While playing (and replaying and replaying...) the Bridges contest map, I stumbled over some interesting observations about the Pharaoh game model for production. The production rates information at Grumpus' site and other posts have given everyone the basic facts, but it has always bothered me that the "facts" are fairly messy. I mean, the game designer probably didnt sit down and pull the fact that (for example) a Brewery will produce exactly 47 beers a month out of his uhh.. hat. Therefore the "Law of Elegance" dictates that there must be something else that WAS chosen which as a secondary affect causes the 47 beers a month number. Hence I also live up to my forum handle.
For the Bridges map I needed a kind of in-game clock to help time some production of scaffolding at a carpenter's guild. What I used was the total number of stored granite blocks and the current % completion number of the granite quarry. So for example the time 88-36% exactly describes a time point during the game when 88 granite blocks are in storage and the current quarries are 36% done with the next blocks. I always had enough room for the granite and it was only being used only at very specific times which fit my need for a clock perfectly.
After playing with this for a time, some observations come to mind:
Theory #1: "The Tick Theory"
There is short time period which I call a "tick" which is the smallest period of time in which the game does production. All production building's % completions are increased once at the beginning of a tick and the % completions do not change during a tick.Game Data #1: There are exactly 16 ticks per month.
Theory #2: "A Building's Production Step Value"
I will call the above increase the "step value" of a building. A building's % done is increased by the step value for each tick as long as the building has employees. Production always starts at zero and when % done becomes greater than 100% (always displayed as 100%) the building produces its product. The step value is set by the type of building and religious modifiers and I contend that THIS was the number chosen by the game designer.The various building's basic production speeds are based on their step value:
2.00% = Carpenter's Guild
3.00% = Brewery, Brickworks, Cattle, Jeweler, Papyrus, Potter, Weapons, Weaver
4.00% = Clay Pit, Gemstone Mine
5.00% = Copper Mine
6.00% = Gold Mine, Granite, Limestone, Plainstone
6.25% = Shipwright
12.0% = Recruiter with Academy
When Ptah's Temple Complex and Amon's altar have been added, the step values of the respective production facilities are increased by 50%. In the below, [PTC] indicates the temple complex and [PTC-A] indicates the altar has been added to the temple complex. While the manual says that Shipwrights are increased by Ptah's Complex, the production speed stayed the same in the game I tested.4.50% = Jeweler[PTC], Weaver[PTC], Brickworks[PTC-A]
6.00% = Clay Pit[PTC], Gemstone[PTC]
7.50% = Copper Mine[PTC]
9.00% = Gold Mine[PTC], Granite[PTC-A], Limestone[PTC-A], Plainstone[PTC-A]As an example of how the above works, each tick of a normal granite quarry increases the % done by 6%. So the sequence is as follows:
Tick 00: 00% Done
Tick 01: 06% Done
Tick 02: 12% Done
Tick 03: 18% Done
...
Tick 14: 84% Done
Tick 15: 90% Done
Tick 16: 96% Done
Tick 17: 100% / 0% Done: Building produces a cart pusher.
Tick 18: 06% Done
Tick 19: 12% Done
Given the above I can derive the production rates described by Grumpus; remember that there are 16 ticks per month.
(stepValue -> total ticks to complete product -> calculated production/month)
2.00% -> 50 ticks -> 16/50 = 32.00% per month
3.00% -> 34 ticks -> 16/34 = 47.06% per month ( Grumpus = 47 )
4.00% -> 25 ticks -> 16/25 = 64.00% per month ( Grumpus = 64 )
4.50% -> 23 ticks -> 16/23 = 69.57% per month
5.00% -> 20 ticks -> 16/20 = 80.00% per month ( Grumpus = 80 )
6.00% -> 17 ticks -> 16/17 = 94.12% per month ( Grumpus = 94 )
6.25% -> 16 ticks -> 16/16 = 100.0% per month
7.50% -> 14 ticks -> 16/14 = 114.3% per month
9.00% -> 12 ticks -> 16/12 = 133.3% per month
12.0% -> 09 ticks -> 16/09 = 177.8% per month ( Grumpus = 2 )
Theory #3: "Walker/Pusher Speeds"
From watching the walkers/pushers moving around at speed 10% and correlating that to the above tick information I have basically two slightly different values for the speed of movement. The numbers come out as either 3.333 or 3.4 squares per tick or respectively 53.333 or 54.4 squares per month.Some more info from close observation:
Game Data #2: There are 50 animation cycles ( uh microticks ?) per tick.
Game Data #3: There are 12 animations per walker type. After 12 they repeat.
Game Data #4: A walker moves 4 squares during 5 full animations = 60 microticks.
From Data #2 thru #4 a walker's speed could be calculated to be 4*50/(5*12) = 3.333 squares per tick. Or (16*3.333) = 53.333 squares per month.
The only problem here is that I set up a long road and did a different test with cart pushers. A cart pusher moved 17 squares in exactly 5 ticks which comes out to be (17/5) = 3.4 squares per tick or (16*3.4) = 54.4 squares per month. The cart pushers had the same 12 animations and seemed to move on the squares in the same fashion as the walkers used to get the above data.
For the rest of this message I will use the 3.333 number for calculations since it is a bit smaller.
Theory #4: "Distances from Source Building to Destinations"
If I take the production speed info and tie in the walker speed I can calculate the maximum distance that a production house can be from wherever the product needs to go ( storage yard, next production house in the chain, whatever...). The formula I use is (number of ticks per production * speed of cart / 2) where the divide by 2 is because the cart has to return to the production location.2.00% -> 50 ticks -> 50*3.333/2 = 83.3 sq. [ Wood to carpenters ]
3.00% -> 34 ticks -> 34*3.333/2 = 56.7 sq. [ Beer, Bricks... to store ]
4.00% -> 25 ticks -> 25*3.333/2 = 41.7 sq. [ Clay, Gems to store/prod ]
4.50% -> 23 ticks -> 23*3.333/2 = 38.3 sq. [ Ptah Jewel,Linen,Bricks to store]
5.00% -> 20 ticks -> 20*3.333/2 = 33.3 sq. [ Copper Mine to store/weapsmith]
6.00% -> 17 ticks -> 17*3.333/2 = 28.3 sq. [ Gold,Quarry to palace/store ]
6.25% -> 16 ticks -> 16*3.333/2 = 26.7 sq. [ Wood to shipwright ]
7.50% -> 14 ticks -> 14*3.333/2 = 23.3 sq. [ Ptah Copper to store/weaponsmith]
9.00% -> 12 ticks -> 12*3.333/2 = 20.0 sq. [ Ptah Gold,Quarry to palace/store ]
12.0% -> 09 ticks -> 09*3.333/2 = 15.0 sq. [ Weapons to Recruiter ]The above are probably maximum numbers because the cart pushers are not immediately spawned from the building (takes about 12 microticks from the 100% tick mark) and they usually have a small wait (about 4-8 microticks) at the destination to unload. So maybe knock off a square from the above.
Well thats it for now. Looking forward to your comments on this.
-Nerdicus (Andy Antoniewicz)