Cargo helicopters...

[Hans Lemurson]

There is a bug with the cargo helicopters, namely what kind of unit they can carry. Instead of being only able to transport infantry units, it appears that they only transport non-infantry units. A Mobile SAM can load up in one while a paratrooper cannot. Whee...

Tanks too. Rather useful, if I do say so myself, but clearly wrong.

***************************

Ok, here's the problem:

## UNIT 8
UNIT_CARGO_HELICOPTER {

...snip...

   CanAttack: Air
   CanAttack: Land
   CanAttack: Mountain
   [b]CanCarry: MedLand[/B] // <------------------Right Here!
   CanSee: Standard
   MovementType: Air
   Size: Large
   VisionClass: Standard

   CargoData {
      MaxCargo 5
      Load SOUND_ID_TRIREME_LOAD
      Unload SOUND_ID_TRIREME_UNLOAD
   }
}

This error is in the Units.txt file in the AE mod folder under the scenarios.

[Maquiladora]

Already fixed in the next version.

[EPW]

I hate the AI's obsession with cargo helicopters. They are like a swarm of flies that never goes away no matter how many I swat.

[Hans Lemurson]

The AI needs some surgery then...

Prepare the Brain-Saw!!!

(how would you go about modding AI behavior like this?)

[EPW]

Probably in the aidata files.

[Maquiladora]

The AI has an obsession with transports full stop, but as it says in the strategies.txt comments "This is only good for maps with more than one continent. Some source code modifications are necessary." Although I think you could probably help the AI with slic too.

You can also decrease the amount they produce with the lines:

SeaTransportUnitsCount
AirTransportUnitsCount

for each strategy. Air transports seem to be particularly high with the siege and attack strategies.

[Hans Lemurson]

Puttering around in the AI Data strategies file...did you know that there is a separate "MinSettleDistance" for each strategy?

You veteran modders have probably scoured all the files, but if you missed this, it might explain why changing the "MinSettleDistance" had no effect; you were changing it for only 1 strategy. Or something like that. Now I'm off to actually TEST my theory...

[Martin Gühmann]

What's wrong with the MinSettleDistance, there are some AIs that settle closely and others that space their cities wider. For the Apolyton Edition we just had to reduce the maximum so that there are fewer gaps in the AI territory.

-Martin

[Maquiladora]

The AI does overlap even on the 1st ring of cities sometimes. That should definitely never happen and should be stopped. Whether by finding a city in a ruin next to an existing city (in this case disband the ruin city), or stupidly settling 1 tile from another city.

And AI city spacing needs to have finer control anyway, just like transports, it needs to be at least map dependent.

On small maps I'd like to see the AI use 1 ring cities most of the time. Regular maps leave room for 1 or 2 rings, huge 2, and gigantic 2 or 3.

Then there are other cases where the AI starts on a very small island (say less than 10 cities for current desired room), then it should lower it's desired settle distance.

I'm sure all this will be very easy to code.

[EPW]

I think early on, the AI creates cities close to each other because they haven't explored any territory yet.

[Hans Lemurson]

Hmm...if that's so, then would it be possible to give the AIs a little cheat which reveals extra terrain around their start location?

I made a game with an island map, and changed the AI strategies for "Island Start" to a distance of 8, to see what would happen. About half of the AIs built their cities cramped together, and the other half built one or two well-spaced cities, and then a bunch of cramped ones.

[Maquiladora]

I made a game with an island map, and changed the AI strategies for "Island Start" to a distance of 8, to see what would happen. About half of the AIs built their cities cramped together, and the other half built one or two well-spaced cities, and then a bunch of cramped ones.

I guess it depends if the AI personality was actually using the island_nation strategy. In personalities.txt it specifies the island has to be a maximum of 100 tiles for the island strategy to have a chance of being used. And then it may just get overridden by other strategies. I can't remember exactly how these are used, but perhaps try boosting the priority for the strategy in there.

[Martin Gühmann]

The AI does overlap even on the 1st ring of cities sometimes. That should definitely never happen and should be stopped. Whether by finding a city in a ruin next to an existing city (in this case disband the ruin city), or stupidly settling 1 tile from another city.

That's indeed a bug. The AI is supposed to space its cities father away, but if it has two settling positions that are equally good and nearby and if it seeds settlers to them at the same time, then the AI may settle that close, if the settling happens on the same turn.

I think early on, the AI creates cities close to each other because they haven't explored any territory yet.

The AI knows how good the territory is, it just prefers explored positions.

-Martin

[Hans Lemurson]

That's indeed a bug. The AI is supposed to space its cities father away, but if it has two settling positions that are equally good and nearby and if it seeds settlers to them at the same time, then the AI may settle that close, if the settling happens on the same turn.

Perhaps prevent the AI from settling more than 1 city per turn?

[Maquiladora]

Perhaps prevent the AI from settling more than 1 city per turn?

I think Martin just fixed it so the AI could build more than one a turn.