Automated workers in Civ 5

[CBPE]

Some short questions:

1- is there a way to let that AW won't chop forest/jungles on their own (like in Civ 4 was)?
2- is there a way to let that AW won't change the improvement already built in a tile (like in Civ 4)?
3- it seems me that they build too many roads (roads are expensive in Civ 5!). They do not follow the simply rule, already explained in other threads, about the effective convenience "lenght of road/trade route income", don't they?
4- it seems me that they don't agree with the "city governor"....
i.e.: in Civ 4, if you choose to emphasize grow in a city, they build farms rather than cottage. In Civ 5 they don't. Am I wrong?

Thank you

 

[Acidrain]

In the next patch, they will add a button for worker to not replace already built improvements.

I just witnessed that automated workers are totally useless. They waste turns by moving around in-effectively and usually when you got like three workers for example, all those three workers would move as one group. All three workers go to same city and improve the land, instead of splitting... and improve 2 or three cities same time. Which most cases is more effective.

 

[b9rnst9r]

OMG, my worker just destroyed an academy!!! Stupid guys! well my great scientist was of no use now...
I understand, why a worker would build a trading post over a farm or something like this. but tearing down an academy for some stupid trading post is just plain dumb.

I really hope this patch comes out soon.

 

[Cuba Libre]

You just have to micromanage your workers. It's a pain with larger empires, but you simply can't trust the automation. 2/3 - 3/4 of my time most turns is managing workers.

 

[boehj]

You'll really get a whole lot more out of them if you do the work yourself and never automate. Give it a try. I'm certain you'll find your situation much improved.

 

[Raethwyn]

1 & 2 I can help you with, until they enable the options in the patch. You'll have to edit an XML file to enable both Workers Leave Old Improvements and Workers Leave Forests.
To find the correct file navigate to your Steam folder and look in the GameInfo folder at this path:

(I'm on XP so your path MIGHT be different if you're on a different OS)
..\Steam\steamapps\common\sid meier's civilization v\Assets\Gameplay\XML\GameInfo


Look for this .xml file and open it with a text editor. I used Notepad:

CIV5PlayerOptions.xml

After you open the file search for these two lines of code:

<Type>PLAYEROPTION_SAFE_AUTOMATION</Type>
<Description>TXT_KEY_PLAYER_OPTION_WORKERS_LEAVE_OLD_IMPS</Description>
<Help>TXT_KEY_PLAYER_OPTION_WORKERS_LEAVE_OLD_IMPS_HELP</Help>
<Default>false</Default>

-and-

<Type>PLAYEROPTION_LEAVE_FORESTS</Type>
<Description>TXT_KEY_PLAYEROPTION_LEAVE_FORESTS</Description>
<Help>TXT_KEY_PLAYEROPTION_LEAVE_FORESTS_HELP</Help>
<Default>false</Default>

Change false to true in both of those. With those options enabled, your workers will leave any improvement that you manually built and also will not chop down forests or jungles.

3. I don't know of any way to prevent Automated Workers from building roads, sorry Let's hope that this tidbit of info on the upcoming patch means they'll make the workers a bit more intelligent about building roads: * Workers &#65533;- Improved the path-finding mechanic when building route-to roads improved, including a large performance increase when evaluating road-pathing.

4. Like you said, Automated Workers don't seem to care what the City Governor is set to. I don't know of any way to fix this other than micro-managing your Workers.

 

[Jharii]

I have never used automated workers in any incarnation of Civ.

 

[Paeanblack]

I have never used automated workers in any incarnation of Civ.

It was hilarious in Civ 2, with railroads giving unlimited movement. In the late game, you'd see Engineers (upgraded workers) racing around the continent for several minutes trying to figure out something to do.

 

[DaveGold]

The automated workers will do all manner of strange things. You can tell them to build a road in a straight line and they instead build a detour around ... another worker.

 

[CBPE]

1 & 2 I can help you with, until they enable the options in the patch. You'll have to edit an XML file to enable both Workers Leave Old Improvements and Workers Leave Forests[...]

GREAT!!!

I'll try it!

Thank you

 

[Sonereal]

Automated workers are horrible. Not as bad as automated exploration which can result in wars.

 

[weregamer]

The "auto workers leave old improvements" in the current XML is emphatically NOT the same as "auto workers leave things done manually alone". It's the same option as in Civ4, and it means they leave *all* existing improvements alone, regardless who built them. It's a great deal better than having them running amok, but it means that they can't for example, start building more trading posts when you are low on income the way they would without that setting.

The feature promised in the upcoming patch is that they will actually know which things were built by an automated worker vs. which you manually placed, and will change things other robots did freely but not change the things you did. That is exactly what I want, and I am really looking forward to it.

 

[Sonereal]

The "auto workers leave old improvements" in the current XML is emphatically NOT the same as "auto workers leave things done manually alone". It's the same option as in Civ4, and it means they leave *all* existing improvements alone, regardless who built them. It's a great deal better than having them running amok, but it means that they can't for example, start building more trading posts when you are low on income the way they would without that setting.

The feature promised in the upcoming patch is that they will actually know which things were built by an automated worker vs. which you manually placed, and will change things other robots did freely but not change the things you did. That is exactly what I want, and I am really looking forward to it.

I am too actually. I remember how I had to manage all my workers in Civ4 because they kept building over my forts.

 

[Syiss_]

The "auto workers leave old improvements" in the current XML is emphatically NOT the same as "auto workers leave things done manually alone". It's the same option as in Civ4, and it means they leave *all* existing improvements alone, regardless who built them. It's a great deal better than having them running amok, but it means that they can't for example, start building more trading posts when you are low on income the way they would without that setting.

The feature promised in the upcoming patch is that they will actually know which things were built by an automated worker vs. which you manually placed, and will change things other robots did freely but not change the things you did. That is exactly what I want, and I am really looking forward to it.

That does sound pretty cool, but I'd be happy with them just not building over anything at all. I learned the hard way in one game where I automated all my workers after I had all roads and most of my land built the way I wanted. I paid no attention at all to what they were doing until I started hitting the red in income, and realized they had farmed over basically all my trading posts.

 

[Paeanblack]

What I really want is to be able to click on any tile, select what I want built there, and have the automated workers take care of that when they get a chance.

 

[Raethwyn]

What I really want is to be able to click on any tile, select what I want built there, and have the automated workers take care of that when they get a chance.

THIS sounds like a fantastic idea! It's the perfect mix of Micro-management and Automation. I hope the Devs are reading this thread now.

 

[boehj]

What I really want is to be able to click on any tile, select what I want built there, and have the automated workers take care of that when they get a chance.

I like the sound of this a lot.

It would need to be combined with a guarantee that the workers wouldn't do nutty stuff in the meantime tho'.

 

[Trickster7135]

What I really want is to be able to click on any tile, select what I want built there, and have the automated workers take care of that when they get a chance.

Just add a CNTR function to select multiple tiles and you'd have solid gold.

 

[alpha ginger]

How much can workers be tweaked through mods?

 

[alpha ginger]

It was hilarious in Civ 2, with railroads giving unlimited movement. In the late game, you'd see Engineers (upgraded workers) racing around the continent for several minutes trying to figure out something to do.

Those were the days... I really do miss upgrading ancient units and moving them across the entire map before the AI knew what hit them.

Vae Victis