Question about expanding to new islands

[jboord44]

I'm pretty new to this game but I keep running into the same issue. I start a campaign and make it to the Artisan stage, and by the time that happens and I'm ready to start making windows, I'm out of room on the original island, so it's time to expand. I think cool, I'll go to a new island and make windows there. The problem though is I have to build up to windows again there in order to have materials for everything, so basically it just amounts to starting all over and producing timber, then bricks, all the way up to windows which creates the same space problem.

What is the solution to this? I have no doubt there is one but the campaign tutorial doesn't really say much about how to overcome this.

[kmmacman]

If you have windows unlocked it is unlocked for every island you settle. What you need to do is build Commuter piers on both islands that will allow your work force to be shared on both islands and every island you build the commuter pier on. You will need one Engineer to unlock the pier or get the Mod that unlocks it at the Worker level. I don't play campaigns so I don't know what their restrictions may be or if they work with mods at all.
You could also just build what materials you need on the second island and ship them back to your main island. Otherwise check your industries to see if any buildings can be deleted you should you need two land buildings and one or two shore line for the quartz sand.
You will probably need more inhabitants on the second island in time as well.
Hope this helps you out.

[asterix52]

The problem with the idea of making your windows on a new island is that, as you say, you need to build up an Artisan population on that new island. The windows chain itself doesn't take up a huge amount of space. I would suggest that you consider moving stuff that uses farmers, and possibly workers. It's likely that your farming, such as wheat and hops, for the Worker/artisan tiers occupies quite a lot of the space on the first island. Move that off to the second island and use the now empty space for stuff that needs artisans.

[Chaosium]

You don't need construction materials produced on every island, simply bring them by ships from your main center, because there's no consumption for them at some point you'll be floating with them anyway

[kmmacman]

My apologies. I made my previous post without confirming my suggestion to use commuter piers. I see now that without the Build commuter piers at worker level MOD, which allows you to build it with bricks, timber and steel beams you will need windows to build it once it is unlocked at the Engineers level. I agree with Asterix52 you should be able to find the necessary space on your existing island if you do not wish to get the MOD.

[asterix52]

According to the Wiki, you need 1 Engineer to unlock Commuter Piers. Also, the cost $1000 each in maintenance, so $2000 for two islands. This is a lot unless you have a decent number of Engineers.

[Jeff]

If you settle enough islands (helps if you have new world and embesa, etc), the influence bar will grow and if you spend enough influence on settling islands, every island will have 200 of each type of worker (for free). So you could create industries on other islands as long as it doesn't use more than 200 workers without having to build up.

I tend to push the smaller industries like Schnapps, bread, etc. to the other islands and keep things like glass on the main.