What do you guys do when you are able to build railroads, do you automate ur workers?

[Leathaface]

Seeing as there could be alot of land to cover, it seems very tedious getting each individual worker and building each individual tile to build railroad.

I have gotten to railroads before, but I wonder if you can build railroads only when workers are automated, without them touching anything else.

(BTW, this topic has nothing to do with any game i'm currently playing.)

 

[AutomatedTeller]

setting workers to create trade network will set them to build railroads.

I will set some to do that, because they'll fill in, but I'll usually do the important ones. Generally, I try stack commands.

Around that time, cities are beginning to max on size and I'm converting farms to workshops in production cities to maximize hammers and stop further growth.

 

[oryx]

I don't automate workers when railroads become available because I want to connect all the cities first and then the resources that give a railroad bonus. Automated workers will do who knows what even if set to trade network automation. If there's a war going on, I will build railroads to get troops to the front even through other countries if needed. When all that is done, I might set a few workers to trade network automation. That also helps restore sabotaged resource tiles.

 

[rah]

ditto. I'll also pair up a few couples and do the complete route option on the strategic routes that I need. With a handful of pairs you can designate the routes with minimum effort. As completion of the tech approaches I'll start moving workers to my key cities to start the strategic routes or enhancing the appropriate lumber yards.

 

[duckstab]

Were you aware that you can use the "build route to" button <Alt+R> to order a worker to build a road/RR from its current location to any reachable destination square? I use that all the time for both roads and railroads, because I normally don't care about the exact route.

 

[uat2d]

ur? Isn't that a Babylonian city?

Anyway, just Ctrl+N and your workers will automatically improve your network, which after railroads means they'll just spam them and connect your cities and resources, great if you want to build railroads but don't want them to do much more and don't want to micromanage.

 

[tdy99]

Divide them up into teams of 3 for 1 turn RRs, then set them to work.

I usually have my workers on trade network by then, but I take back manual control to get a few important RR links up ASAP. Left to their own devices, automated workers seem to prefer building rail links to resources rather than cities.

 

[lymond]

Divide them up into teams of 3 for 1 turn RRs, then set them to work.

^^^game speed dependent. On normal, it would only take two. I think Leatha does unfortunately play Marathon.

Yep, two things you want to focus on first before automating trade networks with workers. First, place railroads on mines, quarries and lumbermills as it adds +1 hammer to each tiles. Second, create strategic rail lines from one side of your empire to another. Especially important if you are at war. Your HE city should definitely have a rail line to the war front or border. Once I have those points complete, will I only then set workers to auto-trade routes (there is a specific worker button for this and hotkey)

 

[ajsciri4]

I do it manually and try to railroad mines first.

 

[capnvonbaron]

I do it manually and try to railroad mines first.

This. It isn't THAT bad to manually build railroads. Like everyone says, stack 2-3 workers, build them between important cities first while connecting mines/quarries/lumbermills etc, then just pick and choose whatever other tiles you want railed based on connection needs.

It's entirely pointless to rail every square in your entire empire IMO.

 

[rah]

Sometimes it's good when the enemy is in pillage mode. It gives you options.

 

[oldskald]

No matter how tedious I find allocating workers to tasks, I never, ever automate them.

 

[Ataxerxes]

I very seldom automate them. When rails first are available you want to RR the mines and any lumbermills you may have. Afterwards (or sometimes before) you can use the "rail to" command to get rails between your cities for fast movements of troops. Occasionally, if I own my continent, I'll let them rail automatically after the important railing. Make sure you have "leave forests" and "leave old improvements" checked in your options. Otherwise you'll be treated to them farming over a mature town and then building a cottage again.

Remember, if you have workers automated and you're at war, they flock to repair anything the invading army has destroyed. They rush to surrender to the enemy.

 

[Turquoiside]

Why automate? I like to keep tabs on all my workers and when I automate them I tend to find them about 10 turns after I wanted to.

 

[duckstab]

Why automate? I like to keep tabs on all my workers and when I automate them I tend to find them about 10 turns after I wanted to.

I've taken to dropping signs all over my empire when it starts getting hard to track the improvements I want. The convention I generally follow is to first send the worker(s) to the tile in question, then put in a sign like:

<Turn #> <Improvement> <# Workers assigned>

So when the workers get there, I don't have to think twice about what they're going to do. The turn # helps me catch it if one of my workers dies or I make a mistake. (Hmm, I sent a guy to cottage that tile 10 turns ago and he hasn't shown up yet...) And once the sign is in place I don't need to remember whether I assigned someone to that tile or not.

 

[Mec AntiKythera]

<Turn #> <Improvement> <# Workers assigned>

It sounds like someone loves bureaucracy.


I agree without just about everyone. Manually RR mines and mills first, then important routes, make adjustments to tiles due to new resources showing up, aluminium, uranium, biology farms and such, maybe automate if the empire size suggests it and I am not at--or expecting--war.

 

[DMOC]

Never automate them once you get railroads. Set them up in groups of X depending on game speed and make sure to 1-turn the mines, lumbermills, and quarries.

 

[duckstab]

It sounds like someone loves bureaucracy.

No, I just have lousy short-term memory.

 

[Mec AntiKythera]

If you can remember that system you have it can't be too bad . . .

 

[IAM]

First priority are strategic routes for moving troops. In generic terms think of an "X" over a circle.

Second minor strategic routes, resources and lumbersmills especially. There is usually a city or two with a bunch of lumber mills in tundra that is dieing for some more production.

Third after that I lose interest in the micromanagement and automate workers with the route builder thingy.