Legoland Golden Ages

[vondrack]

OK, I was thinking about what Tibi asked in the post above... when I started this thread weeks ago, I was not thinking about picking up our best sites and finding out how to set them up for our GA. I was thinking about having some plan for every city of ours. A plan that would draw the goal and the way how to achieve the goal (terrain and city improvements & population growth) in that city.

Now that we have a solid plan for Jackson, which puts the beginning of our GA to somewhere around turn 175 (about 25 turns from now), let's see what we can do within those 25 turns...

First, something about the likely geopolitical situation 25 turns from now. The war on Bob will likely be over or close to being over. If not, Legoland entering GA will undoubtedly accelerate any peace talks, as other teams will not want to let us jump ahead uncontested, beating each other into pulp in the meantime. Quite likely, even those teams currently being our allies (barring Voxes) will suddenly become, say, less helpful.

I do not think we need to fear a direct military action against us (an invasion of Legos), as nobody will have the navy and spare troops, but I am convinced we will have to face some sort of an economic embargo. It is quite likely we may be deprived of imported luxuries - because that's something others will be able to do easily without going to war with us.

So, let's talk about our situation then happiness-wise. (Sorry if this is boring stuff, but I need to get this right for myself).


Happiness Analysis

Game is being played on Chieftain. That's 4 content citizens. All citizens beyond the fourth one are born unhappy. We have one luxury of our own. This luxury generates one happy face, making one of our content citizens happy:

C01 ... born content; made happy by dyes
C02 ... born content
C03 ... born content
C04 ... born content

J. S. Bach's Cathedral we are going to finish in a couple of turns decreases the number of unhappy citizens on the continent by 2 per city (generates 2 content faces). Thus, we will have:

C01 ... born content; made happy by dyes
C02 ... born content
C03 ... born content
C04 ... born content
C05 ... born unhappy; made content by Bach
C06 ... born unhappy; made content by Bach
C07 ... born unhappy (balanced by the happy C01)

This basically means that for cities up to pop 7, we will need NO happiness city improvements at all, as our dyes and the Bach's will be enough to make the city happy enough (1 happy + 5 content + 1 unhappy).

We have or will soon have a temple in most of our cities:

C01 ... born content; made happy by dyes
C02 ... born content
C03 ... born content
C04 ... born content
C05 ... born unhappy; made content by Bach
C06 ... born unhappy; made content by Bach
C07 ... born unhappy; made content by temple
C08 ... born unhappy (balanced by the happy C01)

Means, up to pop 8, we will be able to operate without any imported luxuries or luxury slider; we need a temple only. For higher (12) pop cities, something else will obviously needed:

C01 ... born content; made happy by dyes
C02 ... born content
C03 ... born content
C04 ... born content
C05 ... born unhappy; made content by Bach
C06 ... born unhappy; made content by Bach
C07 ... born unhappy; made content by temple
C08 ... born unhappy (balanced by the happy C01)
C09 ... born unhappy
C10 ... born unhappy
C11 ... born unhappy
C12 ... born unhappy

That is four content or happy faces we will need. We will be able to get those from:

a) a cathedral ... 3 content faces (cost 160 shields)
b) a colosseum ... 2 content faces (cost 120 shields)
c) an imported lux ... 1 happy face per luxury type
d) the luxury slider ... 1 happy face per 1 gold spent
e) entertainer(s) ... rather not

So, what are real options available:

A) cathedral + 1 imported lux
B) cathedral + Sistine's
C) cathedral + colosseum
D) marketplace + 3 imported luxes (1+2+2)
E) luxury slider at 10% (out of ~40+g is ~4 happy faces)

Now, A+D depend on imported luxes, which is quite obviously something we cannot rely upon (though the likelihood of Voxes being able to broker at least one luxury is fairly high). B needs costly city improvements and a 600-shield wonder we have nowhere to build - and it's an overkill (6 faces instead of 4 needed). Even C is an overkill, plus colosseums just do not deliver the right effect for their 120 shields...

Which, however, means, that IF we are targetted by a worldwide luxury embargo, we will have to resort to the luxury slider ANYWAY. As 10% is the minimum we will be able to set it to, it should provide all four faces we need (we are talking big cities here, with commerce well over 40 raw gold).

And I am finally getting to my point: I do not think we need to build 160-shield cathedrals in our soon-to-be-big cities. We need to build 100-shield marketplaces there. Because if we are not embargoed, we will be able to use them to tame the unhappiness (just 3 imported luxes needed). And if we ARE embargoed, they will generate the cash we will have to spend through the luxury slider.

Note, please, that cathedrals do not allow pop 12 on their own. They still need at least 1 imported luxury (and cost 2gpt).

So, my suggestion would be to equip every pop-12-to-be city with a marketplace. Cathedrals only where we can afford it - not necessary at all...

There are, however, two options we should at least mention:

I. Sistine's - 600 shields, but total safety with cathedrals
II. Hanging Gardens - 300 shields, allow cities to operate at pop 12 with just a cathedral... (HG generate 1 content face per city on the continent)

IMHO, Sistine's is just too expensive to be a real option. I do not see a city able to hoard 600 shields within 25 turns. And while HG is reasonable as far as its shield cost is concerned, the effect expires with Steam Power - which is what we assume will roughly match with the end of our GA...

So, I would still stick to the marketplace way. We build marketplaces BEFORE we enter GA. We will then be able to see what the situation is...

a) total embargo... 10% lux slider, build cathedrals and colosseums quickly (or Sistine's)
b) 1 lux available ... 10% lux slider, build cathedrals quickly, then get rid of lux spendings
c) 2 lux available ... 10% lux slider, build colosseums, then get rid of lux spendings
d) 3 lux available ... do nothing, just enjoy the marketplaces in action.

Note to self: we should really try hard to secure some lux deals shortly before entering our GA...

[Tiberius]

Originally posted by vondrack
A) cathedral + 1 imported lux
B) cathedral + Sistine's
C) cathedral + colosseum
D) marketplace + 3 imported luxes (1+2+2)
E) luxury slider at 10% (out of ~40+g is ~4 happy faces)

Now, A+D depend on imported luxes, which is quite obviously something we cannot rely upon (though the likelihood of Voxes being able to broker at least one luxury is fairly high). B needs costly city improvements and a 600-shield wonder we have nowhere to build - and it's an overkill (6 faces instead of 4 needed). Even C is an overkill, plus colosseums just do not deliver the right effect for their 120 shields...

Which, however, means, that IF we are targetted by a worldwide luxury embargo, we will have to resort to the luxury slider ANYWAY. As 10% is the minimum we will be able to set it to, it should provide all four faces we need (we are talking big cities here, with commerce well over 40 raw gold).

And I am finally getting to my point: I do not think we need to build 160-shield cathedrals in our soon-to-be-big cities. We need to build 100-shield marketplaces there. Because if we are not embargoed, we will be able to use them to tame the unhappiness (just 3 imported luxes needed). And if we ARE embargoed, they will generate the cash we will have to spend through the luxury slider.

So, my suggestion would be to equip every pop-12-to-be city with a marketplace. Cathedrals only where we can afford it - not necessary at all...

So, I would still stick to the marketplace way. We build marketplaces BEFORE we enter GA. We will then be able to see what the situation is...

Great analysis!

I definitely agree now to build markets, because of the reasons mentioned above. We could use then our GA to build the costly cathedrals and the Sistine's. After that, no happiness problems until we grow over 12, which won't happen too soon

Note to self: we should really try hard to secure some lux deals shortly before entering our GA...

We have just done this!

[Tiberius]

Updated (turn 163) for the following cities: Panama, Red Bricks, Kloreepville, Sharpeheaven, Forkmouth, Zargonia, Farmerville, Karina and Logville (new entry! ).

[Tiberius]

Updated for most of the cities; added Tarzania.

[vondrack]

Castlea

The ideal GA setup (considering the shield production) for Castlea is probably at pop 4, working:

1x (+2F 2S 4C) ... city tile

1x (-1F 4S 3C) ... 1 mined/roaded hill
1x (+1F 0S 3C) ... 1 mined/irrigated regular grass
1x (-2F 4S 3C) ... 1 roaded/mined mountain
1x ( 0F 2S 3C) ... 1 roaded/irrigated plains

Total food: 8 fpt (city not growing, nor starving)
Total production: 12spt
Total commerce: 16gpt

Terrain improvements needed:

a) finish roading the mountain (4 Wt)
b) mine the mountain (12 Wt)

Worker schedule:

T169: George roading desert (1), Jack roading mountain (3)
T170: George roading desert (2), Jack roading mountain (4)
T171: George irrigating desert (1), Jack roading mountain (5)
T172: George irrigating desert (2), Jack roading mountain (6)
T173: George moving N-N and mining (1), Jack mining (2)
T174: George & Jack mining mountain (3+4)
T175: George & Jack mining mountain (5+6)
T176: George & Jack mining mountain (7+8)
T177: George & Jack mining mountain (9+10)
T178: George & Jack mining mountain (11+12)

Growth schedule:

T169: 18F, +2fpt
T170: city grows to pop 4, new labourer to coast -> +1fpt
T171-176: slowly growing, +1fpt
T177: labourer from coast to roaded mountain -> 0fpt
T178+: GA

Production queue

Looking at the GA setup, it's obvious that we shall NOT need a harbour in Castlea in the near future (we do not plan to work any water tiles there). We shall not need a temple there either (low pop). So... my recommendation is to switch the build to a library (to make the best use of the few commerce produced there and to expand the radius), then a temple (to further help expanding the radius), and only then a harbour (to get ready for the post-GA, growth and sea-based commerce oriented setup):

T169: change build to library (36/80), +4spt
T170: building library (40/80), +4spt
T171: building library (44/80), +4spt
T172: building library (48/80), +4spt
----: partially goldrush the library to 60S for 4*12=48g
T173: building library (64/80), +4spt
T174: building library (68/80), +4spt
T175: building library (72/80), +4spt
T176: building library (76/80), +4spt
T177: library finished, GA start

[vondrack]

Abilene

The ideal GA setup (considering the shield production) for Abilene is probably at pop 6, working:

1x (+2F 2S 3C) ... city tile

4x (-1F 4S 3C) ... 4 mined/roaded hills
1x (+2F 2S 3C) ... 1 roaded/mined cattle
1x ( 0F 3S 3C) ... 1 roaded/mined bonus grassland

Total food: 12 fpt (city not growing, nor starving)
Total production: 23spt
Total commerce: 21gpt

Terrain improvements needed:

a) mine the cattle (3 Wt)
b) road and mine 4 hills (4x (1+3+6) = 40 Wt)

[Tiberius]

Port Hammer

The ideal GA setup for Port Hammer at pop 6 is:

1x (2F 2S 3C) ... city tile

3x (2F 2S 3C) ... 3 irrigated/roaded plains - done
1x (3F 0S 5C) ... 1 fish - done
2x (1F 4S 3C) ... 2 roaded/mined hills

Total food: 13 fpt (+1 fpt)
Total production: 16 spt
Total commerce: 23 gpt

Terrain improvements needed:

a) road and mine 2 hills: 2x (1+3+6) = 20 Wt

City improvements needed:

- library or temple, to include the 2 hills inside the city's cultural borders

Thus, I'd propose to change the harbour build (PH doesn't need a harbour to grow anyway, and for a ship building center the city has too low production) to a temple or library.

[vondrack]

Alright, I believe we made some great use of our GA. Thanks to our diligent planning, we were able to build our military up to the strongest force in this world, while finishing a number of important city improvements throughout our empire. Our fruitful GA shall forever remain the opening period of glory and might for Legoland.

With our GA over, I am detopping the thread.

Yay, we did enjoy it!

[ZargonX]

It was a good one, but I'm sad to see it go

[Spiffor]

That was an excellent work and planning, impressive!

Is there a team that hasn't reached its GA yet, or were we the last? In this case, our hegemony is guaranteed indeed, unless there is a world coalition against us

[vondrack]

The only team not having their GA yet are Roleplayers, which pose very little threat. Vox and GS used their GAs to fight each other, GoW and ND used their GAs to fight RP. We were the only team enjoying a peaceful GA.