Serious AI Colonization Problems Spain Colonizing Thirteen Colonies has ruined 1.3.1

[Mjuice]

There's no problem with the fact that unhistorical things happen in the game. There is a problem however if a specific highly unhistorical thing happens every time. To use some examples from EU3: France being broken up into small states by 1700, Spain conquering all of North Africa, Catholic nations from central Europe colonizing Siberia. I wouldn't mind such events if they happened in a game sometime, but if they happen with regularity in every game I play then I think the balance of the game mechanics needs to be looked at.

Spain colonizing NA and England colonizing the Caribbean kind of falls under that category as far as I'm concerned if it indeed happens with the regularity that some posters here are indicating.

 

[pkderek]

Some people here... there's nothing wrong with Spain going after Chesapeake Bay trade node even if it gets forwarded to Bordeaux, ever since patch 1.2(?) the AI love to spam collection merchants in nodes they have trade power and is downstream from their capital (especially after Burgundy succession and if they have more in the area, France will really go after collecting in Antwerp). I don't think anyone is really saying that argument.

What we're all saying is why the **** is Spain prioritizing for a trade node that they will get a malus for collection in when they could be colonizing the Caribbean, SA, Mexico, SA, CA, etc. and make bucketloads of money in the Sevilla trade node? If everything else is filled up then yeah of course the next logical choice is to then go for your 2nd most efficient node but that's not what the AI is doing... In patch 1.1 this was not happening.

In fact, I'd love for someone to do a test for me... give Spain control of the Antwerp trade node or the North Sea node and see if they colonize the Hudson Bay. But then again not even Norway likes to colonize the Hudson... here they are collecting in Lubeck and they're colonizing Georgia?!

The AI changes the capital without decisions?

AFAIK the AI doesn't move capitals unless they lose their capital. Then they may actually move capitals to a different location. Spain stays in Madrid and Austria will never move to Antwerp.

 

[grommile]

AFAIK the AI doesn't move capitals unless they lose their capital. Then they may actually move capitals to a different location. Spain stays in Madrid and Austria will never move to Antwerp.

It's not quite that strict; it suffices to cut their capital off from the rest of the country. In my current Habsblob game, Bavaria moved its capital without having lost Munich, and the Ottomans moved theirs to the Anatolian peninsula without having lost Constantinople; in both cases, the capital had lost its land connections to the rest of the country.

 

[LiberiusX]

OPs point is irrelevant, as I was replying to someones direct statement that people do not like the ahistorical factor.

It cannot exploit all of the benefit, but it can exploit much, depending on behavior. If the AI cannot forward as much trade to its places because Spain is dominating the node, then it is good for Spain. Spain may no be able to collect as much money as from the Caribbean, but compared to Panama or mexico, its probably not a bad choice (minus gold you would get from Mexico).

That all depends on where Spain's capital is. If Spains capital is in Bordeaux, I fail to see the issue of them forwarding trade (if its not then they should be collecting in the Bay). The AI loves to move its capital to wherever it feels like putting it. Heck they could move it to the Bay for all anyone cares (depending on if its true that the AI is not subject to the player's restrictions on Capital movement, though that is peculation from another thread).

Either way, everyone is basing their assumptions on Spain's capital being in Sevilla and Spain forwarding trade to Bordeaux if its not. Both of which may or may not be true.

The point remains that Revenue-Cost=Profit.

If Spain colonizes Chesapeake, it adds a step to Spain's trade forwarding. Meanwhile, it removes 2 steps for France and 1 for England. France uses the saved ships to collect in Bordeaux. England uses the saved ships to Forward from Bordeaux. The Dutch always forward from Bordeaux. It's nonsensical for Spain to collect in Bordeaux because it gets triple teamed by France, England, Netherlands. If it goes to Seville, it only has to compete with Portugal.

So, If Spain colonizes Chesapeake to be punitive to the other powers, it fails, because they reap the rewards anyway, off Spain's back. If Spain colonizes Chesapeake to make more profit it fails. The, marginal at best, increase in Revenue(collected ducats) is not enough to cover the increased cost(fleet maintenance of more light ships) of getting the trade to Bordeaux. This results in an overall economic loss, even if the Spanish Capital is in Bordeaux.

 

[Charles Louis]

Read a book, I like AI that does something different each game.

History isn't outcomes, its processes.