A Study in AI Tilework

[laissez-faire]

Have a look at this fertile AI civ's tilework:

[laissez-faire]

Here is the same civ’s (former) capital 130 years later (after a heavy influence from the Mongol ‘hordes’):

[laissez-faire]

My typical rule with grassland tile work is to mine everything up until I have a hospital built. Then from that point, I go back and irrigate all the shielded grasslands. This leaves a shield generated in every tile, handy for late golden ages or times of mobilization.

AI-China’s tilework seems heavily ‘computerized.’ The pattern is obvious. Analyzing Beijing by itself, the numbers come out to 28 base shields and 67 food (if the city was big enough to work every tile). Under Mongol (my) rule, those numbers are 34 base shields and 56 food. Demographically, the difference is a 34-size AI city versus my smaller metropolis of 28.

In terms of production, the difference is 6 shields without a factory, 9 with a factory, and 11 with a factory and hydro plant. Do I have that big of an advantage over the AI with my grassland tilework?

[Arrian]

The AI's patchwork of 1/2 irrigation and 1/2 mines is certainly wasteful. That's one of the areas the human player can make up for AI bonuses on the upper levels. We will squeeze as much production from our cities as we can (this would be even bigger if getting a city to produce 51 instead of 50 shields mattered. Currently it doesn't, because either way, a Tank will take 2 turns to build, and shields do not carry over).

-Arrian

[joncnunn]

Under the latest PTW patch, the AI stops building irrigation on grassland under despotism.

[Jawa Jocky]

And it's really fun to confirm that "YES" I would like to continue with my mining action even though it will destroy my irrigation.