Forest Chopping - A Practical Test

[Moonsinger]

You can just click on any item in the queue to remove it from the queue. And then click (or shift-click) on the item in the build menu, to put it back at the front (or end) of the queue.

If you want it at the start, you don't even need to remove it first. Just click on the item in the build menu and this will put it on top.

Thanks to both of you. I will try them out tonight.

 

[Zombie69]

i agree with michael. Paul did a good job in sharing his experience and replying to all these posts. i think once shifting-to-settler/worker-one-turn-before-finishing-chop becomes an intuitive playing, there'll be less beginner's fun of playing civ4.

The point is that all this stuff was already known and could have been found by looking around in the forums. I still think this thread should be moved to "strategy & tactics".

 

[Fragment]

Thanks to the OP for sharing his experiment and kicking off a very interesting discussion.

This forum would lose most of its value for most of its users if only elite players were "qualified" to throw their ideas in the ring.

Agreed, too. Elite players should please bear with us mere nobles. We're only trying to have fun, too.

Regards.

 

[fed1943]

I just chop selectively.I found a situation(capital city,creative,non-finantial,lots of floodplains,just 2 hills)I prefered to chop the military,not the settlers.I would like your oppinions.
Best regards,

 

[Zombie69]

Why would you want to chop the military? I don't understand.

You chop settlers because you need to get to the good spots before the AI does. You chop wonders because you want to get them before the AI does. With military units, what's the rush?

 

[carn]

Why would you want to chop the military? I don't understand.

You chop settlers because you need to get to the good spots before the AI does. You chop wonders because you want to get them before the AI does. With military units, what's the rush?

I'm just guessing, but getting military units before the AI does could be an advantage.
But only if you're close or rush chariots/horse archers.

Carn

 

[Innawerkz]

I just chop selectively.I found a situation(capital city,creative,non-finantial,lots of floodplains,just 2 hills)I prefered to chop the military,not the settlers.I would like your oppinions.

I've had this start before. I used Slavery for most of my construction. This was before I knew I could chop outside my borders and still get some production benefit. In hindsight, the two together would have been quite potent.

It was an opposing military that I didn't have that forced the loss. Chopping and whipping may have made the difference in getting additional cities and protecting them properly.

 

[slimpikuns]

I'm just guessing, but getting military units before the AI does could be an advantage.
But only if you're close or rush chariots/horse archers.

Man you're not kidding its an advantage... that praetorian roman chop rush is near unstoppable, if iron is available obviously.
As for me... I speed chop down to one or two forests then lumbermill them later depending on situation of course.
And even when i get down to 2 city radius forests I still have workers combing the country side to harvest as much lumber as i can find until not even a freakin toothpick exists.
And hey Sanders... dont worry about these other guys raggin ya, if you have learned a new strategy and are comfortable with it then that is what these threads are all about.
-Slim

 

[fung3]

A game on epic or marathon, monarch level, Roman Civ.

1.Grow to city size 2 whilst building a warrior and researching BW.

2.Build worker1

3.Build/chop worker 2

4.Chop 1st settler

Whilst doing the above explore local terrain and research IW

5. Chop worker 3 then 2nd settler

6. Chop for many praetorians

7. Destroy a near neighbour

8. Rebuild economy or destroy another near neighbour then rebuild economy.

This has worked for me a bunch of times.

Amount of forest makes a HUGE difference. If there are lots of forests then save some for wonder production with assistance of marble or stone for a dramatic increase in forest value.

 

[fung3]

Why would you want to chop the military? I don't understand.

You chop settlers because you need to get to the good spots before the AI does. You chop wonders because you want to get them before the AI does. With military units, what's the rush?

Allow the AI to occupy good spots, develope their cities and build wonders....then... take it all off them. I find it fun to let the AI do a lot of the hard work for me.

In a recent game I took all 4 of Japanese cities capturing the Great Lighthouse. Then I grabbed all 3 American cities along with the Pyramids. All before 100AD (Monarch level).

I don't always follow this strategy but it has been very rewarding to let the AI do the work and then eliminate them. The only downside was a poor economy which soon recovered once courthouses and the forbidden palace kicked in.

 

[liquid fire]

Why would you want to chop the military? I don't understand.

You chop settlers because you need to get to the good spots before the AI does. You chop wonders because you want to get them before the AI does. With military units, what's the rush?

I believe the goal of Moonsinger's anarchy/chop strategy is to amass a large number of Praetorians and wipe everyone out early.

 

[Zombie69]

I'm just guessing, but getting military units before the AI does could be an advantage.
But only if you're close or rush chariots/horse archers.

Man you're not kidding its an advantage... that praetorian roman chop rush is near unstoppable, if iron is available obviously.

I agree, but he said he would chop the military instead of the settlers. Doesn't make any sense. If you're going to rush Praetorians, than every city you use to produce them should be rushed as well.

 

[Paul14965]

I just got the game, but in even limited experimentation it is obvious that early chopping accelerates initial expansion. But I am having trouble optimizing it. For example, I am having trouble switching production at the appropriate times from/to the worker/settler in order to be only producing it when the chop comes in so that the city can grow most of the time. I have been checking the worker status at the end of every turn when the dot goes from green to red saying that the turn is over. When I hover the mouse over the worker, it says that there are two turns left, but often the chop comes in the very next turn sometimes, and I have spent the chop on a warrior or granary, not the worker or settler that I intended. Any thoughts on what I might be doing wrong? Thanks

 

[liquid fire]

When I hover the mouse over the worker, it says that there are two turns left, but often the chop comes in the very next turn sometimes, and I have spent the chop on a warrior or granary, not the worker or settler that I intended. Any thoughts on what I might be doing wrong? Thanks

Paul, I am not sure why it is doing that. You don't have two workers cutting one forest, do you? I'm not much of a chopper, and do not use the "Forest Chop / Production Switch" method, so don't really know the timing issues, but there's a long article on it. There's a walk-through (with lots of pictures) on page 2.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=143828&page=2

Hope that helps.

 

[Innawerkz]

When I hover the mouse over the worker, it says that there are two turns left, but often the chop comes in the very next turn sometimes, and I have spent the chop on a warrior or granary, not the worker or settler that I intended.

For me, when it says two turns, it harvests the lumber/production the next turn after I move, promote, upgrade, or heal a unit. This includes units that are set to move long distances or fortifying until healed.

Basically, deal with all of your build and research prompts but before anything else, change the build of the expecting city from whatever it is working on to the Worker or Settler you want built.

Then move your units as normal. After you move/interact with the first unit, the production bonus should go to that city.

Switch back to the other improvement you were building and end your turn.

When the Worker or Settler is due to be built (1 turn left) then leave it and end your turn to finish it.

Move your Workers to new forests.

Repeat.

Is that actually clear?

 

[DaviddesJ]

Basically, deal with all of your build and research prompts but before anything else, change the build of the expecting city from whatever it is working on to your Worker or Settler.

Then move your units as normal. After you move/interact with the first unit, the production bonus should go to that city.

This is just way too complicated and error-prone. It's so much easier to tell the worker to stop chopping, at the end of your previous turn. Then, when your new turn starts, you can set things up however you want, and then tell the worker to finish the chop.

 

[Brighteye]

Like Innawerkz sort of said, when you hover over the worker it says two turns because there are two more of that worker's turns before he chops the forest. However, the worker's turn comes along with your units, so it may be that when you're hovering over the worker he hasn't done his chopping for the turn, and so later on in the same turn he does, and next turn finishes the job.
You should be able to tell if this is the case by looking to see how much movement he has left. If he still has 2 movement then he hasn't done the action for this turn.

 

[Innawerkz]

This is just way too complicated and error-prone. It's so much easier to tell the worker to stop chopping, at the end of your previous turn. Then, when your new turn starts, you can set things up however you want, and then tell the worker to finish the chop.

I didn't see any articles on the 'actual way' but sort of learned this on my own. Once I figured out the catalyst for 'a turn', it wasn't so hard to keep track of anymore. Your approach does seem easier, though! Thanks.

CONVERTED

 

[DaviddesJ]

Like Innawerkz sort of said, when you hover over the worker it says two turns because there are two more of that worker's turns before he chops the forest. However, the worker's turn comes along with your units, so it may be that when you're hovering over the worker he hasn't done his chopping for the turn, and so later on in the same turn he does, and next turn finishes the job.

This is not right. If the popup window says "(2 turns)", that means the task will be finished the turn after this one. It doesn't tell you how much work is left to do. I.e., if the worker has taken his action for this turn (0 movement points left), and there's only 1 turn of work left to do, then the popup window when you hover will say "(2 turns)". If the worker hasn't taken his action for the turn, and there are 2 turns of work left to do, then the popup window will also say "(2 turns)".

 

[Pvblivs]

Have you tried the settler swap trick?

Build a warrior for 3 turns and switch to settler on the 4th turn when the chop comes in. This gives you growth on 75% of your turns.

You can even get growth on 100% if you swap to a settler and back on the same turn.

It's like knowing some cheat code. You just trick the developers of this game. What for is the growth limit building settlers, I am asking you?