Slitherine

It's actually just a practical issue...

At the moment (in my Macedonian campaign, Hard setting) I have more than 25 cities (Macedonia starts with 7)...

Those cities are not really close to each other and because you can't zoom the map I have to scroll a lot... The names (while I really like them to be historical) can become rather confusing...

So at this moment in my campaign I don't pay as much attention to all my cities as in the beginning... I just recently discovered one I had captured years ago which had only a brick maker as upgrade (for the rest I completely forgot to look at the city and so didn't build anything in it...)...

So the pratical questions are :

How do you control a large empire ?? (some tips/hints)

Do you try to build everything you research in every city ?? or how do you decide what to build and what not ??

Do you constantly check the progress in your cities or not ??


Just some practical questions I have because my empire is getting larger and larger and I am gradually losing control (and I don't like that...)

Thanks...

How do you control a large empire ?? (some tips/hints)


Use the cities' list window (f4? f5?) and manage them from there, not from the map. You'll get a list with the name of the city, happiness level, building something or not....

Also, you can get "Gates of Troy" expansion and use the available zoom in/zoom out button in there


Do you try to build everything you research in every city ?? or how do you decide what to build and what not ??


I only build one type of resource building in each of my cities. I decide early on what I need (3 cities for bricks, one for copper, two for food...). Don't know why, but I have more control over production this way. This works with big empires. If I have only one city, I build bricks and, if I haven't got copper, something I can trade with (horses, marble...and then I get the copper and the food from the market window). Anyway, I'm a crappy player


Do you constantly check the progress in your cities or not ??


Every turn.

I scroll through each city, using the previous/next arrows at the top of the city window, every turn. It tells me with only a brief look what they are building, how happy the population is, and whether there are any unused population units or build slots.

I normally build 2 resource production facilities per city, depending on what the location has and what my empire is short of, and then build either an educational building or a marketing square to lower unrest as the town grows. I only build military buildings in locations of 5 brick or higher, since it takes up one slot for the barracks, one for the training facility, and another eventually for an upgrade, such as an armorer, weaponsmith, or academy, or a second barracks. That only leaves room for one resource building and one morale boosting structure.

Your capital is a great place to add your first military barracks, since the palace already serves as a training ground. Eventually, however, a dedicated medium training ground will do a better job, so your best troops later in the game will come from those instead.

This iron age thinking looks weird

Back in the good old days (chariots of war) when the men were hard bronze.. and not this common ore .. soft, weak and degrading iron...

Anyway, ahem.

Most cities:
3 resource+stable+health+temple+education+1 last resource if and when great cities became available. Yes, thats the order, pretty much anyway.

Now, those equine academies etc boosters were useful, but as an empire needed just one of each (has that changed?), id insert one into those cities with less than optimal production (3 being highest, unless its a high demand material).

This allows great wealth, speedy production and empire wide access to the best units wherever they may be needed.
While chariots were horribly expensive, the powerful economy offset that a bit.