Damn, automated workers can do bad

I am playing as the Ethiopian Empire. I had a city, Yela, which was size 13. It was producing miitary units every 4/5 turns on Marathon level.

I had some automated workers. Before I know it the city is size level 4 and starving. There is a load of workshops with 3 irons, but hardly any food. Stupid AI!

 

If you're going to automate workers, make sure you go into the options menu and select automated workers leave old improvements and automated workers leave forests. That way they at least won't workshop over your cottages/farms or windmill over your mines. They also won't chop all of your forests near the city you were planning for your national park.

 

Yeah, I get bored later in the game and stop directing most of my workers manually and those two options help. Too bad there isn't an option "Don't go near enemy lines when I'm at war"

 

Only thing I don't like about those is that when you start discovering things like Uranium and Coal, you have to go back and make sure that there aren't already farms or windmills or something built there, because otherwise your workers will leave them alone...

 

Even when I automate later in the game I leave a few on manual control for that reason. And to fix sabotaged squares.

 

I don't automate until very late in the game. After I've done the important railing (mines and routes between cities for miliary transportation) I'll set the workers to build trade routes only. I don't even trust them on any tile of a BFC to build improvements using their non-judgement.

The advice about the option to leave old improvements and not to chop is essentail in case you forget and automate a few. Rogue workers can do nearly as much damage to you as Shaka, as the OP found out.

 

My advice is to play K-Mod. The automated workers avoid dangerous areas, and they are also a bit smarter about what they build.

 

What you don't like them lining up to be converted for the enemy?

 

This thread is misleading, the city has ample food as observed from this picture.

 

Well, yea...

*points to sig*

 

What the hay? How did they get 16 in a 1 pop city?!

 

Where is the options menu for this?

Is it the main options menu on the top right of the screen or a special one for workers?

 

It's in the main options menu on the right-hand side.

Spies. There's an espionage mission to spread discontent to a city, which gives the city +10. Unfortunately, the AI usually has a lot of extra , so it's not so useful on the attack. It's far more useful when used against the human player, who is usually close to their max, especially if you've been drafting/ whipping.

 

If this is a troll thread, I have to applaud.

Leathaface, troytheface?

Naaah, it couldn't be!?

 

Some workers make fortresses on some resources outside the cities like dyes or calendar resources even when theres calendar tech researched.

 

The fortresses actually make (some sort of) sense. As outside of a BFC there will be no benefit from increased tile yield, the defense bonus from a fort has at least a - extremely remote - possible use.
Of course the wasted worker turns are actually worth much more than that defense.