I started up a random map game on the Earth map (giant/ludicrous-sized) versus any number of moderate AI. In most cases, the villagers die upon spawning or their villagers remain inactive. Scouts will fight each other. Sometimes player two will disembark for South Africa and will cease activity or die upon disembarking. Very rarely did player two actually begin building a town center once it got to Africa.
Reproduction Steps:
Random Map
Real World Maps --> Earth
Giant/Ludicrous size
Any number of AI, I tried only moderate difficulty.
When starting a game with the map Real World - Earth, several players will not start building, they are just standing there.
Started a game with one AI, they sail to land with their villagers , but doesn’t start building.
Destroyed their transport ship and the AI started building a dock and a house, builded a new transport ship and started collecting wood, but didn’t build a TC.
It seems like they are some how locked in their starting state and builds a new transport ship because they started with one, and started chopping wood because they used some and have to get the amount they started with.