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Whipping settlers in Atlantis
I ran a couple of test scenarios to see what sort of production I could make with the whip and compares it to the current rate of building (which is approx 19 turns for a settler and an axeman). After playing around with WorldBuilder a little, I gave myself a size 4 city with improved corn, rice, stone and also had riverside bananas and dyes. Just to liven things up I mined a plains hill and farmed the bananas and dyes.
The city was given a granary and was at 20 food (growth at 42) - which is means that it has just grown from size 3. Normal happiness rules apply so I cannot grow to size 5 (4 with whip unhappiness).
I also set myself the objective of never using the rice tile, thus indication that the tile is free to be used by a fictional second city
Along the way I gave myself enough techs to allow me to research Civil Service. This was just to give an indication of the amount of beakers I was generating.
Each test ran for 100 turns
City output is measured as food surplus/hammers/tile commerce.
Test 1
Here I will restrict myself to using the 5/0/0 (corn), 1/4/0 (stone), 3/0/1 (banana) and 2/1/0 grassland wood.
Just one small cheat however, because I will use the rice tile (4/0/0) for a few turns at the beginning to get the settler into the whip range
Turn 0: Total city output 7/5/2 building settler
Turn 5: Whip settler (city output 4/5/1) - finishes with 159/150
Turn 6: Settler built. Start axeman
At size 3, a work a forest tile (2/1/0) to complete the axemen before reaching size 4 (unhappiness)
Turn 14: Axeman complete. Start settler. Switch from forest to banana tile
Turn 19 or 20: Temporary switch to Axeman to allow growth to size 4
Turn 21: Whip settler
Turn 22.: Settler built. Continue axeman
Now I follow the simple rule of working the tiles in the following order
Corn, Stone, Bananas, another tile producing any combination of 3 hammers or food. Any time that I am one turn away from size 4 unhappiness, I will be building a settler, otherwise I will build an axeman. Settlers will be whipped as soon as they can be subject to their being no unhappiness at the time of the whip
The settlers and axemen continue to arrive at the following times
Axe 2: Turn 30
Settler 3: Turn 38
Axe 3: Turn 45
Settler 4: Turn 53
Axe 4: Turn 67
Settler 5: Turn 68
Axe 5: Turn 76
Settler 6: Turn 84
Axe 6: Turn 98
Settler 7: Turn 99
And, for completeness, I have 1297 beakers invested in Civil Service.
Compare this with simply building settlers and axes naturally, I have two more settlers and one more axemen. The whipping option is therefore a lot faster than not whipping.
Test 2
Here I wanted to demonstrate that the 1/4/0 was actually overrated but to do this I needed to have a farmed banana tile (4/0/1). To help me a little more, I also used the dyes.
Basically, the same rules apply here as did in Test 1, although the tile selection differed. The order of importance was
When building axe: Corn (5/0/0), Bananas (4/0/1) and Dyes (3/0/3)
When building settler: Work stone ahead of dyes or bananas.
Apart from the first few turns, the choice of the fourth tile is unimportant because we never work it. The minute we grow to size 4, the settler is whipped.
The one important thing to note here is that we do not manage to build up axemen until after the second settler is whipped. While building the axeman, we are generating only 1 hammer so all of its production comes from whip overflow. I could have managed this by leaving the whip for the first settler to be a little later (ie whip at 96/150 rather than 60/150) but I didn't
Builds are completed as follows
Settlers : Turns 5, 21,36,51,66,81,96
Axes: Turns 22,37,52,67,82,97
So we have as many settlers and axes as Test 1 but they arrive a little early. If you try this scenario out, you'll notice that settlers get whipped at 99/150. With the 90 hammers from the whip and the 9 hammers from the city after the whip, the overflow is 48h - almost enough to build an axeman in one turn.
The other thing to notice here is that beaker investment in CS is 1398 (almost 8% more than in Test 1).
Either way, with all the food available, whipping is best option we have.
When I say things like "whipping is better than not whipping", this is not intended to be a blanket statement. There are times when a city gains very little from whipping. However, it is my view that an average city with poor food (ie not much whip potential) will develop much more slowly than one with lots of food. For example, the monument in Port Ruby will take just half the time to complete by working the rice tile than by working the mine. Strategic sites aside, food is something that is always the most important need of the city.
If you've got lots of food, there is little that the city cannot do. With only production, tiles, there is little that it can do
I ran a couple of test scenarios to see what sort of production I could make with the whip and compares it to the current rate of building (which is approx 19 turns for a settler and an axeman). After playing around with WorldBuilder a little, I gave myself a size 4 city with improved corn, rice, stone and also had riverside bananas and dyes. Just to liven things up I mined a plains hill and farmed the bananas and dyes.
The city was given a granary and was at 20 food (growth at 42) - which is means that it has just grown from size 3. Normal happiness rules apply so I cannot grow to size 5 (4 with whip unhappiness).
I also set myself the objective of never using the rice tile, thus indication that the tile is free to be used by a fictional second city
Along the way I gave myself enough techs to allow me to research Civil Service. This was just to give an indication of the amount of beakers I was generating.
Each test ran for 100 turns
City output is measured as food surplus/hammers/tile commerce.
Test 1
Here I will restrict myself to using the 5/0/0 (corn), 1/4/0 (stone), 3/0/1 (banana) and 2/1/0 grassland wood.
Just one small cheat however, because I will use the rice tile (4/0/0) for a few turns at the beginning to get the settler into the whip range
Turn 0: Total city output 7/5/2 building settler
Turn 5: Whip settler (city output 4/5/1) - finishes with 159/150
Turn 6: Settler built. Start axeman
At size 3, a work a forest tile (2/1/0) to complete the axemen before reaching size 4 (unhappiness)
Turn 14: Axeman complete. Start settler. Switch from forest to banana tile
Turn 19 or 20: Temporary switch to Axeman to allow growth to size 4
Turn 21: Whip settler
Turn 22.: Settler built. Continue axeman
Now I follow the simple rule of working the tiles in the following order
Corn, Stone, Bananas, another tile producing any combination of 3 hammers or food. Any time that I am one turn away from size 4 unhappiness, I will be building a settler, otherwise I will build an axeman. Settlers will be whipped as soon as they can be subject to their being no unhappiness at the time of the whip
The settlers and axemen continue to arrive at the following times
Axe 2: Turn 30
Settler 3: Turn 38
Axe 3: Turn 45
Settler 4: Turn 53
Axe 4: Turn 67
Settler 5: Turn 68
Axe 5: Turn 76
Settler 6: Turn 84
Axe 6: Turn 98
Settler 7: Turn 99
And, for completeness, I have 1297 beakers invested in Civil Service.
Compare this with simply building settlers and axes naturally, I have two more settlers and one more axemen. The whipping option is therefore a lot faster than not whipping.
Test 2
Here I wanted to demonstrate that the 1/4/0 was actually overrated but to do this I needed to have a farmed banana tile (4/0/1). To help me a little more, I also used the dyes.
Basically, the same rules apply here as did in Test 1, although the tile selection differed. The order of importance was
When building axe: Corn (5/0/0), Bananas (4/0/1) and Dyes (3/0/3)
When building settler: Work stone ahead of dyes or bananas.
Apart from the first few turns, the choice of the fourth tile is unimportant because we never work it. The minute we grow to size 4, the settler is whipped.
The one important thing to note here is that we do not manage to build up axemen until after the second settler is whipped. While building the axeman, we are generating only 1 hammer so all of its production comes from whip overflow. I could have managed this by leaving the whip for the first settler to be a little later (ie whip at 96/150 rather than 60/150) but I didn't
Builds are completed as follows
Settlers : Turns 5, 21,36,51,66,81,96
Axes: Turns 22,37,52,67,82,97
So we have as many settlers and axes as Test 1 but they arrive a little early. If you try this scenario out, you'll notice that settlers get whipped at 99/150. With the 90 hammers from the whip and the 9 hammers from the city after the whip, the overflow is 48h - almost enough to build an axeman in one turn.
The other thing to notice here is that beaker investment in CS is 1398 (almost 8% more than in Test 1).
Either way, with all the food available, whipping is best option we have.
When I say things like "whipping is better than not whipping", this is not intended to be a blanket statement. There are times when a city gains very little from whipping. However, it is my view that an average city with poor food (ie not much whip potential) will develop much more slowly than one with lots of food. For example, the monument in Port Ruby will take just half the time to complete by working the rice tile than by working the mine. Strategic sites aside, food is something that is always the most important need of the city.
If you've got lots of food, there is little that the city cannot do. With only production, tiles, there is little that it can do
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