AI units prancing around pointlessly and wasting my time

Seneca · November 21, 2001, 20:39

Has anyone else noticed that in AI cities with very limited borders, the AI sends out the units in the city on a little expedition around the city borders for no apparent reason - now, I wouldn't mind, but the game is a bit of a grind on my machine as it is, and having to watch this completely futile activity every single turn isn't adding to the gaming experience.
OK, they could be scouting - but usually it's more than one unit, more than necessary.

Are these units actually doing anything useful?

Compugasm 2 · November 21, 2001, 20:45

Pressing "A" like in SMAC should automate the exploration too. You can only automate workers, and not other units.

Excelsior · November 21, 2001, 20:48

I think they are planning to fix the useless AI patrolling in the patch.

Green Giant · November 21, 2001, 22:12

I hope they do fix it in the patch. Meanwhile you can turn off enemy animations in the preferences screen to make things more tolerable.

codemast01 · November 22, 2001, 00:14

in...out...in...out damn it. You're on an island. There's nothing more to see.

Yes it does get a little annoying even on a faster machine. I like the game, but I find myself dreading pushing that end turn button.

barefootbadass · November 22, 2001, 00:44

Problem with turning of enemy movements in the preferences is that you don't get to see threatening moves that the ai is making.

Alexander's Horse · November 22, 2001, 01:56

I find the pointless prancing a good metaphor for life.

TheDarkside · November 22, 2001, 02:07

im developing a habit of pressing end turn and then acting as though I closed the game and its time to do something else

Knasboll · November 22, 2001, 02:17

Quote:

Originally posted by Compugasm 2
Pressing "A" like in SMAC should automate the exploration too. You can only automate workers, and not other units.

Press E for automatic exploration (yes, it's in the manual).

Evil_Eric_4 · November 22, 2001, 02:17

What gets me is the settlers wandering along my border.

This at a time when maps have been exchanged countless times and every civ KNOWS that every inch of land is spoken for.

It doesnt seem that the ai is programed to disband ANY unit.

mrbilll · November 22, 2001, 04:37

For a turn or two, it's kind of amusing, watching cavalry charge back and forth across an island that's only four tiles in size. But it gets old pretty quick.

Der PH · November 22, 2001, 04:55

In my current game the English, whom I have a right of passage agreement with, suddenly sent an army of about 20 swordsmen right into my territory.

They were heading straight towards my capitol, so I feared they'd make a surprise attack, but I let them wander just to see what happened.
They didn't attack, but made some kind of a big sightseeing tour through my nation (Good old Germany). They surely weren't exploring, because shortly before I traded territory maps with the English.

The tour ended in a tiny English enclave town near our common border. There the complete hord now walks in endless circles around the town, not tresspassing the border. It's quite funny to look at, like watching an ant-hill.

sachmo71 · November 22, 2001, 05:41

Quote:

Originally posted by TheDarkside
im developing a habit of pressing end turn and then acting as though I closed the game and its time to do something else

Funny you should say that. Last Sunday I was able to finish my game of Civ III and get the laundry done. My wife was pleased as punch. THAT doesn't happen very often.

xane · November 22, 2001, 09:33

If the AI moves units around, doesn't that sort of prove it is restricted by LOS just like the human player ? The only reason I'd move a unit back and forth is to briefly explore squares ahead and give a better LOS.

There is persistant complaining about the AI cheating by knowing where all your units are, but the fact the AI seems to do "recon" the hard way this may not be the case.

BigBopper · November 22, 2001, 12:48

Xane, freind, pal, buddy..........

Do you even own the game? scouting is one thing but the game is scouting the same area 5, 10, 15 or more times in one turn! and we get to watch the same animations 5, 10, 15 times in a row for every city in our line of site

it could make a person cranky.

mrbilll · November 23, 2001, 03:11

Der PH- I've seen the same behavior, with workers. it's very odd, seeing a troop of about 17 workers march across your territory, over your repeated objections. I was tempted to just capture 'em and put them to work, but I didn't feel like going to war, and I was curious.

They tramped across my territory, disappeared for about 20 turns, and then there they were, marching back to France, mysterious mission accomplished. Next time I see this in a game, I'm just gonna nab 'em.

Der PH · November 23, 2001, 05:41

Quote:

Originally posted by mrbilll
I've seen the same behavior, with workers.

Yeah, workers too, but in my game they behave a bit different than the swordsmen.
The English and the Russians have little enclaves at the fringe of my glorious German Empire. They both consist only of one city with a minimal radius of influence.
After founding these cities, hordes of workers walked to them right through the heart of my territory.
After arriving they built roads around the cities in record time (about 4 workers per tile) and went back again.

BTW both cities are densely packed with combat units and in contrast to a lot of other cities seem immune to my overwhelming culture. Any correlation?