Raven,
Thank you for an excellent guide. I discovered it a couple of months back when I first entered HMA and got a Cherry Garden Set. Fast forward to today, much has happened and I am contemplating what to do next in early CA. Right now my important GBs are as follows: Arc (lvl 6), Chateau (lvl 8), Hagia Sophia (lvl 5), SmB (lvl 6) and LoA (lvl 6). I have 72 Clockmakers and coin/supplies production is a problem as I cannot do 1 UBQ for every for every clock turret quest. For the coins I am currently not getting the houses motivated, not sure why but I'm trying to fix that by adding 24hr coin production. Currently focusing on leveling up my SmB to level 7. My tavern boost is currently set to coins, but hopefully my coin problem is fixed by 24hr production and I can change that to supplies. After SmB level 7, LoA is going to level 7. I should be in better shape then (although I haven't made exact calculations). Any thoughts on this would be helpful.
While doing all this though, I am thinking of which GB to put in stix next, and also when. Both the Alcatraz as well as the Castel del Monte are strong candidates. I have seen your comments about the Alcatraz in a couple of places, it will save goods etc by fighting in GE. But on the other hand fighting in GE also requires higher A/D rate. I do not have a CdM yet, and my Zeus is level 6 my CoA is only at level 3 and I wasn't going to level them until the important GBs (Arc, Chateau, SmB and LoA) are all level 10. Happiness is currently an issue, although not big. That's why I have the Garden Ruins as well as the Maypole up. When my SmB and LoA gets to level 7, Hagia Sophia is next, going from level 5 to 7 at one go to get an extra FP. That should also help on the happiness (one of the bonuses for Alcatraz).
So... I am sort of leaning towards making CdM my next GB, and putting it down when SmB, LoA and HS are level 7, then get CdM to level 6 before focusing on Arc and Chateau again. Any thoughts? If you want to look it up, I'm on Xyr. I already know the mistake of my expansion into the wilderness, which was done prior to discovering this guide. Another mistake I just discovered is renovating some of the buildings from HMA to CA age. I have way too few SoKs, which I will try to do something about next. Appreciate any feedback you may have.
A comment not related to above questions: I struggled saving FP packs in HMA since my GBs already entered level 6. Instead of "wasting" time to level them further (to get more 10 packs) I simply stopped leveling them in HMA and saved up 5 packs as well. That went slow, so when I had around 800 FPs + getting 100 FP relic in GE, I left HMA and stayed in LMA for 10 days - but not for diamonds. It was partly to produce goods (had over 11M supplies so I had 17 talc cutters to spit out LMA goods), and mainly to be able to spend my hourly/daily FPs on research to speed up my journey to clockmaking in CA. I would say it went well, but I did not require 8M coins. I had 5M coins when leaving HMA, had as much coin production as possible in LMA during those 10 days, and then after finishing my clockmaking city I had around 2M coins. Just a reference if there is anyone out there in a similar situation.