[1.12][BUG] AI can found a city on a dragon cave

from Elemental Forums

After I converted a wildland area, one of my opponents (Yithril) sent in a pioneer to found a city. When I looked closer, it turned out that it occupied exactly that spot where a dragon cave had been before. How is that possible since there was no grain/materials/essence marker on that tile?

When I conquered that city, the tile obviously contained two things. One mouseclick selected the city, the next selected the dragon cave and so on. It turned out later when I had researched the necessary technology that I could not build a storm dragon camp on this spot (although I could press the button). Only "raze" worked.

Here is a screenshot: https://www.dropbox.com/s/mn66l1z9y04qjl0/2012-12-31_00001.jpg.

6,605 views 5 replies
Reply #1 from Elemental Forums Top

I also have seen the AI's settling on other resources (which should be impossible like crystal, shards and even iron ore), but it is NOT impossible for the ai, therefor the AI is NOT playing with the same rules as the player.

harpo

 

Reply #2 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting harpo99999, reply 1
but it is NOT impossible for the ai, therefor the AI is NOT playing with the same rules as the player.
End of harpo99999's quote

I could have told you that ^_^

After I converted a wildland area, one of my opponents (Yithril) sent in a pioneer to found a city. When I looked closer, it turned out that it occupied exactly that spot where a dragon cave had been before. How is that possible since there was no grain/materials/essence marker on that tile?

When I conquered that city, the tile obviously contained two things. One mouseclick selected the city, the next selected the dragon cave and so on. It turned out later when I had researched the necessary technology that I could not build a storm dragon camp on this spot (although I could press the button). Only "raze" worked.

Here is a screenshot: https://www.dropbox.com/s/mn66l1z9y04qjl0/2012-12-31_00001.jpg

[/quote]

End of quote

Next time, it helps to also provide the savegame.

Edit: Quote feature on the forum is bugged too, I expect stardock to deal with it ^_^

Sincerely
~ Kongdej

ObjectDock - Access shortcuts and frequently used applications from an animated dock.
Reply #3 from Elemental Forums Top

A savegame? That's not so easy because I started to post bug reports from a second computer. :grin: The turn-around times are considerable...

Here is one when I just conquered the city: https://www.dropbox.com/s/6umdlqr55fbxeqk/saffara_conquered.EleSav. Perhaps I could dig up an earlier state of the game too.

 

Off  topic:

My favorite savegame is the one where an enemy drake's army and two of my armies are on the same tile: https://www.dropbox.com/s/9pmksotio1ywnfs/dragon.EleSav. I had posted screenshots in another thread.

Reply #4 from Elemental Forums Top

I've seen this too. AI building cities on resources, river and swamp tiles, and quest locations. Same thing with outposts.

A while back, there was a post explaining a possible reason for this and similar behaviours of the AI. Certain game features (like settling and razing cities, building outposts, etc.) seem to be regulated by the UI. The AI, however, has no access to the UI, which means, that it doesn't get told, that it can't do this. I have no idea, if there is any truth to this, but it seems likely.

Reply #5 from Elemental Forums Top

Poor program design - that's my impression too. The basic rule engine is not encapsulated/isolated in a module. Otherwise it would just prevent such things and the AI would get an exception when trying. (Not only the AI, as my off-topic savegame shows.) Visible indicators and details screens do not always reflect the current state of the game because they are updated only on certain points. (Software developers note that the so-called observer pattern should be used instead.) Too much (invalid) "optimization". The savegame format probably lacks a "slot" for unexecuted planned moves and therefore they are simply executed before saving. A group probably lacks a "slot" for movement points and therefore the first unit in a group is abused as group leader and some of its stats seem to get overwritten with those of the group. (This could be a UI thing only.) A UI that is very mindful and refined in some places but cumbersome in general and lacks an overall design. I stop here before I'll go completely off-topic.

Slow progress in bug-fixing is a common consequence.