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Housing Block Essay

The only structures generating negative desirability in this block are the Inspector's Tower (-2, -1), Watchtower (-2, -1) and the Tax Office (-4, -2). The desirability of the block is high enough (at Normal Difficulty) to overcome this undesirability. In certain locations, the desirability may not be high enough to evolve the Inspector's Tower and Watchtower if they are placed directly adjacent to each other. However, if that is the only harmonious location for them, a few Gardens, Flowering Trees, Small Sculptures or Residential Walls behind the structures will evolve them. There is space down the center of the block, and around the perimeter, to add desirability producing structures if they are needed.

The Housing Block is going to need food, goods and entertainment to evolve. All of these are provided by way of a Market Square. For Common Housing, a Common Market Square is all that is required. The Common Market Square is an undesirable structure (-6, -8 -10) and can prevent the closest houses from evolving. Block this undesirability with a Residential Wall, and another Residential Gate set "open" for Market Employees.

A Roadblock was added at the end of the Common Market Square to prevent Market Employees from going the wrong direction on the service road (shown in a later example). I used this exact layout on a mission I played at Very Hard Difficulty. To increase the desirability of the block, additional Residential Walls were required as shown in the diagram below. A word of warning for those playing at Very Hard: The Inspector's Tower must be of the improved type if the road loop contains 58 tiles. A single Inspector will not pass by often enough to provide adequate coverage. An Improved Tower, with two Inspectors will provide sufficient protection. Evolve the Inspector's Tower as soon as possible.

The Housing Block contained an improved Well, Inspector's Tower and Watchtower. It also contained an Ancestral Shrine, Buddhist Pagoda, Herbalist, Acupuncturist, Tax Collector and 48 Houses. Fully evolved to Luxury Apartments, this Housing Block will hold 3,552 residents (48 x 74). Without a Buddhist or Daoist Shrine or Pagoda/Temple the capacity for Ornate Apartments is 3,087 (49 x 63). The Housing Block will sustain 2,600 (50 x 52) in Elegant Dwellings and 2,050 (50 x 41) in Spacious Dwellings (Acupuncturist not required). Every level of housing will be provided with at least a Well, Inspector's Tower, Watchtower, Ancestral Shrine and Herbalist. Space should be allowed for a future Tax Collector even though Shelters and Huts do not generate tax income. The maximum population for this block is therefore 1,150 (50 x 31) for Attractive Cottages, 1,100 (50 x 22) for Plain Cottages, 700 (50 x 14) for Huts and 350 (50 x 7) for Shelters.

The Housing Block is now complete, but it needs support from additional structures. These additional structures can be provided in a Support Block as shown below.

Did you notice that the Common Market Square didn't have protection from fire and collapse provided by an Inspector's Tower? Protection will be provided as long as an Inspector passes within two tiles of a structure. The Inspector's Tower ("I") in the diagram above will provide the required coverage. The longest loop that can be covered by a single Inspector is 64 tiles.

Buyers from a Food Shop, located in the Market Square, get their food from a Mill ("Mill"). The closer the Mill, the more efficient is the delivery. A single Mill, with supporting Warehouses, can sustain several Housing Blocks. In fact, I have had problems controlling food quality if there was more than one Mill in the city. For Spacious Dwellings, and above, a Music School ("M") is required. An Acrobat School ("AS") is required for Ornate Apartments. A Paper Maker ("P") is required for the Tax Collector to function (in addition to an Administrative City).

The remainder of the Support Block can be filled with Warehouses ("Wh"), and Trading Stations ("TS"). There is also room for miscellaneous industries that produce goods for consumption and for export, as shown in the example below.

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