How good are game recommendations?

[MyOlde]

How good are the game recommendations for where to build a city, or which tech to research next, or which thing a city should build?

I'm curious as to whether they are geared to an individual civ's particular traits (Industrious, Organized, Whatever) -- that's in the case of what to build/research next.

How much do you follow or pay attention to those recommendations?

[Theben]

Almost never. Occasionally I will double-check a city site to see if there's something the computer knows that I don't.

[Ming]

The problem with the "choice" provided is that it is a generic choice, and doesn't take into acount what your specific game plan is. Very rarely do I end up building a city where it tells me to.

[Crossfire]

And as much as I like the work that Blake did on the AI, recommended city placement was one area that worked better before BtS. I understand the desirability of building on hills, but it can't be the primary selection criteria.

[MoonWolf]

I sometimes use it if I'm unsure where to put the city. Besides that, it only confuses me as I'm almost always asking myself why the game recommend that location or I'm thinking if the recommended spot where better than the one I chose.

[Wittlich]

Originally posted by MoonWolf
I sometimes use it if I'm unsure where to put the city. Besides that, it only confuses me as I'm almost always asking myself why the game recommend that location or I'm thinking if the recommended spot where better than the one I chose.

Agreed.

Case in point: I move a settler into REALLY sucky terrain. I figure one point is it. The "program" tells me another point is it. I look at all the surrounding terrain...and realize my placement and the game's placement are the same...IF my placement does not involve choke-points, etc. I will normally go with the game (thinking about future goods that I am not aware of as yet, but the game might)...Other than that, I go with my gut feeling.

[Adagio]

I rarely place my cities where it wants me to (unless it's the same spot as where I would have placed the city anyway)
Sometimes it turns out that their spot was a bit better, because of unrevealed resources (I don't like that it knows the location of all resources, even those that I haven't found yet

[ybrevo]

I don´t build a settler until I know exactly where my next city is going to be, and many times it is right next to the "recommended" site. Usually it doesn´t matter much, because I am still connected to the resources I want.

When it comes to techs, I never follows the advice, since they are part of the game strategy. I normally beeline to what I want, and trade the other techs when the time is right.

ybrevo

[MoonWolf]

Does the game really knows about future recourses? I thought so, but after seeing recommended spots being changed when I've discovered new resources, I'm not so sure anymore.

[Robert]

I don't even see them anymore

[Lancer]

The AI is telling you where to build your city so that it will fit in his empire.

Actually I wish the AI would choose better locations for their cities though once in a while it will shock me with artful perfection.

[rah]

My favorite is when I in the middle of of war and capturing cities every other turn and the recommendation to build a settler in order to expand comes up. For some reason, that one always provides me with a chuckle. Yea, top of my priority list.

[rah]

That and the cesspool warning to build an aquaduct.
No thank you, I think I'll just kill off some of those whiners.

[Garth Vader]

The problem with the recommendations is they don't take the bigger picture into account. Sometimes I think, yeah that would make a great city, but it ruins 2 other good city spots.

As for the building suggestions... One time I thought it would be cool to try and win while only picking what the AI suggested to do. I am not that brave!

[Ming]

I have to laugh at the building suggestions... It will give you one recommendation, and then if you don't pick and switch to another city, when you come back to the original city, it will many times suggest something else. That pretty much sums it up