Settlers: How can I get best locations?

[Sclb]

Even if you dont actually kill the settler/unit, they tend to not like charging at your units and you can really slow them down, even with Scouts.

There's a risk in that, sometimes they will settle a city as soon as you DoW and the city might be planted in an extremely bad spot and you lose a unit due to the city bombard.

 

[isau]

There's a risk in that, sometimes they will settle a city as soon as you DoW and the city might be planted in an extremely bad spot and you lose a unit due to the city bombard.

Yes but you should make sure that doesn't happen. Against AI you can usually tell where they are headed. It's riskier against a human player.

To minimize this I try to keep some units close to their borders so I can catch the Settler the convoy the moment it starts to head out.

 

[InaneObserver]

In single player, don't be afraid to declare war on someone running a Settler near your territory. Especially if you either got Archery from a hut, or one of your early units got a free upgrade. Even if you dont actually kill the settler/unit, they tend to not like charging at your units and you can really slow them down, even with Scouts.

This may just be in my imagination, but experience suggests that with a DoW the AI will actually hesitate to send new settlers in your direction. Is there a script for this?

 

[isau]

This may just be in my imagination, but experience suggests that with a DoW the AI will actually hesitate to send new settlers in your direction. Is there a script for this?

They will still send them in your direction, at least sometimes. The escorting unit will never outright attack you though. The settler itself will also never settle on top of a resource.

In a recent game versus Rome, I used two Scouts and a Warrior to overtake two escorted Settlers to keep them from forward-settling me. It worked mainly because Scouts can move quickly thru Jungle/Forest tiles and their early promotions give them extra healing. I just had to keep moving units so the AI couldn't progress where it wanted to go.

 

[beetle]

There's a risk in that, sometimes they will settle a city as soon as you DoW and the city might be planted in an extremely bad spot and you lose a unit due to the city bombard.

This used to happen to me pretty frequently. I have gotten better at timing my DOW. It they are 6+ hexes away and settle that is usually okay. Or DOW when then are within 3 hexes of my city, so they can't plant. AI will try and keep moving, so that is a good trap.

But the usual problem is that they are aiming for a spot close to where I am sending a settler. So DOWing with all I have (usually two scouts and a warrior) has to be enough.