Essentially, it all comes down to your playing style. You can get through the chapters with significant culture event buildings (Sunshine anyone?) but that will have to come with the sacrifice of some other buildings. Unless you are like me, making it through the chapters with bare minimal culture because you enjoy doing significantly well in tournaments, and looking at your pretty wonders
~Xelenia
Such an excellent post. I find I can make it through chapters with both sunshine and wonders, however I sacrifice more in terms of factories. I figure with 1 mil surplus of goods though I haven't given up much. As you mentioned it is all about balancing wants and needs and peoples perception of both vary.
I've thought quite a bit about why players feel there isn't enough space, and here's how I see it:
1. The player mentality of being a hoarder.
2. The Magic building trap.
3. The Artwork
4. Culture
5. The Tournament
6. Ranking Points
Very well stated. I believe there is a 7th and maybe an 8th aspect.
7. The expansion trap. People go madly out to grab as many expansions as they can on the world map (or diamonds). We than fill this space with things from your points above and start to believe we need this to survive every chapter. We don't like to keep spare space available for events or guest races even though this is quite obviously a useful thing (not a necessity).We worked hard (or bought) that extra space and we want to use it for things we want. If we are waiting at the end of the tech tree for a while of course we fill the space but then grow attached to what we put in that space.
It has been stated that the game is balanced based on a free to play players space. There have also been comments regarding exploration, so we have a reasonable estimate for where the game is balanced. We don't have to play in that space unless that is your extra challenge but understanding that more than that is a bonus to us is important to understand.
8. Mentor/Guide. So often we listen to players who are at the end of the tech tree or much further along than us and they say build x and do y. Often this is based on their own experience and for those at the end can be several months or year old information. Much of the game has changed over the years and things that were not an issue in the past are becoming issues now (like getting tech locked very early in the game if one uses tournaments a lot). We also often mentor people into the very traps and thinking you mentioned above, perpetuating the issue. Just because someone has a big score or is further ahead does not always mean our advice is exactly what you should do. Everyone has to filter advice into their own perception of needs and then wants.
In respect to the hoarder section. I 100% agree with this, I have tracked my factory space in multiple towns of different races and boosts with different strategies and I have found that the physical space in squares needed does not actually change regardless of the chapter (at least pre-elementals). So the same space you used for factories in chapter 1 can be occupied in chapter 12 and still meet the needs of the chapter. Even then I don't doubt I have some
wants included in that space allocation when I look at my surplus goods and players who thrive with even less space allocation.
Sometimes just acknowledging and identifying that certain things in our town are a
want and not a
need can change our perception of the space
challenge.