DeletedUser28828
Efficient Road Infrastructure
What sets apart the great cities from the good cities is Efficient Road Infrastructure. There are many efficient ways to construct your city’s roads, but they all share similar characteristics. They minimize the number of turns, since each turn uses more land, and they support the most buildings with the least amount of road squares. I do not wish to tell you, the reader, how to setup your city, but to describe the evolution of my city’s road infrastructure to stimulate your own ideas.
In the beginning, I immediately placed my Town Hall in the most northeast corner. I then extended roads from my Town Hall to the south and west indented three spaces. The north most buildings were sized 2x3, 3x3, and 4x3. The east most buildings were sized 3x2, 3x3, and, 3x4. I created more roads by connecting to the east road and extending them to the west. The new road was spaced so that 4 Land Squares were available. Between these two roads were two rows of 2x2 houses. Further roads connecting to the east road and extending to the west were created spaced apart based on the size of the two rows of buildings that will be between them. At the ends of the roads are the largest buildings, initially 4x4 Goods Buildings, in later ages Great Buildings. The city roads take the form of a comb with perhaps a few teeth missing.
As the city expands, the land expansions are added to the west and south, forming an “L”, and keeping the city generally square. From time to time, a city needs to be renovated to maintain efficient use of space as it expands and as new sizes of buildings are employed.
Currently, I have set aside the north most roads to support permanent buildings, such as rows of Wishing Wells and rows of Shrines of Knowledge. The ends of the roads have Great Buildings and new buildings are created in the southern portion of the city.
Starting in the Progressive Era, two lane roads become necessary. In this era the best housing is 3x3 that fits nicely on the east most side. Thus, I rebuilt the east road as a two lane road with the extra lane causing all buildings to move to the west one space. When further two lane road is needed, one or more of the southern portion roads are rebuilt as two lane roads. This is an ideal time for one of those city renovations.
I actually made the preparations for the eastern two lane road when my city had reached the end of the Industrial Age and after my Capitol had reached level 10. A level 10 Capitol replaces 22 3x2 Victorian Houses. Thus, Capitol freed 97 land squares or the equivalent of 6 land expansions. With my style of play Capitol, and later Habitat and Innovation Tower, is indispensable. Your style of play may have different population requirements.
My next city renovation occurs in the Post Modern Era. The best PME housing is 4x4, so the east road needs to be indented further to the west. Check the other PME building sizes you will be employing to decide whether the east road should be indented 4 or 5. In PME you’ll be able to build the Habitat which provides enough additional population, such that with the combination of Habitat and Capitol, no other housing is needed in PME.
Whatever you do have a plan. For sure, things will change. As FOE evolves and new GBs and Special Buildings are created or you change you change your strategy, update your plan. With a plan, your progress through FOE will be more efficient and an efficient city will progress faster and better.
What sets apart the great cities from the good cities is Efficient Road Infrastructure. There are many efficient ways to construct your city’s roads, but they all share similar characteristics. They minimize the number of turns, since each turn uses more land, and they support the most buildings with the least amount of road squares. I do not wish to tell you, the reader, how to setup your city, but to describe the evolution of my city’s road infrastructure to stimulate your own ideas.
In the beginning, I immediately placed my Town Hall in the most northeast corner. I then extended roads from my Town Hall to the south and west indented three spaces. The north most buildings were sized 2x3, 3x3, and 4x3. The east most buildings were sized 3x2, 3x3, and, 3x4. I created more roads by connecting to the east road and extending them to the west. The new road was spaced so that 4 Land Squares were available. Between these two roads were two rows of 2x2 houses. Further roads connecting to the east road and extending to the west were created spaced apart based on the size of the two rows of buildings that will be between them. At the ends of the roads are the largest buildings, initially 4x4 Goods Buildings, in later ages Great Buildings. The city roads take the form of a comb with perhaps a few teeth missing.
As the city expands, the land expansions are added to the west and south, forming an “L”, and keeping the city generally square. From time to time, a city needs to be renovated to maintain efficient use of space as it expands and as new sizes of buildings are employed.
Currently, I have set aside the north most roads to support permanent buildings, such as rows of Wishing Wells and rows of Shrines of Knowledge. The ends of the roads have Great Buildings and new buildings are created in the southern portion of the city.
Starting in the Progressive Era, two lane roads become necessary. In this era the best housing is 3x3 that fits nicely on the east most side. Thus, I rebuilt the east road as a two lane road with the extra lane causing all buildings to move to the west one space. When further two lane road is needed, one or more of the southern portion roads are rebuilt as two lane roads. This is an ideal time for one of those city renovations.
I actually made the preparations for the eastern two lane road when my city had reached the end of the Industrial Age and after my Capitol had reached level 10. A level 10 Capitol replaces 22 3x2 Victorian Houses. Thus, Capitol freed 97 land squares or the equivalent of 6 land expansions. With my style of play Capitol, and later Habitat and Innovation Tower, is indispensable. Your style of play may have different population requirements.
My next city renovation occurs in the Post Modern Era. The best PME housing is 4x4, so the east road needs to be indented further to the west. Check the other PME building sizes you will be employing to decide whether the east road should be indented 4 or 5. In PME you’ll be able to build the Habitat which provides enough additional population, such that with the combination of Habitat and Capitol, no other housing is needed in PME.
Whatever you do have a plan. For sure, things will change. As FOE evolves and new GBs and Special Buildings are created or you change you change your strategy, update your plan. With a plan, your progress through FOE will be more efficient and an efficient city will progress faster and better.
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