What is que swapping?

I read a lot about que swapping in various articles here on civ fanatics. How is it done?

All i know is that i can put an item in the que by holding shift and clicking it or inserting it in the beginning by holding ctrl and clicking.

but this isnt exactly what que swapping is about is it?
Can someone explain for me exactly how its done?

 

Here's an example:

Let's say you have one city defender and you want to have another available in case the barbarian's swarm you, but, you don't want to pay the maintenance costs on this unit if you don't need him, you just need him on reserves. So, you build the unit to within 1 turn of completion. You also want to build the Pyramids and the Oracle, but Masonry opens up the Pyramids and Priesthood comes a little bit later with Priesthood. You don't want to delay starting to build the Pyramids, just to finish the Oracle first. So, you start building the Pyramids with that second city defender with one turn left to build at the bottom of the que. Eventually you finish Priesthood, and you want to make sure you get the Oracle at all costs, so now the Oracle is at the top of the que, Pyramids with x turns left in the middle and the defender unit on the bottom. Now if a few extra barbarians come along and you need a second city defender, you can swap the city defender to the top of the que.

I usually do this by just clicking on what I want to build now, that makes it leave the que, then click on the appropriate build button again. You don't loose the shields just because something is not in the que. However you will start to loose shields over time on anything in the que.

 

@Maydrock: That's a really good example!

Another popular queue tactic involves Vassalage and Theocracy -- which are both expensive Military civics.

During the turns you're running peacetime civics (for example, Bureaucracy & Pacifism), build a Trebuchet to within 1 turn of completion.

Then queue a Knight above the Trebuchet and build it to within 1 turn.

Then queue a Maceman above the Knight and build it to within 1 turn.

Then queue a Pikeman above the Maceman and build it to within 1 turn.

Then queue a Longbowman above the Pikeman and build it to within 1 turn.

So now you have 5 military units all within 1 turn of completion. (Only your best production centers will be able to que this many units ... lesser production centers may only get 3 before your hammers begin decaying and need to be "refreshed".) Switch to Vassalage & Theocracy.

Finish all 5 units over the next 5 turns. (At this point, you could actually switch out of Vassalage or Theocracy if you needed to.)


This type of tactic has a few advantages. It minimizes the amount of units you're paying for until you actually need and intend to use them. It spikes your power graph too sharply for your opponents to react to. And, it minimizes the number of turns necessary for you to actually run your Wartime civics. A side-effect of this speed is also that your war is likely to end sooner.


-- my 2

 

thanks for your replies.

I got exactly the information that I needed.

I have tried so much moving around objects in the que with the mouse but all it does is removing those objects from the que. Now i know I can remove them and just add them again without losing the hammers. So THATS how its done, thanks

Both examples were really good, and quite similar to what some of the strategy articles@war academy mentions.

 

So I can actually take something completely out of th queue and not lose the hammers (other than to decay)? Good news--I didn't know that.

I wish there was a command to simply reverse certain things in the queue though. That would be true "swapping."

 

The word is queue. Que is a French pronoun.

 

With a spiritual leader I actually like to queue up a load of units with only one turn of hammers in each then switch to slavery and something that gives me XP and whip the hell outta my cities.

Five units, five turns. Then it's just beat the tar outta some opponent and switch out of slavery while I decrease the whip unhappiness and rebuild my pop.

Not sure that's what I'd call queue swapping but it's clearly related to Otaku's example.

For queue switching my better example is when I build a warrior while chopping forests. On the turn the forest chops I swap out the warrior and swap in a worker or settler to get the chopped hammers. Then the next turn I swap back to the warrior for city-growth and start chopping another forest. This let's my city grow, good for whipping, while still getting forest-chopped goodness into my normally growth-retarding settlers or workers. Of course I eventually whip to finish them and then restart the process, if any forests remain.

-abs

 

A quick related question:
When you stop being able to produce something because you foolishly let the computer pillage your only tile with the resource you need do you lose all the hammers? Also, can you save it in the queue by swapping on the turn before the lost resource comes into effect?

BTW, this particularly blows when you think you have a backup of the resource only to remember (too late) that you were trading it to an ungrateful Monty for a lousy 3 gold.

 

You dont get a refund for canceling stuff.

[Edit] With the exception of Wonders, of course, if someone beats you to it and you cant continue

But you can put it back in the queue later, and continue building it. The hammers you collected start to decay after 10 turns (i think), when you take something out of the que, before that time you dont loose anything.

 

Hammers on units start to decay after 10 turns (normal speed), buildings start to decay after a longer period (50 turns? I think) and wonders after an even longer period (if at all).

 

Uh. Buildings decay slower ?. Didn't know that. Its a very useful pointer