How much of a micromanager are you?

[Four Four Seven]

I'm wondering how much people micromanage when playing Civ. When PTW comes out, this will be a major issue when finding compatable players. Some people tend to want to control every worker, decide on a case-by-case basis who to upgrade, etc. Others may be more relaxed. Here's how I am:

-I tend to manage my first 2-3 workers by hand, but then use shift-A and ctrl-shift-I for workers after the first 2-3.
-I do all upgrades with shift-U (to upgrade all possible units at once).
-I manage all city production myself until about the "tank age," when there are tons of cities. At that point I set up my governors plan, and let them take over for the most part (and still overrule them occasionally).
-I do exploration by myself (instead of hitting the "e" key).
- I use the stack movement ("J"), and goto command ("G") for almost all movement once the map is explored.
-I disable "always wait at the end of the turn." (I realize this doesn't save much time...)

I find I could be a "better" player if I micromanaged more, but I'd get completely bored, especially with the late-stage game. I'm worried that other players I may play against will feel different. Talking to some potential playing partners, we've agreed on a "two workers micromanaged" limit to keep turn time down. If everybody is in the same boat, it's essentially fair.

What are other people like?

 

[sabo]

I always thought micro management meant going into the city view and moving your people around to maximize happiness/production/food...

 

[Pillager]

I never, never automate my workers, nor my cities. So, I micro-manage pretty well as much as one can. Although, I don't go to the lengths of constantly changing my science rate one turn before discoveries. Actually, having thought about it, I do do that occasionally...

 

[DaDoo]

-automate all my workers via ctrl-I & A (not efficient yeah yeah whatever)
-upgrade with shift-U
-explore with units for the first 20 turns then "e" all the rest
-have governor set to manage mood and to max production but I choose what to build etc etc.
-'always wait at end of turn' on! I hate it when I moved my last non-automated unit and the turn ends automatically while I still have a few fortified units I wanted to move.

 

[Sullla]

Compared to some of you out there, I would probably look extremely anal-retentive when it comes to micromanagement. Everything has to ba managed, and that means never automating workers, managing all city production and control of individual tiles, altering the cash/science/luxury bar constantly, pouring over the diplomatic screens relentlessly to find the best possible trade deals... and so on. I refuse to use the goto ("G") command because after a few turns I would have no clue where each unit was going. The city governors have never been used in any of my games. For these reasons I never play on huge maps.

It might not surprise you to hear that my games tend to take a long time to play, usually running 2-3 weeks each. Some of you probably see all of this as an enormous waste of time, and I'll grant that micromanagement is not for everyone. But answer this question for me: how many Deity games have YOU won using your automated workers?

 

[billindenver]

I used to automate everything, but the workers do such a crappy job!! I've had nice, productive cities totally reamed by those idiots (irrigating everything..argh). Plus, they move into an unroaded square (presumably to road it) then move right back out the next turn to go do something else (pollution control,etc). I still put them on semi-auto late in the game (the one where they don't touch existing improvements), but I immediately turn them off when they get to an unroaded terrain to make sure they at least get a road on there.

I really don't do enough city micromanagement. I'm just learning that through reading SG threads and Crackers article, but I tend to let the computer manage city squares, which again, it does a lousy job of. Late in the game, I doubt it matters much, but early on, I can see it making a HUGE difference.

 

[Sultan Bhargash]

I only automate workers once my continent has been completely railroaded and global warming is erasing improvements, then I go for Control A.
I intensely micromanage negotiations attempting to find out what is the absolute lowest dollar amount I can pay or highest they will pay me.

 

[cgannon64]

-I don't really auto my workers unless they are on pollution patrol or I have more than normal.
-I always move units manually, unless it is something like shuffling interior defense. Why? I've had too many experiences with dumb units walking by enemies, getting killed.
-I never use governors. Look at the AIs prodution---they are stupid.
-I usually scan the diplo screens every few turns, more if I am in a close tech race, and I scan them after every tech discovery (by me).
-I also have "wait at end of turn" on. I hate when I get confused, moving units when I'm not supposed to, not moving units I'm supposed to.

Got to go, Firaxis chat in 6 minutes (yes I'm actually going to that !

CG

 

[Sparrowhawk]

Much like Sullla, I micromanage pretty much everything. I never ever trust the AI to work competently at governing my cities. I manage all cities, city tiles, workers, exploration, and the luxury rate. I don't consider using the group commands to be 'automating' anything - if my units are all going to the same destination, why not use it? As for the GoTo command, I only use it if I am moving a unit via rail, otherwise I use the arrow keys.

The only time I don't micromanage is when I forget to. Like for instance when I am involved in a really exciting war, sometimes I will forget to check everything before I move on to the next turn.

 

[Four Four Seven]

Originally posted by Sullla
But answer this question for me: how many Deity games have YOU won using your automated workers?

Answer - none. Haven't even tried. I get a good challenge from Emperor with some automating, and i can play 2 games/week in extremely limited time. I consider the automation a small price to pay to increase my number of games played and decrease the boring parts.

However, I say to each their own. I doubt we'll play each other in multiplayer though! We'd drive each other crazy!

This discussion does bring up the important point that general standards need to be decided upon before embarking on a multiplayer game. If I played Sullla without these agreements, it would be unsatisfying for both of us - I'd get bored, and Sullla would crush me silly! If you don't understand, see smiley explanation below

Me bored...Sullla crushing me
vvv.............vvvv..............
:rocket2:

 

[Sparrowhawk]

Originally posted by Four Four Seven


Answer - none. Haven't even tried. I get a good challenge from Emperor with some automating, and i can play 2 games/week in extremely limited time. I consider the automation a small price to pay to increase my number of games played and decrease the boring parts.

However, I say to each their own. I doubt we'll play each other in multiplayer though! We'd drive each other crazy!

This discussion does bring up the important point that general standards need to be decided upon before embarking on a multiplayer game. If I played Sullla without these agreements, it would be unsatisfying for both of us - I'd get bored, and Sullla would crush me silly! If you don't understand, see smiley explanation below

Me bored...Sullla crushing me
vvv.............vvvv..............
:rocket2:

Firaxis already provided something like a screening process to avoid this sort of style conflict. As I see it, micromanagers who like long games might prefer play-by-email games, where turn length isn't such an issue. On the other hand, players who automate heavily will be rewarded in the 'high-speed' turnless mode. Each form of multiplayer will appeal to players of different style.

 

[Grey Knight]

I MM as little as I can This usually means full control of workers until late, and the occasional mixing up of city squares worked. I end up doing a lot of MM really, and tend to play on standard or smaller maps.

Cheers,
Shawn

 

[andrewgprv]

I never automate workers, I never use Goveners (expet for happiness) I always know what every city is building. I always check my science rate each turn, I think I'm a pretty tight micromanager not tooo anal retentive but almost

 

[Melanic Sheep]

I laugh at people who say the AI is stupid all the while letting the 'stupid' AI run their workers for them... I'm not talking about anyone in particular but I've seen it come up a few times and it makes me laugh. I don't let the AI do anything for me... I'm too much of a control freak.

 

[Bamspeedy]

I play huge maps, so how much I micromanage is more relaxed because I don't want my games to take weeks, or longer than a month to play by micromanaging everything.

I manually move my workers until I have my productive region developed. After that, when there is just the cities that are more than 50% corrupt that need to be developed, I don't see it being worth the time so then I shift-A. I build alot of workers, so I usually shift-A in the early middle ages.

I NEVER let the governors decide what to build for me. The governor will build swordsmen when you need tanks, have a forever 95% corrupt city building a factory, etc. The governor has no idea what you want or need so it will build alot of stuff you don't need that will just add on to your maintance costs.

I use the governor to control happiness. I just occasional look at the domestic advisor and make sure I don't have alot of entertainers, because if I do I'll bump the luxury rate up to fire all those entertainers. Sure, you might squeeze a couple of extra shields/food, etc out of a city every 15 turns or so by micromanaging, but that will all be lost when you forget about 1 city and it goes into disorder. I will micromanage a city building a wonder so that it completes it faster.

I will shop around for the best deal when trading. But most of the time I just round it off to the nearest 10 gold and not right down to the last gold piece. Othertimes, when I feel like being nice to the AI and wanting them on my good side I will just take whatever they offer instead of trying to get a little more from them.

But answer this question for me: how many Deity games have YOU won using your automated workers?

Honestly, I haven't really tried a deity game, either (except a very long time ago when I was only a warlord-regent player, where I promptly lost cities to Zulu culture ). I have read some of your deity game summaries and to me it seems boring to play a level where you must always be the peaceful little builder who swallows his pride and gives the AI anything it wants and wait until the industrial age when the AI falls apart because of wars before you can move into a position to win. How many games have you won on deity without keeping a very low profile for the first 1 1/2 - 2 ages?

If just a few gold or shields determines whether you win or lose a game, it's not worth playing, IMHO. I like a competitive game (even if I lose), but if I need to be that picky about details, I don't see the enjoyment in it. I play the game to relax, not be 'pulling my hair out' over tiny details. I just go to my job and I get all the stress I need for the day.

But like I said, I play huge maps and have tons of cities. I suppose if you play on small maps and have very few cities, micromanaging doesn't take much time and shouldn't be too much of a problem for people.

 

[Mad Bomber]

Bambspeedy:

I am with you on this one. I too play on huge maps. I try to manage workers, but after I have around 50 cities and workers it just gets too hectic to continue to manage all of them. So I do use Shift A alot and I just take a few workers to fix what my automated workers F-UP (which is about 5% of the tiles) As for governors, they will manage my happiness and tiles worked (subject to my final approval) but I will never let them manage my builds.

 

[MSGT John Drew]

I am quite the 'big boss' so I hate micro-management. In fact I am an anti-micromanager.

I:

1. Set Governors to full function in everything! - Moods, Production, etc... Everything!

2. Set all workers to full Automation! They also will cut wood if they want to.

3. All annoying options in the preferences (wait at turn, renegotiate deals, show auto/manual moves for me/ally/enemy, always ask what to build, etc...) are OFF!!

4. All units are on auto-patrol. They are set to chase after wily settlers breaking into my territory. They also decide for themselves if they let the trespassing settler live.

5. I also have an autoresponse script that automatically replies an "AFK! A**hole!" to all annoying civs wanting to talk.

6. And lastly, I also have an auto-vote something that votes (or declines if I can't vote for myself) for the 'best' civ during UN functions.

 

[Lt. 'Killer' M.]

all manual here

When i see how often the AIs screw up I always make a mental note never to let these routines do things for me. Never!

 

[Panda]

No automated workers, no governors. Never.

And I usually play on huge maps.

 

[Kemal]

I believe I classify as a micro-managing machine, I never use automated workers, do not utilize the city governors and always try to get the best deal from the AI civ's (even when selling the world map in later stages of the game). I even go as far as checking the other civs each turn to see if a tech I can sell to all of them is being discovered by one of them soon, or if I can buy some workers.