How do you prioritise your rail network?

[Catt]

I thought I'd add something since I employed it in my most recent game. Perhaps it still falls under the category of "create defensive / offensive network."

While engaging in a massive cavalry assualt on one's neighbors, the careful construction of a RR track to each conquest, one after the other, greatly increases the damage you can inflict on one turn -- i.e., RR right up to culture border; attack city with cavs; RR to newly conquered city and to culture border of next target; attack with cavs; etc. Makes for a lot of micromanagement of course (and obviously works with other fast movers), but an old favorite for really carving up a neighbor with speed.

Catt

[Baldrick]

Basically the RR system allows massive concentration of force for a given military size - I think of it like the body's immune system - defending against foreign invaders wherever they enter the 'body'.

[dojoboy]

Depends on which is most important at hand, either specific produciton for wonder cities or linking cities for defense.

[MoonWolf]

Where's the "all of them" option? Or maybe I should say I take the whole crate of bananas!

I do a mix of all; I prioritze to connect all my cities, the wonder construction ones get some extra attention, I'll try increase pop, either with hospitals or for the coming of them and I have some automated (for the entire empire, for some cities and for cleaning pollution). When most of the important work is done, I'll normally change all of them to automated (shift-a) as it will take me too much time to do all the micromanagement. I'm normally playing big maps (200*200 and above) so maintening a horde of workers will be too timeconsuming.

Also, when their automated and you have RR all over, they'll be waiting in the cities to clean up pollution quickly (in my last game, I had 2 nuclear accidents, same turn I think, so having a lot of workers not being added to any city was a blessing)

[Cort Haus]

MoonWolf,

Unless you have ridiculous amounts of workers you can't do everything at once - this is what 'priorities' are for. Everyone wants to do all of them eventually, but most people, as we've seen, get the military network up first, with some peeling off a few workers for wonder production.

[Aeson]

Unless you have ridiculous amounts of workers you can't do everything at once

I always try to have a ridiculous amount of Workers.

If I had to choose, it would really depend on the map and what victory I was going for. If I'm in a conquest stage, linking up all the cities ASAP takes precidence perhaps wandering a bit to improve important tiles. If it's score I'm after, food first... ect.

By around the time of Railroads it's possible to have built up a huge number of Workers though. Cities will have been stuck on the pop limits for some time usually, and so they should be stockpiling population in Workers. Then those Workers lay down the Railroads while the cities build Hospitals. Then a huge pop (and pollution ) boom.

[MoonWolf]

Originally posted by Cort Haus
MoonWolf,

Unless you have ridiculous amounts of workers you can't do everything at once - this is what 'priorities' are for. Everyone wants to do all of them eventually, but most people, as we've seen, get the military network up first, with some peeling off a few workers for wonder production.

Originally posted by Aeson


I always try to have a ridiculous amount of Workers.

Me too

It works best if I'm playing an industrial civ. But to give you an example from my current game (Germany, 256*256 Earth map, started in Germany and control of Europe): I had quite a few workers in Europe, maybe 10-15 (can't remember). Most of them I used to build a RR network between cities and built the RR on tiles to improve food or production, depending on the city. This covers many objects in the poll. The rest of them, I used to increase productivity in some cities that where building wonders.

Often I go for Replaceable parts quite soon after steam power. This is to ensure a quick development of my tiles.

So, I try to do everything! This often gives me a boost and in this game helped me to be more powerful as I was behind.

[argha]

in my current game (modern era) I am alone on my continent so defense was not an options it was for comerce! but on a 256x256 map I have over 85 workers i just stack them and go after pollution now, no pollution last a fall turn

[Cort Haus]

Originally posted by Aeson
I always try to have a ridiculous amount of Workers.

lol, Aeson! Not that you'd ever have a ridiculous number of cities, of course.

Originally posted by Aeson
If I had to choose, it would really depend on the map and what victory I was going for. If I'm in a conquest stage, linking up all the cities ASAP takes precidence perhaps wandering a bit to improve important tiles. If it's score I'm after, food first... ect.

Yes, I suppose like all civ questions it is circumstance-dependent.

Originally posted by Aeson
By around the time of Railroads it's possible to have built up a huge number of Workers though. Cities will have been stuck on the pop limits for some time usually, and so they should be stockpiling population in Workers. Then those Workers lay down the Railroads while the cities build Hospitals. Then a huge pop (and pollution ) boom.

If my terrain is fully developed before RR, I'm likely to have sunk spare workers into smaller cities, and maxed-out production on the size 12s. I don't like keeping masses of idle workers on the payroll since the AI stopped respecting them as troops way-back-when - I'd rather spend the upkeep on a tank.

I only pop-boom if I have to (eg: too-small civ, or catching-up) - the pollution puts me off if I'm otherwise strong enough. Then again, I don't play at Deity .

[Daz]

Defense....

[Master Zen]

I usually try and link the major cities, then all the others, then I split the workers and start building up the terrain around the big cities and slowly work city-to-city until the entire empire is connected.

Of course, I give priority to better terrain especially coal or iron hill and mountain tiles, and cow/wheat tiles.

[PLATO]

I always link cities first. As my network progresses and my workers start to pile up, then I will peel off a few to hit high priority tiles. After I am done I will usually pre-position some workers over resources to make sure I can re-RR in a hurry if I need to. About half the rest go to automated with NO altering. The other half I micro until pollution starts to appear and then I automate-clear pollution as a priority.

[Zero]

I prioritize linking every city ASAP.

However as I am linking them, I try to cover as much bonus tiles/productive tiles as much as I can. I usually like to build my RR pararel to the river if I can and etc. What I DO AVOID in placing Rails in the beginning are the Mountainous and forest tiles. They waste precious turns when i can place more tiles of rails for them. Even if there is bonus on the tile, Chances are I'd go for the other flatland productive tile before I hit that one. This is ESPECIALLY the case when I am not industious (as much as I love industrious, I do play hefty amount of non industrious civs)


Chances are I will have workers /slaves distirbuted everywhere along my empire once I get steampower and most likely not done improving every square inch of my empire (Especially in Non industrious case). With more workers being concentrated toward the frontier to compensate for lack of AI placing roads that could help me invade/reinforce strategically (also including rebuilding pillaged improvements). The less numbering inner empire dwelling workers start building toward the capitol, connecting every city as it goes along the way. The more frontier dwelling workers split off to either: few workers railing cities that get captured as I make rail toward them or more numbering workers who try to connect cities as they make their way to where inner empire workers have started. And as they go along the way, rarely I branch off more workers if I would like to develop special tiles that I would like to see be more productive (gold hills and etc).