When should you chop in Civ 6? - The Basics

#shorts #civ6 #potatomcwhiskey
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[@PotatoMcWhiskey]

Want to see a Part 2 or a full video explaning everything? Like the video and this comment, and reply with your questions! If there is no link here, Part 2 isn't out yet!

[@LeGouv]

How do i decide if i put a mine or a lumber mill on a hill with a forest? Take into account all the combinations please :D (That would be grassland/plain for the hill and woods/rainforest for the trees, right?)

[@SuperSox97]

@@LeGouv Always mine unless you care about appeal. Sometimes, you want to do lumber mill on plains rainforests because the city lacks extra food, but it's mostly better to just chop and mine anyways and get the extra food from other tiles.

[@fred5763]

Hey is this supposed to be the pinned comment? I had to scroll down to find it, is it not at the top?

[@benhardacre588]

So my waiting for lumber Mills all this time has been a mistake ? 😞

[@andrewklang809]

@@SuperSox97 rain forest lumbermills come much later in the game, later even than Apprenticeship mines. If I'm playing to optimize (and I'm not Brazil or the Grand Poobah of Chichen Itza), those rain forest hills are mine, mine, mine.

[@kamilbuszta6596]

"Chop, always chop, just chop chop everything. Magnus is Love, Magnus is Life."~Me, 600h in Civ6

[@duraluminiumalloy9248]

It might be because I am new to this, but I never understood where people get all these builders on the ready for district chops. Doesn't builder take time to train? Say you take 6 turns to train a builder. That's 2 turns per one build charge. Then you use one of his charges to shave off 2 turns of the district build time. Wouldn't it be easier to just build the district outright?

[@barsozdemir6937]

@@duraluminiumalloy9248 I often buy builders, as you said, it takes some turns to train a builder. However, it is enough to improve tiles only as the pop pf the city, so you can have some spare charge. Another tactic that I like to use is assigning Liang to high production city and spam builder to empire with builder card (+2 charge or/and %30 speed).

[@joebiden3141]

600 hours, oh so like 10 completed games.

[@NgarKua]

@@duraluminiumalloy9248 even if the production gain by chopping is equal to one charge of builder, you're transferring production from one city to another. That way you can get surplus production from mining city to a new flat city with low production to help build vital districts fast. It's more useful if you're getting builders without production. Like you're buying them with faith. Especially if you max out build charge.

[@kamilbuszta6596]

@@joebiden3141 you are very accurate my friend

[@drunkrtard]

Nothing better than an informative video that is concise and has no filler.

[@Zriatt]

Though it is irritating that i have to watch it multiple times (I'm on my eighth rewatch) to view information you didn't pay attention to. Thanks for the no video controls, KZbin.

[@farrel_ra]

​@@Zriatton pc u can't.. but Shorts was intended for mobile tho.. try it!

[@RaptorJesus8]

@@Zriatt Agreed, I find shorts so damn irritating and I have a hard time processing "informational" videos that talk like they're on a time limit

[@gut9941]

great, it's 1:48am and now i want to start another round of civ ... lord have merci on my soul

[@vahidmoosavian6313]

He ran out of mercy in the classical age, And out of punishment in the industrial age. Good luck😊!

[@brandtrobinson690]

I read this at 1:48am and also want to start another game of Civ

[@mattandnatesreptileworld]

I know that struggle

[@theveryaveragegamer9865]

6:11 am for me

[@theinevitablesummer]

other short ideas: 1) what to do when meeting a new civ 2) ai trade tips and tricks 3) things to do each turn 4) how garrison strength works 5) adjacency bonuses primer

[@Ben-jv2ll]

Adjacency bonuses is what lead me to potato years ago, so big agree there!

[@BertMD]

Always sell luxuries in early game to ai, money boost is insane.

[@frankartanis1290]

I have something to add here: 1. If you are going to put down a district on a resource, you don't always have to chop. Take the time to evaluate the food/production you gain vs 1 builder charge. When your builder count is low and you need them for other purposes, it can be better to not chop. 2. If you are producing a building that requires X production to finish when chopping a tree gives you Y production. You will finish this building, and have Y-X surplus production. However, if you immediately start another building that requires Z production, and if (Y-X)+Y>Z, the game will give you 0 surplus, because the game does not allow a building/unit/project that already uses surplus to also leave surplus. In this scenario, you may want to wait until next turn. 3. The game does not allow players to use modifiers (e.g. melee +50%, naval unit + 100%) and keep surplus at the same time. If your forest chop gives 100 production, a melee unit requires 110 production to finish while having the +50% policy card in effect, chopping will finish the unit, but you will not get the 40 surplus. In the end, you chopped 100-production-worth of resources, and got 110 out of it. But if you chop 2 rainforests, the first chop gives you 50*1.5=75, and the second gives you 50 which finishes the 110-worth unit, and you get 15 surplus. in the end, you chopped 100-production-worth of resources, and got 125 production out of it. 4. We all know that we need to wait for Magnus to chop. But through a standard speed game, Magnus can only tour so many cities because it takes him 5 turns to relocate. So if you are on a tight timetable, make sure you have your builders in place. 5. Some resources produce gold when harvested, and gold chops are often not worth that 1 builder charge until mid- to late game. 6. If a city does not have enough hills nearby, you may want to keep some forests for lumbermills. 7. When food chopping, every chop can only increase the city's population by max 1. In a city with 5 pop, where a chop is more than enough to increase the pop to 7, what will actually happen is that the pop will increase from 5 to 6, and sit at 1 food away from reaching 7 pop. The rest is wasted.

[@Dragonsey1]

Thank you for your comment, I have 2 questions: 1. Why does it matter if I wait on the next turn, isn’t the surplus production gone anyways because the first project won’t leave any of the surplus production? 2. Why did u not include the policy card(+50%) for the 2. Rainforest chop as well ?

[@frankartanis1290]

@@Dragonsey1 1. Let's say you have 50 surplus from the last project, and the next project requires 70, and chopping a tree gives 40. Then chopping a tree now will finish the project and give you 0 surplus, because the first 50 production you used for this project is already surplus. But if your city has 10 production, then at the beginning of the next turn, this is project is 60/70 finished. Not only that, the program no longer recognize that first 50 production as surplus, it simply stores all the 60 production as a single value somewhere in the memory. Basically, adding some production to a surplus to advance but not finish a project will turn all the invested production into one established value. If you chop after this, then you are not "already uses surplus", which means you can keep chopping. 2. When chopping with policy cards like Agoge (+50% for melee...), the programs does this: it first checks whether this chop alone is enough to finish the project, if yes, finishes the project and awards surplus. If no, apply +50% to boost production and check again. If it can finish the project now, finish the project but award 0 surplus. If it's still not enough, add the boosted production to the progress. Therefore, if rainforest chop = 50, project total requirement = 110, boost = +50%, then the first chop is not enough => boost it to 75 and check again => still not enough => register 75/110 as progress. Then chop another rainforest, check if 50 is enough => yes => finish the project and award 15 surplus. However, if the project requires 130, the first chop will register 75/130. The second chop will go like this: check if 50 is enough? => no => boost it to 75 and check again => enough now => finish the project but gives 0 surplus. The production boost logic is easier to understand if we consider some history. During the early days, this game has no such limitation. People can build a ship to 99/100, apply the +100% policy card for ships, then chop a tree. If a tree chop gives 100 production, you will actually get 200-1=199. This makes chopping broken, so the developers nerfed it.

[@Dragonsey1]

@@frankartanis1290 thank you so much, really helped a lot

[@Merkorion]

@@frankartanis1290 Thanks! I didn't get these 2 points in your fist comment either, but the second comment gives a really good explanation :D

[@deusexaethera]

Regarding Point #1: If nothing else you can queue a new builder in the city where the chopping will take place, and the production gained will hurry that new builder. Unless something has gone wrong in your game (i.e. something has reduced the number of build charges your new builders get), the production gained by chopping to hurry a new builder will equate to more than a single build charge from the new builder. You can seriously amplify your available build charges by chopping to hurry new builders in this way.

[@voyagerfromouterspace6829]

It’s important to know that the info in this short doesn’t apply to ALL civilizations but it will work for most civilizations

[@cybersaiyan9596]

lookin at you maori and vietnam.

[@voyagerfromouterspace6829]

Brazil and Kongo as well, they like their jungles

[@SuperSox97]

@@voyagerfromouterspace6829 I'd say Kongo doesn't really care that much about. Mbanzas are kinda whatever, so you can still pretty much chop every forest/rainforest on a hill for mines and place enough Mbanzas on the forests/rainforests on flat tiles.

[@voyagerfromouterspace6829]

I use rainforest + Mbanza for my campus adjacency sometimes though I see what you mean

[@jamesdinius7769]

Yep. If you are Maori you NEVER chop (unless it's a perfect district spot) or improve.

[@ClearMetal]

I confess I often play on easier difficulty settings so I can get away with not chopping animal tiles. Nothing gives me greater pleasure then ending the game with a sprawling metropolis with a bunch of sheep next to my capital.

[@demana99]

Hate the new trend for youtube shorts, but this was one of the better ones. Would love to see a full version that wasn’t so rushed and covered the reasons/logic/timing more thoroughly

[@PotatoMcWhiskey]

My plan is to do like 2-3 small videos, that cover like 60% of cases, and then a longer video that goes over everything!

[@demana99]

@@PotatoMcWhiskey Awesome, look forward to it! Your overexplained series was the key for me moving from emperor to deity, love to see more examples of your thought process.

[@blockchicken8052]

Chopping is also very important for "beating" the AI to wonders. Since they naturally get much faster production than you on higher difficulties, making something like Great Bath, Oracle, Etamenanki, and Pyramids impossible to get in most Deity games.

[@att7364]

Chopping is more important with unit to invade civ with wonders ;)

[@anonyme4881]

Stone Edge is even worse lmao I already got Etamenanki multiple time tho

[@blockchicken8052]

@@anonyme4881 Whoops yeah, forgot that was even a wonder you could build. Never gotten that one on Deity! hahaha

[@blockchicken8052]

@@att7364 Yup haha Legion Chops are one way to do it too!

[@martinlecocq5826]

You just can't build the great bath before turn 11, so if you play in Deity, forget this wonder (the AI always make it max t13). Or someone made it?

[@bonefat21]

I expected a two second video that just says “always”

[@zacharytaylor2423]

I had no idea until now that you could clear a city's production queue--I thought you had to pay attention to the timing if you wanted to prechop. Thanks for the tip.

[@azimuthclark462]

Dude, Im playing in Diety now because of your videos, and others. I never expected to improve this much. Thank you! Also my kid loves when you play boil them mash them stick them in a stew

[@bertrambauer7357]

This video initially had a lot of resources, but @PotatoMcWhiskey chopped them out so he could get the content out faster.

[@actualturtle2421]

Hearing Potato say "like and subscribe" made me laugh out loud

[@wnchstrman]

53 seconds of useful and succinct information. Thank you.

[@royelloppress]

I love this man's videos. I'll never be anywhere near his skill but I'll always enjoy his tutorials/ walk-throughs

[@stevenlang90]

Could you do a short on when and where to place your government plaza, and diplo quarter?

[@kylezimmermann8617]

Capital of your using domestic trading as they provide +1 food +1 production each

[@frankartanis1290]

Government plaza should always be placed in a city with a lot of trees/rainforests/stones so that you can spam settlers.

[@largestudent198]

Oh yeah and when you know your enemy is about to conquer your city.

[@Real_Mick3y6]

I love these shorts Potato! They help me and I am not even a beginner anymore! :D

[@parkerhannah3953]

thanks Mr McWhiskey, we need more civ6 content like yours :D

[@moreon340]

I'm more interested in the really hard chop decisions. Like how to choose when to chop a rainforest while playing Brazil. Those adjacency bonuses can be huge.

[@lelandshennett]

I’ve always been scared of chopping, this was fantastic

[@Tomaltach777]

This is SUPER helpful! As someone who never chops this is really enlightening!

[@pdraggy]

resources that are NOT forest/ rainforest are just hidden under districts, so like sheep, grain, stone, copper you can still chop it even after a DISTRICT is built atop them (so remember to pin it if you intend to chop later!). Wonders, however, will destroy anything you build upon.

[@ninjashot37]

I thought they fixed that recently?

[@martinlecocq5826]

I will test it soon, thanks for this tip I never heard about this

[@darmocat]

WHAT. you can still chop with a district on top of it??? I had no idea.

[@pdraggy]

@@ninjashot37 I don't believe they did, please come back to me if they did xD I'm just pretty certain this was a regular thing I did as of like a month ago when I last played.

[@ketaminemeltdown]

Lovely stuff. Remember the good old ‘chop store’ tactic from Civ 4? Brings back memories

[@philippschmid7519]

thats one of the best uses of a short a have seen so far!

[@soardx1000]

Hell yeah potato! This is the little bits of civ we all need. Even though I already knew this because I watch your videos. But far too many people don’t know chops work.

[@TimeToTzuyu]

Your reactions are so on point as Onces. 😂 The MV is amazing, and MiSaMo are stunning! 💚💜💗

[@azureprophet]

Only exception for rain forests is when you have like 7 of them in a city and you can Chichen Itza for huge gains.

[@commandojoe123]

Succinct and informative. Thank you!

[@aidansroadams5328]

Frankly unless I have a builder available and don't want to waste resources, I chop before I make a district, but other than that, I instead spam lumber mills for extra production, and never chop.

[@konstantindunnzlaff1291]

This format is, although I learned nothing I didn't know from your videos and 500h of Civ already, banger poggers lit fire fam. As the youth might say. I hope it stays and is worth it for the exposure and new viewers that might not watch 7h vods right away. ^^

[@peelsreklaw]

bussin

[@JustSpectre]

Clearing production queue is such a good strategy. So obvious, but so easy to not figure out. I always use it to build another builder or any building, but this tip changes everything. Thanks a lot.

[@penixtissue]

Would love to see a video where you take the same seed and play 100-150 turns with chops and without chops to show the difference it can make to long-term growth

[@deusexaethera]

I'm glad to say I figured all of this out on my own. You've definitely taught me other neat tricks though.

[@justinburton918]

Great tip video, quick important info.

[@bensrandomshows1482]

Where is the pinned comment?

[@SomniaEdu]

that tip with the production queue is amazing, thank you ❤

[@JoeyRhubarb]

Don't forget to pretty much ALWAYS chop forests outside your city radius but within your borders (when you know it will be an unworkable tile). Free production.

[@meowwww9275]

Always chop, got it. Thanks potato.

[@misterbleedinggums]

"always chop rainforest" Laughs in Brazil: You have no power here!

[@johnmanlysmith]

Thx for the knowledge bombs, whiskeytater! Just started this game, and I love the strategic flexibility. But I'm overwhelmed with the basics. Ty for all the saved time!

[@fumeknightofshovelry3901]

I don't chop because I like seeing pretty forests, jungles, and marshes everywhere.

[@darmocat]

Do you have the better forests mod? Makes them lush and thick instead of the scraggly anemic things that are native in Civ6

[@jamesdinius7769]

I'm guessing you like playing Maori (forests=free production)

[@fumeknightofshovelry3901]

@@jamesdinius7769 Yes, I do.

[@fumeknightofshovelry3901]

@@darmocat No, what's the mod?

[@sethc.1366]

I will be immediately sending this to my friend, good work Potato!

[@colep715]

These shorts are great. I would love to see one on all of the mechanics in the game. Also would like to see slightly longer videos on these topics as well, maybe 4-5 mins just to flesh them out a touch more. Love the content, keep it up!

[@askmiller]

The one exception I'd give to chopping / harvesting is that especially early game you don't have enough builders to do everything you can theoretically do so you have to prioritize. Especially with copper, it's simply not worth it to harvest it considering the gold you get is often worth less than 1/3 a builder.

[@liambirch9704]

Good content mate. Recon doing shorts on tips for individual civs would be great! Also, adjacency bonus and best wonders to build

[@themagicalbeast6188]

thankyou lots of strong information packed into a quick video

[@OnionKing-cm4qh]

Do a Poland play. Rush a crusade religion and then rush winged Hussars. Then make sure to mass produce Military Engineers to always convert enemy cities. Results, always +10CS, +2 era score from conversions while at war.

[@evenmoor]

Playing Sabaton when your Winged Hussars arrive is optional but highly recommended!

[@kristjanpeil]

Pro pre-chop: 1) Chop 2) Buy district in chopped tile with Moksha/Reyna 3) Build building in district with chopped production

[@tazeking8033]

I love this type of content. Awesome idea for Civ 6 content McWhiskey! 😁👍

[@zacarius7417]

I agree with everything here except the chop hills and replace with mines, in my experience holding out for construction and mercantilism so you can build lumbermills on those tiles tends to be far more rewarding especially if you can get a few forest fires to move through the region first.

[@kindrogue5586]

YAY, potato shorts is finally here.

[@christopherwalker2112]

We need more shorts please!!!

[@spookyscaryskeletonsmith2840]

this aspect resolution hurts more than acc building over uranium

[@0_Body]

Is this Potato actually following through on one of the projects he has been saying he going to do since forever? Don't worry I just commenting for the meme thanks for the content

[@MorganAdair]

What a great video, Potato!

[@samueloseguera6164]

Thanks for this VERY helpful

[@chonkslayer1821]

Nice video, would love one on like "when to set down/build your districts"

[@DoktorSuiziD]

Great and compact information , nice vid ✌🏻

[@craigmcilhargey2886]

Nice short video, thank you so much! I have been wondering about this.

[@DrumBandQc]

I have to admit that I don't understand why you should always chop on top of a hill to put a mine. I'll explain my reasoning, and I would be happy if somebody could point out my mistake. A mine is +1 prod, gets to +2 with Apprenticeship, then +3 with Industrialization. A lumber mill is +2 prod, +3 with steel. (I'm not talking about the +4 bonuses from very late game). Even with Magnus, a wood chop might not be worth : 1. The loss of prod from the wood itself 2. The loss of prod from the builder charge. Is it simply that the burst of prod (that builds something else) is worth more than having the actual +1 for more turns than the prod value that was given?

[@brjinx]

KZbin shorts is perfect for these videos!

[@willkessler6993]

so short, but so much useful information..

[@moroveno30]

Thanks for the tutorial.

[@tarthos2662]

very gj on that one, thank you sir

[@nikdogers2]

Potato is the good! I like this, perfect for my ADHD

[@uncannybeagle7512]

If you're Rome, you'll want to wait until you unlock your legion unit, then use the first one to chop a forest to speed up the next one, and repeat until you have no forest left. Good way to rush out those legion units.

[@tfraenckel]

Make more of these shorts!

[@HellsingRuler]

It feels like placing down something on a tile that removes what is on the tile it should count as chopping on the tile.

[@RageDG391]

A higher layer of strategy is planning city location based on choppable resources, especially for the first 3 cities. Chopping out an important early wonder (Oracle, Pyramid etc...) or high tech military unit could snowball very quickly

[@246Rennie]

I came, i saw, i chopped. That's my motto.

[@DaRealKakarroto]

I was here before there was a pinned comment.

[@comicmoniker]

Always chopping forest hills to replace with a mine makes sense, but you do need to factor in the production cost of the builder charges you use for it. That's two of a builder's three default charges. The immediate production boost you get for chopping forest becomes much smaller, and the opportunity cost much higher, if you consider that you'll need to make extra builders to get it. On the other hand, it's a handy way to directly convert money into production, if you can buy the builders.

[@nabbymclolsticks]

I guess another way of looking at it is 'banking' production for future turns - of course builders cost production, but if there's no other good build options then you can crank a couple out in order to recoup that back further down the line when a key wonder/district becomes available.

[@WolfePaws]

Engage nerd mode: Assume your second builder, with Ilkum. It costs (54/1.3) 42ish production, so a charge is worth 14ish. Now imagine you chop for a wonder with Magnus and and Corvee in place. Lets assuming you're getting 41 production from the chop (I THINK that's 6 techs or civics unlocked). Your chop is worth 41x1.65 = 68(ish) production. More if you run autocracy. That's a big chunk of your wonder, and it's 485% return on your builder charge. Obviously this only improves with pyramids, Liang etc, and also allows favourable conversion rates with Monumentality.

[@comicmoniker]

@@WolfePaws nice analysis! Though that's with Ilkum and Magnus, and doesn't include the charge you use to build a mine in place of the forest. I still think Potato is right and it's worth it, but It's probably only 13 extra production in your scenario, and less if you're running God King and Pingala. Plus, it means you can't use those two charges to, say, build the quarry and pasture you need for tech boosts or whatever. Really I'm just playing devil's advocate. As guidance for a beginner (which is the point of this video) I still think it's good advice

[@stayclassic2361]

I never knew about clearing the production queue. I’m definitely gonna have to do that

[@LAAZERZONE]

Ill give ya this one potato! This type of video is a fantastic idea for your channel. Keep it up, but don't forget what lots of us are here to see. At least for now!

[@alexyang8440]

also I like to chop rainforests just as feudalism is arriving, so as to immediately maximize the farm triangles and lead to civil service from the the capital city if it has not reached pop 10 by that point, and when mines are improved due to apprenticeship. this is around when chopping is most beneficial I tend to find (also since iron working has been reached as well, which finally lets you clear jungle), and which times just perfectly with the apadana, usually.

[@scriptures7025]

Love these

[@brandobatel]

Tell me when to ragequit the game mr. Potato

[@jigsaw315]

Meanwhile me after like 100 Turns - Oh look THE PLANES

[@TexasLegion]

Plus you can chop on things like luxury resources that have trees on them and leave the resource to be improved.

[@chinmayhejmadi7902]

If you're playing Outback Tycoon, chopping is your best shot at victory

[@Rameon]

“When should you chop? Whenever it helps you.”

[@sirgromith]

I only chop features that gave me production most of the time unless I really needed the city to grow. I like to keep jungles around though. They gave me food and I can put lumber mills on them.

[@TheNinjaboy619]

Instructions unclear, I’m now stranded in a desert with no resources

[@TheCrazierz]

I agree if it's on a hill, always chop

[@lukecharles9622]

Why did you stop making these? These are great! :)

[@tomb020780]

Hot Tip: If my chop options - 'Choptions' (tm) - are abundant and not in the way of my districts, I hold off on utilizing them until I'm in a race with an AI for a Wonder that's important to me, then I can position lovely Magnus and chop chop chop to beat them to it!

[@Manas-co8wl]

I'm so not used to chopping/harvesting.. I only did it for Australian campaign

[@glennstewart9907]

Also: maximise your chopping benefits by holding off until you have an appropriate policy card loaded. E.g. if you know you want to chop a forest in a city that building a military unit, insert Agoge policy card (or similar) for additional benefits.

[@snomcultist189]

Correct answer: On deity or when placing districts, production is replaceable, appeal is forever.

[@DavidSmith-mt7tb]

I generally avoid chopping woods not on hills unless that tile will be good for a farm triangle and I otherwise lack good food resources, or if I have a lot of production and need to chop out a wonder or something else important. Sometimes mills are your only good source of production on flatland areas tho. It's hard to calculate the optimal time to chop/not chop as the early boost of production pays dividends in other yields depending on what that production builds, which is then weighed against the +2 or +3 production you could get over time (if you don't have similar or better other tiles to work). And typically you'll be trying to chop a tile you don't need to work for a while. Chopping and harvesting seems like a great idea late game for new cities though as you probably want sci/culture immediately for victory condition and don't have many turns left.

[@martinlecocq5826]

In the mid game, you can chop these woods and replace them with new forests, with 5 charges builders (it is worth it)

[@DavidSmith-mt7tb]

@@martinlecocq5826 truth. I have done that. Not a bad option for chopping wonders out, especially if you have monumentality. Basically convert faith to production.

[@englishjake]

To complete wonders that's the only thing you missed. Didn't think about doing it before building tho so I learned.

[@bobbywilliams6124]

I don't quite understand the pre-chop thing...please explain how that works exactly compared to a 'normal' chop, and how it boosts production more than just a 'normal' chop?

[@geoDB.]

Happy birthday!

[@penknight8532]

Chop in your military or navy and use the correct policy cards combined with magnus. Switch over to your district to get the overflow. Sometimes its better to place the district immediately rather than chop to lock in the build discount.

[@dannap8831]

Hey PO TAY TO are stone chops worth more than rainforest chops? what about woods chops? are they all the same amount of production?

[@luukjansen9135]

Why chop the forrest on hills a lumber mill gives more production than a mine right?

[@martinlecocq5826]

Can you give the prod you obtain for every chop and why this number? Also small info videos like this are great