How many lumber mills?

[Grotius]

How many lumber mills do you guys build? For my next game, I am going to try having 2 or 3 manufacturing centers and 5 or 6 resource-gathering cities. I'm thinking lumber mills for the manufacturing settlements but not for the resource gatherers, but is that a mistake? Eventually will I want to build tools, guns and the like in most settlements?

 

[Lord Chambers]

Wow. I build one. It's goal is to build a University and later, cannon. Getting enough Elder Statesmen is the bottleneck in my game, so I try to get Carpenters early.

I'm about to win again on Revolutionary and feel like 5 colonies might be too many as I'm not using all 8 tiles in my other colonies.

Building tools is a waste of time since they're so cheap. However, Blacksmiths come to the docks, and so eventually you may as well have them produce as many tools as I need to offset the Gunsmiths.

 

[tour86rocker]

I've heard recommendations that people should have one major manufacturing colony with satellite resource gathering settlements. In that case, I suppose one might need only one Lumber Mill to build factories in the main colony.

On the other hand, you must have a lumber mill to build fortresses. Perhaps my strategy is a Col1 relic, but I tend to aim for building a fortresses in every settlement before DoI. I've heard some grumbling about fortresses in C4C, but in the games I've played, MoW's don't always level your defenses before REF attacks your colonies.

 

[skallben]

I've heard some grumbling about fortresses in C4C, but in the games I've played, MoW's don't always level your defenses before REF attacks your colonies.

Especially not inland colonies

 

[Daniel Shays]

I tend to build a lumber mill in every city fairly early as they make any builder twice as productive thus help the construction of any later project (including cannon for the WoI). This is an old habit from Col1 where lumber mills were much cheaper but I think still useful. In the first few cities I build a dock and a shop to manufacture export goods and perhaps a printing press before I do the lumber mill. Later on it is docks, a warehouse (to bring in stocks from elsewhere and to have space for riding horses) then do the lumber mill and anything else later.

 

[Bloink]

I agree with Daniel, I put a lumbermill in every city. Only after I have a Warehouse/Dock built first. I do this because I build a Printing Press and Newspaper in each settlement, along with putting at least one Elder Statesmen in each, this makes declaring very easy whenever you feel you are ready. This method also allows me alot of flexibility in what I want to do with each settlement, e.g. production, weapons, horses etc.

 

[Lord Chambers]

I agree with Daniel, I put a lumbermill in every city. This method also allows me alot of flexibility in what I want to do with each settlement, e.g. production, weapons, horses etc.

I agree that the "do everything" option is superior to other options. Unfortunately in Colonization do everything" is suprisingly viable all the way up to Revolutionary.

 

[pajeg]

I agree that the "do everything" option is superior to other options. Unfortunately in Colonization do everything" is suprisingly viable all the way up to Revolutionary.

i build only a wharehouse and some wagons in my colonies that get food lumber etc etc

in the colonies that will produce goods, the lumberhill and the factorie

i import everything in there, and get a elder stateman to produce more (and get the ff faster)

when i have the ffs that get free goods for a building, i build it everywhere