Fort mania?

[Father Beast]

OK, so I'm a bit new, so I just build my workers and put them on automatic, and they do pretty allright.

So, I look around the map and see all these forts built on resources, like ivory, sugar, or dye, and even sometimes gold.

Since these spots were almost always in areas I recently overcame culturally, I figured someone must have built those to keep me from accessing them when my borders overtook them.

So I sent a unit around to destroy the forts. as soon as I do, what do I see? nearly all my workers come swarming around. Well, good, now they can build the plantation or mine or whatever and get them going.

But, NOoooo. They hurry up and rebuild the fort!!!! What kind of behavior is this??? Is there some kind of advantage to building forts on resources? What's this all about??

[rah]

A fort will count towards connecting the resource for you. So if the resource is outside your city's BFC and you can't work it, your automated workers will just build a fort instead of the proper improvement. This allows you to better defend the square from enemy pillagers.
And remember, the enemy does not get the defensive benefits from forts in your culture area so there is no negative to leaving forts unoccupied in your territory.
Yes, the first time I came across this I was wondering what the heck they were doing.

[Father Beast]

OK, let me see if I got this straight.

A fort will connect the resource, but not give the bonuses you would get for having a citizen work the square. But you get it and can trade it.

so my workers will probably fort resources outside a city radius, it sounds like what you're saying...

if city radius is what you mean by BFC

[rah]

Yeah, BFC=BIG FAT CROSS

But remember unlike CIV II, your enemy can't get advantage from your forts. (those in your culture zones)

And let's say (horses) is on an one square island off your coast in the BFC. If you build a pasture on it, you will get the production and trade bonus but not get credit for the resource. (since it's not connected to your empire) If you build a fort and a road, (and sometimes move a boat into it) you will get credit for the horses but not the production and trade bonus. Yes weird, but that's the way it works.

[Father Beast]

OK, Thanks, Rah

[Dis]

OK I know you actually "get" the resource. But if the resource is in your fat cross, do you also get the food, hammers, and/or trade bonus from the resource as well?

I never automate workers, but I wipe out forts of conquered cities. But I suppose I don't need to do this?

I take it this was changed in a recent patch. I remember vanilla civ, forts were pretty much useless.

edit: ok just reread. it seems that you don't want forts in your city radius, but it's ok to have them in your cultural zone to connect resources, right?

[Boracks]

I mainly use forts as canals. Works well for those 2 space wide necks of land where a city won't work. Put a fort beside it and it acts as a canal.

[rah]

edit: ok just reread. it seems that you don't want forts in your city radius, but it's ok to have them in your cultural zone to connect resources, right?

Correct, unless there is a real bizarre need for a defensive position inside your city radius and you're can't work the square anyway.

You do have to be a touch careful with forts along the coast. When ships are on auto search or goto commands, they will prefer to move through forts if they're on their path. Which means they could end their turn in an unmanned fort and be picked off by enemy land troops.

[Blaupanzer]

Or barbarians. This can be very embarrsaing to lose a small fleet to a barbarian warrior.

[rah]

Been there, done that, felt like an idiot.

[Blaupanzer]

Me too, not even my fort, but that of a vassal. Fleet pulled in, I drew a breath, bye-bye fleet. "i didn't know they could do that" doesn't justify 4 ships and 6 units in the galleons' holds.

[Theben]

I had one of those. Manually sailed in thru an isthmus to scout the inland sea (city) then attempted to auto-sail back out. For some reason the AI thought the best way out was by entering a port (away from the ocean!) and on the border with someone I was at war with. Oh and they had open borders, so he marched a maceman into the city and killed my frigate while the locals stood by and watched.

[rah]

The most annoying is that given a choice of ending their turn in the fort or along the coast, it chooses the fort. Why that would be the preferred place is beyond me.

[Father Beast]

I read that for canals, you can only have it 2 forts long, so you could only straddle a small isthmus.

I'm wondering if you could do it longer with some finessing. like build 2 forts in from the sea, have a stack of ships sail into fort 2, then pillage fort 1 and build fort 3, letting the stack into the inland sea.

I'm going to have to try this now....

[rah]

What happens if you have a city, then can you do fort fort city fort fort?
Include that in your test.