Self-sufficient houses

[Shamrya]

I just started to play, and I figured that using the eco-houses is a big deal.

I start with 2/3 of them, and build the rest without worrying about food, salad and grapes basically.

Any reason why I should not do this?

I have now like 300k money, 700 ppl in every island and a pretty stable economy overall.

Am I missing something?

[Avasan]

no, point is it have small proportion between inhabitants per square

maybe it will be balanced soon

[CHOO CHOO]

Nope. Just takes longer at the start, and your total population and economic capacity might be a bit lower, but it should save you some headaches if you have the patience.

[Neo Exodus]

From my experience in-game(Already got all honor points), eco-houses are great for sustainability and a slow but steady growth. You don't need to worry about event famine and what not, as well as save some space. I don't seem very viable for late game though, because:

Once the refugee crisis starts, eco houses are not gonna cut it without production buildings. Getting control of the orbital station will also put a very big strain on your resources, and you may be tempted to go back to eco-houses, but understand that people leaving the cities will add to the strain of the station.

Then when you get to the citadel, eco houses become a very very sure way to keep them all secure, but from a city builder's perspective, kinda boring. But that last part is just me. If you want to finish the objective, it makes sense.

[BermudaTri]

Maybe the Eco-Towers and the early Suburban houses (Eco-homes?) should be the same class of residence: inefficient in land use, but efficient in resource use. The goal of the game seems to be balancing maximizing land use over time and optimizing resource use.

To that end, Eco-Homes should be less land-efficient than an equivalent population of apartments, fields, lettuce farms, and vineyards, but remain cheap and easy to build. Eco-Towers should be the same general idea, but cost more and are more land-efficient per resident.

[Danikov]

At 2000c each they're also very expensive early in the game.

[EurakaLi]

i cannot guess how long it would take if you start out with eco house.....,it took half of my cliff in end game just to house 500 people for fun sake.

[Shamrya]

I dunno, I usually reach a decent economy point and let the game go for a couple of hours while doing something else. When you are back you have around 100k, and your money problems are finished.

but yeah, It's not the best way to occupy space.

[CHOO CHOO]

Similarly here. Money isn't a problem; just establish a small but stable economy and grow from there, giving it as much time as it needs.

[Shamrya]

Yep, best way to "win"