Worker improvement times

[Trash]

Does anyone have a list of the basic times (number of turns) for each type fo improvement on each terrain?

[Nero Would]

There is a table in the Terrain page of my CivStats Excel file that is attached to this thread. It shows the "effort" required for each job and how to work out how many turns it will take based on factors like terrain, government, civ and tech level.

[BNut]

I can tell you this much, Industrious with Democracy is a lethal combination! You can clear jungles in no time flat, chop forests in 2 turns, build a road, mine, or irrigate in ONE turn flat! If its on a hill its takes twice as long, and if its on a mountain it takes 4 times as long.

[Nero Would]

I was being lazy when I just pointed you to the CivStats file. Here is the way to calculate the number of turns (assuming I haven't missed anything).

To calculate the number of turns to complete a job, multiply the "effort" for the job by the basic Movement Cost for the terrain then divide by the number of workers (foreign workers only count as half a worker) and divide by the Work Rate for your government. Also, divide by 2 for Industrious civs, divide by 2 if you have researched Replaceable Parts.

The effort required for each job is:

Mine             12

Irrigate          8

Fortress         16

Road              6

Railroad         12

Plant Forest     18

Clear Forest     10

Clear Jungle     16

Clear Pollution  24

The Work Rate is 1 for Anarchy, 3 for Democracy and 2 for all other governments.
The Movement cost is 3 for Mountains and Jungle, 2 for Hills and Forest and 1 for all other terrains. For this calculation, the effect of roads and railroads is ignored.

For example, if I am an Industrious civ in Ancient Times under Despotism, one of my workers can clear a tile of jungle in:

16 * 3 / (2 * 2) = 12 turns

[DilithiumDad]

I didn't realize that movement cost of a tile played a role! In that case, the best way to clear jungle is to build a road first (base cost of 18 work units) and then the cost to clear will be just 16. That means 34 work units for "road then clear" versus 54 work units for "clear then road".

[SpacemanSpiff]

Originally posted by DilithiumDad
I didn't realize that movement cost of a tile played a role! In that case, the best way to clear jungle is to build a road first (base cost of 18 work units) and then the cost to clear will be just 16. That means 34 work units for "road then clear" versus 54 work units for "clear then road".

Unfortunately it doesn't work that way (if it did then improvements after you put in a railroad would take 0 effort). It's mutliplied by the movement cost of the terrain type, regardless of any movement enhancing improvements the square might have. So it would be MUCH faster to clear then road (3*6+3*16=18+48=66), than to road then clear (3*16+1*6=48+6=54) for a savings of 12 "effort points". Not quite as dramatic as your theorised 20 point savings, but it's the best we can do. Of course there's a 32 point difference between your theory and the way it actually works - a nice try, but unfortunately it doesn't work that way.

Spaceman Spiff

[Nero Would]

Sorry, I should have worded that better. As Spaceman Spiff points out, roads and railroads don't affect the calculation. I've edited my earlier post to say that.

[Trash]

Thanks Nero, i downloaded your spreadsheet as well, it's a good resource to have thanks