Tips needed for workers.

[Davaeron]

Hi all..

Ok...i need civ expert's advice. I'm no pro but I think civ is an extreme evolution to the millenial game of chess. ! anyway

Automated worker....does it really s*cks....I think so because the computer does not know your plan and tactics and just build what it thinks is better for you. But on the other hand...you experts...do u really manage the army of workers you get in the middle-late game... Automated trade network can do but total automation...i'm not sure....

Also a side question....do you cut down forest ASAP for hammer/production bonus or conserve them for sanity ( every 2 forest tile within city radius = 1 sanity or health) **im still learning english ! **

Sawmill in medieval era is interesting..

Any comments, answer or tips on that would help me a lot !

 

[Sjaramei]

Micromanage for the first part of the game for me.

-Check "Leave old improvements alone"

Then just automate them so they will road up and improve the remaining parts (shouldn't be very important by that time since you should have improved whats worth improving for the most important cities of yours then anyway)
and when the time comes lumbermill those forests you have left and railroading.

Also a side question....do you cut down forest ASAP for hammer/production bonus or conserve them for sanity ( every 2 forest tile within city radius = 1 sanity or health) **im still learning english ! **

I'm notoriously bad for leaving forests alone, i tend to chop them rather too quickly in my games. But if you are able saving up some will help your production and health later on. (I tend to prioritize the axes and catapults i get quicker instead )

 

[Cam_H]

Any comments, answer or tips on that would help me a lot !

The best tip is to never automate your Workers under any circumstance.

Your cities are constantly evolving - new resources coming on line or dropping off and therefore the needs of your empire are changing in terms of growth, your empire's hopefully expanding, new technologies or civic change the nature of improvements, your cities could be focussing on specialisation, etc. etc. Workers play a crucial role in your empire's development, and to leave them roaming around at the whim of the AI is hardly great strategy.

I admit that there are lulls in the mid-game where they've probably got nothing to do - in that you've optimised your tiles in every city - especially if you're not actively capturing new cities (which you probably should be anyway!). Even then, I'd rather have them waiting in cities than laying down useless roads on Tundra where any surprise enemy can easily get them or they're out of position when you finally do want to use them.

 

[frob2900]

I agree with Cam_H. Automating workers will only lead to trouble and it is almost guaranteed your cities will end up producing less due to stupid worker actions.

There is only one occasion that I personally automate workers and that is when I get the railroad technology. In that case I will set a bunch of workers to "Build road network", since this guarantees that they will build roads.

Also, its a good idea to go into game settings and set "Workers Leave Old Improvements" and "Workers Leave Forests", because at some point or another, some worker is going to get automated, and in that case it's best to minimize the damage

 

[Ozbenno]

I third Cam's point. Never automate your workers. Only you know what you really want them to do. If you can't think of anything for them to do, then make them build roads to all parts of your empire.

 

[RandomLeader]

That's a good idea.. btw, if I leave my workers to autobuild roadnetwork to my empire, what is the easiest way to locate my rouming roadbuilders when I need them again?

 

[Cam_H]

(a.) Don't. Just don't!

(b.) There are two ways that I can think of; open the Military Advisor and then highlight Workers - they will pop up as dots on the mini map, or zoom out to a more global view and select the military (war helmet) option which will identify units.

 

[InvisibleStalke]

One tip for the midgame is to organize your workers into gangs of 2-4 workers. It isn't quite as efficient, but it makes it easier to manage.

Eventually I run out of work for them to do and usually automate them, grabbing the nearest automated worker whenever I have a job to do. The balance in the late game is probably to have 4 small gangs of 3-4 workers that cover needed improvements in a section of your empire. By keeping them in zones they will always be workers near your urgent jobs (eg hooking up the oil). Then automate any left over - by then the fat crosses of all your cities should be full, so they are just building roads and hooking up new resources.