So what kind of troll created the AI, exactly?

[Castar]

Seriously. See the attached image (kinda big, sorry). In case you miss it, Spain's capital of Madrid is in the top right. About 17 tiles from Barcelona, its second city. Circled in red, right bloody next to their goddamned capital, is the Cerro de Potosi natural wonder. You'd think Spain might be interested in that massive mountain of cash, seeing as natural wonders are their whole shtick. But no, apparently, pissing off the Dutch by settling on a useless piece of marshland near their capital takes priority.

I've seen this quite a few times now in BNW, the AI settling its early cities ridiculously far from its capital in spaces that would have been good for me, but are more or less entirely useless to them. All Spain has done here is needlessly frustrate me and ensure it will get wiped out completely (it can't ever defend a city a zillion tiles away from its capital).

This is litterally Artifical Stupidity. Really. This can't be an artifact of a complex ruleset, this is such a deliberate act of frustrating stupidity that someone must have programmed it like that.

Ah well, I'll just consider Barcelona a de facto part of the Dutch Empire, I guess. ******ed AI.

 

[Botswana]

Or, they'll have an excellent and fertile river land right next to their capital, and proceed not to settle it at ALL. And then they get mad at me for settling that land myself. Well maybe you should have SETTLED IT FIRST since it's only 6 tiles away from your goddamn capital.

 

[HerrDoktor]

Just conquer and raze, but pay attention to that location. AI knows where the strategic resources are before they get the tech for it. Maybe it has iron or even oil.

 

[Chemical Toilet]

In my experience, the Spainish AI in particular has never been too bright.

 

[Firesmacker]

Yeah, I've been seeing that a lot more too. Before BNW it was usually something they did because they already didn't like you. Now it seems to be entirely random.

In the game I'm in now, Monty plopped a city in an area surrounded by Chinese cities. Oh, and he went past Shaka to get there...

 

[Murrica]

Well, if they place a city 7 tiles to your right, in between the two mountains, you won't be able to move to the right side of the continent. This will make you stuck on that side of the continent, and could potentially make the rest of the game impossible for you. This is assuming they went liberty since with their production bonus, and the free settler from the social policy, will allow them to get 3 cities around the time you get your second settler out. I doubt the AI has a land grab strategy like that, but it's not completely bad for them to do this.

 

[Petiscator]

Yeah, quite weird and all but...


HOLY COW! I wish I was Poland or the Huns playing that map! Check the ginormous amount of potential stables at east of Barcelona

 

[Tachii]

I also notice AIs are settling ridiculously far away to settle near me. Maybe it also has something to do with trade routes. It seems like an intentional change though. I see it as a common site now. They settle pretty far from their capital, especially their second or third city, like also exactly on the tile I would settle. It's one of the most unwelcome changes I've seen in BNW. :<

 

[mike1117112]

I've noticed it a bit. I would think it is for trade routes into my capitol.

 

[Firesmacker]

Maybe it also has something to do with trade routes.

I never thought of that. You may be on to something.

 

[Chris1111]

I'm thinking, that is definitely something to do with trade routes as it has happened in all my games either between the AI's themselves or against me.

A trade route can't reach you from Madrid so they're plopping down a city near you for the trade.

Also in the past barbarians would of swallowed up that likely unprotected settler wandering to you but that seems to be broken as well, seen it mentioned here awhile back.

 

[Gucumatz]

Barbarians are iffy on if they want to take an unprotected settler, but I guarantee you it still happens. In multiplayer in a BNW game I saw someone lose their settler on turn 2 to a barbarian grabbing it (the warrior was looking for a spot to settle)

 

[Tiggurix]

Just conquer and raze, but pay attention to that location. AI knows where the strategic resources are before they get the tech for it. Maybe it has iron or even oil.

The Dutch get the Polder UI, so for them marshes are a good thing. So that's why he's frustrated that they settled there, as for him that was a good spot, but not for them. At least, not at that stage of the game.

 

[Halcyan2]

It's aggressive settling.

Human players do it all the time. Aggressively settle right next to other civs, with the plan to DoW them soon. AI's do it to each other too.

Often it probably isn't the best option, but it kind of makes sense....

 

[Maxym]

Yeah, quite weird and all but...


HOLY COW! I wish I was Poland or the Huns playing that map! Check the ginormous amount of potential stables at east of Barcelona

This, when I saw that I though I wish I was Polish.

Trade might be it, or there could be oil there, AI knows in advance.

Also lots of desert near Cerro, they don't like settling in desert.

 

[isau]

It's not totally loony. Looking at this map, the chances that she'll be able to grab the Natural Wonder eventually are very good. It would have made somewhat more sense to settle to the east and further north of you and block your potential advancement in that direction. But, placed where she is, she's walling your southern advancement off and the natural wonder is not at risk of being snatched by someone else.

 

[cakes]

you think the AI is stupid for cutting you off from a good settling spot? is that not part of the game?

 

[Altisma]

It's aggressive settling.

Human players do it all the time. Aggressively settle right next to other civs, with the plan to DoW them soon. AI's do it to each other too.

Often it probably isn't the best option, but it kind of makes sense....

You can't aggressively settle someone if your empire is too far stretched out. Spain has no way of supporting that city if the player declares war on it. The terrain between it and the capital is mostly all rough meaning it would be 10+ turns for a army to come and defend it.

 

[Halcyan2]

You can't aggressively settle someone if your empire is too far stretched out. Spain has no way of supporting that city if the player declares war on it. The terrain between it and the capital is mostly all rough meaning it would be 10+ turns for a army to come and defend it.

It's Spain! With all the free gold from discovering natural wonders, she can probably rush buy an army from Barcelona.

I doubt the AI is thinking that way, but it's actually sort of clever. Settle near the enemy and rush buy an early army!

Plus, despite the flat terrain, Barcelona is actually pretty well defended. There is a river protecting it, as well as a good amount of marsh, which slows enemy movement to a crawl.

 

[iggymnrr]

Two things: 1) the AI seems to settle somewhere where its scout has explored and 2) it is turn 63 and you have only one city. You should have your tradition 3 or 4 cities by now before you can call the AI stupid.

Edit: I had Morocco do this to me once, settling 2 cities near me ... ... I was Venice