Question About Granaries

[zenmonkey12]

Is there a reason for keeping a granary (as opposed to selling it off) once a city reaches a population of say 13-15? I tend to sell them off to reduce costs in my largest cities, but perhaps this is not a smart thing to do...

 

[GamezRule]

That is generally a good idea once you're city has reached it's max population. Many players space their cities CxxC so the don't need to build hardly any Hospitals.

 

[dalgo]

I often use size 12 cities to produce settlers so they still need their granaries.

 

[TheOverseer714]

Only keep a granary if you want hospitals/wanth growth and are building settlers or workers. Otherwise, it's wasted upkeep. Besides, I usually have the Pyramids by then

 

[darski]

Besides, I usually have the Pyramids by then

Say... aren't you one of those guys that never builds the Pyramids... well gee, how do you get them?

oh yeah

 

[Opies]

I never sell a granary unless a city is at max pop with no chance of expanding

 

[templar_x]

@ Opies - many players, including myself, see growing a city beyond size 6 VIA FOOD as a waste in most cases.

the reasoning is as follows: you can grow a town (until size 6) with 20 food - or 10 food with a granary. but it takes 40 food - or 20 with a granary - to grow one pop point for a city.

therefore, it must be cheaper to have some <= 6-towns build WORKERS at a food cost of 10 each, with a granary, and MERGE those into the cities to grow them until size 12.

there are a few points to add to this:
+ if you enjoy such an abundance of food that you can as well run a worker factory and use even more excess food to grow cities via food, youll do that of course.
+ you would hardly ever join workers to farms, at least not in the earlier game.
+ if you have very little food in your core though, the worker production will not suffice to have the land improved AND you can use that pop migration function of workers.
+ in general, the same logic applies with fast growing towns and slow growing towns.
+ in practice, it will still always be a mixture of both ways to grow your towns/cities.

one of the first articles i read on these boards (i think sth like "workers fully explained") was about the perception of workers not so much as units but as population that is kind of "stored" in the working force. practically they are migrants to be used wherever they are most useful, either in the field or in other towns/cities.
i did not fully understand that concept back then, but now i regularly apply it for good use. in many games, i run 1 or 2 worker factories and always keep the shield production on a maximum, at 0 food surplus. wherever i have good extra tiles to work, i will join the next worker in. if there is no good tile yet, the worker will improve one first, and merge in then.

templar_x

 

[Spoonwood]

Yes, there does exist a reason. If you seek to launch the spaceship as fast as possible in that game, then granaries help your cities to grow faster. This helps put more scientists into your cities faster. Couple this with irrigating everywhere and you can have a decent amount of science from a few cities instead of many. If you worry about losing money, you can sell technology for gold per turn, or/and lump sums of gold.

Chamnix once tried to convince me that it might work as more efficient to conquer selected AI tribes in such a game instead. That may well hold, as my hypothesis as to how to launch the spaceship as fast as possible in that game doesn't come out as all too clear-cut, if one applies complex military strategies as he suggested (there's more to this, but I would digress too much if I discussed it here). However, if you play a spaceship game where you don't attack enemy cities, and you have cities above size 12, then having granaries in your cities makes sense in a fast spaceship game. And don't forget to water ALL your fields!

 

[Raliuven]

Not to thread jack - I think this is in the same 'spirit' of the conversation. In the IA, I find that several of my cities begin to produce artillery and only artillery. I could conceivable keep them on that job for the rest of the game as far as military until production goes. Do you ever find that you will disband a barracks because - like the granary (like the tie in?) it is no longer serving its purpose for the foreseeable future?

My malfunction is that I am a builder. I built the granary and barracks. I own them. You can pry them from my cold, dead hands . . .

 

[GamezRule]

You only need as much arty as you can fire in a single turn. (and still actually do something)

 

[Snarkhunter]

In the IA, I find that several of my cities begin to produce artillery and only artillery. I could conceivable keep them on that job for the rest of the game as far as military until production goes. Do you ever find that you will disband a barracks because - like the granary (like the tie in?) it is no longer serving its purpose for the foreseeable future?

I usually need them until the last few turns of the game, so I don't bother with the core infrastructure. In captured cities, I usually sell off all the infrastructure I can within a couple of turns, saving the rax for when the city is no longer front line. Occasionally I'll save a harbor, but that's about it--and I wish I could sell off aquas & hospitals. Late game conquests of 3-5 cities a turn can generate lots of cash from the sell-off, which then gets plowed into cash rushing and the like. It's profitable; I prefer it.

kk

 

[Hellfiredoom]

@ Opies - many players, including myself, see growing a city beyond size 6 VIA FOOD as a waste in most cases.

the reasoning is as follows: you can grow a town (until size 6) with 20 food - or 10 food with a granary. but it takes 40 food - or 20 with a granary - to grow one pop point for a city.

therefore, it must be cheaper to have some <= 6-towns build WORKERS at a food cost of 10 each, with a granary, and MERGE those into the cities to grow them until size 12.

This just blew my mind , it's something that never occurred to me before, yet makes perfect sense. I'll have to add this to my gameplay. Quick question: using this same logic, do you ever use a settler factory for this purpose?

 

[templar_x]

settlers no, as they cost you 5s more per pop point than a worker (i.e., settler: 30 shields for 2 pop points, compared to worker: 10 shields for 1 pop point).

moreover, workers are much more flexible, as they represent only a single pop point.

i understand how you feel about that concept. my face looked the same when i read about it on these forums.
it took me quite a while to fully incorporate that knowledge into my gameplay though, and i might still stink at it, related to how powerful it could theoratically be.

templar_x

 

[CKS]

I've sometimes built settlers for merging, but not in the early game. If I'm not building hospitals and I have a city at size 12 with extra food and at least 30 shields per turn, I may build a settler to send to a slow-growing spot, just because I get a faster transfer of population. I'm wasting shields anyway, so I don't care about the shield cost.

 

[Rodrig0]

Only keep a granary if you want hospitals/wanth growth and are building settlers or workers. Otherwise, it's wasted upkeep. Besides, I usually have the Pyramids by then

Oh I love the Pyramids!!

And thanx the maya for loving it too



Who would have thought? The completed it just before I attacked!

 

[Aabraxan]

Oh I love the Pyramids!!

And thanx the maya for loving it too

. . . .

Who would have thought? The completed it just before I attacked!

If you ain't got timing, you ain't got nothing. That's beautiful timing!

 

[darski]

If you ain't got timing, you ain't got nothing. That's beautiful timing!

Well said

 

[Rodrig0]

If you ain't got timing, you ain't got nothing. That's beautiful timing!

And to think that I was sooo upset when one of his jav throwers won! "Great! golden age fo them now they will be building more javs like crazy"

 

[Nergal]

I have found in a lot of games that its my nearest opponent who builds the Pyramids. Its like some kind of weird suicide deathwish. " We've built the Pyramids, its yours if you come kill us." I therefore tend to get trhe Pyramids fairly early normally, and Sun Tzu's isnt far behind. Its also onewonder I would use an SGL on.

 

[Bartleby]

Pretty much any wonder is one to use an SGL on; Pyramids would be my preferred choice though.