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In the following screenshot (copy and paste the link, I'm not allowed to post links or images) a city state AI is shown in a very odd behavior. Despite having enough space to maneuver on land they move a unit into the water right next to the bordering French nation which they are at war with. It has to be clear that this is a very dangerous action with a high potential of losing the entire unit and that the advantage is zero. Did the city state plan to invade the french with a single unit? In either case I would say the AI is behaving dumb.
Also you can see that instead of strengthening the city the other unit has moved outside. Since city states have only one city it doesn't make any sense to try to keep a unit alive and give up the city. It isn't even protecting the shore from a french invasion since it's standing on the wrong side of the peninsula.
In the next screenshot we see that a french caravel destroyed the unit right when it was their turn.
Finally I have another screenshot in which the french tried to move a cannon from an island to the main land in order to support the fight there (which they are about to lose). Not a bad idea in general, but obviously they're completely unaware of my caravel which easily picks up the cannon in this turn. It's not really a good idea to try and add supporting units when they're destroyed on their way anyway. At this point you've got to realize that you're cut off and that it's probably better to continue fighting on its own. Had they put two units in the water, one would have survived and that would be more understandable, but that way...
Certainly it would have been better for it to stay in Avignon which would have made invading the island a little bit tougher.
I think the AI has a lot to learn. It doesn't really have a properly configured chance-risk model and it's probably considering too little options at the same time. In general I see the AI taking too many risks in return for very little advantages. The advantage in case of the city state was next to nothing and the risk was extremely high. Even the danger level was pretty low since the lone riflemen wasn't a serious threat to the city.
In general there seems to be a bug in the code that evaluates whether a water tile should be borded. The AI is doing that way too often. Before the whole french war started they had a third of their entire army in the water playing sitting duck. Honestly, I couldn't resist such an opportunity and with a surprise attack I wiped them out in two turns.
Also you can see that instead of strengthening the city the other unit has moved outside. Since city states have only one city it doesn't make any sense to try to keep a unit alive and give up the city. It isn't even protecting the shore from a french invasion since it's standing on the wrong side of the peninsula.
In the next screenshot we see that a french caravel destroyed the unit right when it was their turn.
Finally I have another screenshot in which the french tried to move a cannon from an island to the main land in order to support the fight there (which they are about to lose). Not a bad idea in general, but obviously they're completely unaware of my caravel which easily picks up the cannon in this turn. It's not really a good idea to try and add supporting units when they're destroyed on their way anyway. At this point you've got to realize that you're cut off and that it's probably better to continue fighting on its own. Had they put two units in the water, one would have survived and that would be more understandable, but that way...
Certainly it would have been better for it to stay in Avignon which would have made invading the island a little bit tougher.
I think the AI has a lot to learn. It doesn't really have a properly configured chance-risk model and it's probably considering too little options at the same time. In general I see the AI taking too many risks in return for very little advantages. The advantage in case of the city state was next to nothing and the risk was extremely high. Even the danger level was pretty low since the lone riflemen wasn't a serious threat to the city.
In general there seems to be a bug in the code that evaluates whether a water tile should be borded. The AI is doing that way too often. Before the whole french war started they had a third of their entire army in the water playing sitting duck. Honestly, I couldn't resist such an opportunity and with a surprise attack I wiped them out in two turns.
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