Can somebody explain what causes these ? I have a city, growing slowly and with unworked tiles in its fat cross, where I have one Citizen specialist who I obviously would like to put to work. However, I am told "one forced" when I try to move him or transform him into a more powerful specialist. In another similar city, I have a forced Engineer who would be more usefully employed working a tile.
No, I don't have the Statue of Liberty, and I can find no other references to additional specialists.

Try 'Turn off citizen automation'. I think this may be on by default and it gives the governor control of assigning specialists. This is in the city screen by the other governor options.

I don't understand why it does what it does sometimes either....

I turn off all kinds of automation as a rule, though sometimes I do find it useful to be able to guide a growing city by selecting "emphasize production" or whatever, for a few turns. No such selection applies in the cities in question.

do you have mercantalism or a special mod?

mercantalism or Statue of Liberty adds a free specialist which you obviously can't get rid of.

I believe the "forced" part is because you or the governor specifically assigned that specialist. It should not be permanent, however. I've only seen an "unforced" specialist (missing the yellow highlight around the specialists' picture) when the city's population increased and the specialist was automatically assigned. It's a shame the new population point is automatically assigned even if all automation is turned off. I would personally like a popup to tell me that a city has grown (or at least an option for one for all you popup haters out there).

Did you try to click the minus button next to the forced specialist? This should turn him into a regular citizen. From there you should be able to reassign as necessary. While you're doing this, be sure that the governor is turned off since he will keep trying to do it his way and will essentially fight your moves.

Just click the tile or specialism position you want him to take up - it automatically pulls him from the Citizen pool.

For growth notification, check the C&C forum. There's at least a couple of mods in there which allow it.

Wow, none of these answers so far are correct. (Soren will not be heartened by that.) :lol:


"Forced" specialists are any that you, the player, have manually added by clicking the + symbols. The only way to remove a Forced specialist is by manually clicking the applicable - symbols. No form of automation will override a Forced specialist, nor can you subtract them by clicking on what you want them to move to.

You can micromanage ANY population point in two steps:
1. Click on a worked tile to remove it (or a - sign next to a specialist). This will add the unit to the Citizen Specialist pool, as an unforced Citizen.
2. Click on an unworked plot (or a + sign next to a specialist type your city has the option to provide). This will remove a unit from the Citizen list and assign it to the item you clicked. If you clicked a Specialist, that specialist is a Forced specialist.

You can move population units in one step, by simply clicking on the target first, but if there are no Citizens, then the automation will remove the pop point using its own selection method (and it may choose differently than you would have.)


- Sirian

@Sirian -Sorry, but no. I had not shifted a citizen from worker to specialist, nor from one speciality to another; after all, why stifle the growth of a city with low population by moving people off good tiles, especially to the rather weak Citizen speciality?
I am somewhat concerned about the statement "..that specialist is a forced specialist". Does this mean that once you have transformed, say, a Priest into an Artist, then he must remain an Artist for the rest of the game ? Shouldn't this limitation, if it exists, be mentioned in the manual or 'pedia ? If it is, I can't find it.

Since opening this thread, I have captured the Statue of Liberty and free specialists have sprouted all over the place - but not, I say again not, in the two 'forced specialist' cities. All very curious.

Siran is right. "Forced" really does mean that _you_ told them to do that. That's all it ever means (as far as I am aware of).

No, I had NOT switched any tile-workers to specialists, and cannot remember that I have ever done so in any of my games. But I have shuffled specialities from time to time, usually priests and artists to scientists and engineers.
Sirian's opening remarks seem to indicate that "forced" specialists can actually be shuffled . This I cannot do with the two individuals in question, though I can with the free ones obtained from the recently-captured SoL. I have not tried, with these latter, to get them on to the tile-working force, which I presume is impossible. What I have also found is that my two stinkers are now labelled "free" as if they too came via the SoL, but one obstinately remains an engineer and the other a citizen. No great problem, as both cities are puny by comparison with my others, having been placed (early) to give access to resources without which I would have been in real trouble. None the less, why and how has it happened as it has, and how can I avoid the problem in the future ?

Can somebody explain what causes these ? I have a city, growing slowly and with unworked tiles in its fat cross, where I have one Citizen specialist who I obviously would like to put to work. However, I am told "one forced" when I try to move him or transform him into a more powerful specialist.

When you click the "-" symbol next to the Citizen, please say exactly what happens.

You can also post your save file here so I or someone else can take a look at it directly.

@ Bushface - Post a screenshot of the city for everyone to see and maybe that will help answer your question. :)

The yellow box around a specialist indicated that they are 'forced'. 'Forced' just means that you manually assigned someone to do that job by clicking one of the specialist + buttons. The _only_ effect that forcing a specialist has is that the AI will not remove that specialist. You can always* removed forced specialists yourself by pressing the corresponding - button. There are only a few special cases for which specialists can not removed. The Great Library, mercantalism, and Statue of Liberty are some examples.
It makes no difference whether you moved a specialist from one job to another, or stopped a someone from working the fields. They become forced by you pressing the + button, and unforced by the - button. That's all there is to it.

I hope that this answers your question of "why and how has it happened as it has, and how can I avoid the problem in the future?"
To reiterate: it happened because somewhere along the line you pressed a plus button. You can avoid it by not pressing the plus buttons, but in reality it isn't really a 'problem' at all. It is just the way specialists are managed. They can still be unforced, reshuffled, or whatever.

Despite the above observations, my two characters (a) were not, ever, allocated by me (b) could not be shifted from their allocated functions, (c) became "free" when I got the SoL but (a) and (b) still applied. Pressing the minus buttons adjacent to their icons had no effect whatsoever. In other cities with more specialists, those "forced" as a result of switching function at my behest could be shuffled etc. as is the norm, but not the peculiar pair in question. Probably a minor bug in my installation, so I shall reinstall and re-patch.
No screenshots or saves available, I'm afraid. Didn't think they'd be useful: game over and deleted.

Despite the above observations, my two characters (a) were not, ever, allocated by me (b) could not be shifted from their allocated functions, (c) became "free" when I got the SoL but (a) and (b) still applied. Pressing the minus buttons adjacent to their icons had no effect whatsoever. In other cities with more specialists, those "forced" as a result of switching function at my behest could be shuffled etc. as is the norm, but not the peculiar pair in question. Probably a minor bug in my installation, so I shall reinstall and re-patch.
No screenshots or saves available, I'm afraid. Didn't think they'd be useful: game over and deleted.

There's no reason to reinstall, it seems pretty obvious that you have citizen automation selected. With that on sometimes the Governor won't allow you to remove any specialist it has created. Just turn it off and press the minus button to remove it. If you don't know how to turn it off, look for a button that has a yellow square around it's edge, near the minimap in the city view screen.

There's no reason to reinstall, it seems pretty obvious that you have citizen automation selected. With that on sometimes the Governor won't allow you to remove any specialist it has created. Just turn it off and press the minus button to remove it. If you don't know how to turn it off, look for a button that has a yellow square around it's edge, near the minimap in the city view screen.

No, the other guys are right. The Governor will occasionally assign specialists, but not forced specialists. This would be counterproductive, as the whole point of a forced specialist is to override the Governor.

The only way that you get a forced specialist is to do it yourself by clicking one of the + specialist buttons. Either the OP has simply forgotten that he did so, or it's some sort of weird bug in the software.

No, the other guys are right. The Governor will occasionally assign specialists, but not forced specialists. This would be counterproductive, as the whole point of a forced specialist is to override the Governor.

The only way that you get a forced specialist is to do it yourself by clicking one of the + specialist buttons. Either the OP has simply forgotten that he did so, or it's some sort of weird bug in the software.

His whole point is that he wasn't able to remove the specialists that the governor created. His use of "forced specialist" was incorrect, but what he's describing I've seen in my games as well, and was able to clear up by turning off the citizen automation.

His whole point is that he wasn't able to remove the specialists that the governor created. His use of "forced specialist" was incorrect, but what he's describing I've seen in my games as well, and was able to clear up by turning off the citizen automation.

But his description also included the fact that the specialist was forced:
However, I am told "one forced" when I try to move him or transform him into a more powerful specialist. In another similar city, I have a forced Engineer who would be more usefully employed working a tile.
But yeah, I suppose you're right, he could have been mistaken.

Either the OP is wrong about the specialists being forced, or he's wrong about not using automation, or there's some bizarro bug at work.

Either the OP is wrong about the specialists being forced, or he's wrong about not using automation, or there's some bizarro bug at work.

He never mentions whether or not citizen automation is on or not, so I'm guessing it is. It generally turns on by default when a new city is created.

He clearly stated that automation was disabled:
I turn off all kinds of automation as a rule, though sometimes I do find it useful to be able to guide a growing city by selecting "emphasize production" or whatever, for a few turns. No such selection applies in the cities in question.

I said "forced" because that is exactly what came up when I tried to get them, the two specialists, to work on unused tiles, notably the Citizen who I wanted to put on an iron mine. I always examine newly-founded cities to ensure that absolutely no form of automation is on, precisely because I often find that the program's idea of what tiles should be worked does not agree with mine: in particular, in choosing which of two cities should work overlapping tiles. Of course, when all the available tiles are being worked and the population grows further, then the new citizens automatically become specialists but not "forced" ones, although they are forced in a way.
Frankly, I see no point in pursuing this discussion further. Clearly it was a bug specific to my installation, since equally clearly the occurrence should not have happened.