YossarianLives
Deity
9 from Gold is probably the better long term location, but having Agg Impis so close makes me feel that we NEED to settle on the hill for the defense bonus. That really trumps all other considerations in my mind.
9 from Gold is probably the better long term location, but having Agg Impis so close makes me feel that we NEED to settle on the hill for the defense bonus. That really trumps all other considerations in my mind.
Important things to keep in mind:
Barbs will ALWAYS enter your borders if they can attack one of your units directly (--> watch your Workers!).
Once they have entered your territory, they will consider the following options for their current turn
pillage an improvement (50%)
attack somebody
depending on conditions A and B move to another tile to pillage or attack a city (or target a city)
patrol --> here they always prefer to move into unowned tiles (this is why they don't enter in the first place; if possible they will move out again; if they somehow get boxed in by cultural borders they might also "have to" enter your territory with this mission)
Hence they can also change their minds - if they enter to pillage on their 3rd turn, they will choose to attack somebody on their second turn if possible (if you move a defending unit to an adjacent tile).
Barb units do not differ from other AI units in general, they also have a certain courage to attack. They just behave more erraticly and have lower inhibition thresholds on average.
The decision to attack a unit or not is made via a comparison of the unit's AttackOdds vs. a threshold individually specificied for all mission test calls (AI_anyAttack, AI_cityAttack). There are a lot of calculations adjusting the odds and thresholds depending on the situation of the combatants. What I read from all this is, that the AttackOdds are similar to the well known combat odds (depending on the strength, damage and bonuses of attacker and defender) + a "dare-devil offset", the AttackOddsChange. Each AI leader recalculates his/her AttackOddsChange each turn during CvPlayerAI::AI_doMilitary() according to:
AttackOddsChange = BaseAttackOddsChange + RNG(AttackOddsChangeRand) + RNG(AttackOddsChangeRand)
IIUC this value should vary around an average of BaseAttackOddsChange + AttackOddsChangeRand-1. As you can read from the Leaderhead-xml (or my converted spreadsheet ) the barbs have BaseAttackOddsChange = 0 (it is 0 for Gandhi ... 6 for Ragnar), which would make them cowards, but their AttackOddsChangeRand = 16, that is double the value of all other leaders (8), so on average they should attack more often than Ragnar (0 + 15 > 6 + 7).
The great variation of the barbs' AttackOddsChange (0...30) is responsible for their erratic behavior -- they will often shy from combat on one turn and move pass your defenders only to attack them on the very next turn. As mentioned above the thresholds used in CvUnitAI::AI_barbAttackMove() are especially low (20, 15, 10), so that the barbs might attack regardless of the actual combat odds during certain turns, when a very high AttackOddsChange might bring them over the relevant threshold alone.
Oh yeah, and they of course have a very advanced radar to detect all your units, cities and improvements. SearchRange = (Range+1)*(BaseMovements+1), with Range being the other parameter passed in the mission test calls besides the thresholds --> a 1 unit will scan a circle with a diameter of 9 tiles at the minimum (Range = 1).
Edit: It's not a circle but a sqaure area of 9 x 9 tiles.
Played the turn, will post screenies tomorrow, going to a party tonight.
Bad news are I (we) overlooked to see that there is a river crossing south of Indira too and Ainwood was unable to get to the hill due to watering his shoes and stopping on the other bank of the river for them to dry (wearing wet slippery shoes when fighting on life and death is not a good idea indeed). Next best plan is to try when there is a unit in direct contact and a mine to destroy under his feet, what the barbs prefer to do. If they prefer to attack the unit, no harm done, we still defend with warrior on hill against barb warrior. If he decides to pillage, well, mines can be rebuilt easily
This sentence I like a lotAxemen towards the Spanish border and Spearmen to the RB border.
This is a very valid concern. Can we whip a warrior if need be in Terasvin, or should we work a turn on warrior, so we certainly can? Also, whipped warrior is not an adequate defence. Fresh unfortified warrior has only 75 % chance to win. Not nearly good enough odds to ignore the threat IMO.I also don't like that Terasvin is unprotected...