AI moves the Capital

In some of the gaming rounds, the AI constantly moves it capital. How can this be stopped? Is there any way to lock their capital?

In short, no.

It is quite annoying to see a Roman Empire with their capital in France or something, but it's unavoidable.

If it bothers you, raze it to the ground

Then they will just move it 15 feet to the left. :laugh4:

Ostensibly (and this is me talking out of my hindquarters), the AI is constantly changing its capital to minimize the population loyalty problems caused by Distance to Capital. So, if one turn, province A is suffering unrest, and moving the capital one province over would solve that problem without causing unrest in any other provinces, off they move it. Then, province A finishes a temple (or whatever), while province B elsewhere is suffering unrest, so off goes the capital yet again so that it's nearer to province B without causing unrest in any other provinces. And so on and so forth. Basically, it seems like a case of the AI number-crunching on a scale that no human player ever will, and as a result producing situations that we find strange.

Or I could be completely wrong and the AI is just loony.

Cheers.

I second that, the A.I is completely loony

@Landwalker

That's actually very sound reasoning. Could very well be the case. Here, you deserve the traditional EB gift.... :balloon: :2thumbsup:

The AI just moves it to the "center-most" large or huge city it can find I know it does take size in count it won't move it to a town.

For instance when I took out Seleukeia it moved to Alexandreia even if the most logical choice would've been Damaskos (the AS still had territories in the far east).

Yes, too bad there isn't a way to make Rome keep it's capital in Rome (for example)....it would lead to the AI having to deal with some interesting situations in far off regions, limiting their growth to more realistic regions.

That being said, I hardly think the Rome AI needs any more challenges. It's having a hard enough time as it is....

hmm, I never noticed the AI switching capitals before... odd.


@bootsiuv
Only old ladies give away baloons!!!
:mellow:

Yes, the switch capitals and it pisses me off so much! After a couple decades, the Romans are nearly guarentied to move their capital north. And having the AI capible of moving their capital, certain things that are wanted to happen don't. For example, the Seleucids should keep their capital in Antioch, making a penalty in the east, making the settlements rebel, making the Parthians invade Iran. But no, the Seleucids move their capital to Seleukeia or Susa and Iran is content.

It really shouldn't make any difference to you as the player, though. It's not like capturing the capital actually does anything in-game, so the only reason I can think of for it being a problem is when roleplaying. Even then, just roleplay that the "theoretical capital" of a faction is shown in-game, and that the "actual capital" is where it should be.

So if the AI Romani made Taras their capital, think of it more along the lines that the city is simply an important centre of trade while Roma itself is still the centre of government of the Republic. Simple.

I would prefer the capital to remain in Rome (for example) so the romans would deal with more unrest in Britian, Iberia, the Levant, etc. etc. etc. It would likely help the ai mimick realistic growth.

It's not hugely important, or even enough to worry about really....it would just be nice if there was some way to 'lock' it in, is all.

Maybe this only occurs with the use of BI?

The "capital" as far as EB and RTW goes is just a game mechanic. I wouldnt pay it too much attention tbh. Rome is always the center of the Roman world as far as Im concerned, even if the AI moves the "administration" to Taras.

I find it is best to just ignore it or make up some story/reason why they moved their capital. It helps with the roleplaying.

I just ignore it, as I do with most AI strangeness. Why concern yourself with something you can never do anything about ? Just write it down to a partial compensation for the rather superior brain you have over the poor algorithms.

But if capitals are static, the AI would be forced to deal with greater discontentment far from their core. :wall:

This is one of the things that CA changed on purpose that makes no sense and makes me frustrated. At least it isn't as bad as not being able to pick you heir in M2TW. That 'feature' is gamebreaking (of M2TW) to me. It is the main reason I can't play M2TW.