auto manage or not?

[milkfox]

Is it better for a newb to auto manage cities?

[DrDragun]

I have never used it because I am afraid the AI will spend a foolish amount of money on extra units or unnecessary buildings. I could be wrong. It is not particularly difficult to manage cities in this game to maximize your money and defenses.

Follow a simple build order for your NON-battle cities (away from the border):

1) if you conquered the settlement from an enemy faction, build your basic culture building
2) build all farms
3) build all roads
4) build ports and markets when you have moderate extra money (small boosts to income)
5) build barracks and town halls when you have excessive money (law and order)
6) keep taxes on low to encourage population growth... this adds to taxes long-term and unlocks high level buildings faster
7) Only keep free units in settlements away from your war front. Unit upkeep cost is very high in this game, however settlements can keep 0-4 units inside a city for no upkeep cost.
8) Special case: upgrading a village. Build a basic barracks if you are going to keep a defensive unit here. Villages get no free upkeep. Building the wall to make it a town grants 1 free upkeep slot, however only if you are able to train the unit locally. So build a basic barracks will give you ~200-300 gold per turn (equal to a mine) because whatever 1 unit garrison you keep there will become free of upkeep.

For cities on the battle front, build whatever military infrastructure is necessary. Usually I plan 1 city within reasonable marching distance to have a heavy armorer and retrain heavy armor needs.

[ThaDoews]

I use it a lot. I have automanage on all villages i dont need, but i have my automanage spendings set on "save". Also i never use the balanced settings, but set them on "Growth" and if i dont need them to have to build new buildings, then i remove the check for that.

It is a usefull toy for villages that you really not care about and for cities with autonomy. You CAN control the e.g. the shire with this

[dannyalex]

auto manage is easy as a solution if u are new in the game...but this way u will build several buildings u really dont need like brothels and etc that gives bad traits to ur commander in the city

u will find much harder to build urself but in the end u will do it good

[Mikail Mengsk]

never, ever, let the AI manage your settlements.

[Ngugi]

never, ever, let the AI manage your settlements.

Word.
The AI is inferior to yourself on making strategic, economical decisions that benefit you in both the short and the long run.

[sanderman2]

Its pretty easy to do it yourself.
I usually built all economical buildings first :

1) Mines
2) Roads
3) Markets
4) Croplands
5) Sea Trade.

[Bowmaster]

The AI is in the game enough already even if you don't let it control your cities. And they may build unnecessary buildings that you don't need, and can avoid building walls when one is available (I think).

And you will stay as a newbie if you don't learn how to do things yourself.

[Wizad]

Fiscally Challenged (BadTrader 1)- -10% Trade Income, gained after 1 point of
BadTrader
Incompetent Trader (BadTrader 2)- -20% Trade Income, upgrade after 3 points
of BadTrader
Trading Liability (BadTrader 3)- -30% Trade Income, upgrade after 5 points of
BadTrader

BadTrader has GoodTrader as an antitrait, and a NoGoingBack level of 2.
On coming of age, a general gains a point of BadTrader with 4% probability.
When a governor completes a building, and the settlement has a wooden wall or
better, but not a corn exchange or better, he gains a point of BadTrader.
At the end of any turn, a general with one or more levels of BadTrader who
ends his turn in a settlement gains a point of BadTrader with 4% probability.

- http://www.gamefaqs.com/pc/931592-me...war/faqs/50116
If the settlement has a governor, make sure to build some of the market line so you don't get BadTrader.

You are probably better at building up your city than the AI. Just create mines, farms, and if the settlement has a governor, a market. That's basically it.