Hello Devs, I do not want to complain about the AI like all the haters. It is fine. However, the following behavior might be tweakable. The overriding tweak I have in mind is either (a) like the new barbican rule where it cannot place it too near the TC or (b) on Nomad, when you place a TC near the AI, he will break his and move it away.
The first example is the over-zealous AI ally placing effecient mills near sources of food, especially dear or sheep carcasses. Now I am happy to share. I also do not mind mixing towns. However, occassionally I am a bit OCD about (a) keeping some space around a TC for farms, or (b) maximizing my Imperial Tax Zone with the right buildings. In both cases, it is reasonable for me to pile a bunch of meat there. Then I see my ally pop a mill next to the meat, oblivious to my work putting said meat there. Note in the screenshot, it got ridiculous when TWO of my allies put mills next to the TC. (I am Blue, Green & Yellow are my allies).
Perhaps the AI could just place the mill near the meat but (a) at least 2 tiles away from an ally TC or ally mill and walk; and (b) place it outside an ally’s Imperial tax zone? Alternatively, like the TC example in Nomand, could the AI delete the building when done in those circumstances?
The second example of the AI bugging out on placement is docks on MegaRandom. Not sure if this is unavoidable. But it is not uncommon, as shown in the two screenshots below. The AI will seem weaker until near the end of the game when the map reveals their pop is taken up with a useless navy stuck in the corner. Does it know not to do this on 4 lakes for example?
Ironically, sometimes MegaRandom produces a perfectly great lake and the AI does not bother with water at all. And it will never place a dock on a river which is very unfortunate. Does the AI “know” the square footage of a lake? Like the first screenshot where the lake is visibly too small? For the second screenshot situation, I am not sure how it would know that the lake it built up its navy on, is not actually connected to the “ocean” on this map? Can it delete its navy? Can it build a Navy somewhat in response to naval attacks near that specific dock? The pond dock is fine for fish. But it seams it built trade boats and warships back there too.
Thanks for reading.