Terra Map Amusement

[ZargonX]

So I've been having fun with the Terra maps, and noticed the other day that both myself and AI left the barbs in the "new world" alone for so long, that by the time I came over to conquer, they'd actually built the Colossus! Anyone else had the barbs build any world wonders?

[MrFun]

I built a world wonder of my own in my own backyard yesterday -- it's a pyramid, and much larger than the whimy Great Pyramid the Egyptians built.

[LordShiva]

What's a "whimy" pyramid?

[duke o' york]

It's a pyramiid built on a whim (sic).

[Datajack Franit]

[zerothehero]

Had this in a number of games. The AI doesn't seem to expand to other continent even when got the techs to do so. I think this is a fault with the AI.

[Harovan]

I played a terra map game and the AI colonized the other continent just fine. However, and other than me, it never tried to take barbarian cities.

[Blake]

For me on terra maps the AI does colonize the other continents okay, once they get around to it, but they mostly huddle in their size 2 bases rather than bothering to do much terraforming.

All their colonies should be named "Now What?!" because they have absolutely no clue what they're doing...

I admit it's not easy, because successful colonies are expensive, and to really make the new world pay off it's nessecary to ship over heaps of workers and stuff, along with plenty of military to supress the barbarians, and running 30% science to pay for the colonies. It's a level of co-ordination the AI isn't really capable of.

Oh well. Terra maps are still fun.

[sabrewolf]

Originally posted by zerothehero
Had this in a number of games. The AI doesn't seem to expand to other continent even when got the techs to do so. I think this is a fault with the AI.

in my last terra map game my ally was scouting the coast of the new continent with his ship... and to my shock he actually had a settler inside!
i was worried that he would take away the best spots but infact i managed to place approx 8 of my own cities and conquer 4 barbarian cities before he even put foot on the new world... wierd.

i presume the AI does not emphasise the colonisation. unlike the AI, the human player KNOWS about the idea of a terra map and the race to colonise. that scenario should probably have an AI mod that beelines more towards ocean travel and pumps out settlers short before. and it should also know what we know about the new world:
- 2 subcontinents connected by an isthmus
- new resources
- passage around the world only on one side (so far always south passage)
- advanced barbarian cities (--> bring along city attacker units and not just defensive ones)

[eris]

That's interesting. In other threads people are arguing whether there is a problem because the AI has pre-knowledge. (of map, of player units, etc) Here the problem is the human has pre-knowledge.

"It's broken 'cause the computer knows too much!" "It's broken 'cause the human knows too much!" What a delicious irony.

(Not that I can comment usefully on either topic. I'm still trying to figure out the tech tree, promotions system and civics matrix.)

[nzambi]

Sorry to address the original question, but yes, the barbarians will build wonders. I got the Hanging Gardens that way. They also improve their tiles and send out stacks of units. They don't seem to diversify these stacks very well. I suppose that's why they're barbarians and we're not. (OK. I am, but in the game, I'm not.)

[Aro]

Originally posted by nzambi

I suppose that's why they're barbarians and we're not.

[Josquius]

The AI is always fanatical about colonization for me.
Barbarians building the collosus?
WTF?
I thought barbarians just built units not imprvements.
And where'd they get the bronze?

[sabrewolf]

Originally posted by eris
"It's broken 'cause the computer knows too much!" "It's broken 'cause the human knows too much!" What a delicious irony.

i did not say it is broken.
merely that the AI is optimised for generic games and does not know the fine details of a special type of map.

imagine a situation where you'd have to place a city exactly on the isthmus and otherwise you could not expand to the other side of the world. the AI will not necessarily put it there unless it is either the ideal location under general circumstances or it knows the point of the map.

similar to the earth map: as a human player i know where i will end up in dead ends (eg. southern africa, arabia) and where i can meet many more players (europe, eastern asia) so i won't bother looking for unnecessary stuff. the AI cannot know this, but it does not make the game broken...

[sabrewolf]

Originally posted by Josquius
The AI is always fanatical about colonization for me.
Barbarians building the collosus?
WTF?
I thought barbarians just built units not imprvements.
And where'd they get the bronze?

i'm also surprise by the wonder building.
but have you actually ever played a big map or one where islands did not have starting civs? you'd know then the barbarians mine and farm their land and also build improvements.... and pretty decent stuff to, btw

it'll only build units if it has to throw them at the player or build up destroyed city defences!