Units
There is a switch 'Always build last unit' which can be handy at times. I don't use it; I prefer to hand-manage what my cities build.
Is 250 enough? Depends on the level and what your goals are. If you're not attacking anyone and no one is attacking you, 250 is probably overkill. Are you paying upkeep on all 250 Mechs? That could be expensive, depending on your government type. So if it hurts your economy, maybe you have too many.
Unit Build Alternative
Out in the fringes of your empire, where your cities are only netting 1 Blue shield per turn and the rest are all Red, producing Wealth is a good idea. Anything else just takes too long, except maybe workers and settlers. Building a Mech at 1 shield per turn is sure, but very slow. Instead, let that city build Wealth, let it grow to size 6 or 12 (natural growth limits without and with fresh water) and once the city maxes out at 6 or 12, hire as many scientists in each city as you can. Most cities, if everything around them is irrigated, can hire 2 to 3 geeks, depending on terrain and railroads. These geeks will help you research faster, since each geek adds 3 beakers per turn to your science output as determined by the science slider. Each geek will always add 3 bpt to your science, regardless of what the science rate is. 0% or 100%; 1 geek = 3 bpt.
Get enough of these science farms up and running and you can drop your science rate to almost nothing, have plenty of cash to spend, and still learn techs at a good rate.
City Order
The order of the cities is almost in the order that they are built but not completely. It's rather difficult to explain in words, but a quick example should do.
Assume that these are the ten cities in a civ game:
- AI One: capital
- AI Two: capital
- AI Three: capital
- Human: capital
- AI One: 2nd city
- AI Two: 2nd city
- AI Three: 2nd city
- AI One: 3rd city
- AI Three: 3rd city
- Human: 2nd city
Human declares war on AI One and razes AI One's 3rd city and replaces it with his own. This is the order we expect:
- AI One: capital
- AI Two: capital
- AI Three: capital
- Human: capital
- AI One: 2nd city
- AI Two: 2nd city
- AI Three: 2nd city
- AI Three: 3rd city
- Human: 2nd city
- Human: 3rd city
However that is not what happens.
The games stores the name in a list, with each slot on the list accompained by a name. This list is 512 slots long and cannot be made larger.
When the human razes AI One's 3rd city, here is how the game records that event:
- AI One: capital
- AI Two: capital
- AI Three: capital
- Human: capital
- AI One: 2nd city
- AI Two: 2nd city
- AI Three: 2nd city
- (empty)
- AI Three: 3rd city
- Human: 2nd city
The name is simply erased.
When a new city is built, the game looks through the city list until it finds a blank or empty slot and places the city in that slot. It starts from the top and goes to the bottom, and is only concerned about an empty slot. If it finds one, the new city name is placed in it and the city is built. If it does not find an empty slot, then the list is full, the city cannot be built and message goes back to the screen to the tell the player that the city cannot be built.
In our case, when it is done, the city list looks like this:
- AI One: capital
- AI Two: capital
- AI Three: capital
- Human: capital
- AI One: 2nd city
- AI Two: 2nd city
- AI Three: 2nd city
- Human: 3rd city
- AI Three: 3rd city
- Human: 2nd city
Is this easy to see? Not always, unless you scroll through the cities a lot and notice the build dates of the cities as you go from city to city. If you number your cities you will see it faster.
Big deal? No. Interesting? Maybe. Geeky/Technical? You bet.
