Using workers for improvements

[Bluefusion]

I hate to ask such a basic question that I know is newbish on this forum... but,

How do you go about using your workers without automating them?

I ask because I've always just automated them because I disliked the MM, but now I'm noticing more and more how poorly the AI handles workers (as in they waste many turns just moving around the map).

So a typical question I have is: When you're next to a river, you can build both a farm and a cottage, but which is best in what circumstances?

Do you like to deforest in favor of farms/cottages or do you wait for a lumbermill?

And how good is the workshop?

My problem is that for most of my cities I end up with a small amount of production hammers if I try to manage workers myself. (Of course, I'm slaughtering in coins, and hence technological advances) So how do you get a high production amount?

I assume there's a viable strategy in making some cities financial centers and others production centers as well...

Hope this isn't a question that's been asked already, in the few weeks I've been on here I haven't seen it.

Edit: I bet some other places discuss this; a point in that direction would be appreciated as well.

[djpsychonaut]

First of all, don't worry about basic questions. The game is only a couple months old so even veteran Civ players are still getting their sea legs with this new version!

For your question on the cottage vs farm on a river tile, I would say it all depends on your goal. If you want more money, then definitely build the cottage. It will generate more income, and if you're a Financial civ you'll activate your gold bonus and get +1 gold on top of your yield from that tile.

As far as deforestation is concerned, there are different opinions I've seen so far on these forums. You should take a look at Vel's Strategy Thread II (http://apolyton.net/forums/showthrea...hreadid=144755) to get a pretty thorough treatment of all the nuances, but the quick and dirty answer is that you might not always want to clearcut your forests because of lumberminds that come later and also because of their health bonus. It all depends on the specific city and what you plan to do with it. The answer is going to change for different circumstances.

The workshop is good, especially with State Property. It usually doesn't factor into my strategy though...

[Hauptman]

It's all so very situational.

If you have a city surrounded by hills with gold and gems and silver (oh my!) then you need farms!

If you have only 2 health resources within your borders then you BETTER leave those forests UP so your cities can actually grow.

If your parked next to the Azteks and have nothing but rivers and grassland workshops just might save your life.


You need to find the balance. I'm tempted usually to make a trade heavy capital, but then low hammers make the libraries and such come too slow. Huge food production gives you specialist to help in commerce and production but requires more micro-management, but can payoff huge in the longrun.

[Firecrak]

With Universal Sufferage, all those cottages produce 1 extra hammer...That is all the production you will need for a 20+ city with factory/forge/power/etc.

[djpsychonaut]

Originally posted by Firecrak
With Universal Sufferage, all those cottages produce 1 extra hammer...That is all the production you will need for a 20+ city with factory/forge/power/etc.

Very true, Firecrak, but if you want a production powerhouse early on, then building workshops and lumbermills is a good move.

[gentle]

Brainy Smurf says: Towns - not cottages ^^

[Blake]

I'm afraid that automating workers is still a crime, until it's rather late in the game.

The most powerful hammer cities come from State Property.
In terms of hammers NOTHING beats a state property city built on a river, with watermills and workshops. And the watermills and workshops require no "grow time", so you easily build up these hammer monsters in the mid-late game. It's a good thing to do with a captured city on a nice river, with that rubbish AI farm/windmill terraforming.