Food Caravans...?

[Eddy]

So Ming, to use the food caravan just to one city is allowed, but more than once is not because it stays at -1 no matter how many times you send in a food caravan.

So, if I establish a food caravan to a city, then get another city to cancel that route by forming another, can I not then re-establish another food trade route?

....and so on? Is that cheating.... and then who would know if that was done... and not the other way?!

Eddy

[AkwaticDudeCity]

Ming, Eddy
In case you didn't know; a foodroute from one city to another gets cancelled by establishing regular traderoutes. You'll need three functioning regular traderoutes from the supplying city. The third will cancel it.
It is possible to establish several foodroutes to one city from several others. This way you can grow a city to an extremely large size for whatever purpose(s) you might have and it will be able to sustain its size.
Concerning if the use of foodcaravans to grow a city is a cheat, i don't think so. I imagine the caravan brings to the city large amounts of food, which attracts immigrants and stimulates the locals to 'breed' a little more intense because there's security of food for the newborns. Imagine the supplying city pooling its resources for those few or that one turn to intensify their local foodproduction and process it so as to ship it to the receiving city. It makes perfect sense to me.

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ugh crud, why won't they fall prey to my Machiavellian schemes?

[Jim W]

Sorry, folks, I'm confused again.

Now, the "food caravan trick" consists of making a food caravan, sending it out of the city,, then back in, producing a trade food loop for one city?

On the other hand, I've been doing a lot of building of units, buildings, and so on, by sending out a food caravan from one city to another, then disbanding it on arrival. This I take to be the ewuivalent of transferring resoources from one city to another in order to build things, and I sure hope nobody is going to tell me it's a cheat.

Last thing, what is "ship-chaining?" I don't think I've ever done it, but just to make sure...

Thanks,

Jim W

[AkwaticDudeCity]

Jim
you need not be confused;

quote: making a food caravan, sending it out of the city, then back in, producing a trade food loop for one city?

that is not a cheat, in fact it is impossible. If the foodcaravan enters its homecity nothing happens.
About your 'production-transport', i don't think that's a cheat either, although i wouldn't recommend doing it. A caravan/freight costs 50 shields. If you disband it to speed up production for anything besides a wonder, you'll lose 25 shields and gain 25 for production. Not really efficient i would say
But here's an off-topic tip from me 2u i use for rush-building. For example i need armor (80 shields)in one turn, but the producing city has a production of no more than 50. This means the city would take two turns to build the armor and 'lose' 20 shields too. What i do is i deduct the city's production from the required shields and 'buy' the rest. In this case i bought a diplomat of 30 shields and changed production to armor. The city will now produce the armor in one turn with minimum loss of shields. You can also rush-build improvements this way. Just make sure you don't change the type of what you're building. When rush-building units, buy units and the same goes for improvements.

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ugh crud, why won't they fall prey to my Machiavellian schemes?

[Ming]

Let's try explaining the food caravan trick one more time.

The basic form:
City A is the city you want to grow.
City B is the city supplying the caravans.

Send a food caravan from city B to A.
The first caravan fills the food box for city A.
Rush build food caravan in city B.
Next turn, send another food caravan from city B to A. This will add a population to city A.
Repeat until you get bored.
Every two turns, city A will grow by one population. You can get cities over 100 pop this way.

City B will only show a minus one to it's food, even if it sends 50 caravans to city A.
As long as it keeps sending them to the SAME city.

You can use half your cities to make the other half grow over 100.

Xin Yu came up with a trick where you rotate how you are sending the caravans so you can grow all you cities at the same time. It made my head hurt thinking about it, and was even more tedious.

[Jim W]

But what is ship-chaining? The term itself doesn't seem to tell me anything.

Jim W

[Paul]

When you transport a unit on a ship and the ship ends its turn in a square where an other ship is waiting you can wake up the unit. When you move the second ship it will transport your unit. You can use this to transport units over unlimited distance.

[Eddy]

Ming,

I see your point about many food caravans from one city to another making the city grow 1 population point every 2 turns.

Do we not consider WLTC days in Demo and Rep, 1 population point every 1 turn a cheat?

My point being, if your in Fundy and you want your population to grow as good as in Demo and Rep, this is the only way!

If someone wishes to spend tons of resources on food caravans and not on building other units or wonders or something, isn't that just a different strategy?

Eddy
[Thumbs up for Food Caravans!]

[geofelt]

My camels once stopped a barb invasion. A new city was started near another which was accumulating caravans for a wonder. A barb ship appeard next to the defenseless city, so I blocked the landing areas with camels. The barb ship just stayed there until I could build a defense and remove the camels. Early on(and later also, I think), the barbs do not have an amphibious capability.

[George Garrett]

Praise be to Ming, and others, for their tips on growing cities, via caravans, and ship-chaining.

Speaking for myself, the only "cheat" is when one toggles the "cheat" switch...and I've no quarrel with any who do this - as far as I'm concerned, anything else is innovation, or tried and true traditional tactics.
While my caravans are hanging about, waiting for their Wonder ("Trade...? - wot's dat?"), I like to put'em to work, wandering about, as cheap explorers, tearing aside the blacknes to find all them huts, that I'll subsequently fail to investigate. Or else I'll stow them in Cities other than the Science one for which they're ultimately bound,in the hope that, fortified,they can help the local garrison stave off attacks - they do have a defence factor, after all - has anybody tried defending a city -er- manned entirely by fortified camels? It seems to me, entirely possibe, if enough are stuffed into the city to get a defence factor of umpteen...and how do these "military units" affect the happiness of the local citzenry?...Whatever, an amusing concept.

[Carolus Rex]

I do the same thing with any units available (if I can spare them), especially if it's a vulnerable city.

Problem is, the damn ship never leaves!

Carolus

[The Mad Monk]

quote: Units with an attack strength of 0 do not help with happiness. (camels, transports and spies)

Neither do they hurt, if you're in Republic or Democracy and send them out.

[SandMonkey]

Man i thought i was losing my mind looking at the two posts above... Feb 2000... Mar 2000.... Feb 2000.... Mar 2000.... The Mad.... The Mad.... VIKING AND MONK! DUH!!!! Okay sorry just thought i would share my idiocy with others.

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SandMonkey

"Shut up brain or I'll stab you with a qtip"
-Homer Simpson

"Ecky ecky ecky!"
"It's just a flesh wound!"
- Monty Python and the Holy Grail

[George Garrett]

Viking, NOTHING helps with my happiness, my cities are ever in turmoil, no matter what I do for 'em, wise and humane ruler tho I be...
I throw temples, colleseums, cathedrals,etc at the problem but that moody mob of municipalities is ever on my mind... wouldn't have it any other way tho - gives a unique twist to the great game...thanks for your input.
<font size=1 face=Arial color=444444>[This message has been edited by George Garrett (edited April 17, 2000).]</font>
<font size=1 face=Arial color=444444>[This message has been edited by George Garrett (edited April 17, 2000).]</font>
<font size=1 face=Arial color=444444>[This message has been edited by George Garrett (edited April 17, 2000).]</font>
[This message has been edited by George Garrett (edited April 17, 2000).]

[The Mad Viking]

George G

Units with an attack strength of 0 do not help with happiness. (camels, transports and spies)

No matter how many you stack, they defend one at a time. But better camels than nothing!