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They have two settlers (had one for quite a while now) and are so far focusing mainly on military strength. What should I expect from them - are they waiting for something before settling? Is this settler stockpiling a normal thing? I usually don't team with an AI so I haven't observed this before.

Screenshot of Civilization game

Update:

So they stocked up 7 warriors (notice how they are the only ones on the island besides a city state - you may not be able to see it completely but I later explored it) and got a 3rd settler. That 3rd settler they finally settled. They are still stockpiling 2 settlers and are way overcompensating military might. I am still baffled by this AI.

Additional info:

It is a mod game with [BNW] Mass Effect Civilizations enabled. There is no mention of any AI tweaks so my understanding is that even though it is a modded civilization, it is still using vanilla AI. The AI in question is the Ranchi Civilization.

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  • This is an interesting question, I can't wait for answers.
    – Ken
    Commented Oct 15, 2014 at 5:14
  • Have you kept playing? Curious as to whether the AI has done something to give clues to whether or not it's acting rationally (as intended).
    – Shelby115
    Commented Oct 15, 2014 at 13:59
  • I had to stop for the evening but I did get to the point where it at least expanded a little. After looking at that civs bonus (+ for desert and snow), I will probably end up giving it some cities as I don't think the AI is going to necessarily utilize it well.
    – Status3543
    Commented Oct 15, 2014 at 14:09
  • I'll download the mod and investigate further tonight. Most mods don't mention what they put for the leader-traits as it's usually only pertinent information to hardcore civ players that don't generally use mods (obviously there are exceptions to this). I would guess it has to do with the Desert/Snow bias though. It doesn't look like there's a good/acceptable city location (at least for early-game) in the desert so it might just be holding back to prevent unhappiness.
    – Shelby115
    Commented Oct 15, 2014 at 14:20

1 Answer 1

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I'm not sure if this is Comment or Answer worthy as it's mostly speculation at my own experiences but here it goes (The way I see it is this might not answer directly or completely but it may help give-way to other answers and/or possibilities):

When playing I've noticed that an AI opponent will do one of three things with a settler:

  • 1) Send it immediately to its destination.
  • 2) Wait for a military unit to escort it. If it doesn't have one it will make one.
  • 3) Wait for a position to open up then move it.

With 3) the only time I've noticed this was when there was one good opening in the entire area for a city. I had a unit nearby and the AI started moving their settler there. The second I blocked the exact tile they wanted (with my military unit; we weren't at war) they stopped their settler and moved him back to their capital.

This could have been a coincidence but I feel like it was too exact to be one. Additionally, I believe that difficulty-level affects their choices, I know at lower levels the AI will quite commonly do 1).

Your case:

Obviously looking at my list none of them seem to apply. Is this a modded-civilization? The colors don't look familiar, there's no guarantee but it might be a bug or something about the civilizations's trait-setup that could be making them act this way.

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  • Well 3 could be the case as there's no way to know how far the AI has explored, so it might still be waiting for a good position.
    – Jonathan Drapeau
    Commented Oct 15, 2014 at 13:01
  • That is a good point, I was thinking they'd settle for those diamonds, but I hadn't realized that they already had diamonds before.
    – Shelby115
    Commented Oct 15, 2014 at 13:34

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