City Development (or Decisions, Decisions, Decisions)

[Moho]

All this being said as a caution to not run low on population and keep a good reserve, as you will probably need it in chapters 5 and 6.

All right, I understand. I need to ensure a higher population level.

And when I started building over a dozen Residences I was afraid I was exaggerating. Now I can see a high population is must.

 

[Moho]

All right, then. I have built the second armory, planted the Tome of Secrets, and started with my first Silk Manufactory.
This is what my city looks like at the moment:

My plan is to have more Silk Manufactories so that I can enjoy a serious production, upgrade some of the Workshops for superior supply necessary for the production of troops and silk, and upgrade a couple of Residences so that I can enjoy a large population.

Before that I will upgrade all the Residences to level 8, of course. By upgrading a Residence from level 7 to level 8, you get a surplus of 10 people (100->110). By upgrading a Residence from level 8 to level 9, you get a surplus of 150 people (110->260).

Higher level Residences and Workshops require more space, but the advantages are obvious. Level 6 Workshops produce 223 supply per hour, whereas level 7 Workshops produce 380 supply per hour.

Thus, my plan is move two Residences across the road to the right and upgrade them to level 9. This will leave room three Workshops to be upgraded to level 7. Next to the my first Silk Manufactory, there is room for two additional Silk Manufactories.

Soon I'll be researching a new City Expansion and I'll be able to occupy the left bottom corner. I will probably need to rearrange everything to accommodate higher level armories. And the Culture department will have to keep up with all this.

Yup. That's all for now.

 

[Moho]

The idea above was an ambitious plan, but it turned out to be just wishful thinking. Level 9 Residences are not available for people in my chapter. So there is no way I can have three Silk Manufactories now. I have built two though - I wonder how high I can upgrade them.

I'm building new Residences - I've started two; I'll probably build more....

 

[SoggyShorts]

there is no way I can have three Silk Manufactories now. I have built two though - I wonder how high I can upgrade them.

You can get them to level 5 which increases output by over 100% while costing about 50% more pop (44 pop each building from current level to max)

 

[Silver Lady]

I’m a couple of chapters ahead of you (in E & H worlds), but I don’t run as many mfgs as you. I found that if I collected relics to boost production and a couple of culture + goods blgds I could go with less. So all my boosted mfgs are at 700% since chapter 6. So in E I have 4 tier 1, 3 tier 2 & 2 tier 3 and in H 3 tier 1, 3 tier 2 (but considering selling 1) and 2 tier 3. So far it has worked for me. You can also get people with some event bldgs that give culture + people. Just options to consider. Good luck and happy gaming.

 

[Moho]

You can get them to level 5 which increases output by over 100% while costing about 50% more pop

It was a shock for me to be forced to come up with 108 for each level 1 Silk Manufactory. I have two level 2 Silk Manufactories, and I'll keep upgrading them. But I will raise the level of one or two Workshops as well, from 6 to 7 - this upgrade requires 38 people per Workshop. And I also want to keep 53 people for when I upgrade the main hall. I have already built two more Residences which I'm upgrading right now - they're levels 6 and 7 at the moment. With the new city expansion, I may decide to a couple more and see whether I can have a third Silk Manufactory and upgrade only one Workshop, or I must give up on the third Silk Manufactory plan for the time being and upgrade a couple of Workshops (or more). I am still debating...

So far it has worked for me

I'm sure the game is gratifying for a variety of player types. I for one am not too much into magic stuff. I know it is part of the game, but I possess an in-built bourgeois mindset. I play human, I want to see factories working hard, and I like order and discipline. It is the way my educated self keeps my inborn artistic temperament under control. This state of things influences the manner in which I approach everything, including this game. I am aware of the great amount of magic that will take place throughout the game and I really wonder if I can adjust to it.

 

[SoggyShorts]

It was a shock for me to be forced to come up with 108 for each level 1 Silk Manufactory.

Yeah, you'll find that every level which increases the size of a building (including level 1) costs a whack load of pop, but then the following levels right up to the new max are comparatively cheap. 108 vs ~20 in this case

 

[Moho]

I have just entered Chapter III, Ascending Magic. Roughly speaking, I have managed to continue my development according to the plans I mentioned in my previous posts. I had to adjust these plans a little, but the overall development is the way I envisioned.

This is what my city looks like now. There is no space left - I had to fill it with cultural buildings. The Culture Bonus shows 150% (cloudy) when there is no neighborly help. I seldom see those clouds; the Culture Bonus shows 160% or 170% most of the time.

I think I have one city expansion available. I want to start expanding my city only after I have three city expansions at hand so that I can rearrange things smoothly in my town. I am not sure yet on which side I should add these expansions...

Is there any advice you could give at this stage?

 

[Lelanya]

I have a point. Your workshops are on an east/west road, but they need to an a north/south road. Remember when you were advised (by Nightrider) to keep the city shape square? It's time to begin this process, because having buildings the short side on a road really does save space

 

[Moho]

I have a point.

Thank you for your advice.

I'm a little confused about what the cardinal directions should be here, but I tried to get the spirit of your recommendation.
The picture below may be the path to follow:

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

There is one small aspect I want to add. In my previous post I mentioned the fact that my population was minus five. During the present Fellowship Adventure I was able to evolve my Watchful Winter Owl building, and now the population in my city is plus five. This means I won't have to re-build the little Residence I had demolished to fit the Enlightened Light Range.

There are actually two aspects to add. I have already managed to get two expansions - I haven't applied them yet, but they're there. I need to clear six more provinces to obtain the third and pursue the plan I have sketched above. I need to do this as fast as possible or else I'm stuck because there is no room for development right now and the gold keeps adding up.

 

[SoggyShorts]

Your expansion plan looks good.
I've done a few cities and I like working towards the corner (as a secondary goal after squareness)
The reason being that while your city constantly evolves, you will eventually start collecting "forever" buildings Like the phoenix and wonders.
With a static edge to your town you can, if desired, make a permanent corner for those buildings. I recognize that I'm also a little biased on this for two reasons:
1. I have a lot of set buildings that are a PITA to move.
2. Many of those sets and other permanent buildings are winter-themed and I like those to be in the north* of my city.

*North IMO is the cliffs, so "up" on your EA maps.

 

[Lelanya]

Yeah but in my case I meant east/west on the Architect but north/south in the actual city, North being where the Spire is located.

 

[edeba]

Exactly this. IF you go slow enough you could even have a level 35 Golden Abyss which is obviously better than a house, but if you go pretty quick through the chapters and are putting KP into your tech tree, then residences give more pop per square than a Golden Abyss for quite a while-- until about chapter 5/6 for an average size city.
Much depends on your fellowship as well, if you are in a 10 chest FS getting 135+ KP that can ONLY be spent on wonders each week then you can get the GA up to a level where it is better than a house sooner.
Still the supplies from a ToS are pretty damn awesome at low chapters.

Level 30 GA. You need later chapter stuff to upgrade past level 30.

 

[Moho]

Of course, new Residences will be necessary, or I'll have to research and upgrade the existent ones. But for that, I will have to obtain new City Expansions.

ETA: In the meantime I have discovered a building in the Magic Academy which can allow me to add Orc Strategists to my troops: Grounds of the Orc Strategist - it is being crafted right now.

Please let me know what you think of all this.

 

[Lelanya]

Oh yeah, definitely need Orc Strats.

 

[Moho]

Oh yeah, definitely need Orc Strats.

All right, thank you. I have no room for the building right now, but I'll try to hurry with the research...