How to take the workers out of Civ4

[Simplicity]

Many people complain that workers add a certain amount of tedium to the game... So, I wonder why this solution to the worker problem was not used (or could not be modded in):

1) New build options in cities labeled:
- Improve (Food)
- Improve (Hammer)
- Improve (Gold)
- Improve Resources
- Improve Roads
- Auto Improve

2) When selected, the build option builds the best choice for the selection. Improve (Food) turns hammers into farms at the best locations essentially. Improve Resources is only available if there is a resource to capture nearby. Improve roads first attempts to connect this city to the trade network, and then fills out the rest of the squares with roads.

3) Auto Improve works similarly to worker automation.

4) No worker units.

This option would create an even greater guns/butter strategy choice since you wouldn't be able to build anything in your cities while making improvements...

[Robert]

Majority likes the workers. The minority voices their opinion loudly though.
Keep the workers where they are. If you dislike workers, play CtP.

[Son of David]

Yeah, evil capitalist pigs that don't like workers.

[John-SJ]

A) I love workers!
B) There is nothing evil or piggish about capitalism

[eris]

Consider this another vote for workers!

I am not a micro management fan, but for some reason I love workers, They are important and vulnerable, a great combination of factors for a strategy game. And unlike the workers I face in real life, they don't give me any back talk, either.

I have become very fond of Ghandi's Fast Workers. A subtle but significant UU. Nice bit of game design there, as far as I am concerned.

However, you are allowed to hate workers if you want, just be aware they bitterly resent that. (Well, someone has to care about their feelings, and no one else seems to.)

[Adagio]

Workers

I would hate to see the workers left out of the game, this was one of the mayor drawbacks of ctp

[Son of David]

The only thing I *don't* like about workers is that there is no penalty for maintenance of improvements, only for workers themselves.

That kind of suggests that it's possible to build towns, railraods, etc infinitely without having to spend more to maintain that infrastructure which clearly isn't realistic.

Maybe there should be 1 gold maintenance per turn for 10 railroaded tiles, or some such system?

[yin26]

If nothing else, I would like to see an option:

"Hide workers from view unless they are threatened by attack."

This way, assuming you are comfortable with the auto-build options, you could essentially automate and forget while clearing up the map and earning a little performance gain on the graphics card. Personally, I would only engage this option toward the mid game. The early game is still quite fun in dealing with workers, optimizing builds, etc.

[Cort Haus]

Originally posted by Son of David
The only thing I *don't* like about workers is that there is no penalty for maintenance of improvements, only for workers themselves.

That kind of suggests that it's possible to build towns, railraods, etc infinitely without having to spend more to maintain that infrastructure which clearly isn't realistic.

Maybe there should be 1 gold maintenance per turn for 10 railroaded tiles, or some such system?

I'm amazed your civ has that much money to chuck around that you want to spend it on maintaining improved tiles. Sounds 'orrible to me.

[Son of David]

Originally posted by Cort Haus


I'm amazed your civ has that much money to chuck around that you want to spend it on maintaining improved tiles. Sounds 'orrible to me.

That's precisely what Margaret Thatcher was thinking when she sold the railways to the private sector.

Maybe there should be an option to do that in Civ4. The plus side is that maintenance costs are reduced, the negative side is that each track of rail has a random chance of 'malfunctioning' every turn.

[Arrian]

I like workers. Always have (even when they were settlers ).

-Arrian

[Last Conformist]

Originally posted by Son of David
The only thing I *don't* like about workers is that there is no penalty for maintenance of improvements, only for workers themselves.

That kind of suggests that it's possible to build towns, railraods, etc infinitely without having to spend more to maintain that infrastructure which clearly isn't realistic.

Maybe there should be 1 gold maintenance per turn for 10 railroaded tiles, or some such system?

Think of it like this - they produce enough to cover their maintenance needs plus provide the benefits they give to the rest of your civilization.

[MasterDave]

I think I prefer the public works system in CTP. It is just more elegant and you can do your improving on your own schedule rather than constantly being distracted from critical events and battles with where to build the next lumbermill, etc. This becomes especially annoying on multiplayer, when I am trying to move 20 military units in forty seconds, but my screen keeps flashing back to some irrelevant worker picking at a hillside instead.

Yes, they can be automated, but then they do stupid stuff more often than not, like exterminate all of your trees or build a farm over your fully-developed town tile. Another thing I hate about workers is that period of a couple of hundred years before you get railroads where there is nothing for them to do. I always feel like I am wasting potential production when I have ten workers standing around idle. You can't even add them to cities for population any more in Civ4.

The one reason I do like workers is that they can be stolen from other players, which can be a critical advantage if it happens early enough in the game.

[Mujadaddy]

Re: How to take the workers out of Civ4

Originally posted by Simplicity
Many people complain that workers add a certain amount of tedium to the game... So, I wonder why this solution to the worker problem was not used (or could not be modded in):

1) New build options in cities labeled:
- Improve (Food)
- Improve (Hammer)
- Improve (Gold)
- Improve Resources
- Improve Roads
- Auto Improve

2) When selected, the build option builds the best choice for the selection. Improve (Food) turns hammers into farms at the best locations essentially. Improve Resources is only available if there is a resource to capture nearby. Improve roads first attempts to connect this city to the trade network, and then fills out the rest of the squares with roads.

3) Auto Improve works similarly to worker automation.

4) No worker units.

This option would create an even greater guns/butter strategy choice since you wouldn't be able to build anything in your cities while making improvements...

You do realize that's what workers do already, right?

[GodSpawn]

I totally prefer workers.

However, I am extremely lazy, so I completely automate all my workers. Yeah, I know what they get up to - but they do a good enough job for me.