City-Planner's Report

[cavebear]

Well, there are already 2 polls discussing needed city structures so I won't be redundant about that. Clearly, we want to increase our cities trade and shield production capacities, so I plan to recommend Offshore Platforms in 4 additional cities (we are building 4 already) for increased shield output.

That will allow us to build Superhighways in those cities faster (for 8 total right now, but not all the same cities). There are places that could use Banks,but would not gain much from Platforms or Superhighways.

It is just too detailed to try to poll or list all 33 cities, but there is a blend of gold, trade, and shields overall...

I've listed the Worker adjustments I feel will improve overall production for each city, and will be sending that spreadsheet to the President as soon as I'm sure it is in agreement with the existing polls (will change it as appropriate).

I can't get it small enough but readable enough to post...

[SCG]

Originally posted by cavebear
Well, there are already 2 polls discussing needed city structures so I won't be redundant about that. Clearly, we want to increase our cities trade and shield production capacities, so I plan to recommend Offshore Platforms in 4 additional cities (we are building 4 already) for increased shield output.

sorry about spreading out so much, but in my first look at the game, i realized obiwan18 wasn't kidding when he said we were pretty lean (in fact he may have understated it a little.)

Nearly everywhere i looked in our great civilization I kept finding glaring gaps in our ability to trade, or increase trade. I would have posted even more suggestions (some of which STYOM decided to include in his suggestions) except that i was worried I was infringing on every other minister's terain. I tried to limit my cityplanner's suggestions to just 1 city (capitol - it already has 40 shields, and offshore platform wouldn't cut any time off building superhighways (unless we rehome some units if my math is right), and would cost far more in support than the gold we'd gain from having the superhighways. The rest of the time i tried to phrase it as high priority, and emphasize if i had my choice, I'd want the superhighways first and formost. And i did wait till i got a couple of replies from different ministers before posting my poll

I really do agree with my fellow rookie minister STYOM that we really should look into celebrating in capable cities rather than raising production - by celebrating, we get both the production and more trade

I didn't think you'd go for the trade minister adjusting the trade to his liking in each and every city

[Ben Kenobi]

Yeah, I tend to run my games pretty lean. Basics of marketplace/temple/library were hard enough to build from scratch.

Superhighways are a fine plan, its just that when I had the proposal, superhighways weren't yet available. I don't like to plan too far in advance because priorities can change very quickly.

Celebrations are an idea, how many could we get a turn, tinkering with the luxuries rate, SGP?

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

I didn't mean to tread on anyone's toes either - but trade and science and city management are all interrelated of course.

Celebrations in the smaller cities won't happen for the most part without Courthouse/CfC.

Superhighways and then Freight is my universal recommendation. Freight costs us nothing in support. Deliver 8 of them a turn, and average 800 gold and 800 beakers. Bye-bye, cash flow problems. Hello, 2 turns/tech and a fat treasury to rushbuy spaceship parts with.

Superhighways and Offshore Platforms are inversely related. If a city needs one, it probably shouldn't have the other. What makes SH so attractive (and why I prefer them to Platforms) is that they boost tax/sci/lux outputs as well as boosting trade route payoffs, and the value of ongoing routes. Result? The city celebrates easier (and grows!), produces more cash, produces more beakers. Caravan payoffs are boosted - that's even more cash and beakers, and still more arrows from the routes.

A Platform, OTOH, only gives us a few more shields. Helpful, sure... but it doesn't do as much as a SH.

IMNSHO!

[SCG]

Originally posted by obiwan18 Celebrations are an idea, how many could we get a turn, tinkering with the luxuries rate, SGP?

without either the CfC or courthouses, only cities that have a content for their first citizen will celebrate on odd city sizes (i didn't see any on a quick scan). But we should be able to get nearly every even sized city to grow without any change to the tax rate. A few like Seville, Avila, Obladi, Naples, and Malaga have nearly full food so we could get 2-3 growth before next cabinet meeting. For Seville, we would need to drop food by 3 this turn or we will waste that food. We could rush a marketplace (or a harbor) in Darkness' Fort to get it to grow 2x instead of once. If i was playing this at home, I would probably pump taxes for 1-2 rounds and rushbuy the superhighways, marketplaces (and maybe a harbor or an aquaduct), and in promising mid-size cities a courthouse to keep them celebrating, then go back to science. I bet we could double the science rate by doing that.

I really don't want to usurp Minister Cavebear anymore than i have already so I'll leave the details to him unless he wants the suggestions.

[cavebear]

The Minister of Trade assists the President by identifying the best destinations for trade goods and the most efficient movement of transports to get them to their destinations.

The Minister of Science advises the Citizenry of the next techs in line, describing the advantages and disadvantages of various tech paths, and polling the Citizens to see which is preferred.

The Minister of City-Planning polls the Citizens about whether the cities should emphasize any particular aspects of city production, whether it be science, trade, gold, luxuries. The City-Planner then recommends city structures and worker adjustments to the President based on the general wishes of the Citizens.

OK?

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

My portfolio has been truncated!! (And we can all imagine how much that would hurt )

I can certainly understand how the City-Planner has the final call on improvements... but certainly the Science Minister can recommend the best improvements to further the cause of science. I certainly believe in recommending a tech path - but ultimately I view it as my responsibility to also determine ways to reach our science goals faster.

[cavebear]

First, it is important to realize that when you (anyone) put a question to the Citizens in a poll, the results of that poll are then locked in. A Minister cannot decide to ignore them.

Second, when you (again, anyone) poll on a subject in another Minister's area, you lock them into decisions, which is not fair to them.

It is entirely reasonable that you concern yourself with the current and future techs. It is entirely proper for you to express a desire for more science research. But don't try to tell the Minister of Trade where to send his available trade goods (for example), just because a trade route provides research beakers. The same logic applies to telling the Minister of City-Planning what to build in CAPITOL or anywhere else. I suggest you look at Ixnay's past polls of several months to get a feel for the scope of the Science Minister.

The need for more science is your part, but the "how" is not. In the same way, the Minister of Trade may get agreement that we should build 6 more freights, but he doesn't decide where or whether they are rushed.

No Minister can play all the roles, no matter how much we are used to it in regular play. We have to learn to compartmentalize our focus when playing a Democracy Game.

Fair enough?

[Ben Kenobi]

SCG-

I had the same problem when I first came, as I stepped on my Trade minister's toes as a cityplanner. You'll get the hang of it soon enough.


Now Supreme Military Commander- there's a real cabinet post.

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

Originally posted by cavebear

The need for more science is your part, but the "how" is not. In the same way, the Minister of Trade may get agreement that we should build 6 more freights, but he doesn't decide where or whether they are rushed.

No Minister can play all the roles, no matter how much we are used to it in regular play. We have to learn to compartmentalize our focus when playing a Democracy Game.

Fair enough?

I didn't realize I was stepping so hard on your toes. Sorry, cavebear. I figured that since there is so much overlap between cityplanning, trade and science, I had best lobby for the objectives of my own Ministry. It wasn't my intention to try and make decisions for the other Ministries.

I'll stick to strict tech-path polls and analysis from here on in, and restrict myself to loud and continuous lobbying (as opposed to polling) in the 'how' areas.

edit: When I posted this reply, the 'Poly quote provided was "One seldom sees a monument to a committee." :ironic:

[cavebear]

No problem, STYOM. The original wasn't a

It takes some adjustment to the usual way of playing the Civ game to make the Democracy Game work smoothly. When it works right, it's a suprisingly fascinating dance, and I think this is one d*mn good Cabinet that has been assembled, so there is lots of potential here. And we need it, this is a tricky part of the game.

I will do my utmost to satisfy your Science needs, as I hope you will agree by the list of production priorities in my poll. Decide what you need, and I will always poll the Citizens on their desired balance of requirements.