Worker numbers/usage on Monarch?

[Wizardhawk]

After some other helpful tips i've gotten on these forums, I can now win on Noble most of the time assuming I don't get a flat-out disgusting start. Now, in an effort to bring myself some more humiliating defeats at the hands of the AI, i've decided I want to start playing Monarch. I know prince is inbetween but I figured why not jump up two levels.

I played a couple on Monarch so far and I do indeed get abused, although some things like not building a big enough military i've already realised and will work on.

I see a lot of good players saying you should have 1.5 workers per city or so, and early-game I build about this many. My question is at what number should I stop making workers (assuming i'm still planning on settling/conquering more cities), and what should I do with them, if anything, after I have all my tiles upgraded? On Noble I usually end up with all my hills mined, all my flood plains cottaged, all my tiles roaded and resources set up with whatever they take fairly early in the game. Then I end up just setting all my workers to automate, and they build a railroad network when I make it that far. I've never used workshops/windmills/forest preserves/etc. before. Is there anything left to do with workers once all these things are done? Do you just have them for when the AI kills tile improvements? Is, say, 15 workers enough for any empire size?

 

[whats a navy]

You really need to focus on those workshops, watermills, and windmills, late game. With State Property you can make any city a production power house. Late game I use workers to set up conquered cities into production machines using these improvements. You can typically stop building workers after all of your initial empire has improved land and you have 1.5 workers for your original cities. During conquests you capture workers so no ned to build new ones.

 

[Gwynnja]

More important than having 1.5 workers is working improved tiles. If you can use your workers efficiently enough, you can get away with less. One of the biggest and most common rookie mistakes is working unimproved tiles. If your workforce can keep up with your population growth, you don't need to build more.

 

[snepp]

Once you have the majority of your empire improved, have your workers start pre-building improvements, stopping them when there's 1 turn left to go. This way when the appropriate time comes (replaceable parts, electricity, space construction, etc) you can almost instantly convert the appropriate tiles.

It sounds like a pain in the ass, but if you do it in groups of workers it's not so bad. If it takes 6 worker turns to build a watermill use a stack of 5 workers, order them to build the watermill then cancel their action, leaving a single worker turn to improve it. Next turn move them to the next future watermill tile, rinse and repeat.

 

[Amao]

Once you have the majority of your empire improved, have your workers start pre-building improvements, stopping them when there's 1 turn left to go. This way when the appropriate time comes (replaceable parts, electricity, space construction, etc) you can almost instantly convert the appropriate tiles.

It sounds like a pain in the ass, but if you do it in groups of workers it's not so bad. If it takes 6 worker turns to build a watermill use a stack of 5 workers, order them to build the watermill then cancel their action, leaving a single worker turn to improve it. Next turn move them to the next future watermill tile, rinse and repeat.

Yes, just group the workers, order the worker to do the improvement. Then, click on "\" to recall these workers, and click on Backspace to cancel the order. It can be as simple as that.

 

[snepp]

Yes, just group the workers, order the worker to do the improvement. Then, click on "\" to recall these workers, and click on Backspace to cancel the order. It can be as simple as that.

Even better if you disable automatic unit cycling, less time the camera spends bouncing all over the map.

There nothing I hate more than the camera moving where I don't want it.

 

[Abegweit]

More important than having 1.5 workers is working improved tiles. If you can use your workers efficiently enough, you can get away with less. One of the biggest and most common rookie mistakes is working unimproved tiles. If your workforce can keep up with your population growth, you don't need to build more.

While you are right that working unimproved tiles is always wrong, a lot of the reason to have plenty of workers is chopping. You need them for that too. OP made reference to something called a "forest preserve". What is that exactly?

 

[theskibum]

@OP
Workshops and watermills are excellent improvements. Its probably a good idea to jump to Prince and practice the application of them. There is actually a pretty good thread in the S&T forum right now that details thier use nicely.

As far as windmills are concerned, I find them to be pretty situational. If I can get away with a mine on that hill, I will. Somtimes you don't have enough food to work said mine, however, and a windmill can make up for that, at least giving you a usable tile.

Lumbermills are something I used to love as a Noble player, but then I read more about chopping after mathematics and realized it is way too powerful to ignore. Health is pretty easy to get around with no forests until you hit the Industrial age, and even then some trades for cows, pigs, corn, etc can usually offset any negative health modifiers as far as factories...its the addition of power plants that can cause health to go negative I find, and then a smart beeline to Medicine can save that. I think you get more out of an early chopped forest, replaced by workshop, watermill or mine than you do by waiting for lumbermills.

Forest Preserve...I have never once built one. Again, I usually chop all forests.

 

[ColossusXXIII]

I will often build Fp's in non BFC forest tiles, that for some reason I forgot to chop... Anyways, I believe that Forest preserves encourage forest to spread (i'm not sure if this applies to non bfc fp's), that's why I do it in the late game. forests help counteract global warming, anyways I do it... like I said in non BFC forests or in my NP city if forests still exist anywhere. Also not that I ever do, but with environmentalism FP's become somewhat more viable as BFC tiles...

I'm just playing devil's advocate, sorry...

 

[kossin]

As many as you need and then more.

1.5 is a rule of thumb, often I find myself wanting more, however there are occasions where only getting out settlers is better.