DeletedUser10415
This is the picture-book upgrade of a tutorial I wrote on how to get GBs fast. The response to the tutorial was so positive, I decided to do it up right.
So you've finished the tutorial. No more mandatory things to be built, stuff to be produced, research to be completed, or territory to be taken. You're free to go your own direction. At this point, many will try to race through to Iron Age and beyond as fast as they can. This is a mistake. Here's an example of why:
This city is in the neighborhood with one of my Late Middle Age cities. Setting aside the fact that it's a Colonial Age city with buildings left over from Iron age, a strange mixture of road types, and space-wasting decorations all over the place, note how many Great Buildings it has. None. Colonial Age and not a single Great Building.
Let's compare my neighbor's city above to my city below:
One Age behind and yet 7 Great Buildings. Level 11 Babel, level 10 Lighthouse, level 9 Zeus, level 6 St. Mark's, level 6 Chateau, level 5 Hagia, level 4 del Monte. And #2 in neighborhood rank, compared to #22. Note also I've got just the one stone quarry, and they've got six goods buildings. I don't need them, and won't, until possibly Modern Era, where refined goods come in. This is because my three goods-producing GBs deliver a total of 53 non-plunderable goods for my age per day.
So how is it that my Late Middle Age city's outcome is so different from that Colonial Age city? That is what this guide will demonstrate. Also, it'll show you how you can be the first one on the block with Great Buildings.
Day One:
You're in Bronze Age, and the tutorial part is finished. It's now time to get busy on building the coin and supplies you'll need to get you far enough through the tech tree to have Smithery researched. This is the key technology to my foolproof method of getting your first two great buildings quickly. I started a city specifically for demonstrating this method, and here is where I got on the tech tree by the end of the first day:
Notice how I'm making a bee-line for Smithery. Tools is tempting, but you can pick that up later. Smithery is the immediate concern.
Now of course you'll need coins and supplies to fund your research. The quickest way to gain coins (before you get Smithery), is with huts. Sure - you've got to babysit them, and collect from them every 5 minutes, but take heart in the knowledge you've only got to do this for the first day, because once you get Smithery researched, coins will not be a problem. That will be explained further on down. Here is my city at the end of day one:
Note that while there is room for another hut, I didn't build it because I wanted to keep my population enthusiastic for the 20% bonus to production. That's 20 coins more per 5 minute collection, as opposed to the 6 more coins I'd have gotten with an extra hut and a merely happy population. Note also I have two Spearfighter Barracks. You could probably get away with just one at this stage, but I knew I'd need two on day two, so I built 'em. I didn't however unlock any extra slots in them. I also kept the Hunter from the tutorial because there was room for it.
So day one is spent collecting from the huts as often as possible, and the supply buildings too, which you may as well set for 5 minute productions too. I admit, i set a few 15 minute productions though. As you can see, supplies aren't in short supply. It's coins that are needed, and so the three potteries and the hunter is plenty.
Also at the end of day one, this is my progress on the continent map:
Scouting both of these after taking Dunarsund is a storyline mission you've got to do, and it will be followed by a storyline mission to take one of these two territories. Tyr on the left or Fel on the right. You don't need Tyr, and you need Fel, but that's day two. Just reiterating we're not rushing through anything here.
Quest types:
A bit about the types of quests you will be given. There are three types.
Storyline Quests are mandatory. They can be put off, but they cannot be aborted and thus skipped.
Side Quests are optional. You can either complete them or abort them.
Recurring Quests are optional. You can either complete them or abort them, but they'll keep coming back. They are unique in this way. Too, they are only presented to you when you have completed or aborted your way through all the side quests there are for your age but before you've advanced to the next age. There are other circumstances where recurring quests are activated, later on in the game, and you can have up to three of them running simultaneously, but in these early ages you'll only have the one at a time. They can disappear on you if you advance the storyline (continent map) too far. You can take Hymir, but then stop until you are ready to advance to Iron Age. These recurring quests are key to my method of gaining your first two great buildings in less than a month, and so naturally you'll want to get to them as quickly as you can.
That explained, now we get into aborting side quests. You're going to run into several of these before you can get to getting Smithery researched, and it won't hurt you to abort most of them. This one for example is a no-brainer:
Look at how long it takes to make this stuff:
In 8 hours, you'll make way more coin than 200. Abort it.
Here's another:
Useless. Also, you wouldn't be able to produce this stuff anyway as you won't have a Fruit Farm. They're huge and a waste of space and population. Abort it.
You don't need Tyr. I took a few of the sectors in it for the resources (probably coin) they provided, but you can just Abort this one:
Some other time, Mandrubar, like some time after Smithery gets researched. Abort it:
Ditto. Abort it:
These cost coins. Abort them:
And:
Here's a storyline quest you'll want to do... Fel - NOT Tyr:
The one with the EXPANSION!
And now for something completely different:
It's a recurring quest! I believe this is the first one you'll see, and when you see it, you'll be into the recurring quest zone. Unless you have 8 FP to spend when you get it though, there's no harm in aborting it. It'll come back around.
Day Two:
It's time to finish up researching Thatched Houses, and then onward to Smithery. If you've already researched them before day two, that means you've been buying forge points. You can do this, but it gets expensive fast. The first one costs you 200 coin, and that cost increases by 50 coin for each subsequent purchase. Now you may be tempted to build some Thatched houses. You may even get a quest to do so. If there is a quest, unless it's a hidden reward, abort it. You don't want thatched houses, which support 27 population. You want chalets which support 32 population. The coin they produce doesn't matter, because you won't be collecting from them anyway. That doesn't make sense does it? It will.
Once you've got Smithery researched, naturally you'll want to start building blacksmiths. Thing is, they're expensive at 425 coins or so and 40 supplies. Look here at my city near the start of day two. I've collected my huts and potteries a few times and researched Smithery:
Note the coin balance in the upper right corner.
I've got to make room for some blacksmiths so I sell some huts. And then I can build exactly one blacksmith and no more:
Lets sell those potteries, that hunter, and some more huts:
Oh! Now I have two blacksmiths getting built, and nothing left to sell that will get me another, and not enough huts for anything useful. What am I to do?!
Smithery, in addition to giving you the ability to build blacksmiths also does something else. Something wonderful. You can join a guild now. And you will be doing that shortly. Before you do though, you should be into the recurring quests by now. Abort through them until you get to this one and accept it:
1800 coins will take forever you might say. No...it will only take a few minutes.
Now you're ready to join a guild. Click on the tab marked with a single shield icon along the bottom of your screen. Locate a guild that has auto-join enabled. The more members the better. Click "join" under the guild you've chosen to join it. This is what all this looks like:
Close that, and then aid everyone in the guild. That gets you 20 coins for each aiding action, and maybe even a random blueprint, though probably not in your first guild.
Next, leave the guild. To do that, click the social button among the buttons in the lower left corner, then the guild button, then scroll down the list of members until you get to yourself and click the red icon to the right of your name. Then join another guild and repeat the process:
Aid everyone. Leave. Find another guild to join. Etc. Etc. Rinse and repeat until you have gained the 1800 coins for the recurring quest you accepted. Collect the reward for that quest, and then abort through the other recurring quests until you arrive at that one again. Accept it.
Now you can build four more blacksmiths. Get those started. Why blacksmiths you might ask? Well, there's another recurring quest that involves blacksmiths. This one:
A helmet is the result of a one day blacksmith production run. Two blacksmiths then, set at one day productions, will complete this recurring quest. Thirty blacksmiths, set at one day productions, will complete this recurring quest fifteen times per day. Not to mention giving you tons of supplies. And random rewards too.
Random rewards are key to my method of getting your first two great buildings in less than a month. All the recurring quests give you random rewards. Most often, they'll give you coin or supplies. Less often they'll give you goods of your age - 5 of one type per reward, or a medium forge point pack (5FP into your inventory). Less often still, you'll get medals, or perhaps a blueprint piece for a great building of your age or lower. As you're in Bronze Age, and there are no Stone Age GBs, that's a 50/50 chance for either Zeus or Babel.
Back to the guild-hopping grind. Hop enough guilds to collect your 1800 coin, complete the quest, and then build some more blacksmiths. Maybe you've got some forge points to spend. Your huts aren't going to support many more blacksmiths, so next up for research is chalets. Also, don't be setting those blacksmiths for one day productions just yet. 15 minute ones, while you're guild-hopping for coin. Chalets will eat into your supply stockpile rather severely, as evidenced in this picture:
After you research chalets, you should make a bee-line to brewing. Schools aren't worth building as they're 3x3 and deliver 240 happiness, while taverns are also 3x3 and deliver 280 happiness. The sooner you get a tavern built, and eventually two altogether, the sooner you'll be up to peak blacksmiths. Then researching Tools would be okay - I know you want to. Then Manuring.
You recall how I said you wouldn't be collecting from your chalets? Well, you won't need them for income, because you'll be guild-hopping for that. You just need them for population, and they don't need to be connected to roads to your townhall for that. Here's my city after 5 days of doing helmet and coin recurring quests, and guild-hopping like mad:
I guess the first thing you notice is that Zeus great building there. I've also researched everything except growing, so I have all the expansions from the Bronze Age tech tree. I've got a lot of military, but it's not necessary. It was really just force of habit. I'm a fighter by nature.
Here's another city I started to see what blacksmith peak would be without military:
38 blacksmiths vs. 30 in the other city.
(Work in progress - Taking a break 2:50am 4/20, will finish eventually, but I hate deadlines )
So you've finished the tutorial. No more mandatory things to be built, stuff to be produced, research to be completed, or territory to be taken. You're free to go your own direction. At this point, many will try to race through to Iron Age and beyond as fast as they can. This is a mistake. Here's an example of why:
This city is in the neighborhood with one of my Late Middle Age cities. Setting aside the fact that it's a Colonial Age city with buildings left over from Iron age, a strange mixture of road types, and space-wasting decorations all over the place, note how many Great Buildings it has. None. Colonial Age and not a single Great Building.
Let's compare my neighbor's city above to my city below:
One Age behind and yet 7 Great Buildings. Level 11 Babel, level 10 Lighthouse, level 9 Zeus, level 6 St. Mark's, level 6 Chateau, level 5 Hagia, level 4 del Monte. And #2 in neighborhood rank, compared to #22. Note also I've got just the one stone quarry, and they've got six goods buildings. I don't need them, and won't, until possibly Modern Era, where refined goods come in. This is because my three goods-producing GBs deliver a total of 53 non-plunderable goods for my age per day.
So how is it that my Late Middle Age city's outcome is so different from that Colonial Age city? That is what this guide will demonstrate. Also, it'll show you how you can be the first one on the block with Great Buildings.
Day One:
You're in Bronze Age, and the tutorial part is finished. It's now time to get busy on building the coin and supplies you'll need to get you far enough through the tech tree to have Smithery researched. This is the key technology to my foolproof method of getting your first two great buildings quickly. I started a city specifically for demonstrating this method, and here is where I got on the tech tree by the end of the first day:
Notice how I'm making a bee-line for Smithery. Tools is tempting, but you can pick that up later. Smithery is the immediate concern.
Now of course you'll need coins and supplies to fund your research. The quickest way to gain coins (before you get Smithery), is with huts. Sure - you've got to babysit them, and collect from them every 5 minutes, but take heart in the knowledge you've only got to do this for the first day, because once you get Smithery researched, coins will not be a problem. That will be explained further on down. Here is my city at the end of day one:
Note that while there is room for another hut, I didn't build it because I wanted to keep my population enthusiastic for the 20% bonus to production. That's 20 coins more per 5 minute collection, as opposed to the 6 more coins I'd have gotten with an extra hut and a merely happy population. Note also I have two Spearfighter Barracks. You could probably get away with just one at this stage, but I knew I'd need two on day two, so I built 'em. I didn't however unlock any extra slots in them. I also kept the Hunter from the tutorial because there was room for it.
So day one is spent collecting from the huts as often as possible, and the supply buildings too, which you may as well set for 5 minute productions too. I admit, i set a few 15 minute productions though. As you can see, supplies aren't in short supply. It's coins that are needed, and so the three potteries and the hunter is plenty.
Also at the end of day one, this is my progress on the continent map:
Scouting both of these after taking Dunarsund is a storyline mission you've got to do, and it will be followed by a storyline mission to take one of these two territories. Tyr on the left or Fel on the right. You don't need Tyr, and you need Fel, but that's day two. Just reiterating we're not rushing through anything here.
Quest types:
A bit about the types of quests you will be given. There are three types.
Storyline Quests are mandatory. They can be put off, but they cannot be aborted and thus skipped.
Side Quests are optional. You can either complete them or abort them.
Recurring Quests are optional. You can either complete them or abort them, but they'll keep coming back. They are unique in this way. Too, they are only presented to you when you have completed or aborted your way through all the side quests there are for your age but before you've advanced to the next age. There are other circumstances where recurring quests are activated, later on in the game, and you can have up to three of them running simultaneously, but in these early ages you'll only have the one at a time. They can disappear on you if you advance the storyline (continent map) too far. You can take Hymir, but then stop until you are ready to advance to Iron Age. These recurring quests are key to my method of gaining your first two great buildings in less than a month, and so naturally you'll want to get to them as quickly as you can.
That explained, now we get into aborting side quests. You're going to run into several of these before you can get to getting Smithery researched, and it won't hurt you to abort most of them. This one for example is a no-brainer:
Look at how long it takes to make this stuff:
In 8 hours, you'll make way more coin than 200. Abort it.
Here's another:
Useless. Also, you wouldn't be able to produce this stuff anyway as you won't have a Fruit Farm. They're huge and a waste of space and population. Abort it.
You don't need Tyr. I took a few of the sectors in it for the resources (probably coin) they provided, but you can just Abort this one:
Some other time, Mandrubar, like some time after Smithery gets researched. Abort it:
Ditto. Abort it:
These cost coins. Abort them:
And:
Here's a storyline quest you'll want to do... Fel - NOT Tyr:
The one with the EXPANSION!
And now for something completely different:
It's a recurring quest! I believe this is the first one you'll see, and when you see it, you'll be into the recurring quest zone. Unless you have 8 FP to spend when you get it though, there's no harm in aborting it. It'll come back around.
Day Two:
It's time to finish up researching Thatched Houses, and then onward to Smithery. If you've already researched them before day two, that means you've been buying forge points. You can do this, but it gets expensive fast. The first one costs you 200 coin, and that cost increases by 50 coin for each subsequent purchase. Now you may be tempted to build some Thatched houses. You may even get a quest to do so. If there is a quest, unless it's a hidden reward, abort it. You don't want thatched houses, which support 27 population. You want chalets which support 32 population. The coin they produce doesn't matter, because you won't be collecting from them anyway. That doesn't make sense does it? It will.
Once you've got Smithery researched, naturally you'll want to start building blacksmiths. Thing is, they're expensive at 425 coins or so and 40 supplies. Look here at my city near the start of day two. I've collected my huts and potteries a few times and researched Smithery:
Note the coin balance in the upper right corner.
I've got to make room for some blacksmiths so I sell some huts. And then I can build exactly one blacksmith and no more:
Lets sell those potteries, that hunter, and some more huts:
Oh! Now I have two blacksmiths getting built, and nothing left to sell that will get me another, and not enough huts for anything useful. What am I to do?!
Smithery, in addition to giving you the ability to build blacksmiths also does something else. Something wonderful. You can join a guild now. And you will be doing that shortly. Before you do though, you should be into the recurring quests by now. Abort through them until you get to this one and accept it:
1800 coins will take forever you might say. No...it will only take a few minutes.
Now you're ready to join a guild. Click on the tab marked with a single shield icon along the bottom of your screen. Locate a guild that has auto-join enabled. The more members the better. Click "join" under the guild you've chosen to join it. This is what all this looks like:
Close that, and then aid everyone in the guild. That gets you 20 coins for each aiding action, and maybe even a random blueprint, though probably not in your first guild.
Next, leave the guild. To do that, click the social button among the buttons in the lower left corner, then the guild button, then scroll down the list of members until you get to yourself and click the red icon to the right of your name. Then join another guild and repeat the process:
Aid everyone. Leave. Find another guild to join. Etc. Etc. Rinse and repeat until you have gained the 1800 coins for the recurring quest you accepted. Collect the reward for that quest, and then abort through the other recurring quests until you arrive at that one again. Accept it.
Now you can build four more blacksmiths. Get those started. Why blacksmiths you might ask? Well, there's another recurring quest that involves blacksmiths. This one:
A helmet is the result of a one day blacksmith production run. Two blacksmiths then, set at one day productions, will complete this recurring quest. Thirty blacksmiths, set at one day productions, will complete this recurring quest fifteen times per day. Not to mention giving you tons of supplies. And random rewards too.
Random rewards are key to my method of getting your first two great buildings in less than a month. All the recurring quests give you random rewards. Most often, they'll give you coin or supplies. Less often they'll give you goods of your age - 5 of one type per reward, or a medium forge point pack (5FP into your inventory). Less often still, you'll get medals, or perhaps a blueprint piece for a great building of your age or lower. As you're in Bronze Age, and there are no Stone Age GBs, that's a 50/50 chance for either Zeus or Babel.
Back to the guild-hopping grind. Hop enough guilds to collect your 1800 coin, complete the quest, and then build some more blacksmiths. Maybe you've got some forge points to spend. Your huts aren't going to support many more blacksmiths, so next up for research is chalets. Also, don't be setting those blacksmiths for one day productions just yet. 15 minute ones, while you're guild-hopping for coin. Chalets will eat into your supply stockpile rather severely, as evidenced in this picture:
After you research chalets, you should make a bee-line to brewing. Schools aren't worth building as they're 3x3 and deliver 240 happiness, while taverns are also 3x3 and deliver 280 happiness. The sooner you get a tavern built, and eventually two altogether, the sooner you'll be up to peak blacksmiths. Then researching Tools would be okay - I know you want to. Then Manuring.
You recall how I said you wouldn't be collecting from your chalets? Well, you won't need them for income, because you'll be guild-hopping for that. You just need them for population, and they don't need to be connected to roads to your townhall for that. Here's my city after 5 days of doing helmet and coin recurring quests, and guild-hopping like mad:
I guess the first thing you notice is that Zeus great building there. I've also researched everything except growing, so I have all the expansions from the Bronze Age tech tree. I've got a lot of military, but it's not necessary. It was really just force of habit. I'm a fighter by nature.
Here's another city I started to see what blacksmith peak would be without military:
38 blacksmiths vs. 30 in the other city.
(Work in progress - Taking a break 2:50am 4/20, will finish eventually, but I hate deadlines )
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