King Karolus Servant
Posts: 2154
Joined: 29 Aug 2007, 22:00
KaM Skill Level: Veteran
Location: In his dark thunderstormy castle
Re: Powah academy: building
A guide like Sado wrote is nice but every map and every game is different and you will need to adapt your strategy to it. The main challenge for me is to keep a steady supply of timber so I can keep building, and later on I need even more timber so I can keep building AND produce weapons simultaneously.
At the start it is no problem at all to plant trees 'in the center' of your city. Since you want your butchers/bakeries close to your inn and storehouse and you want your farms further away, you don't need space there right away because you have to build farms first anyway. So you can plant some trees here and there, THEN set it at 'cut only', and when your farms/swine farms/mills are finished the trees have been cut or will be cut soon and you can build there again. This requires some experience (timing) though but it's worth it because you don't need to build long roads right away.
If there are many trees on a map it's easy, but some maps have less trees and then it is very useful to build ~2 woodcutters in an area without any trees, so a nice forest will be planted there. If you start with tree trunks in your storehouse but low timber, it might be a good idea to build 3 sawmills right at the start.
Also, many people build a woodcutter, cut all the trees there and then destroy it so they can have another building there. Personally I prefer (and I'm sure most people will disagree) to have it at 'cut only' for a while until you built there what you wanted to build and then set it at 'plant and cut' again. Mostly the woodcutter will find some space for some trees. Even if he can plant only 5 trees, that's still 10 timber. I prefer 10 timber over 5 tiles extra walking distance for my serfs (since you didn't destroy the woodcutter's hut you can't build a mill or a tannery there so you would have to build it further away).
Walking distance IS important though. For example: people tend to make their weapon workshops near their barracks. But if your timber production is at the other side of your town that's not efficient at all; it takes 2 timber to produce 1 weapon, so serfs will have to walk a long distance (sawmill --> weapon workshop) twice, and a short distance only once (weapon workshop --> barracks). It's better to have your weapon workshops close to your sawmills. The same applies to several other buildings like the bakery and especially the butchery: 1 pig = 3 sausages, so better build it close to your inn and storehouse so the serfs will have to walk the short distance three times and the long distance only once.
Obviously it would be ideal to have farms at the border of your town, then mills/swine farms, then butchery/bakery/tannery, etc. and same with woodcutters --> sawmills --> weapon workshops --> barracks, but that's not always possible.
As you see a lot of planning is involved but eventually everyone will find a strategy that works for him/her.
At the start it is no problem at all to plant trees 'in the center' of your city. Since you want your butchers/bakeries close to your inn and storehouse and you want your farms further away, you don't need space there right away because you have to build farms first anyway. So you can plant some trees here and there, THEN set it at 'cut only', and when your farms/swine farms/mills are finished the trees have been cut or will be cut soon and you can build there again. This requires some experience (timing) though but it's worth it because you don't need to build long roads right away.
If there are many trees on a map it's easy, but some maps have less trees and then it is very useful to build ~2 woodcutters in an area without any trees, so a nice forest will be planted there. If you start with tree trunks in your storehouse but low timber, it might be a good idea to build 3 sawmills right at the start.
Also, many people build a woodcutter, cut all the trees there and then destroy it so they can have another building there. Personally I prefer (and I'm sure most people will disagree) to have it at 'cut only' for a while until you built there what you wanted to build and then set it at 'plant and cut' again. Mostly the woodcutter will find some space for some trees. Even if he can plant only 5 trees, that's still 10 timber. I prefer 10 timber over 5 tiles extra walking distance for my serfs (since you didn't destroy the woodcutter's hut you can't build a mill or a tannery there so you would have to build it further away).
Walking distance IS important though. For example: people tend to make their weapon workshops near their barracks. But if your timber production is at the other side of your town that's not efficient at all; it takes 2 timber to produce 1 weapon, so serfs will have to walk a long distance (sawmill --> weapon workshop) twice, and a short distance only once (weapon workshop --> barracks). It's better to have your weapon workshops close to your sawmills. The same applies to several other buildings like the bakery and especially the butchery: 1 pig = 3 sausages, so better build it close to your inn and storehouse so the serfs will have to walk the short distance three times and the long distance only once.
Obviously it would be ideal to have farms at the border of your town, then mills/swine farms, then butchery/bakery/tannery, etc. and same with woodcutters --> sawmills --> weapon workshops --> barracks, but that's not always possible.
As you see a lot of planning is involved but eventually everyone will find a strategy that works for him/her.
