The Art of City Building

  • A reference to building a new city is worthy of inclusion here. So, a recap from Dredbanger's thread at the Tavern's Side Room, along with some other observations and stratagems from here are added, to achieve a synthesis. Many thanks to Bizpro as well. I believe it is fairly complete; please feel free to add corrections or additional information.


    The Art of City Building


    After you are elected Lord Mayor, the Alderman will offer you various tasks. One of the most rewarding is building a new city, where you will have exclusive control and in essence be Lord Mayor in perpetuity. When you go to the Alderman's city, check the town hall, Alderman's office. If there is a shortage of goods anywhere in the Hanse of any great extent, one offering will be a new city. If there is a very significant shortage of multiple goods, then two different cities will be offered. There will be up to three efficient goods produced in the new town. The programming however is rather interesting. Instead of getting hunter lodges if you are short of furs, then timber is offered. The shortage good, alphabetically in German generates an offer of the next item. A list of which good when short generates which good, in English, follows:


    Beer-IG
    Ore-wool
    IG-honey
    Skins (furs)-fish
    Timber – cloth
    Honey – grain
    Pottery – bricks
    Salt – ore
    Whale oil – grain + import of furs
    Wine – pottery
    Wool – wine
    Fish – beer
    Hemp – whale oil + fish
    Pitch – hemp
    Grain – meat/leather
    Spice – no effect
    Cloth – salt
    Bricks – pitch
    Meat/leather - timber


    Generating an artificial shortage is possible, to manipulate the good you desire; or, you may build and supply more of one of the shortage goods to trigger a different production item. So, beer shortage will generate iron goods workshops to be offered. To achieve this, buy as much as possible of the beer in all the markets, but load it aboard ships rather than your trade office. The game still senses it in the trade office, but not in ships at anchor. Needless to say, a bit of saving/reloading may be necessary. Goods are also prioritized, some shortages are more concerning than others in the Hanse. It is just about instantaneous in how it changes from say, sawmills to weaving mills. If all goods are present in markets at decent amounts, there will be no new town mission offered.


    Now you are ready to begin.


    When you first arrive in your new city there is nothing more than a few roads and perhaps a fence where a church should be, with a few people wandering about. None will talk to you. First item of business is to build the Market Hall. Immediately after the building is placed, you may then place your trade office. Don't bother with putting any goods at all in the city, just keep them in your trade office. You cannot sell them for any cash, and moved to the city from your trading office, the goods disappear. And, the residents don't care at all. You don't need to build warehouses, either.


    If you have timber as one of your choices (a given early on, since there usually aren't a lot of furs in all cities) for production, build a few sawmills to start. At the same time build three half timber houses. Don't bother with building any gable or merchant houses. Three half timbers are sufficient to house your population. The population will only grow to 500 maximum for a while, and they will work in your businesses regardless of housing availability. 30 workers represent 120 people, so four sawmills will employ enough for 480 people, and five can be it for a while. For a very advanced player who practices manipulation "Turkish Style" of buildings for dense packing, this can be set up from the beginning, and six sawmills accordingly placed. Sawmills save on transportation costs. Interestingly enough, the timber is all produced free. The town pays no rent, charges no labor, and, as mentioned, doesn't need any goods until it is recognized. But it will give you free goods.


    Next on the building list, in order, is the Town Hall. Set the taxes at whatever you like inside. There is no vote, but extra cash may or may not come in handy. After you have placed it (and it doesn't need to be constructed, either) come the Weaponsmith and then the Armoury. After the Armory is placed, you may begin construction on your walls.


    The city population is frozen at a maximum of five hundred until the town wall is frameworked. After the framework is fully laid, the population will begin to rise past five hundred. You still do not need to put anything into the town as far as goods go, but you will most likely need to donate some cash to the city coffers to build the wall. Not enough taxes come in rapidly enough to pay for it all. Now, as soon as you are past the first gate, you do have the option to trade with the local Prince, much like your hometown.


    When the population supports it, you may add another business, and half timbers as required. The population steadily grows. If you desire a faster growth to 500, or past 500 once the wall is up, sailors can be transferred to a ship in the harbor and fired, adding to the population. I did not bother with this, just took advantage of normal construction lags.


    After the town wall framework is up, you will have options for additional city buildings. The Repair dock (no shipyard) and Tavern are offered simultaneously, unlike the other city buildings. The Tavern will have one, sometimes two, captains present. After these are frameworked, the Church is offered. There is no beggar option in it.


    Construction materials and costs, exclusive of businesses, trade office and housing:


    54 pieces of wall = 540 bricks 54 timber 54 Iron goods and 70632 gold
    3 gates = 75 bricks 6 timber 6 iron goods and 9046 gold
    Totals: 615 bricks 60 timber 60 iron goods and 79678 gold


    All municipal buildings ( townhall etc. )
    435 bricks, 210 timber, 200 Iron goods 50 hemp and 35000 gold. The breakdown, bricks-timber-iron goods-hemp-gold, including unneeded merchant houses, gabled, warehouses (but you will need come official recognition):


    Markethall 50 20 20 - 4000
    Townhall 80 50 50 - 8000 ( enables give money to city, Levy extra tax, and change tax rates)
    Weaponsmith 50 20 20 - 4000 ( enables building of ship and handweapons )
    Armoury 50 20 20 - 4000 ( enables guards recruitement and Townwall development )
    Trade office 50 20 20 - 13000 ( enables all standard buildings, houses and production facilities)
    Half Timbered House 25 2 2 - 5000
    Gabled House 40 10 10 - 8000 (for later)
    Merchants House 50 20 20 - 8000 (for later)
    Warehouse 40 20 20 - 10000 (if ever desired)
    Town wall 10 1 1 - 1308
    Town gate 25 2 2 - 3016
    Tavern 50 20 20 - 4000 (I don't know if it happens very often but one player got 2 Captains instantly, one is the usual I think)
    Repairdock 75 30 20 50 3000
    Church 80 50 50 - 8000
    Port Bombards 20 20 20 - 8711
    Gate Bombards 20 20 20 - 8711


    Businesses and housing cost the same, need the same materials as elsewhere.


    As the wall nears completion, you will need to be prepared for Recognition Day. This is when the "you know what" hits the fan. Once the city is recognized (it needs 1000 population minimum and a complete wall) you will have to supply it all goods, beer to wool. The population will immediately become unhappy if there are no town guards, no wall defenses, no harbor defenses. Interestingly enough, you can post an outrigger immediately after the town hall is up, and be paid for it.


    So, other defense needs to have available for Recognition Day:
    5 gate bombards = 100 bricks 100 timber 100 iron goods and 43555 gold
    2 port bombards = 40 bricks 40 timber 40 iron goods and 17422 gold


    For your military, you will need to import the weapons from your own town because the Weaponsmith doesn't produce the weapons at a nice speed, nor does he have room for the weapons, he'll produce a sword and a bow, and then he's at capacity. Two maximum. Plus, you have to put the goods such as leather, timber, iron goods into the Market manually, and it will disappear, and it will cost you more in the long run. Best to either: 1. Move the swords, bows, crossbows and muskets from your hometown, or, 2. Buy them from another town's Weaponsdealer (the Weaponsmith in his sneaky criminal mode). You will need at least miminal town guard to please your city.


    Strategy also enters into city building. You have up to two years for completion, which is when the last section of the wall is finished (and you have a thousand or more inhabitants). Until then, the city is a monopoly (the AI will build sometimes after completion, never before). So, examine your options and determine what is most valuable to you. It takes me about six months to build a city, keeping the construction crews occupied, from start of the Market Hall to Recognition Day. There is money to be made upon completion by the sale of the needed goods to the city. You can also then begin other tasks, such as Pirate Nests or even build another new city. But there is another side to the coin as well. Remember, all the goods produced by your businesses in the city are free. Perhaps you wish to delay completion, build twenty or thirty industries and lots of housing, roads, wells, a school, etc, and take advantage of goods production at no cost for a year. Furs by the shipload can earn you quite a bit in cash. And a whole year's production can add up to quite a sum. Spinning straw into gold, or wool into cloth at no added cost, can add a lot to your bottom line. Remember though, industries like fisheries still require hemp and salt, hunter lodges still require iron goods and hemp, workshops timber, pig iron, etc, in your trade office.


    A few last items of note: Your city is safe from attack until it is completed. No angry Prince or Marauding Horde will come to call. Also, the second and third wall cannot be started until the last section of the first wall is constructed, unlike a normal town. The way locations of new towns are selected isn't totally understood yet. Even with a save, if you haven't accepted it, reload may show a different town, or if two are offered, one may disappear. In one experiment, after a pirate nest was destroyed, it became a new town site. In another, after a pirate nest mission, a different town altogether was offered.

  • Baltic Trader,


    First of all, nice to read such messages with lots of important and detailed information under compacted format. As known, writing long -but- informative posts are always heavy for the poster in function of the intellectual kitchen. Thanks for your editing, time and *energy*.


    Looking through my angle, the most interesting, are the subjects that you mentioned at the bottom of your post. Unfortunately not yet playing on Standard Map, but I wish to make some trials there to obtain the most large city layout for colonies. And in preference, --two times consecutively; as for the second town foundation... Dr. Nodelescu has already kindly published some work, but this is biased on fisheries. All city layouts there, are described with their level-1 wall, while it will be important to compare them all with their level-3 wall. Another important criterion is to embed the new town(s), to the exact coordinates (between limited options of course) that the player is willing to do. To fix desirable goods to produce in a given colony, is already a very brilliant work. My thanks too, to all the people involved about.


    Since more than a year, I was occupied to build on a 40'er map, so had no time to experiment about some bottlenecks, especially appeared after dealing with Xtreme numbers of inhabitants. Now I am face-to-face to some situations, with the need to find certain answers or solutions.


    Always in the domain of city building or developing, some criteria may be clarified **in numerical nomenclature** ; about population happiness and attraction:
    - How "Port Freezing" is calculated by the game?
    - How are Wells and Roads determining the inhabitants' happiness and the number of beggars (if any); and their role on the "percentage/probability calculations" about Plagues and Fires?
    - How are (the number and classes of) militia influenced on general morale/mood of the population, which dynamics are laying behind the decision of all these AI Mayors to employ beggars in different classes of militia; and these numbers of militia are decided after which game dynamics? As my general impression since many years, most of the times when checking the Arsenal's documents, I saw precedent AI Mayor(s) are willing /decided /finished to complete to 40 (already maximum) the number of Town Watchers (Sword-ed Units); but neglected the Archers, Cross-Bowers and Musketeers. Is this general attitute be altered in between of AI Mayors, by the player?
    -How the "Number(s)" and "Condition(s) (Bombard or Canon Towers, with or without pitch shooters)" of military buildings affects the happiness and/or numbers of inhabitants and beggars, AND eventual decision of LandLord's Attacks to a given city?
    -I actually have some identically laid out, completely/equally built and inhabited, and saturated cities... some of them have ca. 500 (stable) beggars, some of them have ca. 1 000 (stable). Why? Seems certain kind of businesses generate more beggars. I remember a chart published by Ugh! but it was in german, and Altavista is not good at all to translate specific terms either.
    -Are donations to Churches affecting the "number" of inhabitants or beggars? In global terms, is "extreme high" popularity a tool to use somewhere while dealing with extreme high population numbers? It would be preferable, that the popularity be based on "numerical or measurable value" than the relative or comparative one.
    -Same thoughts about Festival(s) and their frequency and propagation (targeted or Hanse-wide).


    Well, these are some actual mind-crushings against the Game,from my side. About above domains, I have unfortunately any repeatable results based on in-vitro experiments, for now. Still not many occasions these days to play as I wish either.


    Edit: I suspect that my evident insufficiency on english, may lead to a total misunderstanding as: My first paragraph may be taken as a criticism to Baltic Trader... This is of course not the case, on the contrary, an humble appreciation for the long time and energy taken to write this long (I like long and full-filled messages) + very informative post.

    Inventor of the "Turkish Building Technique"


    Game Ratings:
    First time total population beyond 3Mio frontier:3 045 259
    Current Game: P2_Herz andP2_Kanoneof course..


    Verloren ist nur, wer sich selbst aufgibt.
    Lost are only those, who abandon themselves.

    Dieser Beitrag wurde bereits 1 Mal editiert, zuletzt von Mayor of Smyrna ()

  • @ MoS


    I couldn´t answer much about it, also in kind of the problem with some stuff, that other players don´t have. :rolleyes:


    In the kind of port freezing it is so, that it is only hazard. If the population is not well supported during the freezing, they become like in any bad suporting unhappy. One thing, and there I´m sure is, that everything that could be changed with a Save/ Reloadcascade is only hazard and couldn´t be affected with own actions. In the matter of the port freezing it is clear changeable by S/L.
    In Kind of fires, I´m happy about it, that I had in all games I ever played only one time a fire (and here I doesn´t see it, only read about it in chronik much later ;( ).
    In Kind of the plagues I could tell much more, because much earlier I made a long time and intensive experiment:
    First and in all it is also in most cases a Kind of hazard.
    So you could transfer it to other towns by S/L, also you could delete it, if you find the correct time for the S/L to start in forefield.
    But it is also fact, that a plague comes sometimes after a famine, if the town isn´t provided further.
    Also, you could deliver the plague to a second and a third town if you are not aware of it. Most important is to omit any people transfer and transport of food from a town with plague to an other one without.


    In kind of militia it is so, that the number is important and the morale of the militia. If they are unhappy, the population of a towm becomes also. Most time it is a matter of beer (and beer price), but also the defence works on walls and harbour, also in number of the forces. The mixture of them is in my eyes not important, if not more than 70% are only cheaper shooters.


    About the land lord it is so, that there is in the moment some discussion. Clear is, that contracts and / or credits to the land lord made him aggressive. Which town he than attacks is not clear. I believe it is a mixture of a) happiness with the town, b) whealthy of the citiy treasury, c) weakness or strength of the defence works / weakness or strength of milita, d) hazard
    Hazard is clear in the game also here, because with S/L you could change the town and/ or with a cascade delete the complete attack (most times).
    A never ending discussion is also, if there is only one land lord in the whole hanse or if there are 4 land lords (for each of the four regions). I´m personally splitted, because there are indications for both things :rolleyes:
    Relative new is one thing. I personally use the land lord only sometimes as a rubbish chute for overproductions, not more. I make never credits, contracts and also I give never gifts to him. In kind of rubbish chute I sell much goods, for example about 5.000 timber.
    Later I (and not only I) have every time 3 to 5 attacks of the landlord if I use the rubbish chute, but players like Gesil and Ugh! never. If I make nothing with the land lord, he is most times peacefull, if not angry to my hometown or settlement. Ugh! means, and I believe slowly too, that the mass of selled goods is in my case the answer, because P2/P3 handled it may be like a credit or so (I don´t know).
    However, I had all my contest game an eye on the land lord about it, and every time I used him as rubbish chute, he becomes aggressive.

    Nur der Pirat ist der wahre Händler, denn nur er hat alle Möglichkeiten (business is war !!! ;) :P

    Dieser Beitrag wurde bereits 1 Mal editiert, zuletzt von Mandela ()

  • Thanks, Mayor of Smyrna.


    Your questions have intrigued me too, for some time. Obviously, there has to be a program, a formula that determines such things as freezes, etc. But here is what I know about the other items in your question. Satisfaction is a SUM of many factors. Some of them have more impact then others and rise with number of residence. Not knowing the program, we can try and write it like a formula:


    Satisfaction =(+) + (-) + N + L
    N represents the number of residents, L the game level. A population 2000 city needs less +, a 15 000 more.
    There are two kinds of (+), big and small. If you have 3 gate towers, it's a big (+). If you have 5 then it's 1 big (+) and 2 small (+). I wish I could write it the appropriate size on the computer ...
    It's the same with (-). Each business outside the wall is 1 small (-). When your soldier says “The town wall is too small” or "We are too few", you get a big (-). If you build some businesses inside the wall, and get “Everything is all right” then you get one big (+) with many small (-). Remember, I played usually at Patrician level. It might be a bit different at other settings. But, at Patrician level, your poor will be happy if you do the following:


    1. Marketplace: Sell all items for the poor, enough to keep three weeks' consumption in the market.


    2. Quality of life: Build enough roads, wells, the hospital and expand the church.


    3. Safety: Wall should encompass most businesses, the towers (gate and harbor) should be present and upgraded to cannon level, an outrigger should be in place (it is hard to tell what level is best here; perhaps an older holk, well armed), and a good number of town guard and wall soldiers. Pay attention to the numbers of businesses inside and outside of wall.


    If they are unhappy, then save your game and analyze it. Check the following:
    1. Beer, grain, fish, timber and wool supplies and prices.
    2. Roads percentage, number of wells and having a hospital.
    3. The Soldiers on wall. Look at them. If they don't seem to be carrying a lot of weaponry, then sell some weapons or IG.
    4. If your worrisome city is 5,000 or more in size and you don’t have at least 3 gate towers in the first wall
    and the LM is building the second wall, you have got a big problem. You need to lower all the prices.
    Make outrigger. Make all possible +. I have that situation in Stockholm. In my own contest game, I did lower the prices considerably and that helped, as far as I had supplies. Don’t lower so much in just one city such that the competition buys it for resale in a different city. The best prices we came up with, to strike a balance of profit and happiness, when supplies were good were:


    Beer.......................42
    Cloth....................293
    Fish......................525
    Grain....................143
    Honey...................153
    Leather.................313
    Meat...................1296
    Pitch.......................91
    Skins....................942
    Spice....................426
    Timber...................81
    Whale Oil.............115
    Wine....................308
    Wool..................1284
    Iron Goods............371
    Pottery..................238


    But if you have a problem, that may not be low enough for the basics. For example, I lowered grain to 130 and beer may need to go to 36 until I get enough fish on hand. Hanseatic socialism, keep the masses content! These prices worked well in our games. But there are differences between settings, no question. And I am playing a different style here, too, than I normally do.


    No hospital, that's a big (-). Add in the small (-) from the roads, and they accumulate and help trigger plague. Town guard act as firemen too; small (-), not enough wells, big (-) and then, fire. Plus the random factor, too.


    One more thing, some notes on how best to extend the church.
    Day 1: give money, sell some tile and timber to 75 gold.
    Day 2: check the market for tile and timber. Prices are high (that means the priest bought it), then sell more tiles and timber.
    Day 3: sell IG till 330-340 gold.
    Don’t sell all in one day. Sometimes you will see that LM or your competitors build something from those materials and the priest got nothing. Of course, too, the game is horrible at cheating, building with no iron goods, no timber or tiles (bricks).


    In summary, I really, really think there is a function in the program that increases the probability of attack if these factors I wrote about are neglected. Too many (-), big or small, in proportion, triggers attack with a random factor thrown in. I wondered for a while if the gate towers and harbor towers alone were triggering some of the Prince attacks. But it doesn't appear to be just that, the businesses outside definitely are part of the factor, as are prices, and numbers and types of guards, and the extra equipment they carry.

  • After reading the tread there ist a question how the plusses and minusses to count or what amount causes the event.


    I nerver build up chrches and I am not shure about the sens of Hospitals and Cappels. There are no Bricks to build streets.


    The only thing is fire Prevention with wells.


    When do I reach the breakpoint?

    Niemand braucht ein einfaches Spiel! Ein gutes Spiel reicht!


    Für die Dunkle Seite! Auch Piraten wollen Handeln!

  • A big (+) is the same as three small (+) for defense. Hospitals, chapels are a big (+). Road percentages are a series of small (-) and when you get the the point "The smell on the streets is unbearable" you are up to a big (-). Enough (-) points, unbalanced by the (+) of chapels and hospitals, plague becomes increasingly likely. With a random factor, too.


    Fire prevention also factors in town guards, the sword types. Enough of them act like small (+) for fires, all wells is a big (+), none a big (-).


    Festivals are are a big (+), and raids against the city are a big (-) for mood. In the original handout, there was a warning about how the people get depressed about how much money was lost, and how a festival would lighten their mood.


    Ships traffic is a series of small (+) too on the mood. A certain amount of traffic and trade are probably small (+). Total lack of an essential good is a big (-), overpricing is small (-) as is inadequate supplies in the marketplace.


    Our reputation, promotion, also clearly has big and small (+) and (-). A pirate kill, a big (+). Being robbed, or on automatic "defeated but escaped" a small (-). Forclosing, a small (-). Probably the rate, low, medium or high represents small (+) and (-) factors, too, but are just swamped in the overall game. If a high interest rate is the same as building outside the wall, no wonder we don't see it. One small (-) would be very hard to detect. Money, number of businesses, and amount of trade (and prices of our goods) with a city, all (+) factors. We have all seen the Newbie with several million CV, lots of ships, some businesses, who cannot get promoted.


    N, the number in the city, is important too. I am sure that we all have noted how if there are only a half dozen industries in place they all get filled up with workers even if there are complete lacks of beer or fish, and how it gets harder with more businesses. L, the game setting, where how hard the people are to please is set, also affects the game.


    The big question in my mind is the relationship between the Prince, the Marauders, and the sums of the (+) and (-) in invasions. Granting a loan to the Prince is, I feel, a big (-) for a seige somewhere. Some small trade, enough at the gate to get him from the angry (big (-)) mood acts like a series of small (+). Dumping goods, I just don't know. When he is "perfectly happy" it is a big (+) against seiges. A defeat of the Prince of the Mercenary (marauder) is a big (+) after a seige. One successful seige is probably a big (-).
    Where I don't have enough data yet is the relationship with the (+) and (-) of the wall level, the number of defenders, the extra fortification of pitch throwers and cannon towers; they do play a role, or so I believe. Satisfaction and overall city mood and population factor into the chance for invasion and seige. It is one of the reasons I am playing peacefully, to check out some ideas along these lines; as one example, I think successful pirate attacks are a series of small (-) with a successful assault from the sea a big (-), especially if done by the Beneke clan. Can a peaceful Hanse (little piracy) outperform in the long run those run by the raiders? Maybe too the repeated raids against coffers, especially considering the other (-) factors in some of the players' games is triggering more seiges overall. From certain comments, it would appear to be so.


    And maybe too I am just running down blind alleys. But unless we try it, how will we really know? This way of looking at the game has its value, I think. Clearly, at the programming level, there have to be some similar factors that are built in.


    Mayor of Smyrna : I would love to see you write an "Art of Turkish Building", clearly you are the best at it and the most experienced. I have done a few blocks of six, some endless rows, but it doesn't always work out well. Sometimes I get blocks of five, and don't know why, sometimes the game just doesn't let me place items where I think it should. Is it the city map, something else, I don't know. Just what is building and demolishing doing, actually?
    Your beggar problem is related, too, I believe.
    If in a new game you build three new industries, some fill in preference to others, in some there seems to be reluctance; sometimes the city industries must fill first and take the biggest share of new workers, including the shipyard workers. (One of my contest games, Cologne was down to 800 people, and despite steady supplies, plenty of goods, housing, etc, no one would work in the new industries.) The (+) and (-) of pricing, reputation factor in, too. Too many beggars is a (-), so is housing lack, and maybe too, the rent rates. ( I think the tax rates by the way are a (+) if lowered, and am diligently lowering them to 5% where I can.) And here too is a good area to study, how many "invisible industries" are in each city, how does the game allocate its workers. After years of play, there is still so much I do not know.
    With so many good and experienced players here, perhaps we can begin to answer some of these questions.

  • Oh, some addendums: Bathing, small (+), not bathing, small (-), same for prayers. Enough can accumulate, unbalanced by other (+), and trigger the accusations. Donation for jewelry and statues, small (+). Donations for beggars clearly are (+), (++), and big (+) depending upon amount.

  • Baltic Trader,


    Spectacular proof above, of your (already well known; by me too) very rich background and gaming experience...


    This time I wish to be concentrated a bit more on Arsenal-related situations. In my opinion, Arsenal is still a less-analyzed domain; in function of its close relationships with Weapons Dealers from one side; with decision-makers as AI Mayors from other side.


    As a wireframe description: Suppose we have a dozen of cities. Every city's population is turning around 76 000. In every city, all 3 segments of inhabitants are "Very Happy" since years (we are in 1314). In Patrician-Level of difficulty settings, "all" the goods are sold to the city under very reasonable pricing conditions, since years, any lack of goods neither signaled nor realized in Hanse-wide. Any pirates were seen "even appear" on the waves since years also. The unique shadow that fall to this happiness canvas, is seen Landlord occasionally besiege the cities turn after turn (I routinely and extensively sell him BTW my big surplus of Fish and Whale Oil, last lot was 28 000 and 310 000 resp.); but defeated most of the times. Road pavement and Well access of all these cities is 100%. Half-timbered houses are granted with normal, gabled houses with very high rents. General Tax per head is default 10%. Every industrial plant is functioning with full efficiency and HTH class of housing is 97-98% occupied [so still some room for platoon's families(?)]. Church is level3, constantly decorated. Default number of beggars everywhere.


    Suppose I recently became a Mayor in one of these cities and thus I can check Arsenal's situation (I do it recently in-vitro). As usual, first thing I make attention is the maximum number of platoons permitted by the city council... OK. I check it, and to my first surprise, I am informed that the city is permitted until **200** platoons! Without my intervention at all in previous months either. Let's say it may be normal, as this is a simple ratio matter in function of the population.


    Secondly I check how many units of each class exist in the city:
    Town Watchers (Sworded Units) :40
    Archers (Bow-ed Units): 0
    Cross-Bowed Units: 3
    Musketeers (Carbine Units):4
    (Edit4): Number of units of all above 4 classes Under Training: -0- Zero


    After checking most of these cities as Lord Mayor, I observed more or less same situation or repartition. Then by using those beggars and equip them with the arms that I imported from my ex-homeland, I begin to fill this staff-capacity; 5 arms+20 beggars to 1 platoon. At close to the end, to my second surprise, I can not establish more than 160 platoon (usual 4x40=160) even the City Council itself has decided to 200 platoons, and even decided it without my intervention...


    Months later, under always these above mentioned very favorable city-life conditions, when all these 160 units are combat-ready, I click to one of these town watchers; still complaining: "We are too few".


    Well, *I am feeling* something still may be done to overcome this situation; perhaps to increase this platoon number until 200 or even higher, And/Or as an outsider player, to act in the vision of those AI Mayor(s), find necessary argument(s) to convince them to fill these empty cadres.... until achievement of full number of defensive forces.



    Mandela,


    If it sounds for something to you, I may report that in a 40 City Game, I saw 4 simultaneous sieges. It even may be 5, because I don't remember well, I must dig in my hunderts of old savegames. But 4 simultaneous is already without doubt.

    Inventor of the "Turkish Building Technique"


    Game Ratings:
    First time total population beyond 3Mio frontier:3 045 259
    Current Game: P2_Herz andP2_Kanoneof course..


    Verloren ist nur, wer sich selbst aufgibt.
    Lost are only those, who abandon themselves.

    Dieser Beitrag wurde bereits 4 Mal editiert, zuletzt von Mayor of Smyrna ()

  • The dock is not necessary for recognition too.


    But there ist a limit of inhabitants of your town: Without dock the limit is 1250 and without church you can not go over 1500 people. So you must have dock and church to get 5000 inhabitants.

  • Apparently, there is another factor I was unaware of. It seems that the population must reach 1000, the wall be completely constructed, AND six months must have elapsed since taking the mission. It won't fulfill the contract earlier.


    My wall was finished, construction complete in early July, and the employed population was over 1000. I experimented a bit, adding and leaving out the tavern. The tavern attracts about a hundred more population, primarily beggars. It didn't even trigger when the employed population hit 1100.


    I had always thought the trigger for recognition was reaching an employed population of a thousand and a completed wall. ?( I guess I will have a month or so to construct more buildings ...

  • You are right. To get recognition you need


    - 1000 people
    - the wall must be constructed
    - the tavern must be build (without tavern population limit is 500 people)
    - in wintertime (with february) it needs 6 months an one day
    - in summer it needs 2 or 3 days less than 6 months


    You can have fulfilled the conditions after 5 months. Then you must wait for reconnition. The church and the dock are not necessary.

  • Actually, you do not need the tavern.


    You can get around it by parking a ship (I used a snaikka) and transferring sailors to it, then firing them to build up the population past 1000. They become beggars, who go to work for you.


    It was successful at the six months date.