in the Renaissance Era.