I spent my weekend with watching these wacky walkers . I examined 2 big loops , one with 72 road tiles /L72/ and one with 68 road tiles /L68/ , and a block with a straight road system /S/ . In the loops there was only one service building from each type . Both loops had a pavilion as the only stub road possibility , with a roadblock at the end , otherwise the walkers could not escape from the loop . Both loops had only estates . I know that the word "looped" gives not enough info but it is more than nothing . In S there were many service buildings , i simply chose one to check . Here is what i experienced :

- municipial guys , dentist , herbalist : i have not found any problems with them and do not remember about any in the past . The only thing i do not understand is that why the magistrate and the tax collector appear there where they should disappear when coming out from their buildings .

- priests :
L72 : 26,37,-31,26 ; -31,26,26,31 ; -looped,37,26,26
L68 : 26,26,26,-looped ; 26,26,-33,26 ; 26,-looped,26,33
S : -31,26,41,31 ; 26,-26,31,39 ; -31,26,39,-26
Note that in S one priest visited both directions twice .
In L68 there was earlier a temple that sent its walker to only one direction . I replaced it with a library and the librarian behaved the same . Finally the mortician was clever enough to visit both directions .

- senet player /V=vanished/ :
L72 : 35V,35V,looped,-looped
L68 : 35V,35V,looped,35V
S : 37V,41,-39,61
Earlier I had many problems with the senet players , had to remove their building often to an other place until they gave full coverage . In L72 it happenned that he did actually a perfect coverage but reached the last 2 estates just too late and so they devolved . The senet player seems to be the walker resting the longest between two trips . Note that in L68 there is no visit toward the non-preferred direction . In S the 61 tiles long trip is quite impressive , this guy covers a 101 road tiles long area as being the only senet walker on the map . I have no idea why they vanish so often , probably due to the beer they drink instead of delivering it to the houses .

- water carrier :
L72 : 26,37,looped,-31
L68 : -looped,26,26,33
S : 26,36,-32,-30
In S all lengths are different , and two trips to each directions , probably they really learn where the houses are and so where to go .

- librarian :
L72 : 26,-26,41,-looped
L68 : 33,26,-looped,26
S : -31,49,37,-26
They also seem to prefer both directions . In L68 some estates are reached in the last minutes , just before devolving . The 49 tiles long journey in S is quite impressive again .

- teacher :
L72 : 34,-looped,-26,26
L68 : 26,-looped,looped,looped
S : 26,35,-26,-31
Again , preferring both directions .

- physician :
L72 : 26,26,32,-32
L68 : -33,26,26,31
S : 33,26,-35,26
The physician in S chose not the logical but the other direction as preferred .

- mortician :
L72 : looped,34,26,-32
L68 : looped,26,26,-31
S : 39,33,-26,-35
In S , this was the only mortician in the whole city . Probably learned again that he has to visit as many houses as he can .

-I think our walkers are not interested in where the centre of the map is when choosing the preferred direction , but the "where-more-people-live" theory seems to be quite OK .
-No idea why they sometimes try to visit only one direction .
-They usually make a longer trip toward their non-preferred direction , but unfortunatelly not always .
-It seems more or less random how far your walkers will go , even of the same type , but they must have some limits .
- Be careful with the small blessing of Bast if building such big blocks with minimal number of temples , it makes the priests disappear from the streets .

Tomek,

Well, I give up. I just don't understand the pattern behind those numbers. In my simple, simple little cities, it seemed to me that long walkers (fire, architect, police and Magistrate) went 44 or 52 squares, medium walkers (tax collectors and entertainers) went either 36 or 44, and everyone else was a short walker, and went either 26 or 36 squares.

But your data, based, I gather on quite a bit larger city, looks, well, random is not quite the word for it. The clearest pattern I can see is that of the numbers 26,31 and 39 occuring in the ratio 3:2:1. A lot of numbers occur only once, and might be mistaken observations, or (especially for those anomalous high numbers) flukes in the game.

But it is clear that walker ranges are more subtle and complex than I thought.

I'm stumped!

Regards,

Jimhotep

*bump* it up for the forum newbies and for those of us involved in some...remedial...training , if only there was a place to list a "the best of" series of threads, those threads that are so full of useful information that they should be required reading for all forum members...both old and new.

StarKeyproud citybuilder

May I ask how you have the time to sit and count the distance that walkers walk? I have either the Pharaoh demanding goods or the Gods go mad that they want to strike me down. I do put my game on 10% speed when I am first starting to design my city, but even then I still have trouble with Pharaoh and his goods or the Gods. What am I doing wrong? I want to be able to enjoy the people walking and see the city work. I am doing house blocking (not a good job at it yet, but I am trying).

Queen Melissa1 (novice Pharaoh player and lover of building cities that work)

You can place the Festival Pavilion immediately. Just draw a 5x5 X and plunk it down anywhere. It doesn't need labor, fire protection, architects, or even any other road connection.

Offer a festival to your patron god immediately, and thereafter to the least pleased god whenever the current festival is announced.

This approach will carry you through the initial few years until you need the temples anyway, for housing development.

Queen Melissa1,

MarvL’s approach to keeping the Gods satisfied is a valid one. Another approach, which can be a little bit cheaper, is to build a few Shrines. At the beginning of a mission, I usually wait until the Gods are ‘displeased’ before I do anything. Then I will build two Shrines to the Patron God, and one Shrine to each of the Local Gods. You can build 5 Shrines for the cost of a Festival Square, and you don’t have the cost of the Festivals. This approach will keep the Gods ‘apathetic’ until your population exceeds 600.

With 600 citizens, I can get my export industries running and my city making a profit. When my city is out-of-debt and making a good profit, I start on expanding my city, upgrading my housing and feeding my people.

”May I ask how you have the time to sit and count the distance that walkers walk?”

We don’t do it while trying to play a mission. We are obsessive/compulsive types who set up special tests to watch these little fellows run around.

Queen Melissa1,
May I suggest that when you start a mission, immediately pause the game. See what stuff (raw materials, food and other farm products, manufactured goods) can be produced. Check the world map to see what expensive goods you can sell. Look at the map and locate critical resources (such as marshes for reeds, stone for quarries, places for farms or fishing wharves, even watered ground in an arid map). Decide the location of the initial export production (or gold mines), the housing to support it, and (if you'll be trading by water) the dock. Only after a little planning should you set the speed to 10% and start building.

V_AIA:

Hey! I represent that! I poke my head out of my walker lab to see what the nice folks at Pharaoh Heaven are up to, and what do I find? I'm obsessive/compulsive. Bummer. And here all this time I thought I was just a control freak.

Queen Mel:

Believe Vitruvius. He speaks the sooth. Brugle too. They are our sages.

StephAmon

[This message has been edited by StephAmon (edited 05-23-2002 @ 01:31 AM).]