It Takes a Really Looong Time...!

fuzzy3

Chieftain
Joined
Nov 20, 2001
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Earth
Sorry, but just a quick qn. How long does it take a single Settler unit to build a fortress on a Mountain? I set one to work & I think it has been there for 40 to 50 turns already!


Yiren.
 
Sorry, but just a quick qn. How long does it take a single Settler unit to build a fortress on a Mountain? I set one to work & I think it has been there for 40 to 50 turns already!


Yiren.

To me, this looks like a manifestation of a more general bug I've learned to live with. I find that Settlers clearing forest/jungle/swamp sometimes take too long. The remedy is to click on them so they wake up, and re-order them to do what they're already supposed to be doing (namely, 'I' or 'M'). Then they suddenly realize they've been at it long enough, the terrain instantly changes and the job is done.

I generally don't build Fortresses, so I don't know whether this is the same behaviour, but it's worth a try. Good luck!

Nesretnik
 
To me, this looks like a manifestation of a more general bug I've learned to live with. I find that Settlers clearing forest/jungle/swamp sometimes take too long. The remedy is to click on them so they wake up, and re-order them to do what they're already supposed to be doing (namely, 'I' or 'M'). Then they suddenly realize they've been at it long enough, the terrain instantly changes and the job is done.

What you're describing is a combination of a known bug ("fast" or "instant" settler bug) and a bit of luck (you're doing it right at the last turn before the improvement was complete).

The known bug works like this: just perform the operation you mentioned above (wake the settler and press the action again like 'I', 'M', 'F', ...) and repeat it during the same turn until you can't anymore... Voila! you have performed the desired operation in just one turn.

I must say since I discovered this bug, I could never stop myself from using it in any of my gems, it is just too appealing! But now at least I was able to create hacks in JCivED that put the AI in the same dispositions (1-turn settler improvement for everything/everyone).
 
Building fortress on mountain takes 6 turns. The longest it takes settler to finish an improvement is to change jungle to grassland/plains (takes 15 turns), or swamps to grassland/plains (also 15 turns).

The "fast settler" cheat you described is rather well known - though I for one discovered it only after 5 years or so of playing. Up to that time, I thought many times that each tile should remember how long it has already been improved. I mean - if you have been e.g. constructing a road/railroad over certain border mountain range (where it takes rather long time), and then the neighbour attacked the settler, which was to finish the improvement in the next round - well...

I was wondering many times (when I did not know about "fast settler") something like "there already is an almost finished railway, so it should take the next settler less turn to finish it". Nope, it always starts from the beginning (with new unit). On the other hand, there is this "already finished rounds of improvement" count tied to each settler (i.e. tied to the unit, not to the tile), so if you move a settler which was doing something on one tile, you don't "loose the work" on the new tile. Example: there are two tiles on grassland already connected with road; you press "r" to upgrade to railroad on tile1, then - after two turns - move to tile2, press "r" to build railroad there - and it takes just 2 turns to finish it, not the full 4.
 
What you're describing is a combination of a known bug ("fast" or "instant" settler bug) and a bit of luck (you're doing it right at the last turn before the improvement was complete).

The known bug works like this: just perform the operation you mentioned above (wake the settler and press the action again like 'I', 'M', 'F', ...) and repeat it during the same turn until you can't anymore... Voila! you have performed the desired operation in just one turn.

I must say since I discovered this bug, I could never stop myself from using it in any of my gems, it is just too appealing! But now at least I was able to create hacks in JCivED that put the AI in the same dispositions (1-turn settler improvement for everything/everyone).

Yeah I couldnt stop doing thatveither, so I remember we made that modification. O though the ai sped up a bit also.
Great thing.
 
How long does it take a single Settler unit to build a fortress on a Mountain? I set one to work & I think it has been there for 40 to 50 turns already!

Just for what it's worth, I have also had times that I tell a settler to build a fortress, then continue playing and forget how many turns have elapsed exactly, but start feeling like it's taking /forever/ and wonder if the settler has "frozen" or something. Probably just psychological but I sympathize.
 
On the other hand, there is this "already finished rounds of improvement" count tied to each settler (i.e. tied to the unit, not to the tile), so if you move a settler which was doing something on one tile, you don't "loose the work" on the new tile.

Aha, i thought so! Just could never think of any way to exploit it. I mean, say there's a swamp surrounded by mountains. You could put settlers in the muck to irrigate and carry their stored work over to mine the mountains, but why bother? You can just as easily put the settlers on the mountain in the first place and tell 'em to dig.

I suppose, if you use the Fast Settler cheat, then you could charge up your settlers to 14 on a swamp, then unleash them as loaded weapons across your empire, like tightly wound ballistae of prosperity.
 
I suppose, if you use the Fast Settler cheat, then you could charge up your settlers to 14 on a swamp, then unleash them as loaded weapons across your empire, like tightly wound ballistae of prosperity.

When using the fast settler cheat, the problem is the display shifting away from your settler when you make an assignment. So settlers have to work in teams. When settlers stick together, while one settler is getting charged up, focus goes to the another settler in the same display.

I have the best luck planting forest on plains as a temporary task. You can find plains everywhere. Since it takes 15 turns to plant forest, it's unlikely you'll accidentally finish the task. If you do forget how many work points you've put on a settler and finish the forest, the process is reversible.
 
When using the fast settler cheat, the problem is the display shifting away from your settler when you make an assignment. So settlers have to work in teams. When settlers stick together, while one settler is getting charged up, focus goes to the another settler in the same display.

Wow, i don't use this cheat, but i can see how that would be incredibly useful. The only application i have tried so far, of stored-potential in Settlers, is dealing with the Pollution Bug. Winding Settlers up by trying to build a fortress on a mountain for five turns, then moving them to sentry somewhere else waiting for pollution to crop up. That ploy really works.

I have the best luck planting forest on plains as a temporary task. You can find plains everywhere. Since it takes 15 turns to plant forest, it's unlikely you'll accidentally finish the task. If you do forget how many work points you've put on a settler and finish the forest, the process is reversible.

I think i'd prefer fortress-building, since it won't affect the food supply of the city which eats that square. I hate unexpected food shortages. And if you forget and build a real fortress by mistake, who cares? It makes your people think you're doing something, not just in the palace supping indifferently on giraffe kidneys stuffed with lark's tongues in a delicate baby narwal sauce. I want my people to think i'm looking out for them, even if it's by mistake.
 
I'd like to disagree slightly with the last post of Posidonius:
- building a fortress by accident is not just a good thing!
- first: imagine you build a fortress in some strategic place - somewhere on frontiers. But you do not want to put your units there. Then if any enemy gets there (which is easy) -> and puts say 3 units there -> they get: bonus from fortress + you must kill one at a time

- second: if you want to destroy the fortress - then it is, I believe, the last improvement that gets destroyed

= so having fortress in some frontier places, that you do not surveillance (for lack of units) -> that ain't a good idea.
 
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