Worker 1st or workboat?

[Theben]

When I have a coastal start, most of the time I'll have some ocean/coastal specials available. The civs I play also normally start with Fishing.

So with that setup I almost always start with a workboat 1st. Reason being that a coastal special will net be 4-5 food +2(3 FIN) coins with a workboat, and my city gets to grow to size 2 or 3. Then I can build a worker much faster.

In addition I often get BW before the worker is done and then I can slave it out. 2 or more sea specials and slavery becomes a good option to build lots of things.

Which do you prefer to build 1st and why?

[Supr49er]

Workboat. You can grow your city faster.
Workers stagnate growth, and unless there's a great resource nearby (and the tech to get at it), I'll wait to build a worker.

[Guynemer]

Easy. Workboat 99% of the time. The other 1% is when there aren't any fish/clams/crabs available.

[Lord Avalon]

Workboat: growth, and also better research from the money coming in.

[snoopy369]

Assuming it's the setup of "Sea special and Fishing", then workboat more often than worker. The problem is that the workboat takes a very long time to produce (30h at often 1h/turn), so a worker will produce a faster increase in production (you usually can have a worker out in 10-15 turns), or you have to choose a suboptimal tile to work (2/1 forest for a nearly 15 turn workboat and a whopping 1 pop growth over a worker start, or 1/2 forest for a 10 turn workboat and less than 1 growth over a worker start). The worker also ends up giving you much more in the long run than the workboat.

I often start warrior-worker, because the warrior lets me get up to the point of size 2, and is helpful for not being attacked early on, and doesn't hurt my worker build that much (adds 2-4 turns usually); and then the worker is complete about the same time as BW.

It's a short term vs long term decision, if you think about it; a worker costs you some growth in the short term, but quickly gives you more growth (only 20-30 turns later you have gained net population from a worker). Particularly in the more-common forest/sea start, the ability to chop those workboats means you get a workboat not much later than your worker (5 turns later at the most), and you still have the worker left over to make more improvements...

[Vampgelus]

Simple.

I never start with building a worker. I always wait for being at size 2 or 3 before that.

Workboat allows to grow while building it, so that it doesn't hurt to get it out.

Anyway, i'd build a warrior between the worker and the workboat, eventually allowing me to build the worker with 3 tiles worked.

[Unimatrix11]

This is one of the early game-decisions that make me like civ so much - and esp. the early games. To me it´s too situational to give a black/white answer.

[wodan11]

A better question is whether to click the hammer button while building the workboat.

If you don't, then it will often work a food tile such as a lake or the unimproved fish. Which is good in the sense that you get some early commerce. But OTOH working a forest will crank the workboat right out, and then it'll switch to working the improved fish, and things are golden from then on....

[TriMiro]

I always start with workboat (is there are any sea resources available), but Snoopy made me thing a little. Maybe we should do some math with the 30 hammer issue.

[MoonWolf]

Workboat here too. I might start the workboat and start a worker instead when reacing size 2 and go back to boat again if the terrains says so. But mainly workboat

[Blaupanzer]

Always start with at least one warrior prior to archery or BW. Then would be a workboat in the posed scenario, as I would rather have the food assist in worker and settler builds then have the worker chop that first boat. I tend to be conservative as I play raging barbarians and like to have at least two defenders in each city.

[wodan11]

I usually don't bother starting with warriors because they aren't useful until you grow big enough to be in happy trouble, until barbs show up, or until you need to escort a settler to a new city. Scouting is useful, but not so useful that it's worth delaying a workboat.

If my choice is worker/settler or warrior, I'll usually pick the warrior. Not because I want the warrior but because I want the city to grow to size 2 before I switch.

[Colm]

I would choose the worker. The building time for a boat is just too long. And the worker can improve more tiles in the long run.
However, as many, I always bring my town up to size 2 or 3 first and build a warrior in that time.

[couerdelion]

Generally workboat because the first thing I want is food and this is usually the quickest way. The WB takes 1 turn to “drop” an improvement. Generally, the best you’ll get for a worker is a corn farm and that will take 8 turns.

I notice some people talk about 30 turns for a workboat but this is all wrong. I would treat that first workboat much like I would a worker in that I tend to go for zero growth maximum production (working 0/3/0 plains hill).

At epic speed that takes 12 turns to improve a seafood tile next to your capital (standard capital but working 0/3/0 tile). To farm a corn tile next to your capital would take 30 turns.

I might go worker first if some of the following apply

a) Both food and happy resources available and ready to improve with at most 2 techs
b) Available resources are near a jungle
c) I’ve not got any production to quickly produce a workboat.

[Theben]

Interesting. I was thinking there's be a lot more 'worker' votes.