Why does the game circle a developed tile?

[MyOlde]

It happens all the time through my games: even though I've developed a hill into a mine or a grassland into food, the game will circle it as an "ideal" spot to improve ... somehow. What does that mean?

[snoopy369]

It probably would like to change the improvement there. I think it happens somewhat more frequently with hidden resources, but I don't have any hard evidence of that.

[MyOlde]

I assume everyone just ignores it?

[rah]

If you're city is working the square it will highlight it if an improvement is available. Even if it's not the improvment you would choose.

[wodan11]

Easy answer to OP: because that's a buggy feature.

Turn it off in options, and you won't be bothered by it any more.

[Solomwi]

Just to underscore why you should use your own judgment rather than the AI's, I just saw two AI workers on adjacent plains tiles worked by the same city. The one on the right had a workshop, and the one on the left a hamlet or village. The worker on the left was building a workshop, while the one on the right was busily putting up a cottage.

[wodan11]

That's my pet peeve. I think it is a game-breaking bug in the AI.

Consider this: if the AI does that for you, then it does it for all of the AIs too.

This hampers their infrastructure big time. In the modern era, a human running a CE may have 75% Towns, while an AI running a CE may have 30%.

[guermantes]

Originally posted by wodan11
That's my pet peeve. I think it is a game-breaking bug in the AI.

Consider this: if the AI does that for you, then it does it for all of the AIs too.

This hampers their infrastructure big time. In the modern era, a human running a CE may have 75% Towns, while an AI running a CE may have 30%.

There should be an option to leave old improvements that one could apply to the AI civs as well.

[wodan11]

Originally posted by guermantes


There should be an option to leave old improvements that one could apply to the AI civs as well.

I disagree. It would be nonsensical in many cases.

The AI should simply be smart enough to know when it's running a CE and has a commerce specialized city, not to workshop over his hamlets or whatever.

[Solomwi]

Originally posted by guermantes


There should be an option to leave old improvements that one could apply to the AI civs as well.

That would just create a new problem. There a plenty of perfectly good reasons for each move I described, just not for doing them in tandem where the net result is the city working (or having available to work) workshop/cottage instead of hamlet/workshop. At least you can't accuse the AI of leaving worker-turns unspent.