Where are the workers and craftsmen?

[Hanarky]

I feel a bit worried about the screenshots and movie. You see trade quarters and some people carrying baskets, also shops. But I have not seen yet a craftsman actually producing something.
I just play Pharaoh again and maybe it is stupid to compare the two games and to measure CotN with that, but I notice me sitting there and enjoy to see my raw materials getting delivered to shops and then actually see goods produced and delivered to a storage yard and then being sold or traded with. It is nice to have a screen, that tells me, what goods or raw materials I may have in storage, but I want to see them in real and see them worked on.

Not to sound discouraged here, but on all screenshots I see nice houses, occassionally people stroll trough the streets, but where are those actually working? It looks like a too clean and not very busy city. I saw the screenshots with the farms and the buildup of a pyramid and on those I can see people work or pull stones, but else I have not seen much till now.
Now I hope, the screenshots I long for, have just not been published by now and all my worries are useless, that would be great :)

Hanarky

[Rnett]

I haven't seen any either, but I'm hope we'll see some soon. :)

[EmperorJay]

This screenshot (http://www.immortalcities.com/cotn/gallery/ssview.php?ssid=125) shows someone working in the lower left corner.

This screenshot (http://www.immortalcities.com/cotn/gallery/ssview.php?ssid=123) shows a sculptor at work to the right.

This screenshot (http://www.immortalcities.com/cotn/gallery/ssview.php?ssid=104) shows the finished products displayed for sale.

Most producing will be done at home and as you can see there are people who sit on the roofs of their homes when producing something. There are more (and better) screenshots that display this. Like this one (http://home.tiscali.nl/ancientcitybuilding/images/screenshots/tm_screenshot_23.jpg), in the center.

And the storage yards are only used for government gathered raw materials. Any finished products will be sold by the shops which made it.

All in all, I think you'll still be able to see the raw materials being gathered, produced and sold buy you have to look at different places.

[Wen Kha-Ne]

They do mainly work at home, but weavers for example, can sometimes be seen working on the rooftops of their buildings. I don't know whether it is the same for any craftmanship guilds (if CotN even has them).

[Cironir]

Jay already has posted links to some screenshot where you can see some working people, so this element is very likely to be covered. Since CotN will be about people rather than buildings, it makes sense to me that there might be relatively "few" characters that represent, in an abstract manner, a "unit". I mean, it would probably be hard to have one hundred or five hundred individual "workers", each of them having an individual personality, thoughts and desires. Abstracting this a little might be more "realistic" (= doable). But I'm in the realm of speculation here. The game may well feature numerous individuals, such as Medieval: Total War (tough one could argue whether the individuals that form a unit are really individuals, since you can only give orders to the entire unit).

[Hanarky]

yes, I saw those screenshots before. But for me e.g. the baskets in front of the house or the one woman sitting on the roof looked more like decoration, not as actually production places. Seems then, that what I like so much is not in this game :( Anyway, will have to wait till the game is released to see, how this all feels like in real gameplay.

Hanarky

[Bradius]

You can take to the bank that there will be a whole lot of production going on. And it goes even further. You will see a whole lot of consumption going on in the city. The developers have already said that if you bring in gems and precious metals, that the local jeweler will be making various pieces of jewelry and before long you will see the local nobles walking around with some new jewelry. It is just too cool! Your nobles will have craftsman make special additions to there house as their funds allow and the skill of craftsman allow. I am sure you will see a similar thing with the other households as well. You can bet the farmers even will be complaining if they don't have enough pottery, and I am betting that you will be able to see the lack or surplus of such goods. I am just waiting to see what happens if the potter can't sell all of his pottery. Will it go on sale? (My bet), or will it just stack up around the place, or both? The evolution of the city builders has been moving steadily in this direction, and the developers have given some various indications that this is going to continue to evolve.

[Wen Kha-Ne]

yes, I saw those screenshots before. But for me e.g. the baskets in front of the house or the one woman sitting on the roof looked more like decoration, not as actually production places. Seems then, that what I like so much is not in this game :( Anyway, will have to wait till the game is released to see, how this all feels like in real gameplay.

Hanarky

I understand what you mean. It seems there is something missing from it. Whether it is the Commercial and Industrial bustle to any relation to the empire (and it's map), something needs confirming. The density seems to be the problem I think. But I am sure some screenshots and some information on the Event days will put these dark thoughts to rest. I have full trust in Tilted Mill to bring us another great game, just remember there wasn't much info around this time in Emperor's production, but that turned out like the usual CB in terms of density. Although I will miss the evolving houses. :(

[G-Force]

My guess is that if the potter can't sell his pottery for a long time he will become a beggar.

G-Force

[Bizkit]

I understand what you mean. It seems there is something missing from it. Whether it is the Commercial and Industrial bustle to any relation to the empire (and it's map), something needs confirming. The density seems to be the problem I think. But I am sure some screenshots and some information on the Event days will put these dark thoughts to rest. I have full trust in Tilted Mill to bring us another great game, just remember there wasn't much info around this time in Emperor's production, but that turned out like the usual CB in terms of density. Although I will miss the evolving houses. :(

WHAT?! No evolving houses? :( Thumbs down on that one. Even though the constant evolving/devolving tended to get a bit annoying in Zeus and Emperor (I rarely had all the houses in my town at the highest level), it was still something that I really like in CB's. Then at least I hope there will be quite a few different types of houses. I've got a question. How will buildings be constructed? I'm reffering to houses and shops, not temples and monuments. Will they just pop-up when you build them or will you have to get workers? Will some buildings take a longer time to build and will there be a scaffold? I'm so curious! IMO, the best thing would be for the houses to appear when people come to the city (appear and later on EVOLVE :D ), the rest of the buildings to be constructed by normal city people (anyone can lay mud bricks) and the more sophisticated buildings to be built by specialised workers.

[EmperorJay]

It will be like that!

Simple buildings (shops, farmer's houses) will be built by those who will live in them. They use simple mudbricks to create their houses. Housing for the wealthy and other governmental buildings need higher quality bricks and are build by labourers.

[Eddy]

I seem to recall that the houses won't evolve per se, but that more prosperous families would have more decorations and the like to distinguish them from their less well-heeled neighbors.

They also will be built by the workers themselves and won't just automatically popup when you build them. You are simply "zoning" the area for development, kind of like when you designate housing plots in earlier games.

[Wen Kha-Ne]

I seem to recall that the houses won't evolve per se, but that more prosperous families would have more decorations and the like to distinguish them from their less well-heeled neighbors.

They also will be built by the workers themselves and won't just automatically popup when you build them. You are simply "zoning" the area for development, kind of like when you designate housing plots in earlier games.

Does this mean that you can have a very wealthy merchant/shopkeeper with the sort of house you'd expect a late Egyptian home to look like, and not a very wealthy shopkeeper with a simple mudbrick home and some thatch (for example) OR do you mean just different classes? (Shopkeepers will always be the same)

[EmperorJay]

A pottery shop will always have the shape of a pottery workshop. But a wealthy one might have additions (I don't know what but I think things like nicer walls, more colours, nicer shapes).

Noblemens housing can "evolve" much more. The nobles can add many things to their houses, like ponds. (Check one of the screenshots and the description).

[Wen Kha-Ne]

That heals the evolving wound a considerable amount. :) One fine example of that I guess is when you look at the weaver's home or entertainer's home in the screenshots, and they have many bright paints on their home. That should increase variation somewhat.

Especially as I have seen at least more than one model/build for the same profession's house. They could just be rotations of the one design, but it still allows for greater variation.