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Debt in the Valley, first of all
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Author |
File Description |
Tryhard |
Posted on 02/05/04 @ 12:00 AM
File Details |
Era/Kingdom: |
Custom |
Score: |
87000 |
Difficulty: |
Very Hard |
I was not here looking for a challenge, rather made some tries using various options, looking for a didactic line that could be interesting to novice players.
It gave me an idea : at VHard, it is uneasy to make money fast in the first Valley, but it is on a middle term through trade exports, if a lot of money is invested into productive activities.
So this is the idea : debt management. I will go as deep as below –4000 debens and live nearly permanently during a determined period with a highly negative balance without any anxiety or threat.
The period will last 5 to 6 years. Why ? Because it is the time needed for this strategy to work on a map without any fast income generating resources like gold, copper or wood.
OVERALL PLAN
1.Fence the scorpios with small statues. I have better to do than deal with these ones.
2.Set diconnected ferries. First settlers to go on the western bank and grow flax, secondarily henne. No peas.
3.Second immediate settlers to reach the docking area on the Eastern bank. Immediate import of barley.
4.While people are coming in, I set progressively beer factories, then clay pits, then potteries. I delay the first indebtment as much as I can while being fully operational.
5.In May, I connect the ferries to receive the flax and henne. The Priority ranking of Food becomes 9.
6.In June, the population goes beyond 400 and the Gods start noticing. I set the first shrines. Settlement of the mansion and self delivered wage of 100, lavish gift in August.
7.I open the road to Itjtawy in late July for the selling of beer. If I open it later, its ship is sunk by the expansion of the floodplain.
8.I open the road to Pwenet in mid November to sell pottery.
9.In December, I check that my wage is at 0 : I will lose one KR point less.
Balance at the end of the first year should be around –4000 (-4000 or –1 makes no difference for Pharaoh).
Game starts. January, 1490 BC.
As soon as January, the first settlers inhabit the industral block. I set the fire worker, the dock ans a SY. Infrastructure is set at priority 1. The fire worker is recruited, starts his walk, then I set Industry at 1, the fire station gets empty but the worker remains operational for a roundtrip, while some staff in the SY and the dock allow the opening of the route to Waset for barley.
As usual, the houses are made of blocks of 3 1x1 huts, to avoid the merging of some, what would make some immigrants disappear on the map. I ensure that the huts around the industrial block will merge, to reduce the disease and malaria risks, higher in 1x1 huts.
The ship from Waset appears on the map, declared as ‘going to the docks’. As it will not reach before April, I set back the Industry at 9 and Agriculture at 1 to staff the camp. 4 Henne and 6 Flax fields, all irrigated. The ship is still far away, I set the first claypits.
Beginning of April is a routine, I set the physician on the housing block as disease risk is increasing sharply. I will wait for the industrial block as it is a small block, the physician works there more efficiently, passing along every hut more frequently. The malaria risk also increases slowly. It takes time for the apothecary to eradicate a malaria risk, but this worries me little for now ; the housing block on the other bank will not be affected by malaria before long. As the flow of immigrants is drying up, I set another line of empty plots.
Beginning of May, I have imported 1200 barley and set the first breweries. Balance is still positive but I go into debt. I connect the western ferry as it is far away from the first houses. The last necessary worker leaves the camp, agriculture shifts to Priority 9. I set the mansion and give myself a wage of 100.
I open the route to Itjtawy in late July, as planned, and the one to Pwenet late november. If I set a second dock in July, a second ship from Itjtawy appears in October. It would reach the docks before the end of the year and buy 300 extra beer. Unfortunately, as said, it is sunk and I cannot avoid it.
I play this year several times, just for the fun of optimizing my routine. Every time, I manage to sell 1200 beer (the overseer declares 1100) and 700 pottery, for 2415 debens overall.
SECOND YEAR
My strategy works well for the second year, except that I have a nasty surprise. At the end of the second year, Pharaoh takes 1500-1600 debens in interests’ arrears. I did not expect it to be that high ; it makes most of the chosen strategy irrelevant. I do not have a clue about the relationship between previous balances and interests paid. I restart the first year but finish the year with –2984, instead of –4570 before. The city is identical, only that I set the new industries in January 1489 instead of December 1490. I also ensure I do not go beyond –5000 at the end of any month, as I think the wages not paid are recovered by Pharaoh.
Pharaoh takes then 780 debens only. I reach the end of the second year, 1489, with a positive balance, even with this token, a Kingdom Rating of 43 and all industries set. I export between 10,000 and 15,000 debens according to the versions of the game and the sinking or not of boats from Kerma.
THIRD YEAR.
Food. Just enough for a full granary. I manage to export 17,500 debens of goods, more than the supposed limits for every item. I have got my first ankh for Bast.
The industrial block is made of :
- 11 clay pits
- 6 potteries
- 10 brick factories
- 4 paint factories
- 9 linen factories
- 6 beer factories
My KR is 47, population just over 2,000, disease just under control. I have to set my first apothecary on the western bank.
YEAR FOUR
I manage to export the value of 17,000, however I am starting to use my own pottery and beer. I start importing meat for the manors’ block, set the first pavilions and work on Bast, reaching 5 ankhs in December. Pop 2861. Still exporting 17,000 debens.
YEAR FIVE
I am now using much of my own linen and reinvesting immediately all my income. Still living with a balance going below –3000. I just check in the beginning of the year how much I am sure of exporting, so know well how far I can go in spending. I export only 13,000 debens of goods.
I set the tax collectors, what gives me 6,500 in taxes at 38/13%.
YEAR SIX
I can export for 18,000 as 2 new routes have opened : Abu buying bricks and Sawu buying Henne. Tax rate climbs to 16% (wage at 40), bringing in 30,000 in taxes. 19 spacious manors at the end of the year, balance is 17,000, KR is 68, the work on the tomb is launched, burial gifts dispatched except the chariot. Population near 6,000. I set the Ptah TC to produce bricks faster, thus remove one factory, also to save on papyrus. I do not bother exporting peas I am overproducing, not to jam the ferry.
Now I will make money and the investments will pay back. The strategy has worked exactly as planned. Also, as having all my industries set properly, I could feed my city fast, export and was not surprised by any request.
Result : mission completed in 143 months (12 years), what I consider an acceptable timing according to the objectives of Pharaoh (a tomb) and my own objectives (megalomania and greed). Final Wage/Tax rates at 40/19%, 30 manors in one block, 20.000+ in exports every year, 57.000 in taxes. Forever running city.
CR 45, KR 100, PR 100, Pop 7200, Treasury 230.000, Score 87.000 (plus 10.000 per year played) |
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Downloads: | 472 |
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Size: | 740.23 KB |
Added: | 02/05/04 |
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