Hey, i know that most people say it is really bad to automate workers because you are not getting the full benefits of the land. The problem is, i dont know what do for many of the terrain areas so i just automate them. Am i really hurting my civilization (economy/science/commerce wise) by automating?

Ideally, you should be constantly working the land and managing your city's utilization of the land depending on your goal for that city. This changes during the game, of course, so a city that started out producing $$ may need to be switched over to population/specialists, hence cottages may need to become farms, mines become windmills, etc.

In practice, unless you enjoy each turn taking 4 hours, this is not fun. I usually improve every workable tile of every city once, and then automate my workers to 'build trade' because I don't want them undoing everything I just did. The automatic city manager usually does a decent job of optimizing use of the resources depending on what you're building, and can be 'nudged' toward one particular mode without manually interfering with each worked tile.

The automation system basically means it will take longer for all your tiles to be improved, as the AI doesn't move workers efficiently. You'll also end up with some suboptimal improvements (particularly around specialised cities), and the AI may not improve thins in the right place at the right time. For instance it may put all your workers to improving all 20 tiles round a city that's currently size 5, while a size 15 city is using unimproved tiles.

It's hard to put a numerical value on the damage you're doing your economy by doing this, but it is substantial. If you don't know what the best way to improve your land is, have a look round the forums, take some ideas from what your automated workers do bearing in mind they're not always right, and have a go at it yourself. You'll never learn how to get the most from your land if you just leave your workers automated, and it will cost you dearly at Noble and higher levels.

Try playing a huge map or even a small map after you have 50%+ land and automating workers is the way to go. Ideally, you would do all the work yourself but it really makes the game tedious.

I manually control my workers for my first 3-6 cities and then automate the rest of the way. I play emporer level. Currently playing the Earth map (HUGE!!) with Japan on Emporer and kicking ass with automated workers.

hey pete, sounds cool. Would u mind telling me what map that is and where i could find it. I love playing as Japan but i feel alot of the world maps dont give them justice. (or was it the map that came with the game?)

I think it is under the "play a scenario" option.

I have only automated my workers as a test to see how efficient they really were.

But that being said on the Noble Level, I can still win by:

Automating workers from the turn they are built
Randomly choosing techs (i.e. each time you discover a new one roll a dice or cut cards to determine your next research)
Not adjusting the slider
Never talking to the AI

But all that leaves you to do is choose what to build and which units to move where (other than workers)

I can still win on Prince by:
Automating workers from the turn they are built
Not adjusting the slider
Never talking to the AI

I can still win on Monarch by:
Automating workers from the turn they are built
Not adjusting the slider

I can still win on Emporer by:
Automating workers from the turn they are built (thsi gets hard)

I can't win higher than that I need to tell them what to do, but that being said on all those other game I could have doen MUCH better by actually ordering my workers.

These games get played (epic) in 2~3 hours

When I played a GOTM2 and focused, the game took 11+ hours

So the trade off is up to you ;)

Well the strategy I use is
1. do some 'preplanned improvements'
2. let them go auto (no replace existing improvements) when I don't have anything in particular I need them to do
3. grab them as needed to change a city to what I want (cottages instead of workshops, chaining farms properly, etc.) or to get something prioritized

This is probably somewhat wasteful of the worker actions, but the workers are doing something.

I would definitely recommend against setting your workers on pure auto, but just grabbing them when you have something to do and then 'letting them go' to do other useful things seems like the best plan.

I automate generally around the beginning of the final phase of the game, which occurs for me in the 1300-1700 AD period in general. By that point I've already manually done all of the important improvements, and any undeveloped spaces are things I don't much care about. It's important in options to select the options that disallow building over an existing improvement and removing forests or you may end up with some of your cities developing in ways that are counter to your intent. Count on automated workers building lots of farms!

haha.
i do FULL AUTO on huge deity with victory in one sitting.
to be honest, it's only after i've chopped enough trees...
it's full auto after that.

If you automate workers, you can't :

- properly specilize your cities;
- get the right tiles improved when you need them;
- maximize their movement allowance;
- assign them to common tasks for faster completion;
- chop the right things at the right time;
- chain irrigate where needed (the AI is clueless there);
- assign workers to the cities that need them most;
- build roads towards your enemies for faster conquest;
- protect them only when needed (the AI will send workers running home at the first sign of danger);
- etc.

You're missing out on a big part of the game, and yes, hurting your civ badly in the process because the AI sucks at worker management.

In the early game its very bad but later on it doesn't matter so much. I have'nt played civIV much but I was ablt to win on civ3 on diety automating workers around mid game. So I'm sure its a similar tradeoff. After all the major imporvments are built I see litte loss in automating workers.

It's been said before, but when will the workers be automated for specific tasks? (i.e. autobuild railroad, mine all hills, windmill all hills, etc.)

If you go into Advanced options you can check to not allow your workers to change improvements that you have already made once they are automated. I find that this makes automation pretty useful in the mid to later part of a game, once you have already made your specialist cites (unit, GP, money, etc) and you don't want to fool with finding stuff for your workers to do every turn.

If you go into Advanced options you can check to not allow your workers to change improvements that you have already made once they are automated. I find that this makes automation pretty useful in the mid to later part of a game, once you have already made your specialist cites (unit, GP, money, etc) and you don't want to fool with finding stuff for your workers to do every turn.

True, except that one truly annoying aspect is that these workers will not replace your existing roads with railroads. I REALLY wish there was an option to "make exceptions for railroads." Or is there, and I just missed it? Otherwise, does anyone know of a mod (or how to make one) that takes care of this?

If you automate workers, you can't :

- properly specilize your cities;
- get the right tiles improved when you need them;
- maximize their movement allowance;
- assign them to common tasks for faster completion;
- chop the right things at the right time;
- chain irrigate where needed (the AI is clueless there);
- assign workers to the cities that need them most;
- build roads towards your enemies for faster conquest;
- protect them only when needed (the AI will send workers running home at the first sign of danger);
- etc.

You're missing out on a big part of the game, and yes, hurting your civ badly in the process because the AI sucks at worker management.

I don't think anyone disagrees with this but running workers manually for the entire game will require 3x the amount of time vs. automaiting in the later stages only.

True, except that one truly annoying aspect is that these workers will not replace your existing roads with railroads. I REALLY wish there was an option to "make exceptions for railroads." Or is there, and I just missed it? Otherwise, does anyone know of a mod (or how to make one) that takes care of this?

False. Workers who are automated when the box for do not change improvements is checked, do build railroads over roads.

I don't think anyone disagrees with this but running workers manually for the entire game will require 3x the amount of time vs. automaiting in the later stages only.

Agreed. But if you're like me and like to take your time anyway, that's not even a consideration.

I never automate workers. But the GOTM is usually the only game I play each month, and I take it fairly seriously.

auto workers tend to build farms everywhere, they even destroy my cottages/towns to do it. This is one of the main reasons I like to control my workers.

I didn't realise there was a option to turn this off :p

~Ryanstein

Automating is just as bad as it sounds. It is not matter of finding what is the best improvment for a tile. Sometimes you have to be dynamic in your improvment. That is an important part of the game. You need the less land if you use it effectively. Let me give you an example how a dynamic improvment works. Suppose you have a city with 10 tiles and this city is good for financinal thing. Now you can just do cotage in all tiles, but what is the point on doing that, you have to wait very long that your city reaches to the right population. You can either irrigate all the tiles to populate your city as fast as possible and then change all those tiles to cotage. Which one is better?, you have to think about it. In another hand I never cottage those tiles near the border and many other things you should take in account.

The problems with automating workers in Civ4 are the problems associated with automating any procedures best controlled by human players in any game. The AI simply doesn't know your own mind. It's doesn't understand your shortterm and longterm strategies. The AI won't know the order in which you want areas developed, or how you want them developed, both of which are dependent upon the ultimate role you envision for a nearby city. Were workers a minor part of the game, given the time their correct placement consumes, I'd suggest using automation, anyway--what would you have to lose? But handling them correctly is so vital to your success, that I can't recommend this. Stick with manual controls. You won't be sorry.

Hey, i know that most people say it is really bad to automate workers because you are not getting the full benefits of the land. The problem is, i dont know what do for many of the terrain areas so i just automate them. Am i really hurting my civilization (economy/science/commerce wise) by automating?

Bad if you want a mine, not a windmill. Really depends on how serious you want to play the game. If you are looking to play a quick game on a lower level it is fine.

If you want to win on Emperor or above I beieve you need to take control. EXAMPLE:Can't have that hill full of gold in your 4th city sitting there without a mine. It needs to have a worker following the Settler and hooking it up right away. Not a bad thing to have a road built to the hill in advance.I manage every aspect of the game. Leads to longer games but I have everything where I want it.

I am no Civ expert by any means but have made it to Immortal and am finding any little error leads to:

Single Player
Custom Game
Canuck Bill
Epic Game
etc............

I usually improve every workable tile of every city once, and then automate my workers to 'build trade' because I don't want them undoing everything I just did.

Exactly what I do. Usually once I've hit the middle ages, I've tired of spending every turn telling a couple workers do to something. Rather than put them to sleep and forgetting that they're there, I'll do trade automation so that they don't mess with my specialization and pick up resources that appear and which I miss. But I always keep about a half dozen un-automated for specializing new cities, captured cities, and for changing the specializations of some cities (e.g., the GP farm that's now taking forever to create a GP and should become a goldmine).

True, except that one truly annoying aspect is that these workers will not replace your existing roads with railroads. I REALLY wish there was an option to "make exceptions for railroads." Or is there, and I just missed it? Otherwise, does anyone know of a mod (or how to make one) that takes care of this?
Simple recipe: hook up some coal. :)

They need coal to replace roads by railroads, and they do that regardless of the options. Even if you automate them for "build trade network".

Build (snatch) them, stack them up... sometimes multiple small stacks dependant on turns/task... hook up area, when finished, build extra roads for military, when ready; collect stacks and fortify in/around capital (or local capital) until needed elswhere. Like new rescource, new city, rails, etc....

is it really that bad to automate workers?
the only reason why i don't automate them is because i need them to chop.
even then, i automate workers right after i chop enough settlers for my 1st fews cities. if it's an early assault game, then i need to chop praetorians as well.
trust me. the rest of the game is more about macro management than about every single detail. if you must, use the "focus on XXX" in your city.
every deity game i've won was by automated workers (except for chopping). sure, if i want to end game a little earlier i shouldn't auto, but that's not the point.
for me, micro management makes me miserable and i want to enjoy the game. The AI does a very decent job at automation.
don't worry so much about what land is improved. worry about what you are building in your cities and what you are trying to achieve in the long-term. i'd say that worker automation is about 1% of what the game is about.

i'd say that worker automation is about 1% of what the game is about.

I find that improving your land correctly accounts for about 20% of the decision making involved in this game.

15% expanding properly
20% improving tiles properly
10% working the right tiles
25% managing city production
20% moving units and attacking
10% research and trades

great breakdown. i think that just shows that we all play the game differently. that makes civ such an interesting title!

Automating workers is highly suboptimal. The AI does a rather poor job of improving cities effectively. Also, it has the nast tendency to build a lot of farms and not a lot of cottages, which is a very bad idea.

Of cource, if you're new to the game automating your workers isn't that bad of an idea because even though the AI isn't that efficient, it still probably knows better than you. If you're capable of beating the game on Noble or higher you probably know better than the AI, so it's better to control them manualy, at least until the late game when everything important has been improved.

If you want to win on Emperor or above

Not true. I can win on Emporer automating workers and skipping the pyramids.

Not true. I can win on Emporer automating workers and skipping the pyramids.

i second that. deity in fact.

Wow that's maybe the reason why everything is so slow when I play. Never knew it's so important. Thanks for al the info :D