Automating?

[SkyShadowing]

Just got Civ V, is there some option I have to turn on to automate workers and exploration? I can't find the thing anywhere, not even in the >> menu where I've heard it is.

[Proteus_MST]

Don´t know about explorers, but for workers the automation button can be found after clicking the "additional commands" button (the button on the left side with >> on it)

[Nikolai]

You can automate all units. When your unit is marked, click on the arrows button lowest, then choose the explore/build improvements(automated) button.

[SkyShadowing]

Son of a female dog, I LOOKED there! HOW DID I NOT SEE IT?

I suppose it probably either doesn't appear in the tutorials AND doesn't also appear if the unit in question has no movement points remaining.

Thank you to both of you. Now off to conquer the world!

[Robert]

It's an extra menu indeed.
I do not really understand why those extra buttons couldn't be fitted in within the other buttons though.

[jobe]

Good worker control is a key element to winning on higher difficulty levels, that requires manually moving them - of course only if that is a priority for you in the way you play the game.

Otherwise just use the button
HF!

[Dinner]

Yeah, you never ever ever automate workers. In Civ4 I've seen them plow up a village to make a farm and then immediately turn the farm into a cottage. They'll just destroy your economy if you automate workers.

[binTravkin]

Isn't the worker AI fixed at last?

Somehow I have a feeling that the logic behind it is so straightforward that there is really no excuse for not having an acceptable Worker automation AI.

Also, the exploration AI continues to suck.
Apparently the AIs objective is "meet someone" or "uncover as much unexplored tiles as possible".
However, for a human explorer in most cases the objective is one of or combination of:
- "check the surroundings of capital (for resources / possible threats obviously)"
- "find a good spot for next city in proximity to existing ones"
- "find missing resources" (e.g. have the tech to work resource but not the resource anywhere, have a city request some resource, etc)
- "explore the area between and around a hostile neighbour"

[jobe]

Worker management was very deep in civ4, being very important for the buildiup of an empire - one of the most skill intensive parts of the game. I think it will still take a very long time till a civ AI will be able to be less then horrible at moving workers.

[rah]

But due to sometimes crippling unit maint., later in the game you're more likely to disband them then automate them. And with 1up you can't select a city to store them all in until you need them in future.

[binTravkin]

Sorry jobe, I fail to see the deepness.

Most of the time my decisions what to build where based on algorithms like this:
1. Is it hill? No
2. Is it next to river? Yes
3. Does it have resource? No
4. Is it a floodplain? Yes
Build cottage.

Or something similar.
It's simple and it's even simpler in CIV 5 as there are very little situations where there are more than 1 reasonable improvements.

Of course, calculating which tile is the most important to work on next is more complicated, but it's still math.
If Velocyrix can do the math (and anyone with good math skills should be able to), why can't it be programmed in?

[pdxsean]

Despite the simplistic intelligence behind the unit automation I don't get the lack of a "don't work improved tiles" toggle. I've never used a lot of automation but it would be nice in the later stages to be able to turn it on and get a decent series of improvements on the blank tiles I have left. Or, at least, automatic linking of the resources uncovered by my expanding borders.

Getting good AI would still be tricky, as some prefer farms over towns, or lumbermills over clearing forests. And with the new farm- and town-able hills there are even more possibilities. Still, putting in a "give these actions a priority" checklist option would be nice.

[binTravkin]

I would actually like to use civ with workers almost completely automated.
Why?
- no cottage/farm(/watermill/workshop), windmill/mine dispute
- very little roads
- because if something can be automated with 100% (or very close) efficiency compared to human management, it should

Same for scouting, most of the time.

Does anyone know - can automation AI be reprogrammed using SDK?

[jobe]

@bin:

Check this: http://apolyton.net/showthread.php/1...Video-Solution

Play the save and see what turn you can fulfill the goal - then you´ll know what difference worker micro makes
It´s Civ4 BTS obviously, I assume you got that

[binTravkin]

jobe, I know what difference micro makes, but it is still mostly math, and some simple algorithms, from a worker perspective.

As such, they should be fairly easy to code in so that automated worker with the remade AI would be almost indistinguishable from a top level player.