how to improve this city design, to address overpolulation issue after construction of Inno Tower

[Zeratul 2.0]

First, here is picture of city design. Questions follow below.

Question 1: Overpopulation, how to address?

Before the most recently constructed great building, Innovation Tower, there were more Alchemists than shown above. Still everything fit nicely, in terms of space and population. The more Alchemists the better, as this is a Heavy Quest setting.

After the construciton of Inno, there come 3000 more population, so that changes have to be made, to give people work to do, and to make people happy. For work, mainly some Alchemists were replaced with Ropery, because goods producer employs much more workers than supplies manufacturer. For happiness/enthusiasm, mainly some Event Culture Buildings are built, also in place of previous Alchemists.

Now, I am not sure, is that the right thing to do -- making use of the large number of extra people by producing goods? According to a popular guide on US forum, quote: "Chapter 5: Golden Rule No.1: Never ever build any goods building... Goods should be produced by recurring quests, ... no matter what age are you in." -- What other ways are there to use up the excessive population then?

Question 2: Terrace Farm v.s. recurring quests, which is better?

As shown in the above figure, I have built only one Terrace Farm. But I have 4 more Terrace Farms in inventory. I didn't build them, because their size is too big. According to the same above-metioned guide, (towards the end of Chapter 6) quote: "Terrace farms FP production (per tile) is much greater than the equivalent in RQ..."

Is that true? One Terrace Farm would occupy the space of multiple Alchemists. This conflicts with the guilding principle of the HQS guide "as many as Alchemists as possible -- build them all over". So, which guide to follow?? Moreover, the many Alchemists are often very handy for completing daily challenge and Event quests, too. Furthermore, I feel further reduction of the number of Alchemists would cause this city design lose "style". -- The general idea is a balance among unique style, prettiness and, yes most importantly, efficiency. Naturally, that indicates advice like "build the city into regular square shape" is unacceptable. The arrangement of expansions, the overall city shape, is out of discussion.

[Edit: Changed img proportion]

 

[vikingraider]

You've done some of your buildings the wrong way around, so it's hard to judge. But when I built Inno early, I was told I'd need traz for the happiness. I thought i'd be ok. I wasn't.

 

[DeletedUser112745]

I currently have 3k excess population myself. When I have the space to do so, I have three options:

• Build more goods buildings and become a better trader (I mostly fight at the moment). This means you need to be online in time to make collections though, or you’ll regularly be a sweet plunder target (which I assume is why the guide suggests recurring quests, which unless you have a decent level Chateau Frontenac isn’t really that good of a tip, IMO, otherwise you’d need to be playing a lot).
• Build more supply buildings or a combination of goods and supply. Because I have waaay more coins than supplies. Nobody really plunders production buildings unless desperate or for quests.
• Build more military buildings of different ages and claim top spots in more than just one or two PvP tower ages.

The thing is, you will most definitely need a happiness GB, whether you have Inno, Habitat or both. I’d recommend Alcatraz for this too, as mentioned above. Especially if you’re a fighter as well. Culture buildings, you’ll find, eventually won’t be enough.

Terrace Farms I only use for getting forge points. Quests give you a chance to get a small FP package, whereas TF guarantees the FPs. Also, Blue Galaxy GB + Terrace Farms = epic win. Cape Canaveral is slightly smaller than TF and gives more FPs from a high enough level, if you’re looking for FPs at less space taken up.
Note that CF does not have any effect on FPs won in quests.


Remember, guides are usually the opinion and playstyle of one player. Play the game in a way that you enjoy and find works for you, not what someone else finds works for them (unless it really does work for you too) - you’re two different people. Everybody has different opinions about what’s best for their city, playstyle and schedule, this is just mine. You’ll find yours eventually.

 

[Zeratul 2.0]

Blue Galaxy GB + Terrace Farms = epic win.

First of all, confession -- I did not ask a sincere question but was showing off something else. Then, that something may actually be nothing at all. So, the whole thing becomes completely pointless.

However, I think the above quote did precisely answer my question. Why? Because I think "BG + TF = epic win" is equivalent to say "BG + TF + Inno" = epic win! (Wherein: BG means Blue Galaxy -- I never heard about it before, by the way) -- because, TF costs a lot of population, for example, 500 in HMA, and the number increases with the advancement of age.

It seems a significant "knack" to the game, which no one seems to have explicitly mentioned before, to the extent of my (limited) knowledge, is what can be called a "complementary combination". Alchemists + CF is such a combination. BG+TG+Inno is another such combination. If you have concentrated some effort before, to level the CF, like I did, you wouldn't want to give up all those Alchemists all too soon.

Elements from different such combinations do not mix so well, like Alchemists and Inno. An alchemist costs 40 population, that is one "order of magnitude" less than TF.

To analyse the efficiency of standalone buildings (taking into consideration of roads) individually is already complicated. It would be far more (maybe "order of magnitude" more) complicated if you want to model/formulate such combinations.

The final analysis could be that there is only one most efficient way to play, namely perhaps the "orgy of GBs" and the "orgy of Arc" and that the "quest path" won't even lock a position in the Top Few (most efficient ways to play) but: a townfull of Alchemists I think is a magnificent, breathtaking view, while the most efficient way is ugly. A little sacrifice of the efficiency for beauty should be worth it, even though there be definite standard/criteria for efficiency whereas there be no definite standard for beauty. (OK I'm going above and beyond my head and don't know where "there be" is from...)

 

[Zeratul 2.0]

Shakuras (Bewildered Zeratul's City), Now and Then

I've numbered all the Alchemists.