How do I get vendors and tradeers?
- Thread starter LAPIII
- Start date
MorteEterna
Prince
- Joined
- Nov 10, 2008
- Messages
- 332
Let's say you have 10 pop in your city. 9 workers are working on 9 trees. One is left in the city. That will be a Laborer that produces an hammer only.
After a certain amount of population, there will be vendors and traders. Vendors produce 1 hammer and 1 trade each, Traders produce 1 hammer and 2 trade each. In your example, 12 workers are not working in the city, while other 5 are in the city. I don't remember at which step laborer become vendors etc... (hardly ever reach that much population). It must be something around 7-11 population (assuming all your workers are not working in the city).
After a certain amount of population, there will be vendors and traders. Vendors produce 1 hammer and 1 trade each, Traders produce 1 hammer and 2 trade each. In your example, 12 workers are not working in the city, while other 5 are in the city. I don't remember at which step laborer become vendors etc... (hardly ever reach that much population). It must be something around 7-11 population (assuming all your workers are not working in the city).
ArchGhost
Prince
- Joined
- Aug 2, 2016
- Messages
- 569
It's based off the city population when the surplus works in the city. Surplus meaning, there are no tiles for the worker to use even if it tried. Every 6 population upgrades the surplus worker to the next stage. They go from +1 hammer +0 trade up to +1 hammer +5 trade. In order: Laborer, Vendor, Trader, Merchant, Importer, Exporter. You can't go any higher because the population cap on cities is 31. Only 6 workers of each type are allowed.
It works in an odd way because when the worker goes to the city, he provides the maximum amount he can based on the city population first, then it goes down the list to the lower stages. This is really strange but it means that cities without courthouses, or those over 20 population with a courthouse (as cities can only work 8/20 tiles respectively), will earn the most from city workers first.
Example 1: City size 10, 8 workable tiles. You can only work 8 tiles, so 2 guys will work in the city. You're at population 10, so each guy becomes a Vendor giving +1hammer +1trade.
Example 2: City size 10, 2 workable tiles. You can work 2 tiles, so 8 guys will work in the city. You're at population 10, so the first 6 guys become Vendors giving +1hammer +1 trade, and the remaining 2 become Laborers giving +1hammer +0 trade.
Example 3: City size 31, 20 workable tiles. Surplus of 11 workers at 31 population, which become 1 Exporter, 6 Importers, and 4 Merchants.
Example 4: City size 31, 8 workable tiles. Surplus of 23 workers 31 population, which become 1 Exporter, 6 Importers, 6 Merchants, 6 Traders, 4 Vendors.
You can see this in real time by moving workers in and out of the city when it has more population than the tiles it can work; the Laborers will be the first ones subtracted when put out to work tiles and the highest level you can support (based on population) last.
Even the final stage (+1 hammer +5 trade) is only equivalent to working a single 2 hammer tile in the Modern age (24 techs) and you'll only ever see one of those guys because of the pop cap. It's always more efficient in the long run to work tiles with at least 2 hammers, or as many total trade titles as you can without paying any mind to waste time growing (you can work more tiles faster by expanding than growing).
In any case, cities max out at 31 population so you can only have up to 31 population working in the city, so 6 of each stage 1-5, and one of stage 6, for a grand total of +31 hammers and +65 trade before multipliers. After exchange rates between gold/hammers, that's equivalent to up to +44 raw hammers in the modern age or +96 gold or science, though you can't multiply hammers converted to gold/science by anything in the city ot Democracy.
The final math is that on average, a population working in the city only gives +1 hammer +2 trade, which is only equal to 2 hammer tile before 5 techs, and gets significantly devalued from there as you continue to advance. Considering the amount of time it would take to grow an average city to the point that it could have meaningful city workers (20+, after you run out tiles to work altogether) this is not worth it, at least generally.
There are lots of cases where the hammers themselves are meaningful, though for purposes of getting science or converting gold into hammers, it's *always* better to work trade tiles instead with the population assuming you can. This only becomes more true as you advance through the eras and the gold/hammer conversion rate gets worse and worse. Along with the opportunity-cost of growing to have more total pop, it's an even worse idea to work the city than working trade tiles only if you have no hammer tiles.
It works in an odd way because when the worker goes to the city, he provides the maximum amount he can based on the city population first, then it goes down the list to the lower stages. This is really strange but it means that cities without courthouses, or those over 20 population with a courthouse (as cities can only work 8/20 tiles respectively), will earn the most from city workers first.
Example 1: City size 10, 8 workable tiles. You can only work 8 tiles, so 2 guys will work in the city. You're at population 10, so each guy becomes a Vendor giving +1hammer +1trade.
Example 2: City size 10, 2 workable tiles. You can work 2 tiles, so 8 guys will work in the city. You're at population 10, so the first 6 guys become Vendors giving +1hammer +1 trade, and the remaining 2 become Laborers giving +1hammer +0 trade.
Example 3: City size 31, 20 workable tiles. Surplus of 11 workers at 31 population, which become 1 Exporter, 6 Importers, and 4 Merchants.
Example 4: City size 31, 8 workable tiles. Surplus of 23 workers 31 population, which become 1 Exporter, 6 Importers, 6 Merchants, 6 Traders, 4 Vendors.
You can see this in real time by moving workers in and out of the city when it has more population than the tiles it can work; the Laborers will be the first ones subtracted when put out to work tiles and the highest level you can support (based on population) last.
Even the final stage (+1 hammer +5 trade) is only equivalent to working a single 2 hammer tile in the Modern age (24 techs) and you'll only ever see one of those guys because of the pop cap. It's always more efficient in the long run to work tiles with at least 2 hammers, or as many total trade titles as you can without paying any mind to waste time growing (you can work more tiles faster by expanding than growing).
In any case, cities max out at 31 population so you can only have up to 31 population working in the city, so 6 of each stage 1-5, and one of stage 6, for a grand total of +31 hammers and +65 trade before multipliers. After exchange rates between gold/hammers, that's equivalent to up to +44 raw hammers in the modern age or +96 gold or science, though you can't multiply hammers converted to gold/science by anything in the city ot Democracy.
The final math is that on average, a population working in the city only gives +1 hammer +2 trade, which is only equal to 2 hammer tile before 5 techs, and gets significantly devalued from there as you continue to advance. Considering the amount of time it would take to grow an average city to the point that it could have meaningful city workers (20+, after you run out tiles to work altogether) this is not worth it, at least generally.
There are lots of cases where the hammers themselves are meaningful, though for purposes of getting science or converting gold into hammers, it's *always* better to work trade tiles instead with the population assuming you can. This only becomes more true as you advance through the eras and the gold/hammer conversion rate gets worse and worse. Along with the opportunity-cost of growing to have more total pop, it's an even worse idea to work the city than working trade tiles only if you have no hammer tiles.
