What improvements does my city need?

[BrinDarby]

@Sprite1313 ,
Dangit , ur right... @least its easily fixable, minor oversight tho.
I was too un-sober I'm guessing.... hehehe

 

[Moho]

Thank you again for your effort and kindness, everyone. This discussion has really helped me obtain a more efficient configuration.

 

[Nerwa]

For context: Elf city here. I spent 5+ months in ch 5 (70% fight/30% goods hybrid). I could have happily stayed much longer, but there are a handful of things I want in ch 6-8 plus I wanted more provinces & larger quantities of resources to help my FS. So I upgraded on Christmas - leap-frogged (leaped-frog? leapt-frog?) through ch 6 & hit ch 7 a couple days ago. I plan on ambling through my way to Orcs & then staying there indefinitely. I *vastly* prefer the slow approach.

This is what worked for me in ch 5:

*Playing full Spire weekly. The individual prizes - both the ordinary ones & the premium stuff - add up & provide lots of flexibility.
*Limiting upgrades to an as-needed basis; doing most the upgrading during events for quests.
*Limiting province scouting & completing in much the same way. Also, tracking my open provinces numbers & choosing new provinces to equalize between types. The minimum to move into ch 6 is 130, which works out to 11 provinces x8 + 12 provinces x1.
*Prioritizing event buildings that produce pop & culture over regular buildings that cost pop & culture. Then select for diversity - troops production & goods production.
*City layout included "stable" & "flex" space. Stable sections = built & summoned buildings (with allowances for upgrading space where expected). Flex spaces for limited-life buildings (Goddess of Wishes, Ferris Wheel, etc) & crafted buildings (Vallorian Valor & Orc Strat Grounds) during regular play. Delete during FAs for T1s & workshops; replace afterwards. My favorite trick is to set-back stable buildings from the road by 2 spaces (using short connector spurs as needed); the 2-space frontage is flex space. Pretty much all the limited-life & crafted stuff fits there except the VVs, and then there's hardly anything to do to set up a FA street fair!

My optimal ch 5 inventory:
Basic (aka regular/built) Buildings:
*Factories - 2 each of boosted goods.
*Residences - 6 regular & 3 magic. Each magic = 2 regular, so 12 regular would be the equivalent.
*Workshops - 1 regular & 2 magic ending. 5-6 regular equivalent.
*Armories - 3
Special (non-event) Buildings:
*Pets - Brown Bear; Ice Bear; Fire Phoenix. If I'd had the chance I'd've added Ashen Phoenix. (Like most newer people, I got my Bears & Birds through the MA.)
*AWs - Golden Abyss, Needles of the Tempest, & Martial Monastery.
*5 day buildings - 1 each, alternating between Dwarven Armorer & UUs as available.
*Spire prizes - 3 Genies. 1 Trading Station if on-hand & space allowed.
*Crafted buildings - 2 Orc Strat Grounds always; +4 Orcs when not FA week. 1-2 Vallorian Valors during non-FA weeks if space allowed.

Event Buildings:
The main thing with event buildings is to *diversify*. Everyone is going to have different stuff depending on what events they've played, so I'm giving numbers.
*Evolved buildings - 4-5, mostly/fully evolved.
*Sets - Moonstone + 1 additional.
*Daily prizes - variable depending on space, production diversification, road connection needs, aesthetics, et cetera.

Overall, this set-up more than covered my needs. Full Spire & 6 rounds Tourney (9-11 provinces) weekly. 2-3 MA turnovers weekly; enough diamonds/BP to craft most Bird & Bear artifacts as they appeared. Strong FA participation. Steady growth in stockpiled instants. Plenty of troops: Produced 12-14 types. Barracks/Training Grounds troops averaged 70+ squads on-hand. Goods production: 225K average weekly increase (converting everything to T1 equivalent numbers) - that's *after* game-play & sharing with FS. No real money needed.

So, yeah, I totally understand why staying in ch 5 is appealing!

 

[DeletedUser27062]

Wow. You're amazing at this. I'll be studying this reconfiguration today. Thank you a lot.

And by the way, I have enough buildings in my inventory to do further adjustments.


No, I'm saying I don't want to plan my city for future chapters. At least not yet.


Exactly.

I just recently moved one of my beta cities on from ch 5. I only did so because I became orc blocked on the map .

I noticed you have 3 T3 manufactories. Only one of my cities has T3 manufactories. All the others rely on event building for T3 goods. I have had no problem with T3 stock even though I've had no T3 manus from ch 5 and am now ch 10. I maintain a 400-600k goods inventory of each t3. I found it efficient because the t3 producing hybrids also give culture and sometimes pop as well as the massive saving on residences. It's not really a space saver however if you already have the space its an efficient use of it.

 

[Moho]

I noticed you have 3 T3 manufactories.

Indeed, good observation. Even before I started playing the game and I knew nothing about it, I had my mind set on producing enough goods so that my city would become self-sufficient. Early in the game I felt powerless militarily speaking, so producing enough goods remained a priority.

Although I can fight the entire Spire right now, I still enjoy having the full option of resorting to negotiation any time I feel like it. Building up goods stocks gives me the feeling of freedom and being in control.

 

[DeletedUser27062]

For context: Elf city here. I spent 5+ months in ch 5 (70% fight/30% goods hybrid). I could have happily stayed much longer, but there are a handful of things I want in ch 6-8 plus I wanted more provinces & larger quantities of resources to help my FS. So I upgraded on Christmas - leap-frogged (leaped-frog? leapt-frog?) through ch 6 & hit ch 7 a couple days ago. I plan on ambling through my way to Orcs & then staying there indefinitely. I *vastly* prefer the slow approach.

Orcs is an awful chapter to stay in for any length of time. Its ugly and cramped IMO. I decided to get through to the end of Sorcerers & Dragons (ch 10) and park up there because I wanted the Dragon Abbey AW. Once you've completed the chapter you can bins the settlement buildings, grow your DA so it gives great mana every time you use an enchantment and get rid of all the unnecessary extra mana buildings. You'll have lots of room for FAs, playing around with layouts and generally enjoying the scenery!

 

[DeletedUser27062]

Indeed, good observation. Even before I started playing the game and I knew nothing about it, I had my mind set on producing enough goods so that my city would become self-sufficient. Early in the game I felt powerless militarily speaking, so producing enough goods remained a priority.

Although I can fight the entire Spire right now, I still enjoy having the full option of resorting to negotiation any time I feel like it. Building up goods stocks gives me the feeling of freedom and being in control.

Do you negotiate during tournies? I negotiate probably 20% of the time and have never run low on T3. And by run low I mean get under 200k. My hybrids net me anywhere from 20-40k T3 a day depending on the city. I've enjoyed trying out different ways of making ends meet on elvenar but I know different set ups aren't for everyone.

 

[Moho]

Do you negotiate during tournies?

It depends. Every week is different because of FAs and events. There are weeks when I negotiate everything in the tourney because it saves time. Time is the most important resource. This is one of the reasons why I prefer to fight in the Spire.

Possessing extra goods of every kind helps one within the fellowship or neighborhood as well. One can strengthen one's relationships through trades as well. In this respect, abundance results in a sort of power.

 

[DeletedUser27062]

Time is the most important resource.

100% this!!

 

[Moho]

100% this!!

And to get forum members' help to reorganize my city in such a small amount of time is just... great. Because it took me two hours to implement the new layout although I had the solutions already done for me by these kind people.

And indeed, there is additional room where I could plant the Forbidden Ruins set, only I don't think I'll be able to do it anytime soon. In the back of my mind I knew this day would come - that there was going to be an event where I wasn't going to be able to obtain the main event building despite my steadfast efforts. "But you know what?" I told myself at that time. "They don't have to give away everything for free." And then I remembered what someone had told me long ago: "Enjoy what you've got while you have it." Only I couldn't remember who said it or under what circumstances.

 

[DeletedUser27062]

And to get forum members' help to reorganize my city in such a small amount of time is just... great. Because it took me two hours to implement the new layout although I had the solutions already done for me by these kind people.

And indeed, there is additional room where I could plant the Forbidden Ruins set, only I don't think I'll be able to do it anytime soon. In the back of my mind I knew this day would come - that there was going to be an event where I wasn't going to be able to obtain the main event building despite my steadfast efforts. "But you know what?" I told myself at that time. "They don't have to give away everything for free." And then I remembered what someone had told me long ago: "Enjoy what you've got while you have it." Only I couldn't remember who said it or under what circumstances.

I didn't get the full set on beta and I won't get it here however I can position the buildings so I only lose out on 1cc by not having that one building. It's totes worth it imo

 

[BrinDarby]

I can position the buildings so I only lose out on 1cc

To me thats the whole point, without the CC then, its
really not worth it... especially for newer players that will
never be able to have a Moonestone farm.

Its much easier to determine what, going fwd, a city needs..
once you get the current city efficient as possible. Then when
you do add expansions, keep in mind what size bldgs you
have and how. Adding a 5x5 and only being able to use 4x5
of it wastes 5 tiles. Before you go adding stuff late in a CH
be mindfull of what that next CH will be asking for spacewise.

 

[Nerwa]

Orcs is an awful chapter to stay in for any length of time. Its ugly and cramped IMO.

I have weird tastes, and am entertained by the notion of having a Goblin City. And as a gardener, I am pre-disposed to have a favorable mindset towards manure.

I'm not particularly worried about space. One of the perks of slow growth is that you need far fewer resources each week, which means significantly fewer buildings & thus more space for FA street fairs. I also laid out my city in a branching structure rather than the typical rectangle, which also makes for more openness.

 

[DeletedUser27062]

I have weird tastes, and am entertained by the notion of having a Goblin City. And as a gardener, I am pre-disposed to have a favorable mindset towards manure.

I'm not particularly worried about space. One of the perks of slow growth is that you need far fewer resources each week, which means significantly fewer buildings & thus more space for FA street fairs. I also laid out my city in a branching structure rather than the typical rectangle, which also makes for more openness.

Manure is wonderful (one gardener to another). I found the colour scheme difficult to deal with, it felt a bit camouflage to me.
I'll have to check out your city. Happy building!

 

[DeletedUser27062]

To me thats the whole point, without the CC then, its
really not worth it... especially for newer players that will
never be able to have a Moonestone farm.

Its much easier to determine what, going fwd, a city needs..
once you get the current city efficient as possible. Then when
you do add expansions, keep in mind what size bldgs you
have and how. Adding a 5x5 and only being able to use 4x5
of it wastes 5 tiles. Before you go adding stuff late in a CH
be mindfull of what that next CH will be asking for spacewise.

Nah, I got it for my tiny cities because of the T3. It's one of the few buildings to give great T3 amounts before orc/fairies. I get cc from the library which is available to all cities via the MA. I'm really happy with the incomplete set tbh.

 

[BrinDarby]

and then you add'd Land..... I am bored ....

https://www.elvenarchitect.com/city/planner/d124ddd9fa7b45e5a6add80e0e3d1f07/

 

[ajqtrz]

It's interesting to me to see the different styles of layout. I emphasize consolidated space and organization of things for easier management. Because of that my layout has slightly less space and is not as focused. Brin Darby does a better job of maximizing the space available but his is slightly less organized. And Sprite1313 seems, to me, to have done an experienced layout without focusing making it the "maximum very best."

In any case, I suspect those who do offer layouts do it because they actually like doing layouts. I sometimes take one of my fellowship players cities and "redo" them because I've done my own city so much it's usually maxed out already. (I'm just starting ch 18 though, so it's a bit messy now as I arrange things for the chapter). The layouts are probably my favorite part of the game and I'll spend hours redoing a city. In fact, I sometimes have to drag myself away from finding that "one more space." A bit of a perfectionist in me, I guess.

AJ

 

[DeletedUser27062]

and then you add'd Land..... I am bored ....

https://www.elvenarchitect.com/city/planner/d124ddd9fa7b45e5a6add80e0e3d1f07/

That's a pretty cool layout

 

[Moho]

and then you add'd Land..... I am bored

Thank you. But I should have mentioned that I'm good now.

So, yes. I have just bought three city expansions in advance. But then I thought I should plant several buildings temporarily.

This is the reason why I thank you everyone again, but please you can stop re-arranging things because you don't know what I plan to keep and what I am only using for the time being. But I just have to make use of that extra land - it would be foolish to leave it barren. There is already free land there which could be taken by the Forbidden Ruins set (which I doubt) or used during the FA coming after the next event.

P.S. Also, the 3x3 Population and/or Culture buildings are not there to last. They will be replaced by other buildings in my inventory depending on the number and size/shape of the buildings I will add to my city in the future.

 

[Nerwa]

Manure is wonderful (one gardener to another). I found the colour scheme difficult to deal with, it felt a bit camouflage to me.
I'll have to check out your city. Happy building!

It's a mess right now. New chapter, new upgrades, new AWs.... At least I don't have to deal with an FA on top of it! But stop by for a cup of cocoa if you can stand the chaos.