Ancient Egypt Settlement Quick Start Guide

[Zeratul 2.0]

@Bewildered Zeratul i avoid the hard battle until I have Nubian archers. I build 2 buildings for them at the earliest opportunity. In the guide I suggested doing the hard battle at 30h+; I normally do it before then but you don’t really need to and it depends what troops you’re facing as to whether you should try. I’ll update the guide one day soon to describe that part better.

PS I don’t agree with all parts of the mathematical analysis, it’s written from a theoretical rather than experiential standpoint and doesn’t capture some aspects IMHO.

You are just being nice by saying that, milord, @Lord Grok

For this occasion I will choose not to be nice in turn, lest we form a closed-circuit mutual complimentary loop that amplifies subjective opinions and obscuring the facts (I can't believe I'm saying this because I have long been attributed as "the type of guy who cannot handle the facts" in the Youtubian System (scratched part is gibberish no one understands let's skip it))

Therefore I will not be nice and like to point out this guide does not work. This guide sucks. (And is not worth upgrading.)

A good guide should abstract principles from data; and the principles are generalized and have a wider scope of applicability. Your guide is just laying out the raw data, a step by step chronicles of what you did, it is a rigid finished product and not a (reusable and adaptable) "mold".

Also a good Egyptian Settlement guide should distinguish and focus on its distinct characteristics from those of the main city and other settlements, and talk about for example, what expansions to choose, what obstacles (stones) to remove, how to do the fights.... and not focus on the maze-puzzle solving, "which building goes where and how to connect them" because that part is common with main city and all other settlements and cliche for established players.

To elaborate on the said examples, for choice of expansions, a standard square or rectangular overall shape should be strictly followed for this settlement, and there is no room for fooling around with bizarre shapes in Egypt. For removal of obstacles, basically, if the obstacle is in the middle of the plot of land (an expansion) then consider removing it; if the obstacle is on the edge of the plot (especially when also on the edge of the overall settlement), or the obstacle touches the edge of the main hall, then consider giving priority to the removal of other obstacles. And keep in mind not all obstacles can be removed from all expansions bought; there are limited pickaxes. Generally, consideration should be given to further expand the existing completely open space, instead of removing those obstacles that would result in two separate smaller completely clear spaces rather than one large clear space (to build the Pyramid and such).

For the mathematical analysis of the egyptian settlement guide, however, I'd be glad if the author upgrades the guide by excluding the 3rd battle of Day #1 in the "best case scenario" which assumes the player win all three battles every day.

I followed your guide only up to a portion of the "0 Hour" part and by the "14 hour" (actual 16 hour) I deviated from the guide big time, which I think would happen to everyone else who actually tries to follow the guide, too.

More on those distinct characteristics: The Embassy of Egypt is very big. It best stays on the farthest corner or edge, for the reason of otherwise blocking the player's view and making them unable to see what they are doing behind the gigantic building.

Further more, "the roads are expansive (200 Dabian coins per piece)" -- now this part is already mentioned in your guide, milord; however, it is not mentioned, that, whatever building costs only main city coins & supplies of the player, it means they cost nothing. They can be built excessively, and sold afterward, without the need to plan ahead, which is brain-power-consuming. For example, in the start, do not build excessive roads (expansive) but build as many huts as you can (to ensure sufficient population 1 minute later) and sell them later to give space to Barley Farms in the next step.

With all due respect, just being frank, Milord. @Lord Grok
Signing out.

 

[Zeratul 2.0]

Key points:

Strict overall square/rectangular shape;

Removal of obstacles to form one large clear space instead of separate smaller clear spaces;

It is possible to win all three battles each day exclusing Battle #3 of Day #1. (A good player only need to know whether something is possible and from there can figure out the HOW by themselves)

 

[DeletedUser117610]

@Bewildered Zeratul I feel that a couple of your points of difference are things stated explicitly or implied by the guide so I’ll let others interpret that as they want, but I will respond to the parts that are not correct:

(1) the hall should *not* remain on the edge. This is true in your city and it it’s perhaps more important in settlements due to impediments. The main reasons are (a) the hall is the nexus of all roads so use it as such (b) it avoids running roads past buildings. Imagine hall next to ToR; if hall is in the corner you need to run 6 roads past the ToR but if you swap them you need 1 road. Think of the hall as negative space. I’ve about given up explaining this point to people so take it or leave it Visibility is a poor reason for sub optimal play, and not at all justified given the size of the settlement buildings as they all always easily accessible.

(2) having one giant space with hall at one edge isn’t necessary or optimal, nor is having a square or rectangle. This relates to #1. At end game I always place 2 pyramids on one side of the hall with 1 road needed to connect both, have 2 4*4 residential buildings on either “wing” with 1 road for each, and 2 pyramids + 2 of the 3*5 + 1 4*4 residential building in the larger space. I use a similar arrangement from start to finish, sometimes I move the hall 1 or 2 spaces on any direction depending on the buildings I want to fit at the time but by the end of the game it’s almost always back in the same spot it move it to in step 1 of the guide

NOTE; keeping 2 of the 3*5 residential buildings is one point where I differ from the mathematical assessment you mentioned. They are marginally less efficient than the 4*4 residential buildings, but tend to be easier to place with obstacles and I avoid the downtime of swapping them out.

(3) you can beat the hard fight on day 1, and if you can do so with few losses then you should do it. You won’t need the loot immediately, but if you’re playing optimally (swapping goods buildings as required, as you say these cost gold/supplies so you can do it often) then you may have up to 8 goods buildings running when they fit and have enough supplies to fuel them, and the loot will be needed to sustain them longer if you’re unlucky with the 4* bonus

 

[DeletedUser117610]

Updated OP to build 2 * Nubian at earliest opportunity. I'll review this on my next play though in a few days, but believe it captures how I've been doing it lately.

 

[Zeratul 2.0]

Nah, so far I think our opinions are light-years apart. Or, our opinions are "skewed" from each other.

Definition of "skew"

In three-dimensional geometry, skew lines are two lines that do not intersect and are not parallel.

Overall, I don't think a comprehensive Egyptian guide is ever possible. This also goes to the Mathematical guide. No I don't think it is possible. The guide is just too huge and long, and is difficult to prove wrong, in a point by point manner. I can't prove it; I just have a "hunch".

There are too many variables in the problem; and a small deviation from the start can multiple and lead to huge differences in the end.

And how do these variables interact (or do they interact or not) is also unclear. Among the original variables, are there any principal variables (dimension reduction theory) and the other variables (don't know what they are called: non-principal variables? secondary variables? derived variables?) -- also unclear.

My "hunch" is, that a guide should EITHER have an "ahah" moment, and make people realize "that is the key" or "that is the heart of the problem"; OR the guide must be still longer. Hundreds of pages to go through every detail (because small deviation in the start can lead to huge difference in the end as said above). Otherwise, I doubt the guide works -- although I can't prove it (disprove the guide).

For a starter, you and me we have (not) yet to reach consensus on Step #0. That is,

- Move the palace 4 spaces away from the border

Is it 4 spaces from upper border, or from lower border... In my implementation, I placed the palace 4 spaces from the lower border, for easy visibility. 1, 2, 3, 4 sapces. From the uppoer border, however, is it 3 spaces? or 5 spaces? I can't see clearly.

Of course, this is a bad example. Because I now carefully think about it and understand, that you mean 4 spaces from the upper border, where the palace originally sits. But the example can still illustrate, so many things could go wrong; and as a guide, the author should think for the reader, as to what situations circumstances they might be in. And consider all possibilities.

Keywords for casual viewer: Dimension reduction

 

[Muhabir]

As the author of the aforementioned mathematical analysis, I would like to point out that I gave up on trying to adjust my calculations for every single parameter after realising just how much of a leeway we as players have in the Egyptian settlement. It is possible and even expected that you can complete the settlement within the Golden Time Reward period without winning a single hard battle. You can only buy the 1-good expansions and still complete the settlement on time. Heck, you can avoid running any Deben production buildings at all and still complete the settlement on time. The margin of error is incredibly skewed in favour of the player.

To summarize, all this discussion is utterly nonsensical and superfluous. Completing Egypt in the allotted time is just so trivial that as long as you actually have roads between your embassy and other buildings, the specific placements don't matter one bit.

 

[Bobbie Bonkers]

I would just like to say I found this guide really helpful. Following the guide I managed to finish with more than 8 days to spare! Many thanks.