Quote Originally Posted by dhague
Prior threads (here and TWcenter) suggest a partial fix for the AI "Ship-Spam" problem by adjusting build/support costs. I just got through two complete games trying another solution.

I adjusted the port-building tech levels to city for port, large_city for shipwright, and huge_city for dockyard. AI ship levels seemed to be much more "reasonable". I surmise that (by the time ships can be built by the AI) there is enough competition from other high-level unit priorities to limit ship building. I did see more high-level units in AI armies by midgame than without this change.

The only problem was trade income reduction for town level settlements. Perhaps a better fix would be a 4-level port_building where the first level just got a trade fleet and only the higher levels got warship building plus more trade fleets. Also, it would seem appropriate to adjust the number of each factions "starting ships" as a balance issue.

Comments are sought and welcome.
My solution was similar. I removed the ships from the first port level build. Aside from more advanced units being built, I noticed that Carthage and the Greekstates actually started building land units instead of cranking out ship after ship.