City Governor Bug?

[TwoFaced]

At this point - I just don't know what to think...
If the citizen automate button will continue to emphasize what it is you want emphasized and emphasize what it is you want emphasized each time the city grows... then yes. But, what is the Governor button for? Does the Governor button ensure that what you want emphasized virtue of the Citizen automate is maintained turn to turn or growth to growth? LMAO - WTH? It can't be this hard!

The "citizen automate" button allows your citizens to be moved around automatically. By default your governor will try to strike a balance between production, commerce, and food. You can choose to emphasize something by selecting whatever it is you want emphasized. When "citizen automate" is on the governor will constantly evaluate the city and move citizens around to strike the best balance or meet your desired emphasis if you've chosen one. Any improvement to a tile, city growth etc. will result in the governor re-evaluating and moving citizens if needed. This I believe is what you want.

Without "citizen automate" on, the emphasis that you have chosen only applies when a citizen is added to the fields. If you have selected emphasise production, new workers will work high production tiles. If the tiles change your citizens are not moved at all. Simply put citizens already working the fields will not be adjusted ever for any reason.

I hope this is clear and you understand how it works. It's really not that hard but I understand how it could be confusing. I wasn't 100% sure how it worked until I tried it out.

As for the "governor button" you mentioned. I'm not sure what you are referring to. There is no governor button as far as I know.

 

[Nuh Uh]

Automate Production I had equated with Governor - sorry - that's for production (I knew that). Okay, then, if what you are saying is true, the Automate Citizen button is not redundant, because otherwise, without it, the "Governor" will only listen to what you want emphasized on the future growth cycle(s), yes? So, basically, the Automate Citzen button just ensures that what you want emphasized is emphasized this immediate turn and with regard to the current population? That makes sense... (egad). Thanks.

With that in mind, there is no point in leaving the Automate Citizen button on after having adjusted the current population? Or, is it that without the Automate Citizen button, and with only the resource specific buttons turned on, the Governor will only slightly emphasize the resources selected, and while, as you say still working to achieve a relative degree of balance? Such that, if you leave the Citizen Automate button on, the Governor is constrained to ONLY produce citizens relevant to the resources selected. Phew...

 

[TwoFaced]

Automate Production I had equated with Governor - sorry - that's for production (I knew that). Okay, then, if what you are saying is true, the Automate Citizen button is not redundant, because otherwise, without it, the "Governor" will only listen to what you want emphasized on the future growth cycle(s), yes? So, basically, the Automate Citzen button just ensures that what you want emphasized is emphasized this immediate turn and with regard to the current population? That makes sense... (egad). Thanks.

With that in mind, there is no point in leaving the Automate Citizen button on after having adjusted the current population? Or, is it that without the Automate Citizen button, and with only the resource specific buttons turned on, the Governor will only slightly emphasize the resources selected, and while, as you say still working to achieve a relative degree of balance? Such that, if you leave the Citizen Automate button on, the Governor is constrained to ONLY produce citizens relevant to the resources selected. Phew...

I think you've got it, but I'm not 100% clear on your second paragraph. In regards to leaving the citizen automate on or off I'll try to use an example.

Let's say you turn on citizen automate and want to emphasize production. The citizens are then placed to maximize your cities production by the governor. You've got an early city with no mines. So a few turns down the road you improve a nearby hill and put a mine on it. The governor would then relocate a citizen to work that mined hill because he is trying to maximize production. No interaction from you would be required. The governor would do it automatically.

In contrast lets say you turned citizen automate off after your citizens were moved to maximize production. When that same tile is improved to a mine no citizen will be placed to work the tile. You would need to once again turn on citizen automate to readjust your citizens.

In my opinion there is no reason to have citizen automate off unless you want to place citizens manually. Even if you don't want to emphasize something it is still nice to have the citizens automatically moved if tiles are improved (something that wouldn't happen without citizen automate on).

Simply put citizen automate will constantly evaluate your cities tiles and place citizens in the fields in a manner that will emphasize whatever you have selected or if you haven't selected any emphasize option will place the citizens in a manner that balances production, food, and commerce.

Without citizen automate on citizens are placed only once [when they are created] and never moved again. If no emphasize option is selected they will be placed in a balanced manner. If an emphasis has been selected they will be placed to maximize whatever it is you selected. But again, they will only be placed ONCE and not moved again.

 

[oldStatesman]

Very confusing system as this thread shows. Not intuitive at all.

I notice that you can turn on all three emphasis buttons at the same time...that is really confusing.

BTW, for me, without the automate city workers button on, pressing the emphasize production buttons still works at times, and at other times it does not. I can emphasize production for example, and the citizens move around. Then, I can click on the emphasize food, and they will not move. I can come back next turn, no new citizens, and now the buttons will work - all of them. The next turn, again, no new citizens, and they will not work at all. Strange behavior.

 

[Nuh Uh]

Well, what I have gathered is that the Automate Citizen button serves no purpose past its immediate effect upon the population in the given turn. With it on or off, the following growth cycles will still conform to whatever resource(s) I have selected for emphasis. If this is the case, then leaving the Automate Citizen button on is of itself redundant with regard to future growth cycles, such that its functionality would be made much clearer if it were simply a 'reset' button that doesn't stay on in a fixed position. True? Yes? If no, what am I missing? Thanks.

 

[Nuh Uh]

Very confusing system as this thread shows. Not intuitive at all.

I notice that you can turn on all three emphasis buttons at the same time...that is really confusing.

BTW, for me, without the automate city workers button on, pressing the emphasize production buttons still works at times, and at other times it does not. I can emphasize production for example, and the citizens move around. Then, I can click on the emphasize food, and they will not move. I can come back next turn, no new citizens, and now the buttons will work - all of them. The next turn, again, no new citizens, and they will not work at all. Strange behavior.

If that's what is happening, it sounds like it may indeed be buggy, and none of us really know what it does...

 

[TwoFaced]

Well, what I have gathered is that the Automate Citizen button serves no purpose past its immediate effect upon the population in the given turn.

False. What I've tried to explain is that the automate citizen button turns on automatic control of the citizens. It doesn't just arrange the citizens immediately and then stop working. It actively monitors the tiles and arranges the citizens. Any change will result in a new calculation to determine the best tiles to be worked. If a tile is improved, or pillaged, or new tiles become available from expansion etc. etc. the governor will arrange the citizens to emphasise whatever you have selected or to create the best overall balance if you haven't selected an emphasis. This happens immediately every time a change occurs without the need for you to do anything.

With it on or off, the following growth cycles will still conform to whatever resource(s) I have selected for emphasis.

True.

If this is the case, then leaving the Automate Citizen button on is of itself redundant with regard to future growth cycles, such that its functionality would be made much clearer if it were simply a 'reset' button that doesn't stay on in a fixed position. True? Yes? If no, what am I missing? Thanks.

No. It's not actually redundant and it's not a reset button. The placement of a citizen automatically occurs when a city grows regardless of the citizen automate being on. That citizen will be added to a production tile if you selected emphasise production, or commerce tile if you selected emphasise commerce.

The automate citizen feature does not control new citizen placement. Therefore it's not redundant. It's not simply a reset button that re-arranges the citizens either. It turns on automatic control of your citizens so that they will always be arranged in a manner that emphasises what you desire.


I'm not really sure how else I can explain it. Hopefully you've got it by now. If not all I can say is re-read my posts. Then read them again. If you still haven't got it play around with a city and see how it reacts under different circumstances. If you have any troubles just post and I'll see what I can do to clarify.

 

[TwoFaced]

Very confusing system as this thread shows. Not intuitive at all.

I notice that you can turn on all three emphasis buttons at the same time...that is really confusing.

BTW, for me, without the automate city workers button on, pressing the emphasize production buttons still works at times, and at other times it does not. I can emphasize production for example, and the citizens move around. Then, I can click on the emphasize food, and they will not move. I can come back next turn, no new citizens, and now the buttons will work - all of them. The next turn, again, no new citizens, and they will not work at all. Strange behavior.

When you don't understand something it can seem very confusing. Honestly it seemed pretty intuitive to me. But clearly there are people that have been confused by the city management system.

Yes you can turn on all emphasise buttons. They didn't limit you but this shouldn't lead to confusion. Just use common sense. Typically you would only emphasise one thing.

As far as the emphasise production working without the citizen automate on...I'll try to re-create that and see if I can explain it. When the citizens were moved were they really emphasising production? If you have a saved game post it and run me through a step by step of what you did. I believe if you are experiencing inconsistent behavior it's because your not understanding how the city management system is working. I have run some different scenarios and I always get the results I thought I would. The system seems to be working perfectly fine for me.

 

[Nuh Uh]

Okay, so leaving it on provides the ongoing ability on behalf of the Gov. to rearrange already established populations in order to optimize what it is you want produced... got it (I hope). Thanks very much for your help/patience.

 

[TwoFaced]

Okay, so leaving it on provides the ongoing ability on behalf of the Gov. to rearrange already established populations in order to optimize what it is you want produced... got it (I hope). Thanks very much for your help/patience.

Exactly. I think you've got it now.

 

[oldStatesman]

@TwoFaced

Sorrry I did not reply earlier - got caught up in the non-patch excitement.

I will try and re-read this thread again tomorrow when my brain is awake...maybe I am weird, but to me, it does not seem intuitive; not saying it isn't to most; I'm left handed so things tend to seem backwards to me a lot ...

Thanks for taking the time with the detailed explanation and the reply.

 

[DaveShack]

Here's a possible answer to your concern. One thing I have noticed is that with the automate citizen button checked, if I change the maximize production / food / gold / great people buttons, the change does not happen instantly. If I leave the city screen up for a few seconds, the change occurs then. Are you leaving the screen immediately after hitting the button?

Another thing which would help a lot would be to post screenshots of a city in which this apparent lack of following instructions is happening, so we can analyze the tile counts. I was surprised a couple of times on certain cities to find out it selected the same plots to work no matter what button was pressed. I then thought like a programmer and wrote down the plot values, and it actually didn't matter what was selected, the best solution was always that combination.

Hope this helps