Where to build castles and forts?

[Zorro]

I've just started playing and I've done the tutorial but should I try and build forts/castles in every province?

[oldrocker99]

I usually build a fort in a Throne province, and also far away enough from the home province so that it only draws resources from one or two home provinces. After that, build as many as you like and have gold for. Make sure you populate each with plenty of soldiers, of course.

[Traksimuss]

Mostly build in provinces you intend to defend, like high income or important special sites/thrones.

[Smiling Spectre]

Main problem with forts/castles is the cost, in terms of time and money. So I would recommend to build it initially only in the rich or important points. When you have enough commanders and money - feel free to build everywhere you want - they are universally useful. :)

[404 Float not found]

Usually, its a good idea to build them in choke points, thrones, multiple sight locations and high population areas.

[Meat Horse Array]

Build them in provinces with high resource values, bordering provinces with high resource values. (forests & mountains) - build in forests especially, and build roads for fast travel. More resources mean you can raise armies more quickly in the event of an emergency, meaning you can get away with a smaller standing army, thus saving $ on upkeep, permitting more funds to be spent on mage-recruits.

[Zorro]

Ok, thank you.

[Ica]

In addition to what others said, I think that when you're building your first fort it's more important to build it early than to build it at the optimal location. If you have to choose between starting a fort in the first year 1 autumn or spending two turns moving into a better spot to build it, just build it even if it's next to your capital.

[shygamer]

Originally posted by Ica:

In addition to what others said, I think that when you're building your first fort it's more important to build it early than to build it at the optimal location. If you have to choose between starting a fort in the first year 1 autumn or spending two turns moving into a better spot to build it, just build it even if it's next to your capital.

Really, why is it that crucial to get your first fort as early as possible?

[Roundpixel]

Avoid building fortresses less than two provinces away from each other, because they steal each others' resources from adjacent provinces. There are exceptions (for example choke points), but they will cost you resources.

[Smiling Spectre]

Originally posted by Roundpixel:

There are exceptions (for example choke points), but they will cost you resources.

Wrong. They really share unclaimed resources, but it's not "cost" you anything, except concentration. Castles doesn't steal from each other - but they draws resources from non-castle provinces.

Let's look on the worst case: "castle with 200 resources, and two adjacent provinces for 100 resources each". Castle will draw, say, +100 resources from the each one of non-castle provinces, giving you 400 in castle province, and still 100 in the each non-castle one, because half of resources cannot be exploited without castle (and so 100 resources ones are actually invisible 200). Build a castle in the neighbouring province, and distribution will became 200+100 and 200+100 in castles, and 0 for 3rd one. So you effectively will change 400+100+100 for 300+300+0. Same 600 resources, but first castle became poorer. :) Build 3rd castle, and it will establish final distribution of 200-200-200.

In reality castles cannot draw so _much_ resources (so until you'll cross "half of real resources" border, you'll get resources from the thin air with each castle). Also, same "administration value" that determine share of drawn resources, also give you _bonus_ resources, out of nowhere. So even in the case above it will be something like 220-220-220 where it was only 600 initially (and 300 visible without any castles).

[DasaKamov]

Originally posted by ioticus:

Really, why is it that crucial to get your first fort as early as possible?

The "build the first fort ASAP" tip is primarily focused on multi-player games, but it is supremely important because you want to have a second location from where you can recruit your fort-only units (especially researchers and site-searchers).

Most players will aim to complete their first fort by Spring/Summer of Year 2, so those players who do NOT have that second base will have, on average, only *half* the Research power of competing players for a significant amount of time.

[Zorro]

When I first posted I was wondering because I had alot of extra gold. Now that I've played some more I realized it was a good idea to increase my provinces defenses. That took care of alot of my surplus gold.

[DasaKamov]

Originally posted by Zorro:

When I first posted I was wondering because I had alot of extra gold. Now that I've played some more I realized it was a good idea to increase my provinces defenses. That took care of alot of my surplus gold.

It's been stated before in other threads, but keep in mind that PD is mostly useless against other human players -- buying more than 5-7 points of province defense in a MP game is considered a waste of gold.

In single-player games, of course, PD can be more useful, as the AI is reluctant to attack any province with significant (30+) province defense.

[Zorro]

Thank you for the advice. I only play single player games so it won't be an issue in my case.

[Meat Horse Array]

You're missing out! MP is where Dom4 shines!