how do you guys control your workers at start?
- Thread starter newb
- Start date
Never, ever automate your workers until all your improvements are done in the late stages of the game and perhaps set them on auto to rail everything. Other then that, never automate.
As what to do? Simple:
Road to the nearest resources.
Imrove said resources, in particular those in your city radius and then those within your borders.
Cottages.
Farm if you need food, mine if you need hammers.
Chop forests if you need to hurry something (like your first settler)
Road to where you plan to place your next city (give it a military escort to protect against animals)
Rinse and repeat.
As what to do? Simple:
Road to the nearest resources.
Imrove said resources, in particular those in your city radius and then those within your borders.
Cottages.
Farm if you need food, mine if you need hammers.
Chop forests if you need to hurry something (like your first settler)
Road to where you plan to place your next city (give it a military escort to protect against animals)
Rinse and repeat.
strategywins
Chieftain
I am working my way up but one of the first things I learned is chop. There are a lot of threads on this so I won't go into it here. I would also avoid automated. They don’t always make the best decision on what to build. If you build a lot of cottages for the commerce they will change them into farms. I am sure you will get a lot of response on this one and there is a lot in other threads.
TCGTRF
Warlord
- Joined
- Jan 3, 2006
- Messages
- 298
newb said:
I don't automate them at all. What I have them do depends on the starting position, the characteristics of my civ and what techs I have.
I would suggest playing a few games all the way through without automating your workers. On a normal sized map, you won't have more than a dozen, even at the end of the game.
You'll learn a lot about different strategies and tactics for the game if you run them yourself.
Tom
you want to use your workers to reach your short term goals faster.
chopping to rush units or building. connecting strategic resources as fast as needed to make use of them as soon as possible. improve bonus resources for extra production/food/commerce. get those cottages build quickly for them to grow to towns earlier. connect health/happiness resources to get your cities to the limits.
chopping to rush units or building. connecting strategic resources as fast as needed to make use of them as soon as possible. improve bonus resources for extra production/food/commerce. get those cottages build quickly for them to grow to towns earlier. connect health/happiness resources to get your cities to the limits.
I suggest that you go to the options, and select the workers to leave the trees, and to leave existing improvements. Otherwise they will chop everything down and build farms everywhere. I think it is best to control them manually at first, so that they do exactly what you want. Priorities are to improve special resources, and build roads to them. Second priority is cottages and farms, or tree chopping if you want to hurry a building. I switch them to automated once I have the land round my first few cities improved, then later if I see something that I want done I take some back under manual control and send them to do it. Times when this might happen are when a new building becomes available (workshop, waterwheel, windmill, lumbermill), or when a new tech changes the output from an improvement (e.g. when windmills get +2 gold I might decide to change some mines to windmills). When a city has the possibility to build a specialist I might decide to add a farm so that I can have that specialist.
Having said the above, when new to the game, I found it quite instructive to watch the priorities that the automated workers have.
Having said the above, when new to the game, I found it quite instructive to watch the priorities that the automated workers have.
I automate workers sometimes to improve a "marginal" city, which I built somewhere in Arctic to get a resource. After I got the resource, I have no specific plans about this city, so I just leave a worker improving the land around just this one city.
Later in the game I oftenly find this city quite prospering, size 10 or above, asking to build an observatory because of the commerce it collects from the seas.
Later in the game I oftenly find this city quite prospering, size 10 or above, asking to build an observatory because of the commerce it collects from the seas.
KrikkitTwo
Immortal
- Joined
- Apr 3, 2004
- Messages
- 12,418
Yeah, as far as I can tell the best way to use workers is
1. put down key improvements/chopping/roads manually
2. automate with No replacements on (I usually let them chop the Forests, but that depends on personal preference)
3. Manually adjust as the situation arises, (farms need chaining properly, new resource appears, the farm or Windmill level needs adjusting, or the commerce/hammer balance needs fine tuning, you want to make city X a GP farm/Commerce center, etc.)
Now the stage where one switches from 1 to 2 depends on your desire to micromanage and how many tiles you have. On Huge maps it happens earlier, on small maps later.
1. put down key improvements/chopping/roads manually
2. automate with No replacements on (I usually let them chop the Forests, but that depends on personal preference)
3. Manually adjust as the situation arises, (farms need chaining properly, new resource appears, the farm or Windmill level needs adjusting, or the commerce/hammer balance needs fine tuning, you want to make city X a GP farm/Commerce center, etc.)
Now the stage where one switches from 1 to 2 depends on your desire to micromanage and how many tiles you have. On Huge maps it happens earlier, on small maps later.
Canadian Bacon
Chieftain
Never, ever automate early in the game. Efficiency with workers is one of the largest advantages that humans get over the AI, at all difficulty levels. You should manually control your workers until you get to the point where all improvments are finished in your main cities. Personnally, I continue to automate unitl every city is done, and I have built a rail network. After that, I usually have my workers build a trade network (they will rail everywhere, and automatically connect resources if you get a new one or a spy destroys the connection)
Other things
1. Remember that roads do not add any bonus. In the early game, use them to connect cities and resources only. Later on, you may go back and road extra tiles.
2. Remember that rivers can connect resources and cities. This can let you use your workers for more important matters early on. Of course, roads are better because of movement bonuses.
3. For resource tiles, improve before you road. That will give you the bonus hammers/food/commerce a little earlier, and the resource is hooked up just as fast.
There are many more little things with workers that are important to play, but Im sure that they are somewhere around.
Other things
1. Remember that roads do not add any bonus. In the early game, use them to connect cities and resources only. Later on, you may go back and road extra tiles.
2. Remember that rivers can connect resources and cities. This can let you use your workers for more important matters early on. Of course, roads are better because of movement bonuses.
3. For resource tiles, improve before you road. That will give you the bonus hammers/food/commerce a little earlier, and the resource is hooked up just as fast.
There are many more little things with workers that are important to play, but Im sure that they are somewhere around.
-( i )- Mayhem
Chieftain
- Joined
- Nov 24, 2005
- Messages
- 7
Much like the responses above i never automate until i have manually improved every tile. With automation you lose the ability to create more specialised cities and end up with a one-size fits all set of rules that they are improved to which is definitely not the best way to get the most out of them.
