Chopping Forests???

Ok Ok, Im a noob... But so when my worker chops a forest and then the game says such and such city has 35 hammers from the forest, where does it go??? how do I use it??? In the city screen the production did not change from before the forest was cut down... confused.. man I have a lot to learn from this game

The nearest city will get the production bonus on whatever its building for that turn only... go into the city the turn the forest disappears (don't end the turn) and you should be able to see the hammer total that turn increased.

derekliese said:

Ok Ok, Im a noob... But so when my worker chops a forest and then the game says such and such city has 35 hammers from the forest, where does it go??? how do I use it??? In the city screen the production did not change from before the forest was cut down... confused.. man I have a lot to learn from this game

Click to expand...

First, If the production didn't change in the square with the forest, somethings wrong. Taking away a forest means that that tile produces one less production point per turn.

Second, as Joshua368 said, the production is put into the nearest city (not sure which one it goes to in a tie) and it is put towards what ever your city is building that turn. In a way, the production is increased by whatever amount for that one turn and then it drops back down to normal on the next turn. Overall, chopping a forest is a waste of hammers because it causes the tile to produce less, but for wonders, units, and important buildings that you want to complete as quick as possible, it is definatly worth it to chop forests. They should be saved for these cases. For example, many people will "chop-rush" the Oracle wonder so that they get a free tech, usually Code of Laws or Theology. It is important to get the wonder done as early as possible because you need to be the first to both the wonder and the tech to get the full benefit, a religion.

Not necessarily, if you use Citizen Automation, the governor might switch your workers to another forested tile, and thus have exactly the same production after chopping. This happens to me all the time - -nothing to be worried about.

Tibur753 said:

Overall, chopping a forest is a waste of hammers because it causes the tile to produce less

Click to expand...

Almost every square can receive an improvement with better output than a forest. And chop hammers are not just for wonders. Really, the only reason to keep a forest is because you will have something better to chop it for in just a bit, or you're about to get Mathematics for the 50% chop bonus.

@ Bostock

I didn't mean that chopping forests was bad. I simply stated the fact that you would have more over the course of the game by not chopping. That doesn't mean that I'm against chopping forests. And I just used wonder-building as an example, you can chop-rush armies, buildings, etc., too. I was just trying to explain one of the benefits of chopping forests. It is, of course, nessasary to get rid of forests to build improvements, too. But, unless that improvement is a mine, you will usually lose production on it, even though the new improvement may be worth the lost production.

Bostock said:

Almost every square can receive an improvement with better output than a forest. And chop hammers are not just for wonders. Really, the only reason to keep a forest is because you will have something better to chop it for in just a bit, or you're about to get Mathematics for the 50% chop bonus.

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While its true that there will be better things to replace forests eventually, with the exception of mines there's nothing better than the forest early on. Workshops aren't worth it until quite a while. I heard someone say having cities working forests (aka an unworked tile) is a no-no, but personally that doesn't make sense to me as without mines nearby they're the best you get.

Bostock said:

Almost every square can receive an improvement with better output than a forest. And chop hammers are not just for wonders. Really, the only reason to keep a forest is because you will have something better to chop it for in just a bit, or you're about to get Mathematics for the 50% chop bonus.

Click to expand...

Or you need the health. No point chopping 3 forests for an aqueduct that just replaces the 2 health lost - you could be doing other things with that worker.

Joshua368 said:

While its true that there will be better things to replace forests eventually, with the exception of mines there's nothing better than the forest early on. Workshops aren't worth it until quite a while. I heard someone say having cities working forests (aka an unworked tile) is a no-no, but personally that doesn't make sense to me as without mines nearby they're the best you get.

Click to expand...

Watermills are better than forests, in terms of tile yields, even in their most basic form. Obviously, though, they're not available on most tiles. For commerce cities, it's okay to chop to make room for cottages if there's no unforested 2 food tiles left in the BFC.

derekliese said:

Ok Ok, Im a noob... But so when my worker chops a forest and then the game says such and such city has 35 hammers from the forest, where does it go??? how do I use it??? In the city screen the production did not change from before the forest was cut down... confused.. man I have a lot to learn from this game

Click to expand...

When the forest is cut down it announces which city it sends the production bonus to. It automatically applies that bonus to whatever you're building, so it should reduce the building time of buildings or units in that city. If you're set on research or wealth it increases the bonuses you recieve from that city for that turn.

I believe that forests give better hammer outputs over the course of a game. For example a game I am playing has a city surrounded by forest covered hills and I can build musketmen in 1 turn

A forest in a hill gives EXACTLY THE SAME hammer output late-gate as a mine on a hill, and In the beginning of the game before lumbermills they actually give less hammers. The only time you would ever keep a forest on a hill is if there were a resource you could hunt with a camp (elephants, fur etc...) or if you needed the health.

Now a forest on a grassland/plains is a completely different story, since you cannot mine this terrain, and a workshop reduces food output.

Seriously? I never realized that

I like to keep forests around because at some point in the rennessaince era, my happy cap goes through the roof and health is what is stopping me from growing. I usually encourage forest growth in plains and tundra.

Yeah the health bonus is kinda attractive till you get recycling centres. Otherwise you hit the caps very soon