Why build a worker first?

[Murky]

On some starts, I start building a warrior then when the city grows to size 2 a worker is started and will finish before the warrior is built.

Does that still count as worker first or is it some kind of hybrid?

 

[Andrei_V]

On some starts, I start building a warrior then when the city grows to size 2 a worker is started and will finish before the warrior is built.

Does that still count as worker first or is it some kind of hybrid?

No, it does not. It's exactly the situation with the strat #1 in my experiment. I did not finish the first Warrior. As soon as the city grew up to size 2, I switched to Worker.

If you start with Worker from the turn 1, you win a few turns. The advantage is even bigger if you don't have any 3F tiles, since it will take longer to grow to size 2, hence, you lose more turns working unimproved tiles.

 

[malekithe]

On some starts, I start building a warrior then when the city grows to size 2 a worker is started and will finish before the warrior is built.

Does that still count as worker first or is it some kind of hybrid?

What sort of start would prompt you to do that? Yes I would call it a hybrid of sorts, but more of the scaly, mutant variety that can't really associate with either camp. You're not getting a warrior out for additional scouting and you're also delaying the worker. It just seems like a bit of a lose-lose scenario.

 

[Murky]

No, it does not. It's exactly the situation with the strat #1 in my experiment. I did not finish the first Warrior. As soon as the city grew up to size 2, I switched to Worker.

If you start with Worker first from the very beginning, you win a few turns. The advantage is even bigger if you don't have any 3F tiles, since it will take longer to grow to size 2, hence, you lose more turns working unimproved tiles.

I only do this on 3F tile starts and only when I won't have the techs to improve the tiles in my area soon enough to make use of the worker.

 

[Andrei_V]

I only do this on 3F tile starts and only when I won't have the techs to improve the tiles in my area soon enough to make use of the worker.

Then you lose only 3 or 4 turns, all things considered. How come you don't have any techs to improve 3F tiles? Do you really play Deity/Marathon?

Oh, I can imagine. You go after religions first, right?

 

[Murky]

Then you lose only 3 or 4 turns, all things considered. How come you don't have any techs to improve 3F tiles? Do you really play Deity/Marathon?

Sometimes you have other goals that would delay you getting worker tech right away.

I tend to play Monarch/Epic but try always to improve my score and finish times with every game. I am working on improving efficiency so that when I do move up it won't be such a difficult thing to do.

 

[Andrei_V]

Sometimes you have other goals that would delay you getting worker tech right away.

I tend to play Monarch/Epic but try always to improve my score and finish times with every game. I am working on improving efficiency so that when I do move up it won't be such a difficult thing to do.

Then you'd be better off reloading the same start with different initial strats. Just see for yourself which one works best for you.

 

[Andrei_V]

I think doing anything other than moving one grasslands space, or founding immediately with a settler is usually not a good idea plant the city immediately.

Then try it for yourself on Warlord, Large Pangaea or something. After you pop up like 2 Settlers and 3 Workers from goody huts with your initial Settler, you'll probably change your mind.

 

[Mr. Civtastic]

Worker, worker, settler. If I dont have bw, Ill make my worker do whatever he can...farm, mine, etc. And if he cant do anything and I have 10 turns till bw, I'll have him start making roads to resources or my next city spot.