Feature request: Worker automation to stay within borders

[The-Talik]

Before creating

• This is NOT a gameplay feature from Civ VI, BNW, or outside - see Roadmap
• This is NOT a gameplay feature from Vanilla Civ V or from G&K - If so, it should be a comment in Missing features from Civ V - G&K #4697

Problem Description

I find automating workers to be pretty much useless, because they immediately head off to some other city and get captured by barbarians on the way.

Related Issue Links

No response

Desired Solution

I'd love a setting for workers to never leave your borders when finding a new job.

Alternative Approaches

Alternatively stay focused on the city they are working on.

Additional Context

No response

[SomeTroglodyte]

Yay you found another easter egg!

[The-Talik]

Huh?

[SomeTroglodyte]

Pity the Worker AI wasn't meant to be a Lemmings hommage... But I know a lot of brain went into WorkerAutomation, and I vaguely seem to remember a lot of effort went into making them less suicidal. Maybe one of the automation AI experts will want to see why yours behave like Lemmings despite their efforts, or will hear your plea for a simple anti-Lemming setting ("Stay!", "Bad boy, don't try to fetch those sticks!, I'm not throwing them into the "Fargo" wood chipper for you!"). Maybe such a setting would even turn me to use automated Lemmings Workers...

[The-Talik]

Yeah, In early game I spread my cities out quite a bit, so maybe that exacerbated the problem while a dense cluster of cities wouldn't be prone to it. I've even had them try to cross oceans. In any case, having workers never leave population border seems like it would be an easy, and clean fix.

[itanasi]

The problem is that isn't desirable behavior. Especially early game you want your Workers to move outside your borders to help new cities and build Roads outside your borders to connect cities.

We already have code to try and avoid enemies, but it's a tough mix of conditions. We try to only work tiles at least 3 tiles away from an enemy and while moving there's code to avoid enemies in movement distance, but it isn't fully robust. Maybe prohibit movement to within 3 tiles of an enemy could help.

[github-actions]

This issue is stale because it has been open 90 days with no activity. Remove stale label or comment or this will be closed in 15 days.

[SeventhM]

Probing for relevancy. Probably should ping @tuvus. Wouldn't know the solution and I kinda don't use automation enough to know when this is no longer an issue. Though, tbh, I feel like this often feels more like the problem also may be to do with poor attempts by automation to protect units. The few times I do use automation (such as to test a bug or to watch the AIs play... again usually testing stuff), it feels like the AIs struggles to keep enough units alive to protect against barbs, where a good player can fight off barbs with a shockingly low number of units

[itanasi]

The actual solution is AI should guard their Workers and Workers shouldn't wander without protection. Which isn't the most straightforward thing in the world

[tuvus]

The actual solution is AI should guard their Workers and Workers shouldn't wander without protection. Which isn't the most straightforward thing in the world

I agree. I have been thinking of how to implement this but it seems difficult. We need a few military units to do like a guard/fog busting around the most dangerous areas with workers.
The first problem is getting only a few military units to do this.

[itanasi]

Right. Alternatively we need to have a new layer that coordinates or allows the units to communicate so that they move in tandem. Worker says I want to go to X, determines it's dangerous, gets assigned a guard to walk with them as escort.

We have code that tries to cover up unprotected Workers, but since right now Units act serially if a Worker moves and there's no Military unit after it, they mayb be uncovered at end of turn. Or a Military unit isn't in range because there's no coordination.