24-07-2004 00:33									#1
	Oddities of AI Production Full PM-box? Change here!

Ok, there are some things that are baffling me about AI production.

I was testing my latest scenario, taking care of details on the Iberian penninsula, and started checking city production of barbarian cities. Here is what happened;

The barbarian cities were all set to produce a barbarian unit with a "no" preq. But checking the production box every turn, I noticed that there was NO production. No shields were appearing in the box from turn to turn. So I used CivCity to change the production in these cities to a unit with "nil" preq, hoping that this change would cause the cities to begin producing units. The first time I checked the shield boxes in the barbarian cities, they were producing the new unit, and the number of shields in the box was normal--the shields in the box on the first turn corresponded to the production number of the cities. But when I checked the very next turn, the production was much further along than it should've been, by perhaps 50-100 shields (I didn't count). Then, the next turn, ALL the shields were gone, and only 1 shield was left in the box. Every subsequent turn, all the barbarian cities, anywhere on the map it seems, had 1 shield in the box, and stayed that way from turn to turn.

This is not only perplexing, but tends to undermine any efforts I make to put together a coherent scenario. What on earth is the AI doing with production and what are the "rules?"

Can anyone comment? explain?

We all know the AI "cheats." But this is getting ridiculous.

Sometimes, it seems as if the only way to prevent the AI from filling the map with units is to take the extreme measure of eliminating ALL military units from the voluntary build list, and giving all military units via events. AI production is bizarre and tends to ruin any planning. At one minute, the AI can spontaneously materialize dozens of free shields in the box, the next, the shields disappear, and production essentially stops.

What do you think about NO production of military units, but instead ALL military units delivered via events?

It does seem to defeat one of the original fortes of the game, but then, I can't see any other way to deal with an AI that is so unpredictable and nonsensical.

	24-07-2004 01:23									#2
	Tired of ads?

Exile, the AI treats Barbarian production entirely differently from that of legit civs. As far as I can recall, Barb cities will produce whatever unit captured the city for them in the first place. However, if there are more than 6 (I think) Barb units on the map, then NO Barbarian production occurs at all. Barbarians are a completely different ballgame from AI civilizations.