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City States of Shang - Start of a Dynasty

During the time of the Xia, our people learned the art of farming and settled along the fertile banks of the northern rivers. But the self-indulgent kings of Xia grew fat and lazy with power, and lost touch with their subjects. Cities attacked cities, and barbarians burned our fields. But the people were not forgotten by all, for in the distant province of Shang, a bold new leader, Tang, came forth and vanquished the pitiful Xia. The victorious banners of the Shang now flutter in the breeze over the capital at Hsiang.
To strengthen his base of power, our new king wishes that new towns be established. It is for this important endeavor that you have been appointed. Build a new settlement at Bo. Fill the town larders with meat and millet and the noble Tang will see to it that the settlers arrive! Do not be surprised, however, if you receive a few requests from Hsiang for some handcrafted ceramics

Starts Feb 1606 BCE

$5000 on Normal

Requirements:
  • 600 in Spacious Dwelling or better
  • Produce 12 crates of ceramics in one year
 

Spacious Dwellings hold 41 people and need

  • Water
  • Ancestral Shrine
  • Herbalist
  • Plain Food
  • Hemp
  • Music

The name of this first settlement is Bo... and a word of advice - don't get carried away and sprawl all over the place, because you will be coming back later to construct a monument on this same map. Consider yourself warned.

The immigrants will enter the map from the Northwest, but since it is a small map, not much of a problem with where you place your block or set up your trading stations. Bridges and ferries are not available yet, so you are confined to the main land mass.

You can only build common housing and you don't really need a full block or large population to complete the mission. Spacious Dwellings hold 41 people each, so 600/41 = 14 plus houses. For those of you that like to think ahead (and I guess I mean you since you are reading a walkthrough), the houses will need Water, access to an Ancestral Shrine, Herbalist, 2 foods (that's Plain food), Hemp and Music to reach the housing goal.

Your only industry besides farming is clay pits and kilns - which is another reason to keep the population under control. You don't want rampant unemployment, which can cause unhappiness and muggers and thieves. If things get ugly, place a Watchtower on the block to combat the bad guys.

There are two Ancestral Gods available in this city, Nu Wa and Shen Nong. Don't forget about them, they can be quite nasty if ignored.

Now, after all the dire warnings and advice, let's get going.

I built a smallish, rectangular block. 8 houses down each side of the inside loop, water carrier at one end. I had a few houses along the northernmost side, but I deleted them as the houses evolved and population grew. The Market Square was enclosed with residential walls and a straight-shot off one corner of the block, with warehouses on each side of the connecting road, and led to the Mill.

Here let me show you.

The Music and Herbalist are at the north end of the block, the Inspector tower backs up to the wall around the Market Square. The Ancestral Shrine is next to the Inspector. This gives good desirability, and the Inspector Tower should Improve and send out 2 inspectors.

It is a good idea to set the Market gate "Open to Market Employees" on the housing block side as soon as you place it. This will let the peddler carts out to the houses. It only takes a few times of seeing the peddlers repetitively pacing inside the Market Square and not getting to the houses to remember to open the gate. The gate on the side leading to the Mill should be open only to Inspectors. The Market vendors are destination walkers and can pass through. The only real "Market Employees" are the Peddlers and Musicians.

OK, I placed the Market Square and Mill right away, even without enough labor, because it helps me plan the rest of the city. Hover the cursor over the ground until the Feng Shui is green and good. It might seem a bit awkward at first, but it gets easier.

Now, the block is set up, and you know where you want the Market and Mill to be. Make sure you have an Inspector passing the Mill and going into the Market Square (if you placed it early). Add a couple of hunters on a road somewhere near the game birds and Mill. The hunters' tents don't need inspectors, so you have quite a bit of flexibility.

You need a farm for your millet. As the Chinese New Year, and the game, always starts in February, you need to have it set and staffed before the planting season begins in July. If you are quick, you can harvest a full crop in November. Just a reminder, if you didn't read the manual closely, but farms don't fall down - you don't need Inspectors in the fields.

Ideally, you will have 800-1000 units of game meat in the Mill when the Millet harvest starts to be delivered in November. Start feeding your little folks at least Bland food around that time. If you have given them an Ancestral Shrine and an Herbalist, they will probably behave until then. That is if you are playing on Normal or one of the Easy levels. If you are playing on Hard, you probably aren't reading this walkthrough.

Now, food and basics are taken care of. You need to build a Hemp farm pretty quick. Hemp is a necessity, and you can't have too much, IMHO. It is always useful for homage and gifts.

With your new workers from the evolved Plain Cottages, you can start some industry. I planned to have my trading posts on the main road in front of the Mill, so I moved east a bit and set up a ceramics loop. Find a spot that is good Feng Shui for the clay pits and kilns, give them an Inspector, and connect it up to the main road. Let them deliver finished product to a warehouse close to the Market Square. Strategic roadblocks will keep the Inspectors where you need them.

Now, you should have some money left after all of this, and it is time to concentrate on making some money. About the time you have a few ceramics in the warehouse to sell, you will probably get a request from Hsiang for those exact goods. Send them off on time and they will be favorable to opening trade with you. Make them pay for the next bunch of pots. They will only buy 12 a year, so extra production can be used for Homage. Keep a bit in reserve in case they are greedy and ask for more. What are you going to do? You don't have an army or much money, so there isn't much choice except meet the requests.

You should have some Hemp and a steady supply of 2 foods by now. Change the Food Shop from Bland to Plain Food, place a Hemp vendor and watch them change to Attractive Cottages. If they won't evolve, you might need to add a garden or two nearby.

Expand the Ceramics industry and add a Millet farm and another Hemp farm with the workers. A neat trick is to overlap the fields. Just place the farmhouses about 3 tiles apart, as the workers don't really care if they work on their own farm tiles or the next ones. Saves space and is more productive. At least I think so, but we will have to see what the Number Crunchers say about that.

Check the City briefing icon (first icon at the bottom of the Control Panel) and see how your yearly production of Ceramics is progressing - you have to have 12 units a year to meet the goal.

Check your Religion tab and monitor the Ancestral Gods' attitude. Neglected or Unhappy isn't too bad, give them some Hemp or extra food now and then to keep them from getting Angry. When they are Angry, they can cause Floods and Earthquakes.

If you have enough, you can sell Hemp along with the Ceramics to Hsiang for a little extra money. Banpo is discovered a bit into the mission. If you haven't met the housing goals yet, you can explore trade options with them.

Add the Music building to the housing block and they will tip over to Spacious Dwellings and pretty soon you will see the victory screen.

  • Finished July 1603
  • 648 pop all in Spacious Dwellings
  • Best ceramics production - 17
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