How to take the workers out of Civ4

[Drachasor]

The solution to satisfy all camps (I think) is this:

Give the ability to plan how each tile will be improved (including replacing an improvement already there). This would be similar to the CTP system.

Workers can be automated to implement the plans you have laid out. They would use a little AI to prioritize the build order around cities.* When there are no planned improvments left there could be a message to inform the player (which could be turned off).

The only difference from CTP, for those that used this, would be the requirement to build workers. You wouldn't have to deal much with giving workers orders however.

I am 95% sure that this will require the SDK to implement, however.

-Drachasor

*This could possibly be enhanced if you could declare specializations for each city. Though perhaps this could be figured out by the scheme you've laid out.

[John-SJ]

Drachasor,
For me, and I suspect, for many, this would be more a hindrance than a help. I often want the ability to build *this improvement* on *that tile* first, then, ...

As soon as a computer AI is put into place to "help out" the player loses some control, which I may very well want. My only choice then would be to use an interface intended to enter a set of orders to enter one order at a time to get the control I require.

I don't think I would like that much.

What would help though is a worker "work queue", that is, the ability to queue up 3, 5, 10, more? orders in a row that would hen be executed exactly as I entered them.

How cool to be able to order the building of a road and improvements between two cities all at once!

Road, farm, move, road, cottage, move...

edit: didn't like my notation using angle brackets, changed to '*'

[Drachasor]

Well, it would be hard to make you also have the option of giving such queues (just a small interface improvement to the current queue system). Still need the SDK, I think, however.

Or you could have 4 automation (of planned improvements) options for this:

1. Automate Improvement building

2. Automate Improve City*

3. Automate Improvement building in order improvements were placed

4. Automate Improve City in order improvements were placed*

-Drachasor

*These could be futher enhanced if you could select a worker along with multiple cities and these orders would make the worker improve all selected cities.

[MasterDave]

One idea to give workers something to do when they find themselves idle would be to allow fortresses to be built on tiles and have them them retain their improvements (like in previous civs). To prevent excessive fortress spamming, maybe dramatically increase the length of time it takes to build them (like making them take 50 or 75 worker-turns, so 5 workers working together on a fortress could crank one out in 10 or 15 turns).

The way fortresses are now (replacing tile improvements), they are absolutely worthless. I have built two in my entire Civ4 career, and these were guarding passes on ahighlands map. I have never seen the AI build a fort under any circumstances.

[DrSpike]

Jeez, there is next to no micro in Civ4, and you don't have lots of workers either.

Why not just have button where you can build a perfect size 21 city and be done with it.

[LDiCesare]

I'd rather have public works personally. Workers can be boring because there are times when I have nothing for them to do and they must be moved around. To each their own of course.

[Enigma_Nova]

Originally posted by DrSpike
Jeez, there is next to no micro in Civ4, and you don't have lots of workers either.

Why not just have button where you can build a perfect size 21 city and be done with it.

]
Because we still need specialists. (Smites Drspike with a Frying Pan)

[Cort Haus]

Originally posted by John-SJ
What would help though is a worker "work queue", that is, the ability to queue up 3, 5, 10, more? orders in a row that would hen be executed exactly as I entered them.

How cool to be able to order the building of a road and improvements between two cities all at once!

You can do something like this by holding down SHIFT while giving instructions. So SHIFT, move, mine, road can be queued up.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by LDiCesare
I'd rather have public works personally. Workers can be boring because there are times when I have nothing for them to do and they must be moved around.

You can always build roads and then railroads. When you truly run out of things to do move them back into cities and give the "sleep" order.

[LDiCesare]

You can always build roads and then railroads. When you truly run out of things to do move them back into cities and give the "sleep" order.

It's still annoying. I don't need tons of roads, and when I've spammed them, I still haveto pay the price of displaying the unit and being asked what to do when they stop. Putting them to sleep is painful because you have ot remember where you put them when you'll next need them (which cities are they in...)

[yin26]

I thought they did this automatically? Seems to me that once they have nothing left to build, they return to a city and sleep until another build option comes. This is a nice approach, though I am not a big fan of the worker system overall.

[DrSpike]

Seriously I think some people would be more happy if they just clicked the build civilization button and everything for the next 6000 years just happened for them, and they could watch. Sim Civilization I'll call it.

/me runs off to make billions

[Dis]

Originally posted by DrSpike
Seriously I think some people would be more happy if they just clicked the build civilization button and everything for the next 6000 years just happened for them, and they could watch. Sim Civilization I'll call it.

* DrSpike runs off to make billions

not as fun as the Sims2.

[Shades]

I would have to say that I like workers. I'd miss them if they were removed. However, there are two options I would like to see added to them to help the automated workers perform better.

1) An option to either allow cutting trees or not cutting trees. That would help me by letting me choose which forests to cut with a worker I controlled manually.

2) An option to not change any improvements EXCEPT when a new resource is found. That way, as new techs uncover new resources, the auto workers will use the appropriate improvements to gather those even though you set them not to change old improvements.

[MasterDave]

If you could set the workers not to cut trees along with the swtich that already exitst to prevent them from overwriting existing improvements, then I would probably automate them for all times except wars and the very early game when there are only two or three workers. That would be ideal.