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Turbulent Winds - Salt Mines of Anyi

A valuable product lies buried in the hills surrounding Anyi, for it is there that underground deposits of salty brine lay hidden. If the brine is pumped to the surface and evaporated in kettles under big fires, the product is crystallized salt. Surely it is a gift from the dragon! It is past time for the government to take control of this lucrative industry so that more people can enjoy the delicious flavor that salt adds to the daily meal. Go to Anyi, locate the salt deposits, and construct salt mines. Open trade with the distant cities of the Zhou kingdom, for most have already acquired a taste for salt that is not easily satisfied. Ceramics and bronze can be imported from Hao, for the hills of Anyi, though rich in many ways, lack these commodities.

Starts Feb 1022 BCE

$11,000 Hard

Requirements:
  • 28 salt in one year
  • Yearly profit of $1500
  • Treasury of $13,000

This mission is straightforward and simple; it could be a bit boring, if you'd have to play it for longer time - but quick as it is, it is a nice appetizer.

Immigrants come from southwest, and the area between center of the map and SW is ideal for the housing. Since the exports are limited and rather low-profit, while two of the mission goals are financial (yearly profit+treasury), taxes are essential. If you want to finish quickly, it is probably better not to import pottery and leave your houses at Spacious Dwelling level. I wasn't aiming for the fastest completion and decided that I want to have at least a few elite houses. I outlined two housing blocks, with the idea that one of them will be mixed elite and normal, and a commercial area to the north of them.

I started wood production soon, along with salt, and overproduced both heavily. What can't be sold, can be sent as a gift to other cities or offered as homage to gods. When I finally decided to distribute pottery, the resulting immigration wave brought my unemployment over 20%, which wasn't too good for the city mood (and I already was paying low wages, because I had too many people in the city)... but the earthquake solved this problem for me. Some Ornate apartments collapsed, I deleted one or two more, and everything was OK again.

Salamanders are big nuisance, sometimes they roam over the entire map. One of the first things I did was walling the road near entry point. That helped for some time, but later salamanders found way around the wall and I had to guard this area. Similarly, I walled off the fields in the north and placed several watchtowers in industrial areas (including salt mines).

Yes, about salt... the production of salt is much quicker than I supposed, meaning that this mission goal is very easy to complete. Salt mines are rather expensive to build (over 200 on Hard) and use 19 labor, so this is where you should think twice before building one early. I'm sure I could have finished a few months earlier just by not building the last 2 salt mines (yep, I didn't care much about the completion time, but I can't help thinking that way - seems I played too many speed contests in Pharaoh and Caesar :-)). And this would be a nice speed contest, too... maybe I'll try it later. I feel I could have done a lot better here.

Winning situation:

  • April 1016 BCE
  • 2222 population
  • salt production 92
  • yearly profit 7079
  • treasury 13545
  • Feng Shui: Perfect harmony

Other figures about the city:
- 4 humble compounds, rest of population in Ornate Apartments; 7 hunters, 7 salt mines, 6 logging sheds, 4 food farms, 2 bronzeware makers and jade carvers (3 of each originally, not rebuilt after earthquake).
- 4 trade routes open; all trading stations except Pingyang in commercial center; Pingyang station near salt mines.

Hints and tips:

  • Money is essential, think twice before spending it. Lower wages and raise taxes. I wasn't much popular in this mission, that's true... but then, I wasn't sent to Anyi to be popular, but to start salt production and build a center of commerce.
  • Remember you can use salt to improve food quality (set the mill to get 4 salt, that's enough).
  • Export all wood and salt you are allowed to, and meat if you can spare some (Nu Wa can bless your hunters and increase their output). Import jade, clay and bronze, produce and export carved jade and bronzeware.
  • Only one fort is available. I built it and trained a few soldiers, because I wanted to - but it isn't really necessary. There is no reason to produce weapons at all, if you intend to finish quickly.
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