well i guess i chould write pages and pages here and really confused people so i will keep this short.
u can never build to much food for not only do u get food but pop as well which gives u more gold(which is good) but alway build enough food to have double rations and u can always sell the extra food
and remember food is worth more when u have over 200 units so build 2 grainaries (any thing more is a waste of wood and space).

Well, I usually build like 30+ lumber jacks, then a granary, surrounded by apple farms. I build one wheat field, one mill, and like 5 bakeries. I buy most of my weapons.

well 30 + cutters is a good start but buying troops well let just say u need to build troops as well :-)
mostly because when u play a guy like me that has 40 or so cutters 40orsofarm(selling food)50 or so weapon huts with a pop of over 200 i get more gold so can buy more troop plus the troop i am building :-)

I try to build about 75 - 100 woodcutters. This brings in ALOT of wood, and when 75% of the PT is up, I put them to sleep, and build my army from them When I go to battle, I turn them back on, and when they are restocked, and have restocked my wood, turn them off and repeat.

You guys go heavy on the woodcutters !
(I guess thats how you win...)

The most Ive ever built is about 30.

Remember:
Wood = food = people = gold = weapons = army = victory
or something like that.....

i think wraith is only joking about 75-100 cutter or shouldbe i have never seem him use that many 40 is good any thing more than 40 is a waste of wood on most maps

No, actually, Im not... some games I do use less, but thats just a personal strat... I really like it on chaz, works good. Also the troop thing is nice, you can stock pile peasants

Remember:
Wood = food = people = gold = weapons = army = victory
or something like that.....

I would say

wood - gold - food - people - food - weapons - stone - army - victory

Nice new sig add on... I almost had to change the font size of my browser to see that. Sorry you feel that way dude.

On the aspect of food.

What do you guys think is more effective, loads of apple farms or wheat and bakeries ?

Do you go for monoculture or do you combine them ?

Ohh, and Derusset, good to see you back

Nigel

If you read the Number crunching, you'd have a better idea of all those things, but I'll sum up a bit.

Bread is 225% more efficant as it produces more from a single farmer, but apples are produced faster.

If Im confident that Im going to slaugter an opponent in 2 waves or less, I tent to build alot of woodcutters, apple farmers etc, but when its getting down to war time *and my population is soaring* I "ZZZ" my woodcutters and save food like that. If Im a bit more worried about the opposition, I tend to build badthings and go from there.
Badthings+Apples = lots of food. I rarely go bicultural, it takes up too much room, yet when I do, I reserve the back side of the keep for it, as well as the side oppsite the firepit.

Wraith, you want to say, that when you put your woodcutters to sleep, they don't need food anymore? When they gather around the fireplace, they don't eat? If that's true..., damned, then I have to open SHCL again.

I like cows and apples apples are only good up to 4 orchads away from the grainery then cows come into to play. I grow wheat but mainly to sell unless food is tight then 2 mills and come bakers to bring in the bonus

good/bad things are a waiste of time in MOST MP games but are the bread and butter in SP games that are MP based.

I am going from my old knoledge for I havn't had time to read new strats and Ideas since my leave.

But my old ideas are working for me, the only guy to beat me 1v1 I played last night and the tables were turned a bit having a close match, left unfinnished but the victor is pretty clear unless some hidden strat lay in the mix.

people around the fire eat, but normally you have over 12 wood cutters and then 24 guys around the fire put the wood cutters to sleep and you save 12 people feeding

No Hanarky, if you recall at that point I recruit all those wonderfull weapons I have in my armory Then they starve as soliders

I've played a lot of SP and designed some scenarios. So I'm familiar with all the game dynamics. Enjoyed both tremendously. I want to play MP......... I. I'd like to practice developing my economy and army in PT before I have to guard my walls. Could successful players give some comprehensive formulas for this?
For example: 1. 75 woodcutters. 2. 6 orchards 3. 25 tanners 4. 63 fletchers. etc... (Specific overall formulas I can learn to use before I come on-line to fight).
II.What food goals, gold goals, do you go for?................ III. What are troop sizes and mix you massively successful warriors recommend?.......IV. What are some ideal layouts for the keep? Size? Organization etc......V. What are commonly used and successful strategies and tactics. I know some of these points are partially answered. If I missed the right threads, point me to them. I realize I'm asking you to give up your secrets, but you might even become more magnificent from increased opposition. (not from me but from your peers) What else would you recommend to make a good MP player?

What you build is dependant on the map, and the starting resources

I would say in the first 5 min of a game you need to have build

6 houses, 12-24 wood cutters, 10-15 apple orchards

4-5Fletures, 2-3 cowfarms, 5-6 tanners, 2-3 blacksmith,

the market is one of the first things you build,

there is little to know formula, sicne terrain changes and resoures are diffent

My goal is always making 25000 gold, in every game. but gold goals and food goals don't matter in MP gaming you need enough food to suport your people with out needing to watch it, thats a food goal, gold goal is to have enough gold to build your troops.

I try to build walls early so my farms dont get raided. Also I have 1 food type on extra rations and have hourly ale chugs. This and selling all that wood and extra iron floods my treasury, and, as it is in the old and almost forgotten game Imperialism, a great economy allows a great military. A high pop is great as mentioned above cause they give more taxes as well as making more stuff. I try not to get into goodbad things especially cause of the high pop but if my foe is a tough nut then I go with loads of flowers at what I hope to be the end of the game.(With me as the victor.)

[This message has been edited by Radagast (edited 08-21-2002 @ 12:12 PM).]

why not use double rations and ALE?? then you can get a tax of -12??

when I use ale thats what I do, but most of the time I don't use ale

Because I usually dont have thousands of acres to build farms and when you have double rations then you have to keep an eye on your granary when you build more houses. That can be a problem if you need to keep another eye out for the enemy's doings and a third for your own military. But I haven't been playing for very long (maybe 3 weeks on MP) so I guess I'll just get used to it. Btw, do you mean reach 25000 for the entire game or just have that much at one time?

have that much at one time

25000 gold in 40 min game is easy

I normally get 20000 in a 25 min game on a bad map like 8 player no walls

Oh i try to buy stuff before i get that much. I usually get 35 - 50000 in a game that's an hour long. I also dont play with that too much cause it takes up time you could use to gain stategic advantage.

[This message has been edited by Radagast (edited 08-21-2002 @ 03:54 PM).]

You can only buy so much, and since I am building all my weapons as well cause we normally have weapons trading off the gold sits there until I use it for trebs and catts

Its totally worth it to buy the barrels of ale, tax people to death and build your weapons. You'll find you'll produce an army quickly with gold to spare for siege equipment. Dont under estimate the power of cats/trebs. You can literally wipe out a wall full of xbows (*like 300*) in a matter of seconds with cats. Dont ever feel too much is too much.