Last night I was playing as the Romans on a small map. I lucked out and had a good sized island all to myself. I didn't hesitate to create settler after settler, because I knew that the other civs would send their settlers over as soon as they could take to the sea. I sacrificed city building to cover the whole island with my influence EXCEPT 2 squares... 1 at the bottom of the island and one on the east side.
But did that stop the AI... of course not.
They thought it would be a smart move to plant a settler in both of those spots, even though they were severely lacking in resources. Not wanting to give up my island, I attacked any city that was formed. This of course caused a war over that 1 meaningless square.
But here's the funniest part...
The AI knows by instinct which city has the weakest defense, so all I did is keep moving my troops around from city to city every turn... THE ENTIRE DAMN AI ARMADA WOULD JUST SAIL UP AND DOWN MY COAST SWITCHING TARGETS TO THE LEAST DEFENDED CITY EVERY TURN. Because I kept moving my troops, they wouldn't make up their mind and never landed till I signed a peace treaty. So, just to recap:
1. The AI, due to all its planted spies in your cities and the amazing communication network set up between these spies, can automatically know what city of yours has the weakest defense, even though it can't see the city in question.
2. The AI will claim any lifeless rock as a potential build site, no matter how impractical.
