Clicking on the fortified unit in the city screen. wth does it do?

[skorn]

I've been doing it for awhile, because it seems to add entertainers/maximize food production, and it even raises shield production when i click it sometimes.
In the early game, I like to MM my cities to gain maximum usage, but later on it becomes kind of a hassle. Using the method of going to the city screen, clicking on the middle of the unit fortified there (the center of the city), then using the right arrow button to go on to the next city, repeat, until I've gone through all of my cities.
The end result is that it *seems* to maximize everything automatically. I never use my governers for anything, so my question is- How does it go about maximizing anything, if I've never added the parameters for it?
Sometimes food goes up/shield goes down. Sometimes it's the opposite. Anyone have any insight into this wacky phenomenon?
Thanks in advance for all responses.

 

[mrlight]

I don't think you are clicking on your garrisonned units. in fact, i think you are clicking on your laborers in each city.

Look at which tiles you are clicking on. Some tiles produce more food and fewer shields, and vice versa. Each laborer can work on one shield or become an entertainer/scientist/tax collector. When you click on an empty tile, one laborer starts working on it, and when you click on their faces, they change their job.

 

[skorn]

mrlight, thanks for responding. No, I'm not clicking on an individual tile, I'm clicking on the city center. It adjusts my production in a seemingly random fashion, but with no ill-effects. Sometimes when I do it, I DO accidentally click on a workable tile, and that might mess something up, but I catch it for the most part.
BTW, I play at monarch w/a few forays into emperor using this *tactic*, so it can't be too bad. It just saves time for me without having to use governers. (I hate them so)
I just want to know what it's doing when I do it. I could probably break it down by paying close attention to it, but I thought someone else might have some insight.

 

[mrlight]

Oh, im sorry. Hmm, clicking on the city center affects the production of the city?

I just tried in the game, and it seems to me that clicking on the garrisoned units maximize either food or shield production. Someone might want to correct me if im wrong.

 

[taper]

Oh, I understand now. You're clicking on the unit in the city tile in the city view window. I thought you were talking about the list of units down at the bottom. I couldn't get it to work like you described. I'll have to try this out.

 

[spincrus]

Here is the deal with this;

The city tile on the view window (I mean, the center, not the tiles next to them) contains the extra laborers, who are not working a tile or are assigned as entertainers, scientists or tax collectors.

If you click that, the game will automatically assign any worker force, that is not working on a tile, to a nearby tile within the city radius. The selection of this tile is totally random (I guess it is not, actually, since it usually assigns that workforce to the tile, which has the highest resources).

 

[DaveMcW]

Clicking on the city tile reassigns citizens the way the AI governor would. If you like having that done every turn, you can tell the governor to manage moods in the city.

The governor doesn't always give you maximum production, but she comes close. And you never have to worry about disorder or misplaced citizens.

 

[skorn]

Ok, so it's like the governor, then. That's good to know. I've never liked using them before, because they seem to go off on their own agenda sometimes, creating odd units and whatnot. Not having to worry about disorder is a nice perk though.
One thing I just remembered- if I _am_ using the governor, and then attempt to click on the center tile, I get the warning stating that the governor is in charge and if I proceed, I will be assuming manual control of the city. So.. it seems like it isn't doing the exact same thing as the ai gov does. Just a thought.

 

[zagnut]

One time to use that feature that is very handy is when you are switching forms of government and many cities go into disorder. You can just cycle through your cities and click on the city tile to put everything back in balance without having to think about it.

 

[Renata]

@skorn - No, it is the same thing. If you click the center tile and get that message, just say 'ok' to take over manual control. Then click the center tile again - you'll notice that nothing moves.

I do like to do this (or just use manage moods) in non-critical cities if I have a game won and am just cruising on in to a spaceship or diplo victory. It saves a lot of time for not too too much loss in efficicency. Especially if I'm using my workers to enforce the type of production I want anyway. (Hard for the governor to set a city I want to grow to too much production if everything irrigated anyway .... )

Renata

 

[skorn]

Right on. Thanks for shedding some light on this, because it's been bugging me for quite awhile hehe. I will now assume that in order to acheive a victory at deity, I will have to abandon this tactic and use full-on micro-management in order to win.

Happpy Gaming

 

[anarres]

I use it in periods of anarchy, since the AI manages to maximise food and not let the city riot.

I prefer this method to using the city governer to manage moods, since this way you can get a quick visual on which cities are going to stave, I tend to let these cities riot instead of shrinking.

 

[Shillen]

I use this a lot. When I'm micromanaging cities I always click the center tile, then I'll reposition any citizens that I want to. As DaveMcW says it gets you close to max production, while still keeping the city growing. So usually the way I want it is only a tiny bit different from what the governor suggests.