workers

[Kid_icoris]

what worker to city ratio do you usually have when playing? Im trying to beat the monarchy lvl right now and finding it extremely difficult compaired to lower lvls. Im thinking that the reason might have something to do with how many workers I have. Usually about 3 or 4 workers to 5-10 cities.

 

[Corn Shucker]

I like to start out with about the same ratio of workers to cities (slightly lower like 9 workers for every 10 cities... but sometimes 10:10 ratio) as time goes on though and the need for workers go down, i either make some of them join the cities to boost population or use them to build stuff.

...Thats just me though

 

[Beorn-eL-Feared]

MORE !!!!!
I usually tend to build warriors, settlers and workers only, up until most of the land is settled and worked. I sometimes use a "military city" that I put a barrack in, so that those warriors can be upgraded to vet swordsmen; also a couple temples/walls on the border. After that I start making swords and horsemen.

It usually means about 15-20 cities, 30 warriors and as much workers when I start mass upgrading the warriors. I keep making workers in my big-food-cities so that the land my swordsmen will conquer is going to be quickly worked up in due time.

 

[Tomoyo]

As many as I can get and not kill myself with maintainence. That usually means 1.5 per city.

 

[Sargon II]

Usually a minimum of one worker per city. If I'm not industrious it could be
two or more per city.

 

[island007]

You need more workers.

I like about 1 -1.5 per city of my own worker and as many slaves as I can get my hands on.. This is up to my major conquest phase. At this point, my ratio will drop because I'm getting cities by the boat load.

 

[vmxa]

If industrious I can scrap by with 1 per city or a bit less if the land is favorable. If not Industrious, I want as many as I can afford to carry, until I get some slaves.

 

[wilbill]

At least 1.5 per city. More if I have a lot of terrain clearing to be done. I try to be near 2 workers per city when it's time to start building railroads.

 

[gmaharriet]

During the expansion phase, a worker is often my first build in new cities, though not in my capital city. I build my MPs (warriors or archers) in barracks in my inner cities and move them out to my frontiers. They usually arrive before my worker is complete and they are vets. If there are a lot of barbs, then my settler is escorted. Then I build additional workers as needed, usually 1.5 to 2 per city.

I'm rather timid as a warmonger, but my cities are usually pretty well developed and my military large enough to discourage early attacks. I just wish every settler came equipped with its own worker like the very first one does.

 

[xeroyne]

I usually go with 1 per city, but keep a warrior and two spearmen in each city in the ancient age rather than just the typical one warrior.

 

[eldar]

"Not enough". 1 per city, to start with (all new cities build at least 1 Worker). AI cities don't, but after a while I just pile up slaves.

 

[Choffy]

You need at least 1 warrior per city + 5 / 10 workers to make roads between cities, get luxuries and ressources, clean jungle...

In cities far from Capitol, I start building a worker (10 turns to grow and 10 turns to build it) and if needed have a veteran military unit produced in core cities.

 

[Rwedgie]

I usually build a worker in every city after defense.. then i build a few more depending on the terrain conditions.

Lots of marsh and jungle = tons of workers.

and i never shy from taking slaves

 

[Zelda's Man]

I buy slaves whenever possible...or just take them by force. I also build workers constantly in unproductive cities until there is no more work to be done. It is also a good idea to build them in cities that have maxed out in pop, but still have extra food.

Should have a minimum of 1 per city, but 2 per city would be better.

 

[soul_warrior]

i can never have enough workers. the minimum i aim for is an average of 1.5 per city, trying for more.
slaves are lovely this time of year, aswell.
use settler and worker pumps to keep up the expansion-improving era, with the rest of the cities producing sharp pointy things. after you fill out your lands, u might think of joining some back into the productive cities. that way they will pay back thier costs, and you should have more than enough slaves to do the usual work.
if you have jungles, etc, just keep pumping workers out.
see SW3 NINJA for an example. especially in the endgame, we had about a zillion workers (most of which were slaves).

 

[catchsomezzz]

I usually have less than 1 worker per city.... but... at least 2-3 more slaves for each city. I obtain slaves however I can, war, trades, extortion, etc.

We all know that slaves work slower than your own workers, but having more than enough of them will more than make up for it.

Ever since ainwood posted up his Civ Assist tool, I can't imagine playing civ without it. Everytime the AI civs have workers available for sale, I'm immediately aware of it and immediately trade to get them - hopefully, with the least financial hit. Although, the AI severely undervalue their workers, if I have the upper-hand, I would renegotiate the peace treaties, ROP treaties, territory/world maps, etc. But if necessary, I'd still be more than happy to pay the asking price in gold.

In my current game, I currently have 46 cities, but only 14 workers (that's all I've built since the start, none were lost or disbanded), and over 100 slaves.

Plus, with replaceable parts, the speed of slaves become a non-factor.