How to macromange effectively?

[Borgholio]

As the thread title states, I like to macromanage my empire. Because of this, I have two issues that I need a bit of help with. First, the city governors. Is it better to tell the governor to emphasize food, production, commerce, or any combination of the three? Second, about starvation. Is there any way at all to keep cities from growing, then starving, then growing again, and repeating the cycle constantly?

 

[island007]

As the thread title states, I like to macromanage my empire. Because of this, I have two issues that I need a bit of help with. First, the city governors. Is it better to tell the governor to emphasize food, production, commerce, or any combination of the three? Second, about starvation. Is there any way at all to keep cities from growing, then starving, then growing again, and repeating the cycle constantly?

I like to have the emphasize production box checked. That way the new citizen gives me shields then I move him/her where I want.

The best way to break the cycle is either spit out a worker or get rid of the one extra food. I like to spit out workers, I never have to many workers.

 

[Borgholio]

I like to have the emphasize production box checked. That way the new citizen gives me shields then I move him/her where I want.

The best way to break the cycle is either spit out a worker or get rid of the one extra food. I like to spit out workers, I never have to many workers.

Getting rid of that one extra food is not nearly so easy as it was in Civ 1 or 2.

 

[Turner]

It's not that hard. You just have to find the spot where you're bringing in an extra food and kill it. Such as on an irrigated RR'd tile. Also, if you have an irrigated grassland, with no railroad, that'll bring in 3 food. An mined grassland will bring in two food.

 

[Borgholio]

It's not that hard. You just have to find the spot where you're bringing in an extra food and kill it. Such as on an irrigated RR'd tile. Also, if you have an irrigated grassland, with no railroad, that'll bring in 3 food. An mined grassland will bring in two food.

Yeah that's what I usually do. But when you play an agricultural civ, that extra food in the city square often screws everything up.

 

[Turner]

Yes it does. But it's still doable.

What I hate is when playing an agri civ and getting past Railroads...that always screws me up.

 

[Borgholio]

Because of that I try to avoid agricultural civs....but they expand SO quickly in the early game...

 

[Turner]

Not to mention making the desert tiles useful.

 

[Rohili]

One thing I hate about the governor is that if you ask it to manage happiness in your empire it will prevent you from changing any of your civilians around. If you do, it will turn off the governor.

 

[Turner]

Well, you can tweak it with the Production settings. It's not a perfect solution, but it does help.

I've found that messing with these also helps when the Guv wants you to build nothing but flak.

 

[SJ Frank]

Is there any way at all to keep cities from growing, then starving, then growing again, and repeating the cycle constantly?

Plant a forrest over a railroaded+mined grassland tile.

 

[Rohili]

I've found that messing with these also helps when the Guv wants you to build nothing but flak.

Gosh, really? Having my cities, especially newly captured ones, all want to build AA units ranks as one of the highest annoyances in the game.

Must try using the governor next time.

 

[CoolioVonHoolio]

I have only used the governer once in my entire history of play civ3 the only time i used it was when i first got it and was just playing around with the stuff.

Well to make a long story short, it was too weird for me....

 

[gskyes]

Plant a forrest over a railroaded+mined grassland tile.

That's what I do. Any square that produces 2 food and 2 shields can then produce 1 food and 2 shields. Gold is unaffected, so sometimes I plant trees on a mined luxury or horse tile. A nice side effect is that forrests get hit with global warming first, so you have a nice buffer if it happens, plus my empire looks better, too.

 

[Turner]

Gosh, really? Having my cities, especially newly captured ones, all want to build AA units ranks as one of the highest annoyances in the game.

Must try using the governor next time.

Well, you're not really using the govenor. You contact the govenor, switch over to the production side, and then change stuff around to suit you. So this changes what the govenor offers to build for you. Now, if you let the govenor control production (not a good idea), then it will change what's built.

 

[New World Order]

I have only used the governer once in my entire history of play civ3 the only time i used it was when i first got it and was just playing around with the stuff.

Well to make a long story short, it was too weird for me....

Agreed, it's too much for one simple task. I like to micromanage each city individually, right down to the last piece of gold. When one city nears its completion, (unit or improvement) shuffle the 'extra' resources into a surrounding city that wants it most, constantly changing the configuration of workable squares between cities, maximimizing their needs and effeiciency. The governor can't do this, only choosing from what available sqaures are currently workable in that city.

After a while each city gets into a rhythm of trading off/competing for squares, and you make the final and best decisions for your empire.