This dude shows up with a spanner and an oily rag

[rjmatsleepers]

It's late in the game and I get a great engineer. (The game level is Prince and I have seven cities. I'm going for a spaceship win and I estimate I'll launch in about 40 turns.)

Extra hammers are useful at this stage but what's the best way to use him?

Joining him to my high hammer city will give me 12 hammers per turn plus some beakers.

Helping with the Space Eleveator will give me 800 hammers.

A Golden Age will give me about 120 hammers and 115 beakers per turn for eight turns. (These figures could probably be increased by optimum allocation of citizens and would certainly increase with less war weary red faces.)

Founding Creative construction will give me extra hammers at the cost of gold - perhaps 20 hammers/ turn at a cost of 10 gold.

Similarly, founding Mining Inc will give me extra hammers at the cost of gold - perhaps 40 hammers/ turn at a cost of 10 gold.

The figures for the Corporations depend on how many branches I open and whether I can obtain more resources.

If I help the Space Elevator, or join my high hammer city, all the extra hammers will be tightly focussed on my spaceship objective. Probably the same is true for the Corporations.

Some Golden Age hammers are likely to be "wasted" on things not directly linked to building spaceship parts.

I think Mining Inc is probably my best bet, although that means no State Property. What do others think?

RJM

[fed1943]

Well, IMHO more data needed to evaluate Space Elevator: how many
turns gained and how many cities shall build the Ship and their
production, so that we can "translate" into "useful" hammers.
If not, and anyway, Mining Inc is a sure bet.
Best regards,

[Theben]

Either Mining or Elevator, since you're going for a spaceship win.

[snoopy369]

Mining Inc. clearly, unless no SP would cripple your economy.

[Ming]

Since he stated he only had 7 cities, I highly doubt that not having SP would cripple his economy

[Krill]

Depends how many workers and how many watermills/workshops he has...

[Supr49er]

Had to look up spanner on wiki to see that it's a wrench.

[rjmatsleepers]

Thanks for the helpful comments.

Originally posted by fed1943
Well, IMHO more data needed to evaluate Space Elevator: how many turns gained and how many cities shall build the Ship and their production, so that we can "translate" into "useful" hammers. If not, and anyway, Mining Inc is a sure bet.
Best regards,

Six cities will build the spaceship. They have 96, 42, 60, 78, 44 and 38 hammers on the F1 screen. Adding hammers to the elevator will reduce time from 15 to 9 turns.

Originally posted by Krill
Depends how many workers and how many watermills/workshops he has...

I have a number of workers (five I think) sitting around doing nothing. I have one watermill, but no workshops in use.

As far as Mining Inc is concerned, I plan to build executives, but only spread it when they begin building a spaceship part.

RJM

[Theben]

Originally posted by rjmatsleepers
I have a number of workers (five I think) sitting around doing nothing. I have one watermill, but no workshops in use.

So why are you in SP?

As far as Mining Inc is concerned, I plan to build executives, but only spread it when they begin building a spaceship part.

Again, why? Are you that cash-strapped? Building execs and then letting them sit is wasting potential.

[rjmatsleepers]

Originally posted by Theben

Originally posted by RJMatsleepers
I have a number of workers (five I think) sitting around doing nothing. I have one watermill, but no workshops in use.

So why are you in SP?

If I don't build a corporation, I plan to switch to SP when I start building the spaceship to get the extra hammers.

Originally posted by Theben

Originally posted by RJMatsleepers
As far as Mining Inc is concerned, I plan to build executives, but only spread it when they begin building a spaceship part.

Again, why? Are you that cash-strapped? Building execs and then letting them sit is wasting potential.

I'm not cash strapped; just didn't think it was worth swapping cash for hammers 'til I start building. (This may be an error.)

RJM

[Garth Vader]

Are you spiritual? If not it's not worth the anarchy to switch out of SP for mining. I'd just use it on the elevator.

[snoopy369]

Good lord, how can you win with just 7 cities???

I guess it's been a while since I played a prince game, but still...

[Virulent]

Originally posted by snoopy369
Good lord, how can you win with just 7 cities???

I guess it's been a while since I played a prince game, but still...

I wonder what the map size is? Winning with 7 cities actually isn't that out of the ordinary on standard or smaller map sizes.

[rjmatsleepers]

Originally posted by Garth Vader
Are you spiritual? If not it's not worth the anarchy to switch out of SP for mining. I'd just use it on the elevator.

Yup, spiritual. Wouldn't bother otherwise.

RJM

[rjmatsleepers]

Originally posted by snoopy369
Good lord, how can you win with just 7 cities???

I guess it's been a while since I played a prince game, but still...

Originally posted by Virulent


I wonder what the map size is? Winning with 7 cities actually isn't that out of the ordinary on standard or smaller map sizes.

As you guessed, the map size is standard (and the level is only noble).

I build six cities so that they can each have a university, enabling Oxford in my SSC. The seventh is a pretty poor thing. It's main purpose is to build a forge so that I can get the Ironworks without building a forge in my SSC. I'll build eight or nine cities if there are suitable locations, but rarely more. I get by with six at a pinch.

Can the game be won with this few cities? On vanilla, I've won at Emperor, but that was a particularly beneficial start. On warlords, I've won at Monarch. I'm new to BTS, and still working my way up.

RJM