Viminacium completed

[Keith]

I started the Empire campaign tonight and chose Viminacium. All those requests and demands for goods kept me busy, as well as fending off the barbarian attacks.

I pretty much ignored the requests for 50 amber and 50 spice for the game duration. No way was I going to pay that much money to meet a request for an item I had to import.

I was so busy in Viminacium, that I didn't have much time for city planning but I managed to pull it out and complete the scenario in the end.

[Barbara]

:o Sorry I didn't see this thread Keith. I do search. Maybe I typed the name in wrong. It wouldn't be hard. :)

In the Republic campaign on the economic missions building cohorts was always an afterthought for me after I got everything else going. On this one putting in the military was top priority behind setting up the money making industries. That meant lots and lots of plebs early on and ignore the equites and patricians until after military needs were taken care of.

[Barbara]

Looking at your solution, Keith I realized something. I am a stupid tree hugger. :D

[Grumpus]

Also finished this today. Notice my population. Do I obey orders or what!

Trick here was to gear up industry as fast as possible. Started out trading with Asia because they bought Jewelry and Utensils. Always do like it when I can get two trade routes for the price of one! Also surplus gold allows throwing festival for Mercury every year. Doubled sales tax! (for awhile anyway.) Next came pottery to Dacia and then furniture to Cyrenica.

Met all demands and requests except those for exotic goods. Didn't build any military - just threw some spare change at the Germans and sent them on their way.

[Barbara]

Also finished this today. Notice my population. Do I obey orders or what!

Trick here was to gear up industry as fast as possible. Started out trading with Asia because they bought Jewelry and Utensils. Always do like it when I can get two trade routes for the price of one! Also surplus gold allows throwing festival for Mercury every year. Doubled sales tax! (for awhile anyway.) Next came pottery to Dacia and then furniture to Cyrenica.

Met all demands and requests except those for exotic goods. Didn't build any military - just threw some spare change at the Germans and sent them on their way.

Well, yeah. I did exactly that as well. You just did it better than me. :) I certainly didn't have 3000 Denarii on hand when the Germans showed. But then I have never thrown one of those festivals either. Good show, Grumpus. I continually ask myself, "Why didn't I think of that?" It is so obvious once you explain it.

[SillyDrizzy]

The Anti-Grumpus way :p almost triple his pop lol. :D But Grumpus I love how you squeek by and enjoy your Walkthroughs muchly.

But I too started with Asia trade and merc festivals :D

I decided in this one to try to get 100 culture, couldn't quite get it due to a few houses not having all entertainment coverage. but got everything else perfect. :D Got 100 Security though ;)

Drizzy

[clayson4908]

Thanks for all the great screenshots -- I try to never build on farm land -- but these are great looking cities.

[Grumpus]

Thanks for all the great screenshots -- I try to never build on farm land -- but these are great looking cities.

There are times when farm land is the best place to build! Most maps have much more arable land then is needed.

[clayson4908]

There are times when farm land is the best place to build! Most maps have much more arable land then is needed.

Too many years on a 'spud' farm in SE Idaho:rolleyes:

[Hypnox]

For some reason I think if I was trying to invade sillydrizzy's city from the other side of the river of his city I would simply turn around and find somewhere else to pillage...

[SillyDrizzy]

For some reason I think if I was trying to invade sillydrizzy's city from the other side of the river of his city I would simply turn around and find somewhere else to pillage...

LMAO. I have this addiction...if there's money in the bank I have to spend it. I was never invaded from over there but fortified it to an extreme. :D

Drizzy - Over-Buildaholics Unit!!!!

[bexgames]

nice city silly, looks like you've got it running pretty smoothly. :cool:

although, you could'a used some of that extra money for more pretty :D

ps...I'm right there with ya in that overbuilders anon boat!

[Hypnox]

I'm only on like the 3rd scenario in the republic campaign, or whichever the one after tutorials is, as I don't have a ton of time to play lately. But I still make cities with around 8k people to see how much I can stuff onto 1 map. I'll have to take a picture of my current city when I get home. It still isn't finished and has about 3k ppl in it. >.>

edit: attached the lovely photo of my unfinished city.

[ratdago]

Start trading/industry with Luxury Goods then Basic goods FIRST in EVERY scenario and you will ALWAYS have PLENTY of $$$$$$...also have no problem paying off invaders and meeting all Rome's requests except for Exotic Goods(waste of time and money)this scenario doesn't require walls to max out housing in order to achieve necessary ratings..just get 'em and get on to the next one...

[bexgames]

hypnox, very nice!!! I like how much pretty you put into it! :D

[existenz]

Hypnox - great city. I like organic looking cities. I plan on completing the eco empire then going back and only building organic cities with little circular plazas and offshoots etc. At the moment I am doing Grumpus squares which work really well but as a consequence I don't have much experience with military - am usually out of there before any raiders etc approach or I have enough money to bribe them. As you can see in my Viminacium pic it is a Grumpus city lookalike!!!

[Hypnox]

Heh, the block layout is by far the most efficient for sure. My industry and agricultural areas tend to be rather strict and dull block layouts, but I like to think my citizens are slightly happier to come home to an organic looking sprawl that starts out planned; and turns into a true sprawl as the cities population needs grows. :)

[existenz]

I think most reallife cities start that way. Blocks in Central Business District and then town starts to sprawl around that central area.

[Hypnox]

Speaking of which, I started emarita augusta tonight. My initial town layout is looking good imo. Any tips as to how fast to build up my military would be nice. I only have 1 heavy militia and 1 mounted unit at the moment and i'm working on building the wall to the extent I will need for when I place all my domii and higher housing.

[existenz]

Great! I believe that's a lot like Canberra would have started out as here in Australia - very circular! I can't advise on fast buildup of military tho' as I have only come across troops in my city once, thanks to Grumpus.:)

[Hermann the Lombard]

In the footsteps of the masters, this humble one has finished Viminacium. It was a bit of a learning experience. I started with careful planning (more or less) of 16 insulae, 8 domus, and 4 large estates projecting pop of 3160 and 55.7 prosperity. Planned 3 sets of farms for ~3000 people.

First priority was getting trade up and running opening initial routes to Asia and Dacia with harvesting at high priority for clay, iron and gold. This put me on a good footing where I was never going to be short of denarii (until I went into debt). :o

So why did I dip momentarily into debt? Well, I bribed the first set of barbarians but swore "Never Again!" I also wanted to evolve to Large Domus so I put up my walls, then added my customary strongpoints and outworks to protect my scattered mines and industry. This brought down my treasury so that when the Germans showed up--and shut down my exports--I went into debt. Memo: keep more treasury reserve!

Also, when the Germans showed up my "mobile" defenses consisted of Prefects. The infantry raiders were mopped up easily...but why don't I have the "enemy defeated" dialog? OH. Look at that cavalry having a barbecue out at my Pottery Park! How nice. They burned down two pottery factories, a prefecture, and my Dacian trading post.

I was swamped in gold (see "Fort Knox" below) so this was the first time I used festivals to Mercury to further boost my treasury.

Next problem: I planned for large estates but *not* for sufficient entertainment and not for sufficient governance. The first thing I added was a Forum outside the original walls, duly fortified in turn. Turned out I also needed more entertainment, so I added a Colosseum even farther outside the original walls (eventually fortified as well). Now I discovered that I couldn't evolve due to poor desirability; the original walls were too close to the patricians and they didn't like the smell of the soldiers. (The soldiers say they didn't care for the perfumes of the patricians!)

So...I tore down the original wall and moved it outward. To do that I ripped up two cattle pastures (maybe it wasn't the smell of the soldiers after all), then placed two marginal cattle pastures on the far edge of the fertile land. In the freed space I added a Library to soak up some excess equites, and added a Chariot statue because for a change I had room for it.

Then I discovered that I *still* didn't have enough entertainment to evolve to Large Estates, and at Medium Estate I wouldn't have enough prosperity. What was missing? An Arena, but where could I put it that coverage would reach the patricians? Oh.

So down came the walls again! Down came the Library and my pretty Chariot statue. Down came the fences of two more cattle pastures. (This time I was able to add two vegetable fields between the newest walls and the third row of pastures.) Up went the Arena, and finally my patricians evolved to Large Estates.

One gift would be enough for victory. Obelisk away! Victory! Now I'll keep playing and tidy up some loose ends. HANG. CRASH. REBOOT. :eek: I tried this process twice more with the same result. Then I decided to run things for another year or two to see if I could get around the problem.

This gave me time to finish my fortifications and to continue recruiting a cohort for better defense...except the next set of raiders showed up when I had but 13 light legionaires. Didn't really matter, as my fixed defenses shot the raiders to pieces (though my lights did get to engage and destroy some wavering heavy infantry). The raiders could no longer reach my Pottery Park because of Fort Clay (see below).

Anyway, I completed recruiting my cohort and decided to end the game by meeting requests for jewelry and utensils (showing my confidence as those were the heart of my trade income). [I had added furniture exports but rarely maxed those out as I was constantly shifting labor from one industry to another...or to the fixed fortifications.] Made a save just before shipping goods to Caesar, shipped, Victory!, Keep Playing, HANG CRASH REBOOT :eek:

Oh, well. No "keep playing" for me! (Sorry Mark!)

Aside: I didn't see any archers on the diagonal walls around Fort Knox. Do archers not appear on such walls or did I just man the towers too late so the archers didn't have time to man the walls?

Screenshots:

1. Victory Screen
2. Market District
3. Port Side
4. Colosseum and the Incredible Moving Walls
5. The High Rent District
6. Fort Knox and the Industrial Area
7. Fort Clay and Pottery Park

[MarkDuffy]

Do archers not appear on such walls or did I just man the towers too late so the archers didn't have time to man the walls?

If you don't see ballistas on the towers, you won't have archers on the walls. ;)

[Hermann the Lombard]

Yes of course, but there seems to be a delay between the appearance of the ballistae (virtually immediate upon activation) and the appearance of archers on the walls, and I didn't see *any* on the diagonal walls of Fort Knox.

[I'm running lean, so I didn't have spare plebs to man the defenses without shutting down industries. The towers sit empty until raiders show up, and I shift the defenders as the raiders move about. Micromanage? Moi?]

(Edit) A couple of minor notes about my city: I used up my local arable land because my city was sitting on some of it. As a result I decided to import clothing rather than grow wool and build factories to make the stuff. I also didn't have enough plebs to add another industry. So why didn't I have enough plebs? Well, one reason may have been that my factories were close to the camps rather than close to the ports. To max out trade I needed 4 of each factory where I might have only needed 3 each if the factories were close to the ports.