Simple solution to lower the city micromanagement workload.

On the Domestic Advisor Screen (F1) there should be a column which indicates whether a city's production scheme has been changed that turn or has stayed the same.
Yes or no, it could be as simple as that.
It could also be indicated a little more specific if you want with a little logo of
- a head : indication pop growth
- a red head : indicating pop loss
- a mine : mine has been build
- pollution : pollution popped up in that city
etc ...

This would have some very good advantages IMO

- it allows you to micromanage your city at the start of building a new unit/improvement and not worry about that city anymore until :

- you get to the final (two) turn(s) before completion of the unit/improvement
- something has been changed to your "planning" - like pop growth or Pollution etc ....

Being able to sort towns based on this column would bring all towns "in need" of new management to the top, so you don't have to "search" through your entire townlist.

Towns which do not need attention that turn would be easily recognisable. Unit/Improvement completion would still be 3+ turns away and in the new column there would be no "logo".

IMO this would save a lot of time and really help out identify those pop-growth turns which always escape you.

An example to finish this off.

I'm going to build a Coal Plant next, 160 Shields.
I manage my town,
get shield production up to 39,
replace a food/gold tile with a Policeman to turn one of those corrupted shields into a usable one, netting me 40 shields exactly and a Coal Plant completion in exactly 4 turns.

Meanwhile, I need only 6 more food for pop growth and I set Food to add 2/turn. Growth in 3 turns.

Two remaining civilians are going to produce 6 science beakers, at the same time keeping my happy citizens in the majority.

OK, we're set
and for the next two turns I will not have to check or worry about this town anymore.
As soon as the city has grown (3 turns) I will notice this in the new column and manage the city again.

End of example.

This would be a simple way IMO to wade out a lot of unnecessary town checks and you wouldn't have to eyeball your empire all the time looking out for and remembering which towns have grown during your "next turn" click.

You're a god-send, Borg. This idea will make micromanagement easier for all without removing gameplay.

Looks like we're the only two who think so Myzenium

......... or maybe the others like going through all 100 cities every turn

Yeah, I usually find myself opposing the ideas of our posters, instead of supporting them. I guess as usual that we are at opposition. They're probably thinking that your idea is unnecessary or a frill, and don't recognize how it could simplify city micromanagement.

Have we missed something, you lurkers? What's the problem with Borg's concept?

I must admit to HATING the whole micromanagement side of things. I'm a lazy player I admit it. I rarely drop the science rate with only 1 turn left, etc. I'm lazy and I hate micromanaging!!!

But I love this idea!

If this was done even a lazy swine such as myself would micromanage - or at least to some degree!!! (Hay, don't rush me OK! Changes take time)

Myzenium said:

Have we missed something, you lurkers? What's the problem with Borg's concept?

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the main problem with Borg's concept is that it isn't controversial enough to get people fired up to respond with nasty criticism!
The ideas that get the most discussion are the ones people disagree about... there's really nothing to disagree with about this idea. Its simple, would be easy to implement, would probably help micromanagement, and would be unlikely to hurt anything.

The F1 screen already tells you how many turns are left until production is complete - it would certainly be nice to sort the list by that number. It'd be very simple to add a (sortable) column for number of turns until population increase, since that info is already displayed below every city on the main map. And adding a column that let indicated whether shields, food, or commerce had changed since the last turn would certainly give you a "heads up" about which other cities might need some attention.

judgement said:

the main problem with Borg's concept is that it isn't controversial enough to get people fired up to respond with nasty criticism!

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I'll take that as a complement

judgement said:

Its simple, would be easy to implement, would probably help micromanagement, and would be unlikely to hurt anything.

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That's what we're trying to accomplish, right ?

judgement said:

It'd be very simple to add a (sortable) column for number of turns until population increase, since that info is already displayed below every city on the main map.

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Now there's the problem.
We're not interested in cities which are going to grow next turn
we are interested in cities which have just grown this turn and those are impossible to detect on the main map, because some will show "grow again" in 4 turns other in 5 or 6 or 10 or 15 turns.

That's why it would be a big help to have a column which would indicate and specify any change to the worked tiles in every city compared to the turn before.

Good idea.

There should also be something telling you whether the city will go into unrest if you don't give more luxuries or whatever. I hate having to go through each city counting up all the heads to see whether there are more unhappies than happies.

the mormegil said:

Good idea.

There should also be something telling you whether the city will go into unrest if you don't give more luxuries or whatever. I hate having to go through each city counting up all the heads to see whether there are more unhappies than happies.

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Exactly that's missing now. I think, Civ 3 was usually planned for standard size world (you see it at the F4 screen which doesn't support more than 8 civs) and they didn't know how much micromanaging you have to do on bigger maps.
So everything that helps making micromanaging easier without losing some effects, is always welcome!

Somewhat of an incorporation of civassist et al to the game definitely good