Why is the governor so incompetent??

[Beltz]

I set my governors to MANAGE MOOD and EMPHASIZE FOOD and it emphasizes trade instead!

My city isnt growing because the stupid gov decided to put all my city workers on WATER squares (1 food) instead of irrigated grassland. Why is that???

[Beltz]

This is with conquest, 1.12 too.

[MrWhereItsAt]

The Governor is best left alone, unless you want to push a new pop point due next turn to work a particular tile. In this case it is still of limited use, as it does not always do exactly what you ask.

For example, in a recent game my pop was about to increase from 2 to 3, and I wanted shields maximised (naturally, as this is the only thing that is counted after growth). I was hoping a forest would be worked. However, upon growth, a freshwater fish (3 food, 2 trade) was worked instead. I suppose that the Governor breaks down like this when there is a clearly better overall tile around to work.

Note that when I was working the fish the turn before growth instead, a Governor setting emphasising production DID result in a forest being worked, whereas a Governor setting of food meant a grassland was worked, so the Governor CAN work.

[Harovan]

The governor does exactly what the AI would do (duh! He is the AI). It may be much more challenging than in other 4x games, but overall it's dumb. So unless you wish your cities to be ran by untalented halfwits, don't use the governors at all (except for the situation MWIA describes).

[Cerbykins]

*whistles*
Although to be fair, I just let the city grow and manage it via tile/city improvements instead
I suppose one day I will get around to taking that too, but for now I'll just circumvent the governor and his damage using the methods above

[gunkulator]

The only time I use the governor is late in the game to manage moods for things like war weariness and growth. Combined with a large number of automate-but-do-not-change workers, you get automatic pollution clean up followed by the governor putting a citizen back to work on the cleaned up tile. I think you do lose one turn of work on the tile since the governor seems to reassign citizens at the end of your turn.

[CerberusIV]

If you must use governors then only allow them to control citizen moods. That way they (mostly) stop cities going into disorder and put citizens back to work after pollution is cleaned up. They really can't prioritise anything else properly.

Even then, after the city completes a build, you can find all the citizens assigned to water tiles although the governor will correct this on the following turn.

It is more efficient but much more time consuming to do it yourself.

[MattPilot]

where do you set the governor? Only reference i've found was in the editor.

[Harovan]

Go in the city view and press G. Or choose "Contact Governor" in the city's context menu.

[MattPilot]

ah thx!

[vmxa1]

Everything to never.

[asleepathewheel]

I admit that, at a certain point in most games, I turn over moods and emphasis to the guv. Sheer laziness. However, I would never, never, turn over the build list.

[Sarxis]

Governor = bad. Well, ok, not completely useless, but I've never used it yet.

[Paddy]

It is a shame that the Governor is so useless...

Hopefully for Civ 4..... especially for those HUGE maps

[eris]

The governor is incompetent because he is an elected official. This is similar to the realism of workers being braindead simpletons.

The governor is incompetent because the programmers want to entice you into doing the micromanagement yourself in order to get more efficient results. It increases your involvement in the game.

The governor is incompetent because it drives you crazy. Never underestimate the power of irritation to push you into "I'll do it despite you!" mode, which is, IMHO, a part of the game deliberately inciting the addiction so many of us feel. It's not a coincidence or a mistake. It is meant to be that way because it works on people like us.

The governer is incompetent because I said so! (Sorry, slipping into bad parenting mode, there.)