Civ6 Blog Post - Automation

[Krajzen]

tl;dr there is no automation of builders, autoexplorstion remains

http://civilization.com/#news/en-civilization-vi-the-state-of-automation

 

[Larsenex]

I found this thread on Twitter...

http://civilization.com/#news/en-civilization-vi-the-state-of-automation

 

[Larsenex]

Auto explore stops on enemy sighted and when we find goody huts!

 

[Thormodr]

Thanks for that. I can't see how anyone would want to automate builders, anyway.

Auto-exploration is fine, although I never use the option myself.

 

[Krajzen]

I like the builders change because I think creating infrastructure with them will be more satisfying and engaging that eternal waiting for workers.

In civ5 first I need to build worker, then wait for each improvement, which finally appears without real feeling of accomplishment. And God forbid if you play on epic/marathon speed in jungle location, building anything on each tile will take forever.

 

[bite]

Moderator Action: Threads merged

 

[MIS]

tl;dr there is no automation of builders, autoexplorstion remains

http://civilization.com/#news/en-civilization-vi-the-state-of-automation

If someone was going to automate builders in Civ6 (with the new 3 and done mechanic) they shouldn't bother getting the game.

 

[Lucius_]

I'll automate caravels once I have continent borders revealed and pathways all around the world. I'll let them roam and clear fog on their own.

 

[AriochIV]

I almost never automated Workers anyway... they too frequently did things I didn't want them to do.

In particular, they were obsessed with building roads everywhere, and sucked at placing them.

 

[TheMarshmallowBear]

I learned to not automate workers until mid-late game when I just couldn't be bothered keeping track.

Needless to say, Hotseat got a lot more immersive. (as i've always automated workers there)

 

[isau]

Interesting, but technically they have to automate Workers anyway because the AI has to be able to use them. I suppose its a small savings on not having to create options for the player to be able to change how automation works, but all it really does in previous civs is apply the AI's rules to the player's units.

 

[Martin Alvito]

If someone was going to automate builders in Civ6 (with the new 3 and done mechanic) they shouldn't bother getting the game.

Harsh but perhaps true.

Interesting, but technically they have to automate Workers anyway because the AI has to be able to use them. I suppose its a small savings on not having to create options for the player to be able to change how automation works, but all it really does in previous civs is apply the AI's rules to the player's units.

A cynic's view would be that they've disabled this ability for the player because they can tell that the AI is going to derp hard on this dimension and that they don't have enough time left before release to fix it. By disabling Builder automation, they make this AI flaw considerably less transparent to the player.

 

[Zaarin]

Thanks for that. I can't see how anyone would want to automate builders, anyway.

Auto-exploration is fine, although I never use the option myself.

I used to, until I found my scouts moving back and forth in three tiles because of a barbarian encampment once too often, plus scouts just love trespassing in city-states I didn't mean to offend. (For the sake of people who use it, I hope auto-exploration has the sense not to trespass in Civ6.)

 

[CaptainUnknown]

I used to, until I found my scouts moving back and forth in three tiles because of a barbarian encampment once too often, plus scouts just love trespassing in city-states I didn't mean to offend. (For the sake of people who use it, I hope auto-exploration has the sense not to trespass in Civ6.)

In the blog post, it says that your auto-exploring unit will stop and trigger the player when it detects ruins or enemies. Nothing said on trespassing, but with the extra care they are putting into it makes it somewhat likely.

 

[m15a]

There may not be a concept of trespassing since the mechanic it affected doesn't exist in Civ VI.

 

[Zaarin]

There may not be a concept of trespassing since the mechanic it affected doesn't exist in Civ VI.

True. City-state borders may just be closed, the same way civ borders are. I'd be surprised if we were free to just trample all over them, though.

 

[Martin Alvito]

True. City-state borders may just be closed, the same way civ borders are. I'd be surprised if we were free to just trample all over them, though.

Hey! Get off my land, you Peacekeeping son of a...

*channel flick*

It always drove me nuts in the earlier Civ series games when opposing military units trotting around my territory without my leave didn't confer instantaneous casus belli. I'd imagine that the leaders of those poor city-states felt the same way in CiV.

 

[Ryika]

I'm not on board with removing the option to automate workers. It should be there, in the same, limited capacity that it existed in Civ 5, if for nothing else then to fill in the gaps during the later stages of the game. I can already see how annoying it will be to go around my own empire to see where territory has expanded in the last few turns and where there's Population that isn't working an improvement currently. At that point, at least unless they have thought of a way to solve this issue, placing Improvements just isn't "interesting and full of choices" anymore.

Not sure how I feel about Exploring Units waking up for Goody Huts. It will probably feel more rewarding, but at the same time... do I really want to have to move my unit onto that Goody Hut and then re-enable automation after that? That could become really annoying after a while as well. But then again I don't use automation early on anyway and later on the chances of finding a Goody Hut are limited so... probably won't really have any effect on me at all.

 

[chaosprophet]

I'm not on board with removing the option to automate workers. It should be there, in the same, limited capacity that it existed in Civ 5, if for nothing else then to fill in the gaps during the later stages of the game. I can already see how annoying it will be to go around my own empire to see where territory has expanded in the last few turns and where there's Population that isn't working an improvement currently. At that point, at least until they have thought of a way to solve this issue, placing Improvements just isn't "interesting and full of choices" anymore.

Not sure how I feel about Exploring Units waking up for Goody Huts. It will probably feel more rewarding, but at the same time... do I really want to have to move my unit onto that Goody Hut and then re-enable automation after that? That could become really annoying after a while as well. But then again I don't use automation early on anyway and later on the chances of finding a Goody Hut are limited so... probably won't really have any effect on me at all.

Even if there was automation, you would still need to keep an eye on those things because of the worker charges. You built one and automated it and soon it would be used up so you had to manually build another to leave it automated. And it also would be a problem when you want to build the improvements that aren't done automatically (like forts) just to find the builder you had kept around was used up a while ago.

Then with the districts system, how are the automated workers supposed to know where to not built improvements because you're planning to build a district / wonder there soon and building an improvement there now would be basically a waste of a builder charge? It wouldn't be much of an automation if you had to fill it up with inputs like marking tiles they shouldn't work on and so on.

 

[kaspergm]

True. City-state borders may just be closed, the same way civ borders are. I'd be surprised if we were free to just trample all over them, though.

Actually, didn't they sort of hint in one of the very first videos that the concept of closed borders, also with major civs, didn't appear until later in the game? I.e. you can pass through other civ's lands, but they may not like you for it. I might be imagining things here, but it certainly would make sense, because the concept of well defined and recognized borders wasn't a thing until well up in historic times, if I'm not mistaken.