I figured that nothing extraordinary happened in Bahariya Oasis, since we've seen very few posts on it. (In fact, the other 3 posts with Bahariya in the title weren't really about the mission, they were about trade and taxes.) Looking at the city, the possibilities didn't seem too exciting: the maximum Culture is 50 (no senet house), only 1 local food (game meat, from 2 herds), and (assuming that there will eventually be a new trade route to obtain beer or barley) the best houses are spacious manors (only 2 gods).
Just to make sure that beer would become available, I (once again) violated my usual "rules", downloaded Dragon2's city, and checked the world map. As expected, trade with Dahshur becomes available after little more than a year. As at Djedu (the simultaneous mission), Dahshur sells barley and beer, and also buys bricks (another source of income).
With Prosperity 100 possible, Bahariya began to be interesting. I decided to import extra food and make the city somewhat larger than necessary. In addition to sandstone for the sun temple, 9 goods will be permanently imported: meat, grain, clay, barley, reeds, flax, gems, straw, and copper. (Hopefully, little copper will be needed once the infantry forts are full.) 7 goods will be exported: wood, papyrus, linen, pottery, bricks, a little beer (most will be consumed--if there was a senet house then beer would be imported), and a little jewelry (with such a small profit margin, there will be only 1 jeweler).
Even though it will be only my second mission at Very Hard difficulty, I wanted to add some "spice". Gradually, while designing the city, I came up with these extra "rules" for the finished city:
* No trees will be deleted. (Of course, many will be felled by wood cutters.)
* A double-wide wall (with gatehouses) will surround the city. There will be frequent towers all around.
* The Kingdom road will be intact (with gatehouses across it) in its original location.
* All trade will take place on the Kingdom road. (All roads in the city will be connected, but caravans won't use any others.)
* Each imported good (other than sandstone) will have its own storage yard, which may be shared with 1 exported good.
* The worst houses will be common residences.
* There will be 2 libraries (enough for "below average" coverage).
* All "nice" structures (sun temple, Ra's temple complex, festival square, palace, mansion, and the best houses) will be grouped together in (roughly) the center of the city. The festival square will have regular traffic.
I may take the "rescue" gift or even go into debt. I hate to build unneeded structures, and the temple complex is all that Ra needs to be happy, but building it will take over half of the starting funds at Very Hard. A wood industry can be started cheaply, but other exports will probably be needed quickly (since 40 sandstone should be imported in the first year). This will be decided later.
Some of these "rules" are common, and some (as far as I know) are unusual. I think they'll make Bahariya Oasis fun. I'll let you know.
[This message has been edited by Brugle (edited 10-31-2001 @ 05:46 PM).]