Automated workers

[Diadem]

Does anyone have any experience with letting your workers work automated? How well will they do then?

I tried it once and they were active as well, building stuff all over the place. They seemed to be doing well, building roads to resources and stuff. They seemed to throw different improvements everywhere, farms, mines, windmills, watermills, workshops, cottages, you name it, they built it.

I'm wondering how good the build they are making is. It saves a lot of time having automated workers. But are they any good?

[V3nom]

early on I dont automate them, but later on I do just to save on micromanagement. Looking at what they build, I could probably do better but they do a satisfactory job in much less time imho.

[Blake]

I automate them post-lumbermills. Usually after making the critical railroad connections (and the railroads on the mines/mills at my best wonder cities).

[MasterDave]

I think the AI does a fine job automating the workers EXCEPT that they have a tendency to chop down every tree in sight. I would be very happy to automate the majority of them for most of the game if there was a command to have them leave forests alone.

[djpsychonaut]

I agree with Blake and MasterDave, that Workers LOVE to chop down Forests even when it's not necessary. Usually though, I end up automating them quite early on. Once there are three or more cities, I find it tedious... esp once Windmills enter the equation.

The nice thing about downing the trees is that you build Settlers and other buildings a bit faster!

[Firecrak]

The comp obviously can't pinpoint where you want to specialise your cities (commerce > towns, production >workshops etc), but yes, I usually automate them after city 3 or 4, by which stage anything I capture/settle is probably for strategic purpose and won't reach potential by end game unless its already a thriving megalopolis that I just siezed in which case the tiles will be upgraded for the most part.

Yeah that overzealous tree cutting sux :/ Wish there was a slightly diffrent command structure, but its a pretty good AI script none the less.

[Jaybe]

Because I am not in a rush to finish a game (I spent over 100 hours on my last one!!), I don't mind directing the workers myself. I may let them do their own thing early on, but that's it.

[Stint]

If you do automate workers, and tell them to improve that city's tiles only, then turn around and subsequently forget that you did that, the workers will go hide back into the city you told them to improve. If there are other tiles outside of the city that can be improved, they won't head there. Wake 'em up, tell them to automate everywhere.

[ghen]

on a tiny islands map I usually automate them just because I'm too busy each turn thinking about the navy.

[Timmer]

I've only used the automate function for them
to build road/railroad networks.

They'll happily railroad every square in your empire,
and build improvements to benefit from resources.

All of this is just the way I like it.

However, make sure to take them off automate
before you go to war, cause if/when you capture
a city, they'll head straight for the newly
aquired lands to improve them, with a big "capture me"
sign on their backs.

[Diadem]

I'm playing another game with automated workers now.

They seem extremely trigger happy on the chopping. But that's a good thing, free production, and forests aren't that good anyway. On hills a mine gives +2 shields against +1 for a forest. And on flatlands I usually want cottages or farms.

I had a city pretty much surrounded by enemy territory which I culturebombed (wow! So effective!). 5 turns later half of my workers where there upgrading it. Funny stuff

[djpsychonaut]

I agree with everyone that worker love to chop down every tree in sight, but another frustration I have is that they also replace every mine with a windmill. I find that pretty annoying because I'll have a city that occupies mostly plains/grassland/flood plains and they're all farmed out. The automated workers won't leave enough mines on the few hills that are there. They replace them all with windmills, which kills my production in that city.

Has anyone else seen this?

I also am curious if anyone has noticed that when you give a command for a city to focus on Gold, Science, or whatever, do the workers follow those orders when they are in that city's radius?

[Jaybe]

Well, having excess food DOES allow for more specialists (if you can handle the unhappiness and "unhealth").

[kobo1d]

While they aren't as horrible as in previous Civ games, they still are sub-optimal. Below Noble and you could have your workers pretty much do ANYTHING and still be effective, but if you plan on moving up, learn about improvements and when to build what.

Hint: Cottages rock.

[djpsychonaut]

Originally posted by Jaybe
Well, having excess food DOES allow for more specialists (if you can handle the unhappiness and "unhealth").

That's exactly the problem... I end up with cities that are ridiculously unhealthy. Having some more production would be great because then I could tool out those Granaries, Aqueducts, and Grocers in a snap!