#89 AI should colonize also the west half of map
It is a very powerful strategy to colonize the westmost part of map. This way I am out of reach of AI powers. Maybe in the later stage of game they will trouble me (by military invasions), but I assume that it will be far far less than they did before I came with this strategy.
Now I have a unfair advantage that I realize this but AI does not. That way the human player has an easy way to evade the challenge - game withoutAI raids is too easy.
A solution would be that AI puts more effort (than it does now) to
1. do some exploration before colonizing (in the early stages the cost of resettling to a different, even remote continent is not too high, so perhaps they may found temporary colonies to use their labour force - but that is not neccessary)
2. to colonize as far from other Europeans as possible
3. and with some probability (say 2/3), it should colonize far from the east edge of map. While point 2 makes AI stronger, point 3 will deny the human player this method of evading the conflicts.
4. AI should also realize that the distance to the closest "high sea" is an important factor when determining which continent to colonize. It affects not only delay of ships, but also the risk that they will be sunk during the trip
Well.... . On americas map it's comaptible with Col 1 and with history (except maybe for the fact, that ships move unnaturally slow in the game, and as a consequence, it's easier to move to the other side by land then by sea). On random maps, well, are you sure they're avoiding western side that much? I my latest game they colonized northwest of the map, while I took the south. They never attacked me, since enough space between us. And I'm pretty glad of it.
The issue becomes more pressing when it's harder to get to the west. Like on the americas map. If your theory was completely right, it would be an easy win to just take the whole colonization business the other side of the map; but if you do that, AI (At least in the original) will simply send the dragoons, whenever it feels like conquering you. Whereas for you, moving to the oposite side of South America, before you start colonizing, will cost a lot of turns.
The behaviour of AI leaders in the old Col, is determined by 3 three-level factors which define their personality:
; a) aggressive/friendly
; b) expansionist/perfectionist
; c) civilize/militaristic
;
Walter Raleigh, 1, -1, 0
Jacques Cartier, 0, 1, 0
Christopher Columbus, 1, 0, -1
Michiel De Ruyter, -1, 0, 1
Now when I think about it - yes, there were games where FreeCol AI did colonize the west - but maybe it was very late in the game. This does not refute my hypothesis that when I colonize West, I am safe for a very long time which gives me the oportunity to build up economic and military power and then noone can conquer me.
But I admit, I did not verify this hypothesis by a sufficient number of games, so I may be wrong...
The AI has improved its exploration ability since this report, and we also have to option to start players on the west coast. Closing.