Decision on WHERE to Place Town Center

[BigBadAss33]

OK... People..

Lets hear it. What are you tip on WHERE to place your Town Center?

I seem to pick a spot that looks good to me and turns out to be a very bad decision as Im always short something!

[asapa]

You can move it now, and honestly have always been able to move it as far as I know - previous to the patch with the move button even.

Seems like too much thought has been going into your initial placement, and maybe not enough forward thinking into the future of your settlement? Move it if you have an issue.

[garthurbrown]

The best position I've found is in a large relatively flat area with a hill or mountain in one adjacent quadrant. The hill will serve well for core town defense, as you get height bonuses to the towers and barracks you place there. Keep your beginning storage area between the town center and the hill, to better defend them from raiders. This is where I always locate my vault and trader. You can gradually terraform the hill into usable space both at ground level for your dwellings, and on a plateau where you can position defenses and buildings like wood cutters, smokers, and saw pits.

Then you have the other three quadrants to build up 3 market zones of dwellings. Space your markets in such a way that the outer radius is about a dwelling-space away from your inner town center hub, so that when upgraded to market squares you are getting maximum effect. In this inner hub area I place my temple, theater, a large statue, and a large park, which will give desirability bonuses to multiple market hubs. Markets will require 2-3 towers for defense, which you'll want to utilize higher ground for if it's practical.

[BigBadAss33]

Originally posted by asapa:

You can move it now, and honestly have always been able to move it as far as I know - previous to the patch with the move button even.

Seems like too much thought has been going into your initial placement, and maybe not enough forward thinking into the future of your settlement? Move it if you have an issue.

I guess I'm just not that forward thinking... I see some of these MONSTER cities and think HOW the heck did they do that.. I have a feeling that once you get to a certain size you move your housing and industry farther apart.. like say 200 citizens then 300 citizens and so on. As you build a new section of town you build the necessities(Firewood, Food Storage).

[BigBadAss33]

Originally posted by garthurbrown:

The best position I've found is in a large relatively flat area with a hill or mountain in one adjacent quadrant. The hill will serve well for core town defense, as you get height bonuses to the towers and barracks you place there. Keep your beginning storage area between the town center and the hill, to better defend them from raiders. This is where I always locate my vault and trader. You can gradually terraform the hill into usable space both at ground level for your dwellings, and on a plateau where you can position defenses and buildings like wood cutters, smokers, and saw pits.

Then you have the other three quadrants to build up 3 market zones of dwellings. Space your markets in such a way that the outer radius is about a dwelling-space away from your inner town center hub, so that when upgraded to market squares you are getting maximum effect. In this inner hub area I place my temple, theater, a large statue, and a large park, which will give desirability bonuses to multiple market hubs. Markets will require 2-3 towers for defense, which you'll want to utilize higher ground for if it's practical.

Its the spacing that gets me..... I just cant grasp it... I get a to the point where my settlement is starting to take off like 150 people and then i get lost.. I just cant keep up with all the requirements of houses upgraded and town center... ugggg .. the requirements seem unattainable!!!

thanks for your input... Do you happen to have a spreadsheet possible showing what your talking about?

[garthurbrown]

Originally posted by BigBadAss33:

Its the spacing that gets me..... I just cant grasp it... I get a to the point where my settlement is starting to take off like 150 people and then i get lost.. I just cant keep up with all the requirements of houses upgraded and town center... ugggg .. the requirements seem unattainable!!!

thanks for your input... Do you happen to have a spreadsheet possible showing what your talking about?

No, I don't have anything that analytical. Most of this is intuitive after I played multiple games. I played many settlements and each time that I learned something new, I started a new one with that new knowledge in mind. My strategy is certainly not the only strategy, and a lot of this depends on your playstyle and what you think is fun.

But the real key for both desirability and tax maximization is the markets. As soon as you can trade for the bricks to upgrade them, do it. This doubles your income and widens their range for desirability bonus. You'll also need to get some iron to upgrade your wells in the dwelling areas. The trader is crucial for early game. Sell surplus of a lot of different resources that you can spare. You want variety there because you can't predict what traders will be coming or what they'll be buying at the time. But even small amounts of gold early on are important to getting the things you need to boost your tax income.

The key things that allow you to get to a tier 3 are making sure your dwellings are within range of the market square, at least one upgraded well, a school, a healer's house, a festival pole, your temple, and a large park. Add some smaller decorations for houses further away from the market square, etc. Bakeries also help, if you are enough grain to support them at that point.

I usually don't bother with shrines early on, because they cost monthly gold, take up a whole dwelling space, and you don't really need the spirituality bonuses before I can construct a temple and get at least one relic which boosts the bonus a lot.

The challenge for you as you are learning to balancing making sure you have enough food and other resources, making sure you have enough people to do the jobs that need to be done, developing a functional defense, and making sure all your people are happy enough to keep progressing. Seems like a lot at first, but this become second nature after many games.

[BigBadAss33]

Originally posted by garthurbrown:

Originally posted by BigBadAss33:

Its the spacing that gets me..... I just cant grasp it... I get a to the point where my settlement is starting to take off like 150 people and then i get lost.. I just cant keep up with all the requirements of houses upgraded and town center... ugggg .. the requirements seem unattainable!!!

thanks for your input... Do you happen to have a spreadsheet possible showing what your talking about?

No, I don't have anything that analytical. Most of this is intuitive after I played multiple games. I played many settlements and each time that I learned something new, I started a new one with that new knowledge in mind. My strategy is certainly not the only strategy, and a lot of this depends on your playstyle and what you think is fun.

But the real key for both desirability and tax maximization is the markets. As soon as you can trade for the bricks to upgrade them, do it. This doubles your income and widens their range for desirability bonus. You'll also need to get some iron to upgrade your wells in the dwelling areas. The trader is crucial for early game. Sell surplus of a lot of different resources that you can spare. You want variety there because you can't predict what traders will be coming or what they'll be buying at the time. But even small amounts of gold early on are important to getting the things you need to boost your tax income.

The key things that allow you to get to a tier 3 are making sure your dwellings are within range of the market square, at least one upgraded well, a school, a healer's house, a festival pole, your temple, and a large park. Add some smaller decorations for houses further away from the market square, etc. Bakeries also help, if you are enough grain to support them at that point.

I usually don't bother with shrines early on, because they cost monthly gold, take up a whole dwelling space, and you don't really need the spirituality bonuses before I can construct a temple and get at least one relic which boosts the bonus a lot.

The challenge for you as you are learning to balancing making sure you have enough food and other resources, making sure you have enough people to do the jobs that need to be done, developing a functional defense, and making sure all your people are happy enough to keep progressing. Seems like a lot at first, but this become second nature after many games.

thanks that explains alot.. I'm getting better at the spacing thing.. I keep picking dumb start locations though. Ill try the market thing tonight. I just started yet another new game my 30th in a week as I am trying different things with each go round.

[garthurbrown]

Originally posted by BigBadAss33:

thanks that explains alot.. I'm getting better at the spacing thing.. I keep picking dumb start locations though. Ill try the market thing tonight. I just started yet another new game my 30th in a week as I am trying different things with each go round.

This is the way