Question about AI

[Zeppelin4]

I downloaded your latest stable mod. I setup a tectonics map with arid climate. The question I have is it normal with your mod for the AI to setup cities in the desert terrain with no resources at all? I'm talking every square is desert here. I get quite frustrated to see the AI claiming every empty space it can even if the terrain is totally worthless. In my last map there was a huge desert area and the AI was claiming every space like it was grasslands. Is there no hope for the AI when it comes to city placement?

 

[Zeppelin4]

After a lot of digging I have found that there is no hope for the AI city placement based on past threads. It's to bad for I feel that is Civ 4 biggest weakness.

 

[phungus420]

City placement is not really a problem. It's just something that bothers OCD users, really the BtS AI is good with city placement as a whole. The thing that kills the AI is it's economy, it has no form of specialization, and it destroys it's late game economy, by constantly building over all improvements including devolped cottages.

 

[Zeppelin4]

So connecting about 5 cities in a desert with zero resources of any kind is not a problem? I sure do not claim to be some expert in fact that is why I'm here asking about this. If you say the economy is there problem then I would think a bunch of worthless cities draining their funds would be a problem.

 

[PieceOfMind]

It depends just how bad the terrain is you're talking about. If you mean there is literally no useful tiles to work (every one of 20 tiles in the BFC is desert) then it may be a bit of a problem, but at least they're turning the city tile into something useful.

If the cities are coastal, the trade routes can be decent enough to justify the city being there. Even inland cities could have enough trade routes. Of course, if you are talking about a mid to late stage of the game, there can be enough per-city bonuses for your empire that it is worthwhile to literally fit as many cities as physically possible onto a landmass.

The more cities an AI has, the more able it is to recover from cities being taken from it by the human or other AIs.

Zeppelin4, can you post examples of city placement that you believe is detrimental to the AI's progress? I suspect that in most cases the AI is probably benefiting more than you think, even from poor city sites, because it does enjoy lower maintenance costs (at higher levels).