Tired of seeing AI Castile & Portugal in Canada, can this PLEASE be fixed?

[Kombatdoctr]

Meanwhile South America is almost completely untouched by them.. seriously? This needs to be fixed, AI Castile & Portugal should focus 110% on the Caribbean, Mexico, and South America, instead they spit out random colonies all over the place and practically never consolidate their power in any regions!

In my current play through Portugal sent ONE colonist to the Caribbean.. and Castile sent approximately ZERO! I was completely unchallenged in taking the whole Caribbean.. this shouldn't happen

 

[blackchoas]

I agree completely, it seems like its just an AI bug though really since the new way trade works out Seville can't even get the trade from Gulf of St Lawrence

 

[apg]

I agree and strongly dislike this too.

 

[Squirrelloid]

It's because once the AI creates a CN, it ignores that region and goes to another one.

Amusingly, it's getting close (slowly) to 1700 in my Kongo game, and after a few attempts, Europeans have given up trying to colonize the little remaining jungle on the African coast. (Only Spain made it around and has reached Indonesia).

 

[Kombatdoctr]

It's because once the AI creates a CN, it ignores that region and goes to another one.

Amusingly, it's getting close (slowly) to 1700 in my Kongo game, and after a few attempts, Europeans have given up trying to colonize the little remaining jungle on the African coast. (Only Spain made it around and has reached Indonesia).

CNs? Consider yourself lucky! In my current playthrough I'm the only colonial power with CNs, Castile ditched South America after plopping four colonies in Brazil (omg so close!) and Portugal gave up after one colony, now Castile's flopping about in Canada, and Portugal.. I think they're in Africa

 

[Agoria]

I agree.
Maybe with AI missions ?

 

[Juboboman]

Yeah it's one of my biggest annoyances when playing SP.

I understand the whole determinism debate, but at the end of the day it's just not fun to see AI Iberia making idiotic colonization decision every single game and rushing for NA while completely ignoring central/south america. Just bite the bullet and give them an AI affinity to settle those regions if they are open. Obviously if not I understand them taking whatever is available, but with an entire virgin new world at their disposal, wtf are they bee lining to Canada for?

 

[Kombatdoctr]

Yeah it's one of my biggest annoyances when playing SP.

I understand the whole determinism debate, but at the end of the day it's just not fun to see AI Iberia making idiotic colonization decision every single game and rushing for NA while completely ignoring central/south america. Just bite the bullet and give them an AI affinity to settle those regions if they are open. Obviously if not I understand them taking whatever is available, but with an entire virgin new world at their disposal, wtf are they bee lining to Canada for?

Yeah I just can't fathom why the AI rushes for Canada, it's miserably poor in terms of base-tax and half of it is arctic so it takes a while to colonize.

At this point I'd gladly take some of that determinism please, as long as Spain gets the hell out of Canada and Portugal takes Brazil for once!

 

[cpm4001]

Here is a step-by-step way to fix this issue:

1) Before starting a new game, untick the box that says "Ironman Enabled."
2) Around 1520, press the ~ key to open the console.
3) Type in "tag POR"
4) Abandon all of Portugal's colonies in Canada and send the colonists to Brazil.
5) Press ~ again
6) Type in "tag CAS"
7) Abandon all of Castile's colonies in Canada and send the colonists to La Plata/the Spanish Main.
8) If there are any cored territories in the region: Press ~ again and type in "tag MNS", "tag TYR", "tag CNN", or "tag LEI", depending on who still exists. Then type in "ti". Then type in "debug_mode" and find the province IDs. Then type in "own [appropriate province ID]" and "add_core [appropriate province ID]". Then laugh as Britain fails to kill Ireland.
9) Rinse and repeat as needed.

Seriously, though, this does need to be fixed - as does 'Caribas' owning all of the Caribbean.

 

[TheDarkMaster]

I like the idea of Portugal getting a mission to create a CN in Brazil and Castile getting a mission to create a CN in the Caribbean right away. Should hopefully get them on the right track to at least make those CNs first. Of course, the AI will still then go to other parts of the world to set up more CNs, but that's a different issue entirely.

BTW, the AI doesn't like colonizing most of South America due to the tropical and arid colonization penalties. They'll ignore that stuff completely until they have high enough colonial growth, or no other option is left.

 

[Ranjid]

I wouldn't mind seeing Portugal in Canada once in a while. There'd be a few reasons for this to happen. But not in 10/10 games. More like 1/15. So yes, fix this.

 

[Zagys]

I'd like to see this fixed too, but I doubt it will happen. People complained about this throughout the lifespan of EU 3, and they never fixed it there. If/when EU 5 comes out, AI Spain & Portugal will most likely continue to favor colonizing North America.

 

[riknap]

BTW, the AI doesn't like colonizing most of South America due to the tropical and arid colonization penalties. They'll ignore that stuff completely until they have high enough colonial growth, or no other option is left.

I believe this is the main reason why the AI tends to ignore south america. their colonies just aren't growing at all.

 

[Utretch]

I believe this is the main reason why the AI tends to ignore south america. their colonies just aren't growing at all.

While this may have increased the issue, it's a problem far older than the province climate changes. The overall colonial AI is a little disappointing, perhaps the development of the New World can be an area of developmental focus in the future...

 

[KPJ]

Portuguese fishermen visited Newfoundland before any Europeans settled there, and even made some small 'supply depot' villages. The idea that in an alternate history they could have been the ones to settle Canada isn't far-fetched at all.

 

[LiberiusX]

This has been broken since 1.2, before the WETN came about in 1.4. It was tolerable while the WETN was there, but now the WETN is gone and we're stuck with consequences again.

Wiz has been told about this problem numerous times, by many different players on this forum and it doesn't get fixed. I'm beginning to wonder if they will ever address it or even care.

My magic eight ball says "Don't count on it"

 

[Zusk]

I remember a mod fixed this a long time ago by adjusting trade winds properly

 

[ChildeR]

I agree completely, it seems like its just an AI bug though really since the new way trade works out Seville can't even get the trade from Gulf of St Lawrence

I'm not sure this is a good reason to avoid Canada. You can simply collect abroad and if you have ~monopolized the trade node you will be splitting the trade between yourself and your CN(s). The Gulf TN has more trade flowing in than the SA ones, so it's probably still at least not much worse than going for Brazil. For trade it's possibly the third best choice after Caribbean and Chesapeake have been colonized. (Trade from the latter also doesn't flow into Iberia.)

 

[Juboboman]

Not even a comment from Wiz? Seems like every obscure issue with the AI gets at least acknowledged or explained, yet this issue that many people have been complaining about since launch basically not only doesn't get fixed, it doesn't even get addressed, even if just to explain why it is impossible or not desirable to fix it.

 

[pgroves]

I wouldn't mind seeing Portugal in Canada once in a while. There'd be a few reasons for this to happen. But not in 10/10 games. More like 1/15. So yes, fix this.

Agreed!