This is from an older thread. I worked this stuff quite a lot since Justanick wrote this one and I have reached some conclusions I would like to discuss.
In the policemen area the discussion usually makes sense, most players probably have or are about to acquire libraries, universities, factories and some power plant. Some will also have banks and some may also have stocks. Lets assume that banks are present and stocks are not. This is a somewhat reasonable assumption I guess. This adds up for a total of 100% bonus for both science and tax. If there are no banks, it is 50% for tax and the total bonus is somewhere around....90% or something. (we usualy use the science slider heavily at this point) but lets use the bank-present and stock-absent scenario of 100% which is simpler. In the Modern times, the bonus can climb significaly higher with man plants and res labs, but I guess few player still micromanage to that extent at that point (many do not reach this age at all).
Under these conditions any policeman used has a very specific effect. If the city is stable (lets say at size 20 for example) and we irrigate a mined tile, the city will lose 4 shields (2+2) and will gain through the policeman 2 shields (1+1) and 2 commerce (1+1). The policeman will effectively turn 2 shields into 2 commerce. This is-by itself-not a favorable trade. Assuming we have FP, courthouses and police stations present, so that corruption remains stable, we have some cases.
A. If the city has all the following conditions together
1. has very low corruption and so the creation of the policeman would only require use of uncorrupted shields
2. condition C below does not apply (the player is not trying to use this method to round up his production)
3. is not permanently producing wealth (if it does, then transforming 2 shields to 2 commerce is obviously good). This was also mentioned by Justanick somewhere in that older discussion.
then the city must not use policemen and so it is preferable to keep the population at a minimum, exactly as many needed as to exploit all tiles.
B. As soon as we get a bit far from the capital, we find out towns where the creation of policemen will in fact use corrupted shields (that is, we irrigate a tile and we do not use 2 uncorrupted shields for the PM's creation, we use 1+1 instead). Here, the creation of policemen is theoriticaly favorable. Highly enough in fact, we gain two uncorrupted commerce for nothing every time a corrupted shield is irrigated. As long as condition C does not apply again, here the player should reirrigate and police patrol until all remaining corrupted shields cannot be dismissed through irrigation. Then we are technicaly at condition A and the city needs to stop growing.
C. Different players follow different strategies in order to arrange production to be managed so that few shields get wasted. Some do not care at all (I do not care if the city has 106 shields to offer, I WANT to order a modern armor). Most I guess tend to use tile switching between neighboring cities to minimize the waste. Another option, suitable for players who are bored with switching tiles and love stable cities is to use policemen to arrange the fitting of production. If for example the city needs to build tanks (100 shields) and is producing 56 shields, then the player can decide what amount he wants. Some will choose 50 and some will choose 54 as a pre-caution against pollution hitting a 2-shielded tile (4 with factors-plants bonuses). Or so I think...I have not studied this subject enough, it may deserve a thread by itself, but I think one should mine non-bonus grasslans first trying to avoid the presence of tiles with 3 shields, a tactic similar to the one we use in preparation for golden age or mobilization.Then he probably should protect himself against pollution hitting a 2 shield tile and ignore the scenario it hits one of the 2-3 hills the city has. Or not? Not sure...anyway back to the subject. If he chooses 50 shields, then he re-irrigates 3 tiles in that example and ends up with 50 shields (he loses 6+6 but gets 6 back from the policemen). He stops when he has the exact amount of shields he wants plus maximum commerce. Keep in mind it is a micromanagement nightmare to use this method in combination with switching tiles.
D. Moderately corrupted cities typicaly need a lot of irrigation, although some mining may be necessary in order to have shields to use. It is a middle ground where mining, policemen and scientists battle over against each other. The terrain is the factor that dictate events here, because it is not favorable to mine a lot on principle. If the terrain forces the city to have a lot of shields, for example a city with some grasslands and a few hills, then maximum irrigation and policemen are needed. A flood plain chaos may be treated as a science farm instead even though it is not completely corrupted. It is not rare to have some policemen and some scientists here. It is some kind of middle ground, a few policemen deal with the small waste and as soon as the city runs out of its few uncorrupted shields, the scientists are taking over. That is, the city does NOT stop growing as in the previous examples. It is the region above 40% corruption plus the cases where shields necessarily run low, where scientists (+3 commerce) start to challenge mining benefits (2 shields at 50% corruption become 1 shield and then again 2 shields after production bonuses). The exact ratio of shield value vs commerce value the player has in mind is important in this case.
E. Policemen do not work in maximumly corrupted cities. The first few of them turn nothing. Here the scientist becomes the preferable entertainer and the strategy applied here is already well-known, it is science farms.
Some final points.
1. Two unrivered communist or monarchy tundra squares (worst square there is in the game) always beat one policeman. Strangely enough, they may not beat the scientist....but this guy gets stronger as corruption grows too high while the policeman grows weaker after corruption becomes maximum. You never need to consider un-tiling 2 tundras in order to get a policeman. I think....
2. Communism creates huge unpleasant micromanagement, especially in case C because corruption is not stable. But is also has many opportunities to improve many cities...
3. If banks are absent or stocks, labs or man plants are present, the numbers change and new strategies can be formed. Even the first ring cities may need to start growing.
4. Nuclear plants, offshore platforms and man plants will eventually mess up with the planning if one plays the game so far.
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