Don't get the fast worker love

[Gumbolt]

Of course unworked tiles are great for whipping units/buildings. I seem to use a worker per city normally. Capital normally has cities close to it so you require less workers. Some games you don't even need that. That being said my current game is a bit short on workers.

Fast workers are really strong in early rushes. Indians start with mining. So 2-3 Fast Workers can chop forests really quickly. Snowball effect. Earlier dow. Earlier capture of an AI capital. Could also mean a wonder chopped much faster too. Difference between building a wonder or the AI beating you to it.

Any captured worker is a 3mp fast worker. So worker stealing can also be great for Indians. They return back to your land so much quicker too.

Unlike other UU you get this unit from T1 to build. Maybe not as fun as a praet or CKN but most useful early on.

 

[unas876]

The problem with your counter-rule is that it's not specific enough ("soon"?) and it makes it easy for players to go "Oh, I'll just work that forest a few turns" rather than seeing it as a problem they need to address asap and suddenly they're in the industrial era and wonder why the noble AI are out-teching them because they forgot.

To my understanding the rule didn't really have much to do with unimproved tiles. I'd say it translates to two things: Improve the correct tiles at the correct time instead of building brown cottages that won't be worked for dozens of turns or whatever. Secondly it means that if you can't follow the first point anymore during early and midgame because your workers are short on useful things to do, then you probably built too many workers.

Nevertheless I agree with the rest of your post. Good simple advice that can help people improve quickly until they wanna play deity and really refine their game.

FWs as a UU are for me the second best after Qs. They are crazy versatile, useful from T1 till the end of the game pretty much and while the bonus you get might not seem too crazy it definitely does have periods where it can be crucial as said by some (early wonder building, chopping army for early breakout, faster expansion on crowded maps etc).