Posted August 26, 2011
high rated
A couple of things I've learned from playing the game for 15 years.
Expansion and Military structures:
Military building expansion area(Diagonally. From the structure, not the flag. Border markers appear on the last tile and are unusable):
Barracks - 8 tiles
Gatehouse - 9 tiles
Watchtower - 10 tiles
Fortress - 11 tiles
For initial expansion you should use the Barracks as they allow for the quickest expansion rate, disallow coins for these interior buildings as it is a waste. You should keep building barracks until you're within 1 and 1/2 screen away from your enemy's borders.
Try to plan your expansion; initial military buildings will always have a lot of overlap, so it can often be worthwhile to build with closer intervals than is possible so that you can remove superfluous buildings. With initial expansion you can at most build 7 tiles(With Barracks) away from your last military building, which means you're wasting over 50% of your total expansion area. Build so that you can delete half your expansion structures without losing territory(Apart from some tiles at the extreme edges).
You should place your military buildings around the edges of arable land to optimize farming area. Your interior Barracks, once built and manned, will not require a road connection anymore, so if you're wasting land with those roads you should disconnect them.
As you get closer to the enemy borders you should switch exclusively to Watchtowers and Fortresses(Use a Gatehouse in a pinch), all of which should allow coins. When you are bordering the enemy you should invest in catapults, which are able to deplete and destroy enemy military buildings(I have never checked the range, it's somewhere around 10 tiles).
Resource harvesting:
On most maps you should be able to do without foresters for a long time, instead relying on stripping forests with 4-8 woodcutters as you expand. Once a forest is stripped you destroy the woodcutters and rebuild them at the next forest. This will also open up a lot of farming area for later use. Woodcutters have a harvesting range of 6.
When you get to the point where you do need a forester you should place it in the area least useful for farming; thin passes between mountains and the like are preferrable. 1 Forester can supply 2 Woodcutters, although I like to build them in a chain where it's Woodcutter - Forester - Woodcutter - Forester - Woodcutter, etc. Foresters, once occupied, do not require a road connection to function. Remove any unnecessary road leading to it to optimize planting area. Foresters have a planting range of 6.
Farms require 5 fields to operate at a constant 100%. Try to give them 2 tiles worth of space between them and any nearby road or structure. 2 farms should keep 1 Windmill and 1 Baker occupied with some spare grain. I think the optimal setup it 3 farms, 2 windmills, 2 bakers, but this depends heavily on how many Breweries and Donkey Breeders you have. Pig farms are mostly unnecessary. Donkey Breeders should be built(At least 1) for large maps with optimized road layouts in heavy resource areas.
Fisheries are a very important initial food source, and remain necessary throughout the game.They should be built with one screen interval. Any sizable internal watersource should also have its own fishery.
As for mining, you need many coal mines, an adequate supply of iron, and few gold mines. I usually have 5 coal, 3 iron, 1 gold for an initial manufacturing economy. When you start sending out Geologists(They have about a 5 range, so establish a flag up in the mountain about 5 or 6 tiles deep, and send 3 to each flag. You start with 6 Geologists) you should map out any mountain range you can find and then build unconnected mines(This means, establish the build site, but do not start building the mine. They should be disconnected from the road network.) everywhere. This means you can easily locate a new mine when your active mines get depleted. Mines deplete not only their own tile, but also neighbouring tiles, so remember this when placing mines.
For a 2 Iron Smelter, 1 Metalworks, 1 Armoury, 1 Mint industry you will need 5 coal mines, 3 iron mines, and 1 gold mine to operate in the green. You will have to adjust the resource distribution somewhat to suit your specific conditions(It should ideally be equal). Coal is the most important resource to keep your industry going, if your food income can support it you should have more coal mines.
Hunter cabins are good for initial expansion, but should be phased out for farmland later on. It is always good to have a large foodstock before you start building your industrial economy, so if you can you should build them.
Auxilliary structures and logistics:
Warehouses are very important in a large economy and you should have one with about 1 and 1/2 screen intervals, or around industrial centers. They alleviate traffic and speed up construction and expansion at the front.
Lookout Towers are mostly useless, I never build them.
You should try to maintain a constant 1 spread flag layout, meaning flag - open - flag, which is the shortest possible road length. Again, plan ahead with your expansion and try to make sure you keep this constant throughout your territory. For temporary strip-cutters, farms and mines connecting to the main road network, and non-production structures like foresters(Although they shouldn't have a road at all) and catapults, and interior military buildings, this rule can be ignored, but your main road network should have a constant 1 spread.
Adjust Goods Distribution and Transport Priorities to suit your current requirements. If you're expanding near the enemy borders and have to get a building up quick, shoot all necessary goods to the top; if you need more soldiers then give iron smelters, armouries, brewers, and their respective goods the priority; if you need coins to the fortress at the frontline then do the same with coins. Give yourself every advantage you can.
Expansion and Military structures:
Military building expansion area(Diagonally. From the structure, not the flag. Border markers appear on the last tile and are unusable):
Barracks - 8 tiles
Gatehouse - 9 tiles
Watchtower - 10 tiles
Fortress - 11 tiles
For initial expansion you should use the Barracks as they allow for the quickest expansion rate, disallow coins for these interior buildings as it is a waste. You should keep building barracks until you're within 1 and 1/2 screen away from your enemy's borders.
Try to plan your expansion; initial military buildings will always have a lot of overlap, so it can often be worthwhile to build with closer intervals than is possible so that you can remove superfluous buildings. With initial expansion you can at most build 7 tiles(With Barracks) away from your last military building, which means you're wasting over 50% of your total expansion area. Build so that you can delete half your expansion structures without losing territory(Apart from some tiles at the extreme edges).
You should place your military buildings around the edges of arable land to optimize farming area. Your interior Barracks, once built and manned, will not require a road connection anymore, so if you're wasting land with those roads you should disconnect them.
As you get closer to the enemy borders you should switch exclusively to Watchtowers and Fortresses(Use a Gatehouse in a pinch), all of which should allow coins. When you are bordering the enemy you should invest in catapults, which are able to deplete and destroy enemy military buildings(I have never checked the range, it's somewhere around 10 tiles).
Resource harvesting:
On most maps you should be able to do without foresters for a long time, instead relying on stripping forests with 4-8 woodcutters as you expand. Once a forest is stripped you destroy the woodcutters and rebuild them at the next forest. This will also open up a lot of farming area for later use. Woodcutters have a harvesting range of 6.
When you get to the point where you do need a forester you should place it in the area least useful for farming; thin passes between mountains and the like are preferrable. 1 Forester can supply 2 Woodcutters, although I like to build them in a chain where it's Woodcutter - Forester - Woodcutter - Forester - Woodcutter, etc. Foresters, once occupied, do not require a road connection to function. Remove any unnecessary road leading to it to optimize planting area. Foresters have a planting range of 6.
Farms require 5 fields to operate at a constant 100%. Try to give them 2 tiles worth of space between them and any nearby road or structure. 2 farms should keep 1 Windmill and 1 Baker occupied with some spare grain. I think the optimal setup it 3 farms, 2 windmills, 2 bakers, but this depends heavily on how many Breweries and Donkey Breeders you have. Pig farms are mostly unnecessary. Donkey Breeders should be built(At least 1) for large maps with optimized road layouts in heavy resource areas.
Fisheries are a very important initial food source, and remain necessary throughout the game.They should be built with one screen interval. Any sizable internal watersource should also have its own fishery.
As for mining, you need many coal mines, an adequate supply of iron, and few gold mines. I usually have 5 coal, 3 iron, 1 gold for an initial manufacturing economy. When you start sending out Geologists(They have about a 5 range, so establish a flag up in the mountain about 5 or 6 tiles deep, and send 3 to each flag. You start with 6 Geologists) you should map out any mountain range you can find and then build unconnected mines(This means, establish the build site, but do not start building the mine. They should be disconnected from the road network.) everywhere. This means you can easily locate a new mine when your active mines get depleted. Mines deplete not only their own tile, but also neighbouring tiles, so remember this when placing mines.
For a 2 Iron Smelter, 1 Metalworks, 1 Armoury, 1 Mint industry you will need 5 coal mines, 3 iron mines, and 1 gold mine to operate in the green. You will have to adjust the resource distribution somewhat to suit your specific conditions(It should ideally be equal). Coal is the most important resource to keep your industry going, if your food income can support it you should have more coal mines.
Hunter cabins are good for initial expansion, but should be phased out for farmland later on. It is always good to have a large foodstock before you start building your industrial economy, so if you can you should build them.
Auxilliary structures and logistics:
Warehouses are very important in a large economy and you should have one with about 1 and 1/2 screen intervals, or around industrial centers. They alleviate traffic and speed up construction and expansion at the front.
Lookout Towers are mostly useless, I never build them.
You should try to maintain a constant 1 spread flag layout, meaning flag - open - flag, which is the shortest possible road length. Again, plan ahead with your expansion and try to make sure you keep this constant throughout your territory. For temporary strip-cutters, farms and mines connecting to the main road network, and non-production structures like foresters(Although they shouldn't have a road at all) and catapults, and interior military buildings, this rule can be ignored, but your main road network should have a constant 1 spread.
Adjust Goods Distribution and Transport Priorities to suit your current requirements. If you're expanding near the enemy borders and have to get a building up quick, shoot all necessary goods to the top; if you need more soldiers then give iron smelters, armouries, brewers, and their respective goods the priority; if you need coins to the fortress at the frontline then do the same with coins. Give yourself every advantage you can.
