Whats wrong with automation?

[kingkasai]

Ever since I've started playing civ (at 3) I've always automated my workers and left my 'workers start automated' option on, but recently some people I know tell me it's better to control your workers. Maybe I'm just too impatient, or lazy, but I think it would take too long to control every worker... I also don't realy know what improvements to make, but probly could get used to it.
So, what does everyone else do in this situation???

 

[Cheeseisgood]

I automate them every time, and don't understand why people say it's so bad! It takes a lot of strain off,a nd they do what's best for the city.

 

[Stylesrj]

I used to automate them, but I didn't like their choice in improvments in some locations. They'd build a watermill where I'd think a farm would be better. Following my logic: Hills are good for prospecting, no windmills or cottages on them, plains are for cottages/towns and grasslands are for farms, while river tiles are good for farms but sometimes I'd build a cottage on plains near rivers. Flood plains definately get farms, not cottages, FARMS! Yeah. A hill with plains and with coal is a very good production boost might I add. Automation just sucks IMHO these days

 

[Titus]

Personally, I think they build way too many farms and not enough cottages.

Obviously, they are only doing the bidding of their vile master, the city governor, who will do anything to assign as many specialists as possible without your consent.

 

[Stylesrj]

That sucks you know. I build that wonder that provides the capabilities for the 3 priests in every city (Its name eludes me) and when the city has no fertile ground in it's big cross (it had 8 people!) it'd go add priests to the city. There were still grasslands around, but they were not being used. I had to go in and remove those damned priests myself so the city could grow faster!

I just build cottages because it's a better use for plains than a farm. Workshops and Watermills and Windmills are a big no-no

 

[VoiceOfUnreason]

Ever since I've started playing civ (at 3) I've always automated my workers and left my 'workers start automated' option on, but recently some people I know tell me it's better to control your workers.

Any parser is an attempt to disguise the basic fact that, in a battle of wits, computers are outmatched by a box of rocks.

Leaving worker automation on while your attention is on another part of the game is a good thing. Even if the reason your attention is elsewhere is that you don't like managing workers.

The true problem is that the game controls don't offer any way to communicate your strategic ideas to the worker automation engine. So at best the workers are going to end up constructing improvements based on the game state, and without any consideration for the decisions that you haven't yet made (the best you can hope for is that the game will make intelligent guesses about your intentions based on your play up to that point).

The practical problem is that the automation has, at least until recently, been pretty poor at assessing the game state and working out what to do. It has been, if I'm not mistaken, rules driven, and the rules did not demonstrate any particular effectiveness. Blake and others have been working on that problem, but I don't think they've made enough progress that the players who have already adopted the habit of managing the work force are willing to trade efficiency for convenience.

 

[Titus]

That sucks you know. I build that wonder that provides the capabilities for the 3 priests in every city (Its name eludes me) and when the city has no fertile ground in it's big cross (it had 8 people!) it'd go add priests to the city. There were still grasslands around, but they were not being used. I had to go in and remove those damned priests myself so the city could grow faster!

Yes, and every time the city grows, it adds another specialist again, when there are still perfectly good squares to work - even so when the city has not yet reached the unhappiness/unhealthiness limits! I HATE THE CITY GOVERNOR!

 

[WuphonsReach]

You may want to try the BetterAI add-on... in the latest versions, the City Governor is a lot better. And (I think) that workers will take their cues from how the city governor is set for the city. Since the BetterAI add-on is concentrating on making the AI better at worker / build queue / tile management, the player gets the benefit of those improvements when they use the city governor.

...

In general, you should gradually learn to control your workers by hand. Maybe group them into stacks of 2-4 workers with a guard unit to make it easier for you.

The only time I automate workers are:

1) When I get railroads. I'll gather about half my workers into 2-4 unit stacks and force them to build railroads across my entire civ area. Once I have major routes converted over to railroad, I'll split them back out into single units and automate them. That way I get fast transit times across my empire immediately. The automated AI workers will eventually railroad everything in the empire.

2) Late-game, I'll put together a stack of 4 workers along with 4 flat-ground defenders. Then I'll just automate them as a stack. They'll fix anything that gets bombed or sabotaged automatically. And they have enough of a defense that the enemy can't easily kill them.

 

[ABigCivFan]

There are times you have to control your workers manually.

In the game opening when every decision is made around worker/settler, worker techs and worker actions. Chop, improvements, basically minimize the turns that your worker is not working. Thats why i almost always get BW and wheel first so the working can chop and build roads. These early worker actions can give you a very strong openning (i.e early cities, troops, commerce/techs and etc), the effects of a good opening will grow exponantially and translate into very good mid-end game.

Also after you get some techs that allows new worker actions, you definitly want to micro-manage the workers, i.e. after you res railroad, make many 2 worker groups and build railroads on all mines, lumber mills so you get instant production boost. Same with Replacable Parts and etc.

Also during war time, you need groups of 2 workers to build roads leading into enemy terriotry so you save much time moving your troops.

The only time I use auto worker is in the late games when most of the important improvements are already built. I actually devotes lots of time (maybe 10%) micro-manage workers through out my game, it is just such an important aspect of the game.

 

[Ankh-f-n-Khonsu]

The only time I automate workers are:

1) When I get railroads. I'll gather about half my workers into 2-4 unit stacks and force them to build railroads across my entire civ area. Once I have major routes converted over to railroad, I'll split them back out into single units and automate them. That way I get fast transit times across my empire immediately. The automated AI workers will eventually railroad everything in the empire.

I'm one who prefers manual control over my workers, but in every game I play I wish I could automate them when I get railroads and count on them to build railroads, and nothing else -- a la the SMAC Automate Railroads command (or whatever the road-type is, it's been awhile). Once railroads are researched, do you find that automating the workers gets them to focus solely on railroads, rather than deciding to build farms and whatnot along the way?

 

[kingkasai]

Thanks everyone, those strategies make a lot of sense. I appreciate the replies

 

[Overcast32]

I love to micromanage them, and I'm as much a builder as anything. I don't like the roads spammed everywhere. I guess for me, it's as much 'aesthetics' as anything.

Although - I'm curious, maybe I've just missed it, but is there a way like in SMAC to tell the workers to automatically clear jungle or do just one thing automatically?

Anymore I tend to stack workers in groups of 2-3. That way they build what they are working on fast. Of course, I may well play the entire game with 2 groups of 2/3 workers (well, per continent) and that's it. I find it's adequate for my play style at least.

 

[WuphonsReach]

For the railroad upgrades, I use the "Build Trade Network (Automated)". Workers will then go back and convert any roads (or empty tiles) to railroads.

 

[Mr Mike]

I'm one who prefers manual control over my workers, but in every game I play I wish I could automate them when I get railroads and count on them to build railroads, and nothing else -- a la the SMAC Automate Railroads command (or whatever the road-type is, it's been awhile). Once railroads are researched, do you find that automating the workers gets them to focus solely on railroads, rather than deciding to build farms and whatnot along the way?

If you choose "Build Trade Network (Automated)" they will just build roads/railroads and those improvements necessary to hook up any resources not already connected. So you can use that option to get them to railroad up your entire civilization without building farms and the like.

 

[Titus]

You may want to try the BetterAI add-on... in the latest versions, the City Governor is a lot better. And (I think) that workers will take their cues from how the city governor is set for the city. Since the BetterAI add-on is concentrating on making the AI better at worker / build queue / tile management, the player gets the benefit of those improvements when they use the city governor.

What I want is an additional button in the city governor that bluntly amounts to "Do not assign specialists!", just like there are buttons for "emphasize growth", etc. As it is now, every few turns I have to go over all cities to remove any specialists the governors have assigned without my consent.

 

[Grimus]

I only automate my workers to build roads and trade networks once I have nothing for them to do for a while.

 

[paperchase417]

I've been inspired to take my workers off automate and pay more attention to the specialists in my cities.

In civ 3 where the workers had fewer options automation was an easy choice, but now, I see the workers pulling all sorts of shenanigans. Some cities are completely surrounded by cottages or farms, and are taking 14 turns to produce a damn longbow man while im trying to make war.

 

[KMadCandy]

What I want is an additional button in the city governor that bluntly amounts to "Do not assign specialists!", just like there are buttons for "emphasize growth", etc. As it is now, every few turns I have to go over all cities to remove any specialists the governors have assigned without my consent.

yes please!! the utility mod i added recently (i think it's called Ruff_hi's cobbled together pack) helps with that since it tells me when a city grows in population. it doesn't stop them from assigning specialists, but it lets you know when you have to check a city.

 

[Psyringe]

I never used automation myself, seems I didn't miss much.

Question: Shouldn't it be possible to that a worker which is set to "improve nearest city" checks the specialisation of that city and improves the terrain accordingly? I.e., if the city is set to maximize production, then the worker favors production-increasing improvements over, say, farms?

 

[Grimus]

Here's a tip: (I think it works anyway, hehe)

If you don't want your cities to produce specialists, the city governor can actually help you. Just highlight the food, production, and commerce icons and it won't assign any specialists.

I use these buttons a lot to emphasize what I want the city to focus on.

Also, another important button is the one that disables growth in the bottom right corner, even if you still have a surplus of food it won't give you that last bit of food to increase your population.

Though, you can also say that this food is being wasted and you're maybe better off growing and whipping, but if you don't want to micromange, there ya go.