Community Feature: Worker Improvements

[2K Greg]

Yesterday I told you guys I would have a new feature up. Here it is, only slightly late

http://www.civilization5.com/#/community/feature_worker_improvements

Every worker improvement.

Spoiler :

Workers represent the men and women who build your empire. They clear the jungles and build the farms which feed your cities. They dig the mines that provide you with precious gold and mighty iron. They lay the roads which connect your cities. Today I outline all of the improvements that workers are capable of building:

Camp. Used to improve Ivory, Furs, and Deer resources. Increases the tile yield based on the type of resource being improved (gold for Ivory and Fur, food for Deer.) Requires Trapping.

Farm. Increases the food yield of a tile, and can be built on Grassland, Plains, and Desert tiles. Requires Agriculture. There are also a couple technologies that increase the yield bonus of farms.

Fort. A special improvement that does not increase a tile’s yield nor provide access to a resource. Instead, a fort improves a tile’s defensive bonus. Forts do not provide a bonus to units in enemy territory. Requires Engineering.

Lumber Mill. Built on forest tiles. Increases production yield. Requires Engineering.

Mine. Used to improve a large number of resources, such as Iron, Coal, Gems and Gold. Increases the production yield of a tile, plus an additional increase if a resource is being improved. Can only be built on hills. Requires Mining.

Oil Well. Provides access to an oil resource. Requires Biology.

Pasture. Improves Horses, Cattle, and Sheep resources. Increases the tile yield based on the resource (production for Horses and Cattle, food for Sheep.) Requires Animal Husbandry.

Plantation. Improves several resources such as Bananas, Silk, Sugar, Wine, and Incense. Increases the tile yield based on the type of resource being improved. Requires Calendar.

Quarry. Improves the Marble resource. Increases production and gold yield of the tile. Requires Masonry.

Trading Post. Increases the gold yield of a tile, and can be built on Grassland, Plains, Desert, and Tundra tiles. Requires Trapping.

Road. Increases the movement speed of units moving along them. Connecting cities to your capital will provide a large amount of gold per turn. Costs 1 gold per turn to maintain. Requires The Wheel.

Railroad. Significantly increases the movement speed of units moving across them. Connecting cities to your capital by Railroad will give them a Production bonus. Costs 2 gold per turn to maintain. Requires Railroad.

In addition, Work Boats can construct the following. Constructing either of these improvements consumes the Work Boat:

Fishing Boats. Used to improve Fish, Whales, and Peals resources. Increases the gold yield of the tile. Requires Sailing.

Offshore Platform. Provides access to an oil resource found in the sea. Requires Refrigeration.

The biggest change fans of the Civilization series will notice is the fact that roads and railroads now cost gold to maintain. Gone are the days of building a road in every tile on the entire map; you will now need to carefully think about where to place your roads. Will you build redundant routes to make it harder for your enemies to cut off your trade routes? Will you build temporary roads during wartime to speed up the deployment of your troops? These are the sorts of things you will have to start considering when you get your hands on Civilization V!

 

[Tomice]

First! Thank you Greg!

EDIT:

Do you receive benefits for chopping forests?

Trading posts and farms on deserts could turn out to be a big change.

What about improvement ruins being left after pillaging, are they repaired faster then rebuilding would cost? (And, is this actually even a feature? )

You didn't mention tile improvements by great people! Pillageable? What if oil pops up under them?

Road maintanance: 1 gold per tile?

Railroad production bonus? cool!

 

[Azazell]

All improvements in Civ 5 is useful. Improvements have a very nice graphics textures

 

[Lyoncet]

Desert farms? What is this madness?

Oh you mean like http://www.the-two-malcontents.com/wp-content/uploads/070329_skywalker_02.jpg

That road/railroad maintenance looks interesting. Forces a much more thought-out approach than the old "hit automate trade network" strategy.

 

[Sonereal]

Desert farms? What is this madness?

Oh you mean like http://www.the-two-malcontents.com/wp-content/uploads/070329_skywalker_02.jpg

I'm assuming irrigation and rivers are required.

 

[Krill]

The biggest change fans of the Civilization series will notice is the fact that roads and railroads now cost gold to maintain.

No real changes to CIV, other than this. Some new resources, a few got removed. Tech tree changed the techs that enable improvements.

 

[Ahriman]

Thoughts:
1. Good that road movement speed increase is noted.
2. Railroads give production trade route bonus... weird but interesting.
3. 1, 2 gold per tile upkeep = OUCH!
4. Fish don't give food?
5. No farms on tundra, even if adjacent to river?
6. Unclear if forts act as airbases, but probably not.
7. No mention on if trading posts grow like cottages?
8. Overall, improvements look boring. We have less variety than Civ4 - no windmill, waterwheel, workshop. Also fewer resources, no pig or corn.

Greg, can you tell us anything about improvement maintenance for improvements other than roads/railroads? Or are these the only ones with a cost?
Can you stack roads/railroads on the same tile (or do railroads require and supersede roads and provide the road benefit too)? Is the 2 gold just for the railroad, or for the road + railroad benefits?
Are there techs that boost trading post yield? Or for gold should we eventually switch to merchant specialists?

 

[Seven05]

No real changes to CIV, other than this.

Cottages? Doesn't sound like trade posts are quite the same.

 

[Schuesseled]

Greg your my hero!

 

[Tomice]

No workshops, no windmills, no waterwheel - which means are there to get production in cities without hills/forrests?

 

[Jaybe]

Will you build temporary roads during wartime to speed up the deployment of your troops?

Very interesting!!
I would like for deletion of roads to not require a unit to pillage it. Just go into "delete road (or railroad)" mode and select tiles to remove from
... or not to pay for anymore.

 

[Gre_Magus]

No workshops, no windmills, no waterwheel - which means are there to get production in cities without hills/forrests?

Workshops, windmills, and waterwheels are buildings now, right? So I imagine you assign production specialists to those and that's where your production comes from. I imagine you'll be able to get some pretty good production out of a high food city, probably even more than out of one surrounded by hills and forest.

 

[Ahriman]

I would like for deletion of roads to not require a unit to pillage it. Just go into "delete road (or railroad)" mode and select tiles to remove from
... or not to pay for anymore.

So you can immediately destroy all the roads around your city just before an invading enemy captures it, in order to reduce their mobility? Seems like an exploit.

 

[Zhahz]

Thanks for the info.

First!

You win! Something.

 

[The_J]

Greg, can you tell us anything about improvement maintenance for improvements other than roads/railroads? Or are these the only ones with a cost?
Can you stack roads/railroads on the same tile (or do railroads require and supersede roads and provide the road benefit too)? Is the 2 gold just for the railroad, or for the road + railroad benefits?
Are there techs that boost trading post yield? Or for gold should we eventually switch to merchant specialists?

This!

Additionally:
- What has been discussed: Roads on neutral territory: Possible? Who pays for them?
- No improvement for science?


Edit: German version is up, here.

 

[Tomice]

Workshops, windmills, and waterwheels are buildings now, right? So I imagine you assign production specialists to those and that's where your production comes from. I imagine you'll be able to get some pretty good production out of a high food city, probably even more than out of one surrounded by hills and forest.

Interesting!

admittedly, the missing production improvements were hardly ever useful (and hills almost always better). Mines on hills was all the production needed far to often.

I would love to see some changes to where production is coming from, hills as primary source was a huge abstraction and quite odd IMO.

 

[Schuesseled]

Very interesting!!
I would like for deletion of roads to not require a unit to pillage it. Just go into "delete road (or railroad)" mode and select tiles to remove from
... or not to pay for anymore.

workers can dismantle roads as well as build them.

--

@Greg:

Is the railroad's production bonus in addition to the regular trade route or a replacement of it.

Fishing boats don't increase food, is that correct? Or is there a natural food bonus from fish resources and building the boat just increases gold.

 

[Tylerryan79]

I was under the impression that all improvements will cost gpt, like roads, from a picture in Azazell's post. If it's only roads the advisor should say roads, and not improvements, it's not specific, and to general. Also I thought farms could be built on hills now, you don't mention hills, of any kind, so is that not true?

I like the railroads giving the producion bonus to a city. Railroads definetly are used for bringing in goods, building materials etc, and this represents that great.

 

[Schuesseled]

First! Thank you Greg!

EDIT:

How lategame are lumber mills this time, and do you receive benefits for chopping forests?

It says engineering.

 

[Ahriman]

I was under the impression that all improvements will cost gpt, like roads, from a picture in Azazell's post. If it's only roads the advisor should say roads, and not improvements, it's not specific, and to general.

This was my thought, but maybe improvements just means roads and railroads?