Why is this still happening?

[Malachi256]

I find barbarian camps with AI settlers...

I know the code for escorting is in the game. It's not hard - it's not like settlers can out-move any military units in the game.

I guess I could understand it on prince-and-lower difficulties, but on king and above? Really?

 

[Adjuvant]

Maybe barbs killed the escort...

 

[Pax_Romanus]

I'm guessing either a) the unit got killed by several brutes ganging up on it, or b) the settler was forced to move around a unit from a CS/ another civ, while the escort moved through it. ( AI cannot path to save its virtual life.)

 

[Malachi256]

Maybe barbs killed the escort...

Well I guess that's possible, even though it's a little ridiculous given the bonuses that the AI gets against barbs on king+up.

 

[Adjuvant]

Well I guess that's possible, even though it's a little ridiculous given the bonuses that the AI gets against barbs on king+up.

I... don't think AI gets bonus v barb unless it goes honor policy...

It plays on a lower difficulty than "you do" and starts with more stuff.

 

[Wulf38]

The AI settler code is pretty bad. It seems like when a settler is built, it picks a settling location and stubbornly tries to follow the shortest path to that place, no matter what happens. They'll try to send settling parties straight through hostile territory while at war, and the settler will happily keep walking into range of enemy units even if its escort gets killed. Then if for some reason if it can't settle in the chosen spot, it will just kinda sit around forever, not bothering to take other perfectly good settling locations that it could easily reach.

It doesn't surprise me then that they get picked off by barbs sometimes.

 

[nefloyd]

Yea, their settlers can easily get locked into an incompletable state. If I have a neighbor who I think will settle a location I want, I can use 3-4 units to block the movement path until I settle it. Then his settler just idles forever. Can do the same thing with land purchases to create a border line, too.