major ai vs minors

[bvoid]

I've noticed strange behaviour with the way majors conquer neighbouring minors. This can have a significant impact on the strategic aspect of the game.

If the minor has a city then the major will conquer it and absorb the new zone - no problem. However if the minor does NOT have a city then the major does not really know what to do. The minor will not be conquered and might even stay there the length of the whole game!

This means minors without cities can be used as an effective buffer zone against a major indefinitely (ie cheese strategy). This is the reason that some majors snowball and conquer the whole map, but others stay small - because they were boxed in by one of these minors.

Requested change: Majors should wipe out these minors as well

[Vic]

If you have a good savefile showing this please send it to vic@vrdesigns.net and i'll take a look if I can make any improvements!

best wishes,
Vic

[eddieballgame]

Minors without cities can take longer to eliminate because they don't have a city.
Chasing minors (without cities) around the map is not always an efficient strategy per expanding one's zones.
I agree, they can act as a buffer & some types can be a real pain to deal with...& probably more so for the AI.
Sometimes, I wish they were even tougher to deal with in my multiplayer games...for my opponents.