What the? Galleons on the attack

[Optional]

To me it seems that the AI is more likely to attack something if it can attack it and make it back into home port. Did you make sure all the galleys were equal distance from Constantinople?

I did, yes; I wanted to rule out distance as a factor. I didn't think about the AI wanting to make it back into port the same turn, but you could well be right there. Good observation! My galleys were always just two tiles away from Constantinople.

It's tricky to think up a good test, though. I finnicked around a bit at first. Before trying it against the Byzantines I tried it against Germany. Do you think they ever attacked me? Nope, I never even saw a single German galley, not even with the Jaws score on! So I thought I needed a seafaring civ with a stronger boat, to increase the chance that I was actually being attacked. I picked the Byzantines; the dromon is a galley with an attack of 2. Still, they hardly attacked. And when they attacked, they only bombarded - the dromon has lethal bombard, so they can sink an opponant without any danger to their own hitpoints. A vessel without bombard could well have behaved differently from those dromons.
So, you might ask some questions about this test, but personally I've seen enough to come to the conclusion that the AI doesn't know that when it's attacking a vessel, it's also targeting the cargo.

I really wouldn't know how to test how much the AI appreciates the ability to get back in their own harbour, so that test might not happen...

 

[capnvonbaron]

yeah, its hard to say if they predicate attacks on proximity to harbor. The last time I had zulu galleys harrassing my invading caravels, the galleys were nowhere near port. Maybe the attack decision runs on its own RNG

Another thought; perhaps the AI will only attack with galleys that have no units in them. I know I wouldn't. Since the AI seems to randomly load stuff into boats, maybe that accounts for some of the crazyness?