Peaceful Reign

[grandpa70]

I finally finished the trial. Now I need some advice with this one. According to what I read in the scenerio walkthrough, there is only one vacant island to be used. What should I put there beside the warehouse? Can I expand Offenpach and if yes what should I do at the north end of the island?

[RoadRunner]

I think you should expand your original city to get the 200 citizens (=14 houses, but you should build some more to have a convenient balance sheet). Settle at the free island to get bricks and spices (sell the surplus to the computer players), trade with the natives and exchange cloth against spices and tobacco. You will not need cocoa, but you may trade it with the AI players. And try to buy iron ore instead of tools from the free traders (as soon as you have 120 settlers) to build up your own tool production.

[grandpa70]

Thank you for your advice and I have finished that scenerio and now I am on this one. The scenerio insturctions say to build 2 cities of 500 inhabitants with a positive balance of 200 coins. I have settled 1 island that has tobacco/liquor, 1 that has cotton/spice and one that has an ore deposit.It also says to build up one island to the citizen level first but which one should I choose?

[RoadRunner]

Anno can only check if there is a city (or two of them, if required) which meets the requirements; it cannot check if it is city A or city B. So, it is up to you which one you choose. In this case, I think you should only take that notice as an advice...

I prefer to develop one city to the required level first. So, build approx. 30-34 houses (you need at least 250 citizens plus 250 other inhabitants, but I would build 34 houses to get 500 citizens to have a comfortable balance). After that, build up the next city. If possible (I do not remember the map) try to use separate production islands for each city - but don't worry if you cannot do that.

[grandpa70]

I appear to be stuck. I have 14 houses which equal 84 settlers and they won't advance to the citizen level. My other island is growing spices and I have a third island for bricks and eventually ore. Any help here will be appreciated. My money is running out, even tho I am selling tobacco and liquor.

[RoadRunner]

With only 14 houses, you will run out of money. First of all, build more houses (34 is a good number :wink:), and tear down the school and the tavern if you have already built them. Try to sell the remaining cigars, and close the tobacco plantation and the tobacco roller for a while.

Your strategic aim should always be to have a strong positive balance - without that, you will even loose if you defeat all your opponents. For that, you will need to build enough houses, irrespective what the scenario goals says (even if you need only one aristocrat, it could be very convenient to have 40 houses). And try to avoid providing things which are unnecessary for your people - like taverns and schools or tobacco and spices for settlers, or cocoa, clothing, a church and a bath house for citizens. If they "demand" them, they only state that you are able to provide them, but it is not necessary yet - until you upgrade your people to the next level.

[Dread Pirate Terry]

Almost every scenario that I have ever played the best opening strategy is to get to 120 settlers as soon as possible (20 houses). After you are able to start your own tool production it's a good idea to add ten more houses as soon as more tools are available. All you will need to provide for 180 settlers is: 3 fishers, 2 sheep farms w/ 1 weaver's hut, and 1 winery or sugarcane plantation w/distillery. 180 settlers paying 45% taxes will turn a nice profit while you build up a supply of tools. BTW, you will have a bit of a surprise later in this scenario...........Pirate's!!!

[grandpa70]

Well I started over again because I thought about the tax revenue, which I still don't understand. I now have 18 houses but this land is small and I can't see where I can fit in another 16 houses. I have a sugarcane plantation and a tobacco plantation on my first island. On my second island I have a spice plantation and on the third island, which I want to fill with people later on. This island I have a quarry and 1 stonemason. By lowering the tax on the settlers to around 32% I finally got some of them to upgrade to the citizen level and when I had 45 citizens, I shut down giving building materials when I noticed that I have an ore mine available. I am low on tools again when I noticed that I need 10t to build the ore mine. I am trying to buy them on 2 of my islands. Should I shut down my plantations for a while to see if I can get a positive balance, which I don't have now?? I have always thought that if I didn't supply what they demand, they will fall back to the pioneer level. As you have suggested I won't supply them with a school, church or a bathhouse. Any help here will be appreciated as to what I should do at this point.

[RoadRunner]

We are speaking about the scenario Little Land (http://www.capsu.org/1602/4.html#walk_7), don't we? - According to what I read in Timsky's Strategy Guide, there should be some free bigger islands at the map in the beginning. So, try to settle there; it might help if you save the game after starting it, discover the map to find out where to settle and then reload the saved game to play "seriously".

Your first aim is to get a working economy with at least 500 citizens. You may worry about the second city later - even on a small island, you can build 20 merchant houses which will result in 500 merchants... :wink:

[Dread Pirate Terry]

Hello Grandpa70!
Have you ever visited this sight? annozone.de/annopool
Check it out when you have some time. Under the heading "Utilities" you will find and be able to download a calculator for 1602 that will help you a great deal. With the calculator you can determine the number of production facilities needed for whatever level of population you have and will be a big help in planning for whatever the goals are for a given scenario.