History Main / WorkerUnit

* In ''VideoGame/HaloWars'' the closest thing to worker units are the UNSC [[MiniMecka Cyclops]] (a modified variant of the Mjolnir Mark III Exoskeleton), and the Covenant Engineer (a race of Biological Supercomputers created by the {{Precursors Forerunners}} that were later enslaved by the Covenant). They are the only units that can repair buildings. Resource gathering can be handled by any infantry unit and certain levels and maps some GarrisonableStructures such as Forerunner Supply Elevators can even produce an infinite amount of resources or supply other benefits.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}}'' series: As of ''Warcraft 3'', each faction has a distinctly different worker unit. All four primary workers(the Peon, Peasant, [[WillOTheWisp Wisp]] and Acolyte) can repair structures and mechanical units, harvest gold (by cycling in case of Peons & Peasants, or via magic in case of Wisps & Acolytes). All four can construct structures - directly in case of Peons & Peasants, through summoning in case of Acolytes, and through the 'growing' method in case of Wisps. All except the Acolyte can harvest lumber, while the Undead use their basic combat unit, the Ghoul, to harvest it. In emergencies Peasants can also be turned into emergency Militia to defend the base, while Wisps can explode to drain mana. Acolytes can also un-summon buildings to regain a fraction of the materials used to build it and can be sacrificed into Shades, explorers that can't attack but are invisible to most enemies.

* Mostly averted in VideoGame/{{Achron}}, all units of all three factions are able to fight, some of them are just capable of building as well, usually the infantry. Played straight for resources though, each race collects resources via [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin resource processors]] that are completely useless for everything else.
* Imps in both ''VideoGame/DungeonKeeper'' games can mine out rooms, dig for gold and claim land, which coupled with their utter uselessness in combat makes them a textbook example.

[[folder:Turn-Based Stragegy]]

->''[[StockPhrase Ready to work!]]''

* ''VideoGame/{{Starcraft}}'': All workers use the standard cycling method of resource collection, but use different construction methods. Terran [=SCV=]s use direct construction, Protoss Probes use summoning, and Zerg Drones use the growing method. The SCV can also repair mechanical units, and the Drone can burrow to protect itself. In ''Starcraft 2'', an additional temporary worker, the M.U.L.E is available to the Terrans, which harvests resources at a faster rate, but does nothing else.

* ''SinsOfASolarEmpire'': A space-based RTS, it has constructors, refinery ships and trade ships as workers, which construct orbital structures, help generate resources(via refineries) and help generate money(via trade ports) respectively. There are also colony ships, which [[CaptainObvious establish colonies]] on unclaimed or newly-conquered planets. As of ''[[ExpansionPack Entrenchment]]'', there are also special worker ships specifically designed to construct Starbases.

*** ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberiumWars'': GDI and Nod [=MCVs=] are virtually the same, except the Nod variant is a walker. The [[AlienInvasion Scrin]] use floating Drone Ships for the same purpose. The basic GDI harvester is armed with a light machinegun. The ZOCOM faction uses a rocket-armed variant, and the Steel Talons use a heavily-armored harvester with a bunker that can be occupied by an infantry unit. The Nod harvester is equipped with an InvisibilityCloak (except those used by the Black Hand faction, which lacks stealth tech). Scrin harvesters float over the battlefield and pick up Tiberium crystals with their tentacles. While unarmed, they can heal in the presence of Tiberium. The Reaper-17 faction equips its harvesters with DeflectorShields.

* ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}}'':
** Settlers in the first two games provided both of these functions. Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri split their functions between Colony modules and Terraforming modules, and from that point onward, the Civ games would have Settlers for building new cities and Workers for building improvements.
** Also in the first two games, Caravans had some extremely narrow resource-transportation uses, though this was not their intended primary function. A Caravan could be sacrificed to establish a continuous transfer of 1 food unit per turn from one city to another, or to add the Caravan's production cost to the construction of a Wonder of the World.
** In ''Civilization V'', certain civ-specific unique units had limited building abilities. [[UsefulNotes/TheGloryThatWasRome Roman Legions]], for instance, had the ability to construct roads and forts in reference to [[TheEngineer their real-life prowess in doing exactly that]], whereas Samurai could construct fishing ships to tie in with the Japanese unique power that draws culture from them.

* ''VideoGame/GalacticCivilizations 2'': Colony ships establish new colonies (being consumed in the process) and transfer population to pre-existing colonies (re-useable). Trade ships help earn credits by cycling between one of your planets and another race's planet along a fixed trade route, gaining bonuses when passing through the area of effect of an economic starbase. Space miners set up mining facilities in asteroid belts, slightly boosting the closest planets military and social production. Surveyors harvest spacial anomalies and act as scouts. And finally, constructors build or upgrade starbases, but get consumed in the process.
* ''VideoGame/AdvancedStrategicCommand'': Has a lot of these, depending on the unit set, of course. Different transports are required for [[http://asc-hq.org/unitguide/html/11Ui4.html ammo]], [[http://asc-hq.org/unitguide/html/10Ui2.html fuel]] and [[http://asc-hq.org/unitguide/html/25Ui2.html construction materials]] that all runs out rather quickly. Field repair vehicles, to fix units without hauling them all the way to the factory. Generators to keep your mines and factories running when you don't have enough powerplants connected to them. Bulldozers to construct [[TunnelNetwork pipelines]], bridges or runways for planes. Builder vehicles to create buildings and turret foundations. Resource prospectors to know where to build a mine or oil platform. Icebreakers. Almost anything requires a proper WorkerUnit and some spent resources.

* This doesn't really effect gameplay at all, but the Iron Legion's Rifle Grunts in ''VideoGame/BattalionWars'' spend their every waking off-duty hour happily digging in the Nerocite mines.
** In the main ''VideoGame/NintendoWars'' series, your infantry generally fill the closest thing to a worker role by capturing cities and factories.

* ''VideoGame/{{Colonization}}'' has few non-naval units that aren't supposed to work in a colony, but Pioneer does outdoor job - builds roads, plows fields and cleans forests.

* In ''VideoGame/SwordOfTheStars'', colony ships add population and infrastructure to planets, being consumed in the process, in addition to claiming worlds without imperial populations (either because it hasn't been colonized yet or someone nuked the previous occupants). Tankers refuel other ships, refineries refuel and produce new fuel. Mining ships extract resources from uninhabited systems and take them back home. And salvage ships repair damaged ships or reclaim resources from destroyed ones. The expansions introduce freighters that increase income through trade and constructors that build space stations.
* Certain [[DesignItYourselfEquipment subsystems]] in ''Videogame/StarRuler'' can make a ship a dedicated worker unit, or a MilitaryMashupMachine. Ramscoops allow ships to generate their own fuel (which can be transferred automatically to nearby ships), ammo generators [[CaptainObvious generate ammo]], cargo bays allow ships to trade good between planets, repair lasers allow ships to repair each other, mining lasers allow ships to [[AsteroidMiners mine asteroids for ore]] which can then be further processed on-board via a variety of machining subsystems. Inductors and Inducers allow ships to speed up or slow down other ships, to catapult ships out of orbit very quickly or to slow down a ship low on fuel.
* ''Videogame/BattleZone1998'' and its sequel have Scavengers, which are large utility vehicles which are described as "vacuum cleaners with engines" - the scavengers drive around, suck up [[UnObtanium bio-metal]] scrap, then go deposit it at the Recycler (or instantly add it to your scrap pool, in the sequel). Constructors build base structures such as gun towers and power plants. Tugs in both games can be used lift slow, heavy units off the ground and carry them over rough terrain or water very quickly, though they are rarely used outside of the singleplayer campaigns. All of the worker units can only be built at the irreplaceable [[MobileFactory Recycler]], meaning that destroying the enemy Recycler will [[InstantWinCondition instantly win the mission]].

* In the ''[[Videogame/{{X}} X-Universe]]'' series, [[SpaceTrucker Transport (Small)]] and [[MileLongShip Transport (Large)]] are the basic workers for the [[NGOSuperPower player's empire]] once it's [[AnEntrepreneurIsYou sufficient built-up]]. TS class ships (both the player's and the NPC traders) ferry wares between factories, are the only way to mine [[UnObtanium Nividium]], and are the generally the best way to pick up salvage after a large battle. TL class ships are the only way to [[RidiculouslyFastConstruction build space stations]], though it's possible to hire a NPC TL to construct your stations for you. Both classes of ships can be armed - and with [=TLs=], often decently - so it's possible to turn them into an InstantMilitia if needed.
* ''Videogame/GenjuuRyodan'' has mana generator units where they gather mana for the player to summon units.

* ''VideoGame/BattleIsle'', the first installment had the SC-P Merlin Pioneer unit which could build a depot on any suitable location, which could later be used to repair your units. The second installment greatly expanded on this with including ammunition/fuel transports, road construction vehicles and trains capable of repairing units. Strangely collecting raw resources was generally not a significant part of the game-play, and the resource ("Aldinium"), could be transported with any regular transport capable of transporting units.

*** ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert2'' also has different Ore Collectors for its factions. The Soviet collector is reinforced with extra armor and has a machinegun turret to defend against infantry and light armor. The Allied collector can teleport back to the ore processor after collecting ore but has to drive the normal way to the ore field. Yuri's faction, added in the expansion pack, has a Slave Miner, which is a mobile ore processor with mind-controlled slaves using shovels to dig ore.

* ''VideoGame/PopulousTheBeginning'': Had the braves who build, collect wood, repair and upgrade buildings, generate mana for your spells and can be trained to become specialist combat units. They could also fight but are usually beaten by every other unit type.

** The Tau Earth Caste Builder ... has nothing special going for it, really.

* ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}}'': Settlers in the first two games provided both of these functions. Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri split their functions between Colony modules and Terraforming modules, and from that point onward, the Civ games would have Settlers for building new cities and Workers for building improvements.

* ''RiseOfNations'': Workers are responsible for gathering resources through structures and constructing most, if not all, buildings.

* Mostly averted in {{Achron}}, all units of all three factions are able to fight, some of them are just capable of building as well, usually the infantry. Played straight for resources though, each race collects resources via [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin resource processors]] that are completely useless for everything else.

* Both sides in ''TotalAnnihilation'' had multiple construction units. There are construction robots, ground vehicles, aircraft, ships and hovercraft. This allows you to use different units to build in different terrains. On top of that, there are advanced versions of construction units that build advanced structures. One significant difference here is that these units do not perform routine resource collection. The construction units build dedicated structures to gather resources. They also have the option to reclaim map objects and wreckage, but this is on a per-object basis.

* ''CompanyOfHeroes'' has engineer units. While they are capable of fighting, they're not especially good at it, with the lowest accuracy in the game. They're much better suited to building and repairing. However, they can get [[KillItWithFire flamethrowers]], which greatly increases their [[IncrediblyLamePun fire]]power.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}}'' series: As of ''Warcraft 3'', each faction has a distinctly different worker unit. All four primary workers(the Peon, Peasant, Wisp and Acolyte) can repair structures and mechanical units, harvest gold (by cycling in case of Peons & Peasants, or via magic in case of Wisps & Acolytes). All four can construct structures - directly in case of Peons & Peasants, through summoning in case of Acolytes, and through the 'growing' method in case of Wisps. All except the Acolyte can harvest lumber, while the Undead use their basic combat unit, the Ghoul, to harvest it. In emergencies Peasants can also be turned into emergency Militia to defend the base, while Wisps can explode to drain mana. Acolytes can also un-summon buildings to regain a fraction of the materials used to build it and can be sacrificed into Shades, explorers that can't attack but are invisible to most enemies.

* ''VideoGame/BattleIsle'', the first instalment had the SC-P Merlin Pioneer unit which could build a depot on any suitable location, which could later be used to repair your units. The second instalment greatly expanded on this with including ammunition/fuel transports, road construction vehicles and trains capable of repairing units. Strangely collecting raw resources was generally not a significant part of the game-play, and the resource ("Aldinium"), could be transported with any regular transport capable of transporting units.
* "VideoGame/Pikmin", Red Pikmin. Your first pikmin, and bound to be this. They deal a lot of damage, but since their only advantage is immunity to fire, you'll be using less and less of them for important things as time goes on.

** In ''VideoGame/AgeOfMythology'' Greek and Egyptian workers function essentially the same, though only the Greeks are called villagers and only they can pray at temples to gather [[GodsNeedPrayerBadly favor]] (Egyptians gain favor building monuments). Norse peasants only gather (dwarves are peasants that mine faster) while their basic infantry do most of the building, and the Atlantean citizens don't need to cycle while gathering, in addition to doing it faster, plus can turn into hero units in emergencies to fight against light myth units (and gain a gathering bonus). In exchange, they move slower, are three times more expensive and turning them into heroes requires an aditional cost.

** In ''VideoGame/AgeOfMythology'' Greek and Egyptian workers function essentially the same, though only the Greeks are called villagers. Norse peasants only gather (dwarves are peasants that mine faster) while their basic infantry do most of the building, and the Atlantean citizens don't need to cycle while gathering.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}}'' series: As of ''Warcraft 3'', each faction has a distinctly different worker unit. All four primary workers(the Peon, Peasant, Wisp and Acolyte) can repair structures and mechanical units, harvest gold (by cycling in case of Peons & Peasants, or via magic in case of Wisps & Acolytes). All four can construct structures - directly in case of Peons & Peasants, through summoning in case of Acolytes, and through the 'growing' method in case of Wisps. All except the Acolyte can harvest lumber, while the Undead use their basic combat unit, the Ghoul, to harvest it. In emergencies Peasants can also be turned into emergency Militia to defend the base, while Wisps can explode to drain m Acolytes can also un-summon buildings to regain a fraction of the materials used to build it and can be sacrificed into Shades, explorers that can't attack but are invisible to most enemies.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}}'' series: As of ''Warcraft 3'', each faction has a distinctly different worker unit. All four primary workers(the Peon, Peasant, Wisp and Acolyte) can repair structures and mechanical units, harvest gold (by cycling in case of Peons & Peasants, or via magic in case of Wisps & Acolytes). All four can construct structures - directly in case of Peons & Peasants, through summoning in case of Acolytes, and through the 'growing' method in case of Wisps. All except the Acolyte can harvest lumber, while the Undead use their basic combat unit, the Ghoul, to harvest it. In emergencies Peasants can also be turned into emergency Militia to defend the base, while Wisps can explode to drain mana and damage summoned units nearby and Peons can garrison burrows.

** In the main ''NintendoWars'' series, your infantry generally fill the closest thing to a worker role by capturing cities and factories.