Author's
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It is a nice one. Key parameters: Bast is in town and nearly everything is imported. Sawu is made of three parts: the West (W), the North (N) and the East (E). You cannot build a bridge between W and E, so have to rely on two ferry lines W-N then N-E. As I rely on lots of imports, it is critical to organise well the industrial blocks.
I decided to play it without fencing the hyenas. As Waset had shown, it is better to rely first on gold, accumulate funds and expand. So I have set housing blocks on the Eastern Island in order to attract the hyenas far away from the vertical line leading from the Northern ferry to the Gold mines. I have also set houses close to their breeding ground, with policemen patrolling. Some migrants come in. Pause. Then I set the two houses for the mines. I had to do it some times: the hyenas tend to move Eastwards anyway, right on the way of the people I want to save. First I do not set houses on the Northern Island (I do not need the ferries to be staffed, I need the 10 staff for gold). I set two housing blocks as I need 17x12 workers (204) for the mines, plus 30 for the city palace and the infrastructure.
I set quickly the Copper mines South West (too far away from the town palace to be profitable as gold mines), because there is soon a request for weapons (2). I also need soon the archers to eradicate the hyenas. Archers are better than infantry against the hyenas. I set an archer fort E, close to the gold mines. The archer going to the fort from W is attacked by the hyenas. He kills one or two that reappear on the breeding ground, close to the policemen they attack and who eventually kill them. I even managed to clear one of the two flocks without sending the archers. So first, the key point is to ensure that the migrants go through the hyenas, as the hyeas themselves never go down to the mines afterwards.
I set the priority for Government at last, as I do not want to collect taxes (people remain happy) and I need only 1 staff in the city palace for it to be operational. On top of that, in the housing blocks I set immediately courthouses and not policemen first. If there is crime, it is not much of a problem as I am so heavily indebted that they cannot steal any money. I set first the mines close to the palace then, with the people joining the city, I expand the number of mines, one by one. Comparisons have shown that it is better to have one mine with all workers than two mines with half the staff. I set the fire workers very soon, but wait as much as possible for the physicians and policemen as the city will remain secure for months (Crime and Diseases overseers).
A trick is how to set a mine in the extreme South: you start a road a bit West, you make it reach the mine then you remove the extra bits of roads. You do not even see if it has worked, but setting the architect, you check if the white man appears looking for staff.
When the Gods start to be unhappy (pop around 400), I set enough temples for the blocks to be operational in the future, then shrines (I need the staff for gold). I set quickly the basis for the maritime imports and industrial blocks. I check that the bazaars of the two (even 3 in a late game) housing blocks W can be at less than 34 tiles from the SYs located E.
In my first try, I had set two housing blocks W. Finally, I set one W and one N, as I want to set the Temple complex soon to extract more gold with the help of the Amon add-on. It is very expensive, 4500 db altogether plus the staff costs, but very profitable because of the number of gold mines. When possible, I try to start a game with the housing blocks that are supposed to become Palatial Estates (PE) blocks, but it is too tricky in this one.
December 1: -4556 db, pop 896. Extracted 4300 gold.
Year 2 is spend only to recover the investment TC+Amon. I just import some flax (I know a 1100 request is coming) and set my fishermen. December 2: 0+ db, pop 1588. Extracted 22400 gold. There is a request for pottery, I finally decide to import it rather than setting the industry, as I want food producers sooner: at V.Hard, the epidemics spread like Hell on Year 3 if the population has not yet received food. As shown during previous experiences, even having 4 physicians per block does not avoid the epidemics.
Year 3: request on March 1798 for 2200 pottery, I start to import but even let the bazaar ladies fetch some. I set my future first PE block. In my first try, I did not know exactly where to set it, but there was an obvious room on the E peninsula. It appeared that the food delivery was not fast enough and diseases occurred. Having been through Year 12 in this try, I knew where I could set the PE block the closest I could to the SY and granary. I need a granary as fish is not imported, otherwise I will rely on SYs. I set the three gold mines N, they will produce little but enough to justify the costs. Now, in every game, I destroy the road to the kingdom, it makes the caravans more efficient.
I start cherishing the Gods. The festival square is set. It is a year of massive investments (14800+6200 imports+200 festival). I already import 2500 Meat, strictly for the future PE block. I set the first pea farms. I am working on the pyramid. I will set a SY block for sandstone and limestone that I will erase all at once after, W as the sandstone is delivered by the caravans.
December 3: 0+ db, pop 2842. Extracted 23100 gold.
Year 4: I expand really on all grounds, setting a proper city with all industries. I set a second PE block (targetting the Bast blessing). I start to have high unemployment I cannot cope with because of the finances. Wages set at 40, Taxes around 13-15%.
December 4: 0+ db, pop 3900. Extracted 23100 gold.
Year 5: Game and Meat are imported. All roads open expect Dakhlah (totally useless) and Pwenet (not yet necessary). I will not export Copper as it will bother the docks. I start to import sandstone and gems.
December 5: 0+ db, pop 4824. Buildings 13400, imports 10100. Extracted 23100 gold. Bast already has 4 temples and 34 shrines.
December 6: 0+ db, pop 5305. I manage to get all the meat from Itjtawy, all the reeds from Men-Nefer. I export absolutely nothing (I need the ships to move fast)..
December 7: 8000+ db, pop 5590. First blessing from Bast and first spacious manors. I expanded at a decent pace to ensure that enough food is provided to everybody, otherwise the houses devolve and I lose a lot of goods.
December 8: First PE, I ensure they have enough goods. Third PE block set.
December 11: second blessing from Bast. 164000 db, pop 10383,
Year 20: pop 16485; +1,000,000 db. 60 PE. Some 1415 people missing. I would have to add one workers block to reach the culture rating of 65 but do not bother: it is a bore; I did it with HETEP and a CR of 80 and no room available, so here it would be easy. I could even erase the gold mines to get the workforce.
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