Trekkie Spice
Chieftain
Why do cities suddenly decide they can no longer support troops and settlers. How can I get round this.
Many thanks
Trekkie Spice
Many thanks
Trekkie Spice
Cities Supporting Troops
- Thread starter Trekkie Spice
- Start date
If you change govts, from Monarchy to Republic, for example, your cities may suddenly lose some support power. Otherwise, support depends on shield production. You can lose prodn (for example) if your city shrinks from starvation, or if an AI unit steps onto a nearby forest tile moving your worker, or if your city riots and you must change a worker to an Elvis. There are also some Civ2 bugs, where the program moves your workers around for you, but I THINK those only occur in multi-player games.
Those are the main reasons for loss of shields. You could also create problems by rehoming too many units to one city, or by rush-buying a unit when the city can't support it, or by popping a nearby hut (a new unit there may be homed to your city).
Anyway, if you haven't figured out support yet, pay attention to the shield display on your city screen and soon you will see how it works. In most govts, a few units are supported for free, but then the others reduce your prodn by one shield each. Until you drop below zero!
Those are the main reasons for loss of shields. You could also create problems by rehoming too many units to one city, or by rush-buying a unit when the city can't support it, or by popping a nearby hut (a new unit there may be homed to your city).
Anyway, if you haven't figured out support yet, pay attention to the shield display on your city screen and soon you will see how it works. In most govts, a few units are supported for free, but then the others reduce your prodn by one shield each. Until you drop below zero!
Ace
Emperor
The AI moving your workers around is not really a bug. Everytime the city population changes, ie. grows, or shrinks, like when building a settler/engineer, the AI respots your workers to take advantage of the best food squares. This can be very frustrating and can sometimes cost you a unit because the AI only cares about food, not shields or trade.
I hadn't thought of city growth, maybe because I don't remember losing any units from doing that. So, I thought there was some limit to the damage. Does the AI actually mess with all your workers in that case ?
Anyway, it gets much much worse in PBEM games (and MP, I assume). IIRC when one player checks the world stats screen, the AI may move around city workers for all the players. I think this can also happen when a city is captured.
Anyway, it gets much much worse in PBEM games (and MP, I assume). IIRC when one player checks the world stats screen, the AI may move around city workers for all the players. I think this can also happen when a city is captured.
Ace
Emperor
I don't know about PBEM and Multiplayer games (I haven't played either in over 10 years), but in single-player mode, the AI will rearrange your workers to get the most food every chance it gets. It may not move every worker, but it will move the ones that can produce more food on a different hex. IIRC, it was decided years ago that the AI had been programed to give food the highest priority, so, anytime there is a "change" in the number of citizens, the AI jumps in and moves the workers to get the most food. It does not seem to care about trade arrows either. Given a chance, it will put a worker on a grassland hex as opposed to a grassland hex with a shield and a road. I don't remember if the AI changes workers for any other reasons, but it is a very good idea to check all your cities each turn to be sure your workers are "following your orders", not the AI's,
You don't get a chance to correct the problem before losing a unit, either. I have been caught a couple of times building a settler/engineer in a city with the workers set to maximise shields and the bloody AI will build the unit, than since the size changes, it will rearrange the workers and, oops, so sorry, not enough shields, engineer disbanded. You can lose multiple units this way if the city is supporting several units and,for example, the AI pulls a worker off a mined coal special w/RR and puts it on a grassland hex w/o a shield! The only thing you can do is try to avoid those kind of situations. (the only time the problem really goes away is when you are working all the city hexes and even then, if you want taxmen or scientists instead of elvii, you still have to change the new elvis to what you want.)
You don't get a chance to correct the problem before losing a unit, either. I have been caught a couple of times building a settler/engineer in a city with the workers set to maximise shields and the bloody AI will build the unit, than since the size changes, it will rearrange the workers and, oops, so sorry, not enough shields, engineer disbanded. You can lose multiple units this way if the city is supporting several units and,for example, the AI pulls a worker off a mined coal special w/RR and puts it on a grassland hex w/o a shield! The only thing you can do is try to avoid those kind of situations. (the only time the problem really goes away is when you are working all the city hexes and even then, if you want taxmen or scientists instead of elvii, you still have to change the new elvis to what you want.)
Ace is right. Another way the AI messes things up is when an enemy steps into a tile that is being worked. AI puts that guy somewhere else only worrying about food and if you are close to maxed out on shields that can cause loss of units.
Your AI has been possessed by an evil spirit! At least, mine is not quite that bad. I just did a test on a save from a recent game (using Civ2 Classic, Warlord level). I found a size one city ready to grow, and placed its worker on a forest. There were also three grass tiles available (two with roads, and one of those with a shield). Start of the next turn, the AI had placed the new worker onto the grass + road + shield tile, and it did not move my worker off the forest. If I understood you correctly, your AI would have moved that worker?
I THINK my AI always leaves my old workers in place, when the city grows, but it does always place the new worker on the best free food tiles. I don't recall ever losing production or units from city growth. Can other players share tales with us here?
Could you do a similar test to double-check that your AI is really that mean?
Ali: Just saw your post. Yes, I already mentioned the problem with AI units stepping in. But I don't think Ace is right about the AI moving workers when a city grows, at least not with my version of Civ2. Could one of you double-check this? Or I can post my save if you like.
Trekkie Spice
Chieftain
Many thanks for all your help. I'll never be as good as you experts, but I think I've got it sorted for the moment.
Merry Christmas
Trekkie spice
Merry Christmas
Trekkie spice
Ace
Emperor
Peaster, I usually play Gold. It might be that classic is not as bad.
Peaster, you are right. City growth never moves current workers around. But rival unit stepping in and city shrinkage due to attack or settler production moves all existing workers around.
