What do you do with workers when you have nothing for workers to do?

charon2112

King
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May 8, 2009
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What do you guys do with your workers after they have built improvements on each tile in a city, and all cities are connected with roads? I usually just put them on auto and watch them run around making forts, but this seems like a bit of a waste.
 
I let some build a trade network. They will rush and build improvements should new resources pop up in your cultural borders.

I do not see how it is a waste. You could disband them to safe the upkeep for having them instead, but if there is nothing better to do then building forts and running around then by all means... You will need them soon enough again because the late game improvements that are very good like wind- and watermills are taking a long time to build. You better have those workers ready by then! If they have nothing else to do in the turns until then then that means you have enough workers. Good for you and a job well done :goodjob:
 
I let some build a trade network. They will rush and build improvements should new resources pop up in your cultural borders.

I do not see how it is a waste. You could disband them to safe the upkeep for having them instead, but if there is nothing better to do then building forts and running around then by all means... You will need them soon enough again because the late game improvements that are very good like wind- and watermills are taking a long time to build. You better have those workers ready by then! If they have nothing else to do in the turns until then then that means you have enough workers. Good for you and a job well done :goodjob:

Oh, I forgot about the wind and watermills in the later game. If they're on auto, will they build these when they're available? The only problem there is usually by that time, I have few open tiles left.
 
Sometimes I round them up and put them in a fort so I can find them when I need railroads. I really don't like putting them on auto, because they'll start building forts ( to get a monarchy bonus )on my iron, copper, gold,silver mines, and cripple the production.
 
I used to just auto them and sometimes I still do that. However I'm just as likely to group them in sets of 2-3 and fortify them somewhere. I hate micro but if you have groups of 2-3 it's tolerable.
 
I always find a nice scenic tile in the middle of my empire not in the fat cross of a city, preferably a wooded hill, and build a fort there. Then all my workers who have nothing to do have a nice place to vacation. (and it makes them easy to find when I need work done)
 
I let some build a trade network. They will rush and build improvements should new resources pop up in your cultural borders.

I do not see how it is a waste. You could disband them to safe the upkeep for having them instead, but if there is nothing better to do then building forts and running around then by all means... You will need them soon enough again because the late game improvements that are very good like wind- and watermills are taking a long time to build. You better have those workers ready by then! If they have nothing else to do in the turns until then then that means you have enough workers. Good for you and a job well done :goodjob:

That's what I do, set them to build a trade network after my cities are improved to the limit. That way they finish the road network and start on railroads immediately after the tech is researched. I'll divert them as needed when I need something specific built then return them to build trade network when I'm done.
 
After I get all of my improvements and the critical roads built, I'll automate the trade network. I'm usually getting railroad soon, and I'll let them continue. Eventually, they all find the nearest lounge or night club and congregate there, and I leave them to enjoy. IMO, disbanding them is a bit of a waste, because I always get a random event that wrecks a farm or plantation. Or those evil spies do it. :(

So, I'll send my cluster of 12 or so workers en masse to replace the improvement usually in one turn. It has saved me on occasion.
 
Either let them auto-build trade network, or sit them in groups around my empire, waiting for the next big tech (lumbermills, RR, late-resources). Or if I'm conquering, they come with the troops, building up the railroads that often times my vassal will destroy on their way in to town.
 
Usually in a city near the centre of my empire, so that if i get cultural control of a tile from an AI, or anything goes wrong, they are within reasonable distance from the problem or new tile. I will often have 5 mounted units if possible, mixed melee and archery units if not, to protect them from enemies if they are working border tiles too, to aid (if not guarantee) their continued survival. If my empire is particularly large, I will split the workers into 2 or even 3 groups, and then send them to different "central" cities, in this case I will usually place the groups where my palace, forbidden palace or Versailles are placed.
 
Oh, I forgot about the wind and watermills in the later game. If they're on auto, will they build these when they're available? The only problem there is usually by that time, I have few open tiles left.
If you have a grassland riverside mine and you focus a city on commerce they will build a windmill over the mine if you do not check the 'workers leave old improvements' option in the options menu. If you do not want them to do this sort of thing then check that option and they will leave improvements alone.

If you have emphasised hammers in that city the workers will leave the mines in place - and they may destroy your cottages to make place for workshops...
 
I'll keep them handy in case of spies, but mostly build forts for later aircraft.
 
i let them rest until i have a task or need to use them alonside my stack. (sometimes enemies capture the sprawled out pawns and i can pick off their greater numbers.)

but i don't want my roads being used against me, so i usually look to build one line roads through my empire, only branching off to connect a resource or fort. i also tend to keep workers sleeping ON cities that will soon need improvement (when i know i will need them working again soon).

in modern era i like to keep 4 per 2 cities in case of fallout or nukes.

If you have a grassland riverside mine and you focus a city on commerce they will build a windmill over the mine if you do not check the 'workers leave old improvements' option in the options menu. If you do not want them to do this sort of thing then check that option and they will leave improvements alone.

If you have emphasised hammers in that city the workers will leave the mines in place - and they may destroy your cottages to make place for workshops...

This is a problem that the AI often inflicts to iteself. its worker stupidity its perhaps the worst component to the AI, that it lacks the option to do otherwise. on a side note, it sucks when you pillage away its city and it pops a workshop by pre-working the tile to do so.
 
I'll put them to sleep. There' usually some down time before getting railroads, so I just group them together at different spots of the empire ready to lay down some RR's when the time comes. I don't think that I've ever automated workers and have stopped setting rally points because I don't know how to cancel them all at once (and usually forget to end a couple of them when I want to).
 
Gladiatoral combat. Or sometimes I use them as bait to see if I can provoke someone I want to attack into attacking me.

But usually I just park a reasonable number somewhere for emergency use, and disband the rest.
 
You are not expanding fast enough, if your workers become idle ;)
 
I usually put them to sleep in my capitol until RR come around, then it's off to build a rail network. I will also use them to 'tweak' improvents. For example that farm it put on some cows because I didn't have husbandry yet.. I'll make a corral for them. I also some times use them to change between mines and windmills on hills depending on my food situation in that city. They're also good for changing that farmed flood plain into a watermill if I need the hammers.
 
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