Silk Plantation

[Fluxx]

Hmmm, it really depends on the game indeed.

If silk is near a river bed, and on a forest (which is often the case), planting a cottage down there makes it a hell of a resource field.

Before I have calendar the cottage will have grown to big heights, so the income will certainly be higher then a plantation on it.
If AI's are hungry for silk, I will plantation it, if I feel the need is there to trade it.
Factors/factors/factors. Aint civ a great game?

 

[PieceOfMind]

Cottage:
10 turns x 1
20 turns x 2
40 turns x 3
40 turns x 4
Total: 110 turns for 330

Silk: 110 turns x 3 = 330

Only after 110 turns on normal speed the cottage starts to give you more commerce then the plantation. Thats too long! If you can trade the silk fo another resource or some gpt, its always better then a cottage.

But you ignore the fact that cottages can be built much much sooner than plantations, especially if Calendar is not high on the priorities list. Building the cottage sooner means you can make use of the extra commerce early in the game, arguably making it far better in the long and short term, in terms of tile yield anyway. Of course, if you can make a decent gpt from the resource then build the plantation!

I frequently build farms or cottages over the calendar resources before I have the tech. I play pretty big maps where having a resource like silk might mean I have 5 or 6 of them, and it might not be possible to find that many trading partners. In those cases, I might leave the tile cottaged or farmed indefinitely.