In order to strengthen my windmill quad-block skills, I built this Itjtawy without a single rectangular "loopy block"! In terms of block design, the most novel things to look for are the unidirectional firehouses near the pavilions (they always start moving towards the center of the housing block) and the positioning of the courthouses & tax collectors (this way we can build only two courthouses per block instead of four).
To minimize cross-country cartpusher travel, the city is designed as four disconnected regions, one per foodplain area. The southwest block is able to stretch all the way from the foodplain to the dock area near the river (a single rectangular block wouldn't be able to reach both). The northwest block required careful placement of the entertainment schools, because of the road that connects the clay pits to the brick works. The southeast housing block is a long line, which can service both the reed gatherers and the ferry terminal. The northeast housing block was the one I built last. It exports no services and serves only to increase the population of the city / worker pool.
I had some trouble in the beginning because I wanted to meet the first requests without running into debt or reaching into the bailout funds. After several attempts, what worked best was building a papyrus industry right next to the eastern ferry, with a storage yard on the western side. That way, the caravan trader doesn't have to cross the river. After my city grew larger and I stopped exporting papyrus, I relocated the papyrus industry to it's final location closer to the reeds.
Posted on 12/22/22 @ 05:54 AM 