City link, I think

[kctanzen]

Sooo .. after several weeks of trial and error, I think I have finally figured out the architect tool and have the most up to date version of my city layout below.

I welcome any and all suggestions and constructive criticism.

I enjoy the trading / manufacturing / building part of the game .. not as keen on racing to a high score or rank and the combat system isn't a priority to me.

The existing dwarf bits are in place for 1) filling the inventory of granite and copper and 2) haven't opened up enough fairy bits to replace the outgoing dwarf settlement.

Next project .. a dang blasted signature line....

http://www.elvenarchitect.com/city/planner/5554e3605a3f40e0865b55abc2624fd7/

Thanks much!

 

[DeletedUser5800]

I see you are super into things all over the place, rules me out for thoughts, I only like lines of stuff. LOL

 

[kctanzen]

I am more than a little disorganized and hadn't put much into pre-planning size / orientation changes!

Until recently, have been really tight on space and was wedging things in where I could fit them.

 

[MirandaZink]

I've never used a planner and I've never really had overwhelming challenges as building shapes change.
1. Always have 1 square open so you can move things around - I know it's hard to not want to fill it up but resist the urge.
2. Get rid of low producing culture - yes we all want to hoard those event pieces but there is a time and place to just let it go
3. Sometimes you need to kill a building, move things around and rebuild it. That's no different than real life sometimes.
4. Keep looking at what the next big upgrade is going to be so you can start pre-moving things around for that expansion. That may mean you have extra squares between building . . . see point #1

That's all I've done till now and works for me. I play for fun and if that means spreadsheets, planners etc. then it's becoming a job.
Good luck and have fun!

 

[kctanzen]

I've never used a planner and I've never really had overwhelming challenges as building shapes change.
1. Always have 1 square open so you can move things around - I know it's hard to not want to fill it up but resist the urge.
2. Get rid of low producing culture - yes we all want to hoard those event pieces but there is a time and place to just let it go
3. Sometimes you need to kill a building, move things around and rebuild it. That's no different than real life sometimes.
4. Keep looking at what the next big upgrade is going to be so you can start pre-moving things around for that expansion. That may mean you have extra squares between building . . . see point #1

That's all I've done till now and works for me. I play for fun and if that means spreadsheets, planners etc. then it's becoming a job.
Good luck and have fun!

Some of my more troublesome buildings are creeping into a size that makes upgrading really problematic -- one expansion square on either side or even more(!), for instance.

 

[SoggyShorts]

I'll definitely take a shot at this when I get home in 3-4 hours.
Is there anything you are really attached to? Like can I nuke some level 5 steel factories and replace them with 1 higher level factory if it takes less space,pop etc?

 

[kctanzen]

Other than the workshops (I aim to keep at least 10 of them regardless of upgrade level all the time, for parts / quest cycling) pretty much anything is fair game. The smaller factories I put in when I had loads of extra space just hanging around and I didn't want to do anything drastic during the big event .. plus, was trying to figure out the city planner tools.

The older event items I have been phasing out as I get things that match up with my chapter advancement -- I am a sucker for the crutch of culture / pop hybrids I will freely admit. I made a lot of changes to things with items won during the Ice Giant tasks.

 

[SoggyShorts]

http://www.elvenarchitect.com/city/planner/dbc8c46acbb64293a3f169724056761f/
There's what I came up with for your next chapter.
I kept all of your event buildings, and there's a pretty big gap for you to place level 1 buildings for event quests and cycling.
You'll notice I had to add around 15 residences to support your factories and military-I think having both max level military and that many factories is overkill, but it still fits.

 

[kctanzen]

Thanks Soggy!

I'll pore over that when I'm more mentally conscious (woke up in middle of night / can't get back to sleep / brain fogged!!) and see what it is all about.

How does one reset their whole city for orientation / size changes en masse? I try to keep at least one expansion plot open or with toss away (low level non boosted factories for example) bits and use that space as needed for juggling but trying to reset the entire layout, especially roads, seems like a nightmare.

I haven't found anything on this in my searches .. but other than speed / slots, does upgrading the military training areas (barracks / training ground / mercenary camp) do anything else? Training size if i recall is a function of number of armory buildings and the level of those buildings, plus any wonder boosts that apply.

 

[SoggyShorts]

How does one reset their whole city for orientation / size changes en masse?

Generally I wait until I'm done with a quest race, then blow up all of those buildings, and move everything before placing the next chapter's portal etc.
The more empty space the easier doing the "sliding puzzle" is.

I haven't found anything on this in my searches .. but other than speed / slots, does upgrading the military training areas (barracks / training ground / mercenary camp) do anything else?

Those 3 buildings effect how fast you train troops. Armories effect how many you can queue up at a time.
Personally I try to keep it so that a full load of troops in my barracks takes 10h to cook so that the building never stops cooking.

 

[Ashrem]

Personally I try to keep it so that a full load of troops in my barracks takes 10h to cook so that the building never stops cooking.

I think this might be a false economy. If your barracks never goes still, then you aren't training as many troops as you could be, because all of the time when it is running, it could be running faster. I upgraded as far as I could, and aim for it to rarely go still by queuing slower troops from my Training Grounds at night. But it happens a couple of times a week.

I think it's better to base Barracks level on whether or not your total number of troops is always higher at the end of the week than at the start. If you have fewer troops on Sunday than you did a week ago (or on this day than you did a month earlier if your fighting isn't at a consistent level), or if you had to stop fighting at some point because you felt low on troops, then your training grounds should be higher if possible.

Of course, as with everything else in the game, how much space you have is the real deciding factor. A person who has spent money on expansions will have a different priority than one who hasn't

 

[kctanzen]

Right now, my barracks has 4 slots and a full queue is about 5 hours or so to run it completely empty. I may start to dink around more with the combat system and learn how to more effectively use troops versus so much negotiating / catering. It seems a blend of the two tactics would help me do even better (and get more stuff!!!) in the weekly tournaments.

 

[SoggyShorts]

I think this might be a false economy. If your barracks never goes still, then you aren't training as many troops as you could be

To be clear, I keep my barracks at max, and then build enough armories to make my queue 10 hours long. I do not keep my barracks under levelled just to have a longer queue time.

Right now, my barracks has 4 slots and a full queue is about 5 hours or so to run it completely empty.

Depending on your schedule (sleep/work) a 5h queue might be very short. If it were me, I'd upgrade that barracks from 9 to 10 asap to unlock that 5th spot, then focus on armories to reach my 10h goal. (again, your goal may differ based on schedule)

 

[kctanzen]

It is more of a space v reward bit for me on this next upgrade -- since the size moves to 6 x 5 and I'm still figuring out a new layout plan based on your inputs, Soggy and other helpful folks!