Build Order

[Maelstrom]

When you have insufficient money to complete all your builds in a turn, how does the AI prioritise your builds? I often find one or two provinces where it seems impossible to get anything built without ceasing development in the rest of my empire.

Apologies if this has been asked before but I couldn't find anything....

[Wildthing]

I think it goes from top to bottom. That means that your southern provinces won't get any buildings if you are out of cash.

[Odyssey of War]

I was told the same thing, but I dont thats true, since I have had buildings not get started in the north and the ones in the south started first, even though they were more expensive,, I think it may actually have to do with which buildings you have most recently wanted to start.

[Maelstrom]

I thought it might be top to bottom, left to right - but I am not convinced. I am sure it is not a conventional FIFO queue (I wish it was).

Could it be a conventional queue, skipping buildings that cannot be afforded? - This would make more expensive building difficult to start, especially if it satisfies unit builds first. But I am sure it does not do that either.....

[Mori Gabriel Syme]

Simply from watching what happens in the game (I have no inside scoop), I would say that the game processes building & unit production orders, as well as movements, in a clockwise, roughly spiral pattern beginning with somewhere in the British Isles & ending somewhere around Italy. That is the way the view of the board moves after one clicks "end turn." As the English now, I have had buildings begun in my provinces which I took from the Novgorod while Aquitaine has to wait for years. Sardinia, which I bought from the rebels, hasn't built even a single unit, let alone begun a building.

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Others enslave by victory,
Their subjects, as their foes, oppress;
Anna conquers but to free,
And governs but to bless. -- Edmund Smith (Anna stands for England)

[Pachinko]

Ive got my notepad.. http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/tongue.gif So here it is.

Kalt>>>>>The all-important early game makes or breaks you. Because of this, I push through the following build order in all my provinces early on.

#1 watch tower
#2 fort
#3 town watch
#4 spear maker

That is 1+4+2+2=9 turns of building that gets you the ability to make spearmen. If you like archers you can substitute those, but I like having the ability to pump spearmen in every province I own in the early game to mass armies and maintain a supply of 4+ acumen governors.

Once your spearmaker is built, you can get the +20% farm upgrade (if it has a payoff that is decent) then build the second castle type. You should always build in every province on every turn. If you find yourself lacking money to do that, you should be installing 4+ acumen governors in every province and maxing out your taxes.

If you have a decent army or 2 sitting idle, provoke rebellions by moving it away (so its province is empty, ripe for rebellion) then move it back after the rebels appear. The next turn slaughter them in order to pump your general's valour and virtues. You will also make good money from confiscated lands, as well as improving your units valour while thinning their ranks (which reduces your upkeep, and makes way for new troops).


Kraellin>>>>In general, i almost always go for the income producers first, farm field improvements and trading posts. your home province (the capital) almost always has some military type upgrades for building troops, so i concentrate on money.

after that it somewhat depends on who you are and what the situation is and at what difficulty level you're playing. if you've got enemies on all sides and no alliances and ex-communicated early for some reason and playing on expert, then watch towers, forts, military upgrades, and emissaries, and that is all mixed in with actual troops. i also like to build at least one inn so i can buy mercenaries early. this has been a life saver at times.

if you're playing an easier mode, not hardly any enemies nearby, lots of alliances and so on, i go for money and tech tree and as early a trade route as i can get. trade route and spy networks both get built fast.

so, it really depends on your situation. i never try and fix just one way of playing in mind because the situation is always different and calls for different strategies.


Handel >> 1. Build in each provinces all the religious buildins you can afford
2. Put in each province a priest (bishop, cardinal better) and a 2-3 spies.
3. Use auto-tax feature (but if needed you can disable it and manually lower the taxes in some province for few years)

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Crush your enemies, see them driven before you on the field of battle, and hear the lamentation of their women.

Dev quote>>Sigh, ye of little faith. Don't assume everything is a bug.

[Maelstrom]

Thanks Pachinko, useful but a bit off topic.

The query is really about what happens when you are trying to build in many provinces but don't have the cash. How does the game decide which building projects to start, and which ones to hold over?

It doesn't appear to be obvious....

[Pachinko]

Ya..I know. But hey... http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/redface.gif

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Crush your enemies, see them driven before you on the field of battle, and hear the lamentation of their women.

Dev quote>>Sigh, ye of little faith. Don't assume everything is a bug.