[5.3 Cities]
A. Early growth
You start out with a few cities under your control. Each city can be
assigned a governor who will make controlling the city much easier. When a
city doesn�t have a governor or a lot of troops garrison it tends to have
riots or revolt, which results in many deaths. To keep publicorder, I
recommend training at least a couple of town guard. Peasants are another
option, but they won�t provide much assistance in the case of an attack and
they cost the same amount in upkeep. Early in the game, you need to grow your
population in order to build bigger and better buildings. One way is to reduce
taxes, which I don�t recommend you do because you need money especially early
in the game. The best way in my opinion is to enslave the populace of
conquered cities, this distributes most of the population of that settlement
into your cities which have a governor. Don�t forget to build farms
and other buildings which increase population growth.
B. Money
To get money quickly, you will need to build roads and ports for
trade as well as mines early in the game. You can also stunt the growth of
other nations by blockading trade ports with ships and destroying trade
buildings with your assassins. If you need money desperately you can
exterminate the populace of cities you take over, which has the positive
side effect of reducing future revolts for a time. To have a growing
economy, you need to make sure you have trade agreements with as many
nations as possible. Make as many cities as you can financial powerhouses
rather than military production cities, since you can always concentrate
military production in a few cities. Keep on conquering cities because
keeping an army costs money, a large size force can cost over 50k in
upkeep. Dont leave all your cities with auto recruit on, you may get a
lot of units which you wouldnt want to use in your army.
C. Revolts
Cities which are far away from your capital tend to revolt a lot,
this is because of cultural differences. You can fight this by placing strong
governors, holding gladiatorial games in the coliseum, by moving the capital
closer, by garrisoning troops, or by building structures which
increase happiness. Part of the game is dealing with an overextended empire.
Dont gett discouraged with the fact that your faction is so large that you
cant micromanage every city.
D. Temples
You can build temples which have different positive effects on your
city. Some temples increase happiness, while other temples such as those of
the Brutii allow you to train units which start with battle experience and
the temples of the Scipii which increase weapon strength. Similar to temples
are the wonders which you start out with or gain by capturing. These have
various positive effects such as reducing the cost of religious buildings.
E. Walls
Upgrading the walls of a city is important for cities which are
close to enemy territory. The strength of the cities walls determines how
long the enemy must lay siege before the city starves and surrenders. They
also provide protection when defending the city in an assault. Buildings
can also be damaged in an attack, repair them using the building repair
option in the settlement scroll.
F. Forts and Watchtowers
You can build forts to guard a strategic location where you can
garrison your units. However, a fort needs to have troops garrisoned or it
will fall into disrepair. Watchtowers are useful for extending your view
past your cities and armies.
|
 |
|