First time controlling my own workers

[greenday_234]

In my past 2 civ 4 games I automated all my own workers. Then I began to think to myself that there is no way the computer could be better at this than me. Which appears to be true so far. However I do have a couple quick questions. A. Do roads have to connect all improvements (i.e. mines, cottages etc.) for them to work fully, I ask because for some reason the AI built roads everywhere, why is that? With no bonus like in civ 3 there seems to be no other reason to build roads other than to connect cities and resources. B. What, on average, is the best ratio for farms to cottages and what are the better places to put farms v. cottages? C. How about wind mills/lumber mills/watermills on average how should I incorparate these?

I will attach my game but please note that I have added rjowers resource mod and added more game turns on my own so I don't know if you'll be able to view it.

Thanx

[Willem]

Re: First time controlling my own workers

Originally posted by greenday_234
A. Do roads have to connect all improvements (i.e. mines, cottages etc.) for them to work fully, I ask because for some reason the AI built roads everywhere, why is that? With no bonus like in civ 3 there seems to be no other reason to build roads other than to connect cities and resources.

Not if they're next to a River or other source of water that connects with the rest of your empire. As for the AI building roads everywhere, it helps your units move around in your empire. Sometimes they'll cut through Forest etc. to get to where they're going, so having a road there would allow them to move quicker. I prefer building roads everywhere myself just for that reason.

B. What, on average, is the best ratio for farms to cottages and what are the better places to put farms v. cottages?

There's no set answer to that one, it all depends on your city. You might have 2 or 3 good food resources in it so you don't really have to worry about any other farms, and can convert most of the land to Cottages. As for best places to put them, Grasslands/Floodplains are the best for both IMO. I started out putting Cottages on Plains squares but I get better results on Grassland, leaving Floodplains for food. Plains squares in my cities don't get developed until there's nothing else left now.

They're good for Workshops though once they get a few improvements to their output through techs. A Plains square with a Workshop can eventually create just as many Hammers as a Hill/Plains.

C. How about wind mills/lumber mills/watermills on average how should I incorparate these?

Again, it depends. Windmills I use only on Grassland Hills in a city where I'm low on food sources. Lumbermills I generally use on Tundra Forest, and Watermills only in cities that are low in Hammers. If they already have a couple of Hills in them, I prefer to use that land for Cottages.

[greenday_234]

Heres the game,

[Willem]

As a follow up to my PM, the automated Workers aren't really that bad, I use them more and more, especially as the game progresses. Just have a few manual Wokers you can use to fix anything they might not do right, and keep an eye on how the work is being done. Though it is best to start the game doing it yourself.

[Crossfire]

To answer your first question, only those resources that provide a bonus (gold, copper, pigs, bananas...) do you need to connect with a road or a river. A regular mine or farm gets no benefit. I tend to eventually build lots of roads so that everyone moves better, but I don't aim for roads except to the other cities in the early game.

I usually save flood plains for cottages. They already provide enough food for 1/2 of another pop so I might as well get the commerce there. I build farms anywhere I can improve the tile to 3 food except in those cases where a city is food short and then I build farms everywhere possible. Once I have enough food, the other tiles are developed for commerce or hammers as is appropriate or needed.

Generally I save my forests for the health benefits so they eventually get lumbermills. That also provides a late game hammer boost to my cities. Watermills and windmills are sort of spread around to gain whatever resource I am short of.

[joncnunn]

One more thing, the automated workers does a very good job road connecting your cities and resources, to the point that many people call it overkill.

As a first time manual worker, remember to make road connections to all your cities, even the ones already connected by river (with the road on the same side of the bank) for military purposes.

[Willem]

Originally posted by joncnunn
(with the road on the same side of the bank)

Good point, I never thought of that.

[couerdelion]

Originally posted by Willem


Good point, I never thought of that.

That may depend on whether you are moving to the city or from it.

I have yet to find interesting uses for mills and so have ended up just adding cottages to the original list of worker jobs (pasture, camp, winery, plantation, quarry) are just fields and mines by another name.

The question of cottages on floodplains or river grassland is one I ought to have looked at before because I think I’ve been doing it wrong in the past. As long as the flood plain does not cut irrigation access to other tiles where you want to build a farm, the effect of farming floodplains and placing cottages on grasslands is the same as vice versa when both tiles are worked. But building time is different.

Cottage on floodplain (5) + field on grassland (5) = 10.
Field on floodplain (7) + cottage on grassland (4) = 11

That’s equivalent to having your workers at +10% speed!!!

As for road building there are two basic advantages these bring

1) linking cities to trade goods.
2) Faster movement

This means that excessive road building is a waste of your worker resources.

Let’s say that you have three floodplain tiles that you want to build cottages on but that you either build roads on all of them or just on one (needed for travelling/linking to river).

Basic building time (3 cottages @ 5 turns + 1 road @ 3 turns) = 18 turns
Full building time (3 cottages @ 5 turns + 3 roads @ 3 turns) = 24 turns

Cutting out those unnecessary roads would be like having workers at +33% speed