Worker Housing Block

The following comments are based on a “Normal” difficulty setting.

The inner loop of this block contains 52 road tiles. This is the largest loop that I have been able to develop which is 100% stable. (This inner loop should be covered with “plazas” to increase desirability. I have used plaza glyphs to indicate the layout of the entertainment venues, so I left these tiles as road glyphs.)

I typically develop this block to “Common Residence” which will hold a maximum population of 2,800. To achieve this level, the houses must be provided with one type of food, pottery and beer. Set the Bazaar to buy these items only.

If food is plentiful, I will sometimes provide a second type of food to the block which will evolve it to “Spacious Residence”, with a maximum population of 2,940.

I set the Bazaar to “Don’t Buy Linen”, because I want to reserve the linen for the Manor and Estate blocks.

For Common Residences, the Mortuary and Dentist are not required. (Dentist is required for Spacious Residence.) They are provided for this block because one of my mission goals is “Perfect” coverage for health.

Another of my mission goals is “Perfect” coverage for entertainment. The entertanment venues in this block are to increase citywide coverage. Only the Bandstand would be required to evolve this block to Common Residence. The Bandstand and Booth together would evolve the block to Spacious Residence. The Pavilion is not required for block evolution.

Additional Comments:

The outer road is provided for labor recruiters from farms and industries. Any recruiter walking along this road will pick up workers as he passes by a house (as long as there isn’t a citywide labor shortage).

This block pays annual taxes of 4,536 debens at full occupancy and a 9% tax rate.

I set one Storage Yard to accept (or get) ¾ pottery and ¼ linen. The second Storage Yard is set to ¾ beer and ¼ papyrus.

The Large Statue is provided to upgrade the Bazaar and Water Supply. This is necessary for full coverage.

Initially, there is a Police Station in the block where the Courthouse is located. After the block is supplied with beer, I delete the Police Station and replace it with the Courthouse. A housing block must have a Police Station or a Courthouse, but both are not required.

Important: Don’t forget to provide a Fire House and Architects Post for the Storage Yards and the Granary. I left them off the diagram but they are, of course, very important.

Worker Housing Block – Updated Sep. 12, 2002

(I have been meaning to revise this post for a long time. Having this old thread revived yesterday prompted me to do so.)

The original housing block in this thread served me very well. At the time, I was playing on “Normal” difficulty and never had any problems with it. I now know more about walker behavior than I did back then, and I am amazed that it worked at all. The two dead-end roads created by the Pavilion and Bandstand are simply not a good idea. Try the original version on Hard or Very Hard difficulty and you will find out why.

The updated version has eliminated all of the dead-end roads except for a one-tile dead-end at the Pavilion. The interior road loop has been reduced to 50 tiles in lieu of the original 52. The number of houses and service buildings are the same as the original, except that I omitted the Bandstand. The Bandstand helped with the overall entertainment requirement of the Culture Rating, but did nothing for the block.

The services and desirability of the updated block are adequate for all difficulty levels up to Spacious Residences.

Edited 01-12-03:

The block posted above worked the first time I used it (playing on Very Hard). I tried it again today and had problems. I thought that the solution would be do simply reduce the size of the block. Not so.

Even with a 44 tile loop, service walkers would sometimes walk into the intersection at the pavilion, and then reverse direction going back the way they came.

Edited 01-13-05

I recommend a block design without intersections (similar to those posted in Replies 42 & 80 of this thread). A block with an intersection may sometimes cause problems.

[This message has been edited by VitruviusAIA (edited 01-13-2005 @ 10:35 PM).]

Laying out a block for Manors

This is the layout that I start with when I want to evolve a block to Manors. It has the same 52-tile inner road loop as my Worker Housing Block. I try to build at least two manor blocks in my cities. In one, I place my Mansion as shown here and in Manor Block #1. In the other, I add the Palace as shown in Manor Block #2.

All of the structures required to reach Fancy Residence level are included in this diagram. In addition to the goods required for the Common Residences in my Worker Housing Block, you will need to provide this block with a second type of food and linen.

When this block evolves to Fancy Residence, all that you need to add for Common Manors is luxury goods. Before you provide luxury goods to this block, however, I would recommend that you install the small statues behind the residences as shown. These statues keep the residences from evolving to manors. Without them, you will loose all of your workers in the block when the residences evolve to manors. This could cause a citywide worker shortage that could be hard to recover from.

With the small statues in place as shown, you can control the evolution to manors. Starting at one end of a row of residences, delete the small statues 2 at a time. This will create a 3x3 area for the manor to expand into.

Additional Comments:

The maximum population for the block of Fancy Residences is 1,748 and it pays annual taxes of 3,775 debens (at 9% rate).

To evolve this housing further, a lot of food and goods will be required. I have found that it is best to provide these blocks with two bazaars. Otherwise, the houses tend to run out of supplies and devolve. I set one bazaar to buy the most abundant type of food, pottery and linen. I set the other bazaar to by food types 2 & 3, beer and luxury goods. One granary serving this block would accept (or get) the most abundant food type, and the other would hold food types 2 & 3. These percentages might have to be adjusted depending on how well the bazaars are being provided.

[EDIT]

The Housing Block for 15 Stately Manors in Reply #141 of this thread is much better than this one.

The inner-road loop has been reduced to 44-tiles. The desirability is adequate for Very Hard difficulty. The new block has improved access for labor-seekers and most important, the block is “intersection free”.

You should not encounter any problems using the new version. This version has flaws.

[This message has been edited by VitruviusAIA (edited 01-20-2005 @ 12:51 PM).]

Manor Block #1

This is the Manor Block fully evolved to 12 Stately Manors. All of the desirability structures (statues and gardens) necessary for full evolution are shown (except that all of the road tiles should be plazas). I have used this block many times, and it is 100% stable as long as it remains supplied with goods. Undesirable buildings should be placed away from these blocks. The most undesirable are forts, mines, docks and shipwrights.

This block contains two Scribe Schools and two Libraries. One of each is all that is required for the block to evolve. However, I have found that in trying to achieve a 100% Culture Rating, I am always lacking the required schools and libraries. Just leave these areas blank (or fill them in with gardens) until you need them.

Additional Comments:

The maximum population for this block is 1,580 and it pays annual taxes of 10,643 debens (at 9% rate).

The one Fancy Residence in this block is there to provide the Granaries and Storage Yards with workers. The Granaries and Storage Yards don’t have to be located directly adjacent to the block as shown, however, if they are located as shown desirability will still be good enough for the manors to evolve.

I set one Storage Yard to accept (or get) 3/4 pottery and 1/4 luxury goods. The second is set to 3/4 beer and 1/4 luxury goods. The third is set to 1/2 linen and 1/2 papyrus.

[EDIT]

The Housing Block for 15 Stately Manors in Reply #141 of this thread is much better than this one.

The inner-road loop has been reduced to 44-tiles. The desirability is adequate for Very Hard difficulty. The new block has improved access for labor-seekers and most important, the block is “intersection free”.

You should not encounter any problems using the new version. This version has flaws.

[This message has been edited by VitruviusAIA (edited 01-20-2005 @ 12:52 PM).]

Manor Block #2

This is the Manor Block that I use, adjusted for a 6x6 City Palace in lieu of the 5x5 Dynasty Mansion. The population and tax figures are the same as Manor Block #1.

Additional Comments:

If you don’t want to place the Palace or Mansion inside these blocks, you can replace the Palace with 4 Stately Manors. Place two of the manors between the Courthouse and Library, and the other two directly below them, moving the “undesirable” Senet House as far to the right as possible (next to the Mortuary). Like this:

You will also need to replace the Medium Statues behind the other Manors with Large Statues to replace the desirability lost without a Place or a Mansion.

The bandstand on the right side of the diagram also provides a “back door” to the block. This can be useful if your gold mines are on this side.

With 16 Stately Manors instead of 12, this block will have a maximum population of 2,076 and pay annual taxes of 14,125 debens (at 9% rate).

[EDIT]

The Housing Block for 15 Stately Manors in Reply #141 of this thread is much better than this one.

The inner-road loop has been reduced to 44-tiles. The desirability is adequate for Very Hard difficulty. The new block has improved access for labor-seekers and most important, the block is “intersection free”.

You should not encounter any problems using the new version. This version has flaws.

[This message has been edited by VitruviusAIA (edited 01-20-2005 @ 12:52 PM).]

Laying out a Block for Estates

When laying out this block for Estates, the locations shown for the shrines and small statues that surround the housing are critical. They determine where the estates will be allowed to evolve. The idea for this block belongs to Grumpus. The placement of the houses and the large statues that are needed for evolution to Palatial Estates comes from his luxury housing block. The placement of the support structures and entertainment venues are the only things that are mine.

Additional Comments:

The large statues are to increase the desirability of the area so that the houses will evolve to Palatial Estates.

The extra Library and Scribe School are included in this block to increase citywide coverage. Only one of each is necessary.

This block requires a lot of food and goods. To keep this block 100% stable, I have supplied it with 3 bazaars. Two bazaars will sometimes be enough if the Granaries and Storage Yards containing the supplies for the block are near enough. For 3 bazaars, bazaar #1 buys Food Type A and pottery, bazaar #2 buys Food Type B and beer, bazaar #3 buys Food Type C, linen and luxury goods. For 2 bazaars, bazaar #1 buys Food Types A & B, pottery and linen, bazaar #2 buys Food types B & C, beer and luxury goods.

When possible, I will replace some of the large statues with a Temple Complex. The Temple Complex has to get its workers from another block (at least until the houses evolve to 3x3 size) and it will need an architects post.

[EDIT]

The Housing Block for 12 Palatial Estates in Reply #130 of this thread is much better than this one.

The inner-road loop has been reduced to 44-tiles. The desirability is adequate for Very Hard difficulty. The new block has improved access for labor-seekers and most important, the block is “intersection free”.

You should not encounter any problems using the new version. This version has flaws.

[This message has been edited by VitruviusAIA (edited 01-20-2005 @ 12:55 PM).]