Tips for starting out

City planning and development

(collected by Charlie, Andre, Uwe, Orodruin)

Depending on whether you want to build a city with between 1,000 and 2,000 inhabitants (40 - 50 houses), or a bustling metropolis with a population of more than 10,000 (> 250 houses), you will have to plan them accordingly. The goal is always the same: to service as many houses as possible (if not all) with as few public buildings as necessary.
A big city will of necessity consist of smaller districts, each with its own public buildings. Of those public buildings which cannot be replaced, the tavern has the smallest area of influence. This means that the tavern automatically becomes the centre of a district. If you put the fire department, the doctor, and a school right beside the tavern you will have adequately covered the entire district (although 2 doctors and 2 fire departments for mutual support would be better). The following concept is designed to show how many houses you can build in a tavern's area of influence. All of the inhabitants of these houses will develop into aristocrats.

How do I best plan my housing?

If there's enough room available, use blocks of 2x2, 2x3, or 2,4 houses. This means that the market wagons don't have to make any large detours under way and lets both the doctor and the fire department reach their destinations as quickly as possible. Good planning is essential to the city's well-being. Although a house with no street frontage will develop perfectly normally (the square has to border the road directly - diagonally doesn't count), the first fire will reduce it to a pile of charred timbers as the fire department couldn't reach it. The same theory applies for plague. So don't build any 3x3 blocks, as the house in the middle is more or less doomed. You can be a little more flexible, here, once your city reaches the higher levels of civilisation, as the inhabitants no longer tend to torch their buildings and the doctor can still get to a building before it collapses from plague. In emergency the doctor can also reach houses without street frontage.
Keep in mind that, sooner or later, you're going to want to erect public buildings like schools, etc. It is therefore practical to leave some room free for these buildings in a central location so that you don't have to tear as much down in the future.
As a rule of thumb, it's better to put all your farms, etc. on the edge of your island and to build your houses in the middle in order to make more efficient use of your public buildings.

Why can't I build?

Buildings may only be erected within the area of influence (the bright area) of a warehouse/market place. The building supplies must be available, and of course you have to have enough money.
Some buildings only become available as the play progresses, or as your settlement reaches a certain level of civilisation. This applies especially to buildings such as mines, plantations, and services such as the doctor.

When can I build ........... ?

How much room does a ... need?

In order to make city planning somewhat easier, here is a list of buildings together with their areas of influence: