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Antre: Evolution of a Trading Center

Started by rkelly17, July 21, 2014, 09:53:37 AM

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rkelly17

Antre is my entry in the trading challenge and this is the story of its growth and evolution. To begin with here is the seed information:



And here is a view of the starting location:



At first glance this does not look like a very promising map for building a trading community with that mountain blocking access to the river--and that is indeed what I thought when I first saw this location. By looking around, though, I discovered that from this point the river runs pretty much straight South offering a number of sites for trading posts to be built. There are also some spaces North of this location, though not so many as to the South. In the end the map will support up to 45 or 46 trading posts. We'll have to see how many can be developed.

On hard I begin with pinstar's Crossroads build and here is what that looks like by year 5:



As you can see I shifted the center North (the original wagon is just above the bottom of the picture. This gave me a forest village which is not overly impacted by the nearby mountain and quicker access to the river front for fishing and early trade. At this point there is enough food, hide coats, and tools for everyone and citizens can start planning for future growth. The forester is still in plant-only mode to build up the forest, but there are enough trees that the gatherers can keep pace with consumption.

After 5 or so more years the settlement has advanced to this:



The market, fishing dock and trading post were built between year 5 and year 7 and firewood was stocked for trade. The first trader brought wheat (after some reload-induced convincing) so a farm was built. The citizens also laid out the basic structure of the community with a square and a boulevard leading South to the pioneer memorial, which includes the original wagon as a monument and a small pioneer cemetery. Further expansion will extend South from there. A new forest village is planned to the Northwest of the original to support trading firewood. The town hall was brand new when this picture was taken. At this point the tailor and blacksmith are still working part time as every hand is needed to harvest stone and iron. The foresters are cut and plant and gatherers and hunters are at full production. With wheat being grown the citizens have a complete diet and health is good.

By year 20 the settlement has grown a bit.



Merchants have been very helpful and the citizens have added apples to their crops and are now herding sheep and chickens. A group of nomads was accepted and the additional citizens allowed the second forest village to be built--though at this point the foresters are still on plant-only and the second woodcutter has not been built. A herbalist's cabin was built midway between the two villages and now helps the citizens to stay healthy. A hospital is planned just North and East of the sheep pasture backing on to the hill there. Apple orchards were planted and the citizens are just starting work on a tavern to make hard cider (also called apple ale) to trade. The citizens believe that this is the commodity that will enable them to become a major center of trade along the river. The population is coming up and the future looks bright.


rkelly17

We now jump ahead 25 years in the life of Antre to Year 46. Here are the general stats:



The population is now 383. There are 100 people involved in farming, many of them growing apples for cider production at 6 taverns spread around the settlement. The others grow food to feed the citizens. The 53 students attend 4 schools which are also spread so that students in all parts of the settlement can get to school without too much travel. Merchants have brought all of the field and tree crops and all of the livestock types, so Antre is fully equipped with everything it needs to prosper.

The production figures for the past 5 years give part of the story:



At this point almost all of the alcohol produced is going into trade with each of 9 trading posts stocking 1000 units of ale each and trading for stone, logs and iron. Merchants have been bringing a surplus of iron. What iron production is listed is all from clearing building sites. The merchants have not carried so much stone, but there has been enough to begin building only stone houses. The log inventory comes from a combination of local production and trade.

The pace of building trading posts has been based on the existence of surpluses of ale:



Every time the inventory of ale gets above 100-200 the citizens build a new trading post and stock it with 1000 units of ale. The traders automatically trade ale for logs, stone and/or iron when merchants arrive. To maintain ale production every few years the citizens build 3 houses, 5 15X4 apple orchards and a tavern. That then leads to an ale surplus which leads to a new trading post. The main brake on this process is the supporting communities that need to grow up to support those working in the ale industry with food, shelter, tools, coats and fuel.

Here is the map at present:



As you can see, there is still plenty  of room for expansion. Unfortunately there is no direct connection between the river and the round lake, but the citizens are thinking about testing whether or not merchants would be willing to make the very short portage at the narrowest point of land. Even if they won't the lake can at least be a source of fish. The stretch of river South of current development can site many trading posts and there is much flat land to the West of the river where apples can be grown and ale produced. Further away from the river more farms can be built for food production. There is also a good-sized piece of flat land East of the river straddling the small creek.

Now for a tour:

First up, the oldest part of the settlement:



By comparing this picture with earlier years above you can see the changes. Town foresters beautify Town Hall Square and Pioneer Boulevard. The Pioneer Cemetery is full and citizens often come here to honor the memory of those who worked so hard to found the settlement. With trade in stone picking up the citizens have begun paving with Town Hall Square and will soon begin work on paving the entire length of Pioneer Boulevard.

The next picture shows Centreport, the first fully developed trading village in the settlement:



This village of 7 trading posts with housing and storage and 1 brewery is currently the hub of Antre's trading and is supported from both East and West by villages where ale is brewed and other necessities produced. As the full storage yards indicate there is currently a surplus of iron. Fortunately there was enough space to dig tunnels into this pocket of flat land along the river. The West side of the river was a bit tricky as there were only a couple of spots that could support both and tunnel through the hill and a bride across the creek.

Moving to the East we come to the bread basket of the settlement.



The farms here grow the full variety of crops and fruits so that the citizens have a varied and tasty diet. In addition to farms there are also schools, chapels, blacksmiths, woodcutters and tailors to provide for everyone's needs. These farms were built when stone was still in short supply, so the houses are log cabins. The dream is that someday all can be converted to stone. Moving further East we get to the newest section of farming:



The newest farms have stone houses, but this area is very much on the frontier of the settlement and still pretty raw. In building the last farm of the block with stone houses the citizens discovered a small, hidden hill that thwarted their plans for symmetry, but they managed to get some production out of that segment.

To the East of Centreport is the community of West Antre. This area has been here for about 8 years, but it is just the beginning of what the citizens have planned for the West side of the river. The boulevard leads South past the site of at least 2 additional markets and can support significant development. Pastures have been built to bring coat and food production here and there are plans for more orchards and breweries.

The newest area is to the North of the town center:



This area has just opened up and the citizens are not completely sure how it ought to be developed. Four trading posts have been sited, but that sharp bend in the river is tempting as a fishing site. Should the citizens build a fishing dock or use the space across the river for more trading posts? A decision can be put off until the TPs 2, 3 and 4 have been finished.

One planning oversight which this expansion has revealed is the location of the hospital. When built it was out of the way enough that it never attracted idlers and at least three outbreaks of various diseases were held to "patient 0" when that patient got to the hospital without infecting anyone else and no one was hanging around the hospital to get infected. Now, though, the hospital is no longer so out of the way and some vendors and traders are even walking over the hill and behind the hospital to get to supplies in the main part of town. A second hospital has been built and it has the same problems. In the last outbreak 5 people were infected before the disease could be brought under control. We'll have to see how this goes.



rkelly17

The Development of Northport

During the past 10 years the focus has been on developing the port area North of the town center which is now called Northport (the citizens of Antre are not very creative). Here is how it looks in Year 56:



If you compare this picture with the last shot of the previous post you can see how it has built up and note a couple of changes. The apple orchards just West of the market extend down out of the picture and total 10 15X4 orchards. These supply the three breweries which in turn supply the nine TPs. Each TP, as is true of the other TPs in Antre, stocks 1000 units of ale and buys logs, stone and iron with it. Strong ale production (total of 9 breweries) allowed these TPs to be built at a good clip. There are now a total of 17 TPs in the settlement as a whole.

The other change that you might note is that there are now only storage yards where the hospital used to be. It has moved North of the built-up portion North of the river and is backed up against the mountains that form the northern boundary of the valley.

The next picture is the area where the citizens are already planning Antre's next expansion. This stretch of river front can site 10 TPs. Three market squares cover the ground to the West of the river and three more the East side. The citizens are planning more apple orchards and breweries, but they also believe that this area can become one of the most beautiful spots in the valley even with all of the industrial and trade development.



rkelly17

Antre Year 70.





The settlements of Antre have made it to year 70 and everyone is still healthy and happy. The population is now 667 and there are 21 operating trading posts, each stocking 1000 units of ale and trading in logs, stone, firewood (buying) and iron. In years when food production falls below consumption the citizens make up the difference by purchasing food and they occasionally by leather to keep up with the wool production of the sheep herds. Occasional apple purchase also make sure there are enough raw materials for the breweries to keep pumping out cider (apple ale).

The majority of development since the last update has been in the Southport area. Here is a shot of the northern part and then one of the southern part.





So far all of the development has been on the East side of the river, but to support those trading posts up the river to the North there will need to be markets, workshops and orchards on the West side as well. Southport now consists of three market areas connected by paved avenues. More apple orchards and breweries will keep the planned TPs stocked. Given the number of TPs possible in this stretch of river it will be more than a few years before this section is fully developed. Town planners will also need to pay attention to growing needs for food, fuel, tools and coats as the population expands.

One thing I have noticed with 21 TPs and all the merchants they attract is that traffic on the river has become slower and graphically more jerky. Admittedly I usually run at 10X and that puts a strain on the game. The citizens still run around quite nicely, though I anticipate they will slow down when the population passes 1000 and then I'll scale back to 5X. As you can see from the map the large flat area to the West of the river is only developed at all on the North end, so there is room there for all sorts of activity. There is also still space on the central East side.

solarscreen

Great write up and graphics!  Thanks for posting!
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rkelly17

First, a bit of fun: The Centipede approaches!



Aside from the line of nomads (I turned the poor things away), note the sides of beef and leather in the road. Lazy herders.

Antre Year 80

The years from 70 - 80 were a bit difficult for the citizens of Antre. By the end of Year 74 we had survived three epidemics. Fortunately only one claimed a life and none were too widespread. Much of the spread of contagion came from people idling near the hospital, though people taking awhile to realize they were sick and resulting long treks to the hospital also contributed. After that things brightened up and development could continue.

Here are the stats. First, general:



879 citizens with the largest number working as farmers. Those include both the farmers focused on feeding the population and those who grow apples for ale production.

Here are the production figures:



You'll note that we are currently experiencing a food deficit. Part of that, I think comes from the significant amount of fruit growing which has its ups and downs, but part is the need for more farms. During years of a food deficit I make up the difference through trade, buying about 1000-2000 more than the deficit. Ale production is almost all dedicated to trade. The coat production was down because of a leather shortage, but trade and the building of another hunting lodge and cattle pasture are correcting that. With lots of iron and logs tools are not an issue. Firewood is good at the moment through a combination of local production (I'm trying to build a woodcutter alongside each market to avoid local shortages) and trade.

Here's the population graph:



Are there any Banished demographers out there? I'd like an explanation of the relationship between the children and student lines on one hand and the adult line on the other. I am building 4-8 new houses per year, so I assume that the number of child-capable couples remains good. Yet the number of children doesn't seem to have the same slope as the number of adults. What am I missing?

Here are the ale inventory stats:



As you can see, during the first half of the decade when epidemics seemed to hit one right after the other I lost focus on getting trading posts built and ale inventory was near the 500 unit max I set. Once I got past the epidemics the usual "inventory goes up, build a trading post" approach I had been using came back. At this point inventory is on the rise, so time for another TP.

This next picture is the central section of the area West of the river, which has seen development during the decade (which is 50ish years in the life of a citizen).



The plan is to build more sets of apple orchards and taverns as well as food producing farms. The central avenue extends further South to a third market square and the two-wide road extends East to another market and the Southport area. If you look closely you can see the tail end of another group of nomads coming to town. Nowhere near the numbers that @RedKetchup or @irrelevant report, though.

There has also been some development at the far East end of the settlements:



In this area at the East end of the major food-growing section of the settlement the citizens have altered there pattern of 18X18 farms in order to fit the geography. Somewhere on the SRS forum I read a posting from someone who uses the shape of the quarry as a template for farm construction. That worked to fit farms in along the lower side of the picture (with two more just out of the picture) and along the West side of the square.

Here's the beginning of a new area for development:



As you can see, this is very near the oldest part of the settlement, but except for the trading post development was not pursued here. Now with a food deficit it seems like a good idea to do some fishing here. There are also some potential sites for trading posts, if--and it's a big if--merchants will cross the bar under the bridge:



When looking down from above the neck looks like land, but from the side you can see that there is shallow water here. Will any merchants brave the shallows to do business. We'll see and report in the next update.

RedKetchup

merchants go almost everywhere unless a specific bug, they even go on little rivers.
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irrelevant

What shape is a quarry? I've never built one.

rkelly17

Quote from: irrelevant on July 27, 2014, 12:41:41 PM
What shape is a quarry? I've never built one.

They are a big rectangle, about 21X16. In the footprint of a quarry I can fit two houses and a barn along the narrow end and four 8X8 fields. One could do 2 15X8, but then there would be an unused strip. You might also get a 9X8 and three 8X8 with the 9X8 touching the houses.

If you get trading for stones going before you run out of surface stone, you don't really need a quarry and once you build one it never goes away, even with played out. But the do make a good template for farms and you can use them to spot small hills by moving the pre-build pattern around a seemingly flat area.

rkelly17

Antre: The Final Chapter

The trading empire challenge has come to its appointed time, so here is the final report on Antre in the Winter of its 96th year.

So first the statistical rundown.





Population 1312. You can see that even in a trading challenge I end up with farming being the largest occupation. Most of these produce food for the settlement but a good number tend apple orchards for ale production. There are 19 taverns keeping 38 trading posts supplied with 1000 units (barrels?) of ale each. That adds up to approximately 38,000 units of ale in trading posts. I say "approximately" because the traders are trading constantly and so the inventory of each TP varies with the amount of trade happening. Each post is set to auto-trade for 400 logs, 400 stone, an 400 firewood. The older TPs are set to auto-trade for 100 iron and the newer TPs for 200 iron. Four or Five TPs have a standing order in for leather since the cows and deer can't keep up with the sheep. All that is set up automatically. In addition in a year with a food deficit I trade manually to make up the deficit. What that has meant is that when I see the numbers in Early Spring I pause the game and go down the river looking for a TP with a trader. Almost always I find a food merchant or two and buy 2000-4000 units from each. Then back to auto until next Early Spring. Every so often the blacksmiths or tailors fall behind and I make up the deficit with trade for tools or coats. I employ 3 traders in each TP and that seems to be enough to keep everything flowing smoothly.

Here is the summation of production for the full 96 years:



As you can see, almost 5.5 million units of food produced. I had no idea it was that high. The limjits on stone and iron are low because I never had any stonecutters or miners and they are the only ones who pay attention to limits. Total ale production of 256 thousand. I'm sure the people of Antre were known the world over for their smooth yet forceful apple ale.

The next two pictures are the South end of the settlement where development has only recently come to this stage.





In the pictures you can see the Southernmost trading posts which are just before the river exits the map. You can also see numerous apple orchards. The second picture is at the South end of the long boulevard that runs the length of the valley West of the river. The trees in the median are planted by town foresters spread along the length of the boulevard. Let's call it "Westside Boulevard."

The next picture is the development North of the lake:



Once again there are apple orchards and taverns which feed into the TPs North of the centre of town. The citizens have just finished clearing land for another block of orchards. Looks like they'll also need to build some new storage yards.

Finally a picture of the newest developments. First the newest farming area:



This area is on the western side of the map North of the older farming centres. There are some apple orchards South of the market but most of the farming here is to feed the settlements. You can see a mixture of "9X9 grid" farms and "quarry-size" farms here sited to fit in between the two ridges.

This is the area where the last of the trading posts were planned:



One TP and two taverns are under construction and a block of apple orchards has just been finished. There is room here for another 12 TPs. At this point the river enters the map just out of the picture to the right. Both here and in the rest of the settlement there is plenty of room for further development. I think that the map could easily support 2000 citizens, but that would get us into the world of trading for food.

So there is Antre. I'm still learning trade and, though I'll probably never try to site 50 TPs in a settlement again, I think I have learned how to use trade to improve the lives of the citizens. I might well come back to Antre and run it for another 15-20 years (I still haven't got the 200 year achievement!), but for now on to the storybook challenge!





irrelevant

Picture of the town hall inventory panel showing what is in the TPs?

RedKetchup

can we have a screenshot of your goods stored in your trading posts @rkelly17 ?
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rkelly17

Quote from: RedKetchup on August 02, 2014, 02:32:29 AM
can we have a screenshot of your goods stored in your trading posts @rkelly17 ?

I can try, but there will be 38 windows.

Quote from: irrelevant on August 01, 2014, 07:15:52 PM
Picture of the town hall inventory panel showing what is in the TPs?

My experience of the inventory window is that it specifically does NOT show items in the TPs. Mine reports a couple of hundred units of ale when I know there are thousands in TPs. It also does not show newly bought items until they are in barns, storage yards or markets. This is similar to the phenomenon that I often see in the early game when I open my first market. The traders grab food, tools, coats and firewood from storage facilities and it disappears from the inventory (initiating a series of "low supply" bongs) until they deposit it  in the market when it reappears. This is true in many games, I have found. Items committed to trade are not available to the citizens for use, so they don't count as "inventory."

While we're on the subject of inventory, has anyone else noticed that the general inventory figures become somewhat less helpful in larger settlements? I've noticed that just because I have enough of an item overall, that does not mean that every part of the settlement has enough of that item. This seems especially true of firewood, tools and coats. As a result I have started spreading production facilities across the map, but even then local shortages can happen if, say, logs or leather run short in certain areas far away from production or TPs.

But I do have pictures of the inventory window which I can post:





Note the ale number of 456. There is more than that in one TP, let alone 38.

rkelly17

Oh, stupid me.  :'( @slink showed me how to get the TP inventory. Now I'll go hang my head in shame.

RedKetchup

#14
thats what i meant ^^ sorry to not have been more clear ^^ the **Items in Trading posts** in the inventory TAB of the townhall :)

that thing in attachment :)
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