Emporiums

[desertedfox]

I am wondering if anyone has seen the Emporium build option work.

I just received my MP turn and I was eagerly awaiting to see what Emporium or Emporiums I would receive.

I selected the Emporium build option the previous turn and I had 4 regions with 6 or more commercial buildings and an empty build queue.

To my unpleasant surprise, I received exactly ZERO Emporiums. Now my math is a little rusty but I believe the odds of me not getting a single Emporium was 1 in 16.

So am wondering if anyone has actually seen this event work.

[loki100]

it does. One problem is the building chain from the first commerce building (the one that has infra slot) fills out the options. So one idea is to delete that from a couple of your richest regions, that reduces the range of commerce buildings that are offered.

Each time you take the choice, you get one more of the Emporium types available, but they seem to have a low probability so its worthwhile re-organising a couple of regions to trigger them. Some are good like the medicine one, others a bit mheh (but maybe useful in some situations)

[desertedfox]

Thanks Loki, but I have to say I don't understand what is you said.

Given that it is supposed to be a 50% chance to get one, and I had four available and got none, I think I'll give that option a miss in future.

[loki100]

my take. You have a 50% chance to get one of the 16(?) emporium buildings added to your potential build lists

They are only buildable in a region that can build level III commerce (so you need 6 commerce buildings)

The crafter building might add to your problems. A lot of commerce buildings use this as a pre-requisite and they can seriously reduce the chance of pulling things like Emporium or Paved Roads as the next buildable choice (but you will still see the Emporium just never access it).

Some of the variants aren't much use in any case, some are very useful.

But basically 50% to get the building potentially available, can only be built once you have at least six commerce buildings

[desertedfox]

Yes, all four regions had 6 or more commercial buldings and an empty slot awaiting for another choice.

Okay I got you now about the Crafter building. Not sure how many of the 4 regions had this built.

Does or should the crafter building impact the chance of getting an Eporiium? If so, it should be stated as such somewhere, either in the manual or the desision description of getting an Eporium.

I get a STRONG feeling there is a bug about this Emporium decision or as you have suggested, the crafter building is interferring.

As I only play MP games, I am not going to risk another costly failure on an Emporium venture. Against the AI you could just reload the previous turn, but can't do that in MP obvioulsy.

[desertedfox]

Once again I appreciate your help and comments Loki.

[desertedfox]

The turn just came in and there was a crafter building in all 4 regions.

[desertedfox]

Okay, stand by tomorrow for an update on this issue.

[desertedfox]

Okay, I am sitting here now with my bike helmet on and visor down.

When I first got the Emporium option I had 12 turns to organise my regions to be eligible for this. Thus I looked at what regions could in that time frame have 6 or more commercial districts and a vacant slot.

Four looked promising. Each turn I would scrupulously gove there 4 regions until the turn arrived when all the planets were in alignment and stars gave favourable signs that the gods were happy, and I was ready to go.

I checked and double-checked, and triple checked that those 4 regions. Okay, all my ducks were in a row now, all I had to was pull the trigger.

Eventually, I made it to the decisions tab, which by now is clogged with like 3 different expedition choices along with the regular stuff.
Good execute the turn.

Next turn, no bloody Emporiums...write on the forum. After a while, I am doing that tun and I notice I can scroll up the decisions tab as there are so many of them and sitting hidden at the top...is my Emporium decision awaiting me to pull the bloody trigger..still!!!

So I pull that damn trigger..finally and the next arrives with a brand new Emporium sitting in one of my regions.

Now you will be thinking I have egg all over my face because of this, but I don't. I am wearing my bike helmet with the visor down.

Apologies to devs and Loki...IT BLOODY WORKS!

[loki100]

Good (in that its useful to know that when you *think* something works that it does). its just I recall an Epirus game where I went commerce mad and had the damn things cluttering up my building queues.

I've done a wee bit more reading and Grognerd's fantastic guide includes the following gems:

... #1 If you have a region eligible to build a Tier III Commerce structure and it has no building project it is working on at the time you make the Decision, then the randomly selected Emporium has a 50% chance to immediately become your Commerce selection for that region. A shuffle will also work, provided the region is still shuffling the turn after you make the decision (so, a 2+ turn shuffle).

#2 If a region is working on a structure at the time, the new Emporium can still some up later, but it will be a very rare structure, so you likely won't see it for a while (if at all). So, the timing of making this Decision is crucial! Just make sure you clear or shuffle the building queues in as many Tier III Commerce regions as you can before selecting the Emporium Decision

So, I wasn't totally right. Take the decision and you get one of the emporium but if you don't satisfy #1 you default to #2 (which is were the crafter district can be a pain). You also need to be at level 3 commerce buildings in at least one region which I think is one reason why you can take the option and see nothing appear.

[desertedfox]

Most importantly..pull the trigger.....lol

[balto]

Appears to be unnecessarily complicated.

[Pocus]

The decision should allow one extra emporium in your pool of available buildings. There are 13 different.

Then for each region that can build a tier III structure AND has nothing underway, there is a 50% chance to start a valid emporium. Following all regular restrictions on tier III buildings. Many need a road in the region, some need a crafter district.

[USGrant1962]

I just tried the Emporia option for the first time. I have about 10 regions with Level 3 commerce and nothing in the queue. Nothing showed up automatically, and nothing in the pick list.

[loki100]

There are a few secondary rules, some for eg require you to have the level III road (if I recall), others also have different preconditions, so you could possibly have picked one that you lack the means to build. More generally its fiddly, suggest a careful read of Grognerd's excellent guide on this pt, certainly resolved any confusions I had

[desertedfox]

Loki, In the game I recevied my first Emporium, one of my other eligible regions at the time which didn't get one has one now that just popped up in e queue.

Oh, and as an aside, In my haste the first time around I had decided to scrap a Slave building then I realised I hadn't selected the option yet, then promptly forgot about the slave building being scrapped. it sisn't matter, that region was the one that received the option to build the Emporium.

So far so good, however I left the Slave building still to be scrapped as it was in my capitol. Well, once it wa sscrapped, I then had 5 commerce buildings left.....which then meant I wasn't eligible to building the Emporium that I was currently constructing...and..it...disappearded..lol.

So whilst constructing the Emporium the conditions must still be met.

[Pocus]

2nd level road, not the third, which is rather difficult to get.

[Gilmer]

Seems strange considering it cost 4300 gold for me to select the option. I don't know if any will be able to build it.