Apologies if this would be better off in the Housing Block thread but I thought there was enough explanation required and interesting things to dissect to warrant its own thread.
Here it is: The (in)famous Forced Walker block, now in glorious HD Glyph.
Legend
So, what am I looking at, exactly?
The Forced Walker block uses an oddity of Pharaoh's walker mechanics to provide services to a massive amount of people. It can comfortably handle 8000 people in a single block, and I've used it to handle over 10000 people on Very Hard.
But there's, like, eight houses
Yeah, see, this is just the services part of the block. The actual housing begins where this ends. The only rule is that the road extending south through the Pavilion eventually has to link up with the far east road. Make that road as long and as winding as you want, filling it up with houses. They'll get everything they need.
What? How?
It's a quirk in Pharaoh's mechanics. Most walkers will leave their building by the south end and, if they can, will try to return to their building at the north corner. No matter their regular range, they will walk as far as necessary to get back to their building. The way this block is set up, the walkers will spawn south of their buildings. The only way to get to the northeast corner of their building is by going south through the Pavilion and walking all along whatever road you've built there until it meets up with the east road. This is why it's essential that you connect those two roads - this will not work at all otherwise.
Entertainers, on the other hand, will walk as far as necessary to get to the Pavilion - they'll leave their schools and follow the east road down until it takes them to the Pavilion, giving entertainment access to anyone along the way (this is also the purpose of the gardens there - if you accidentally give northern road access to the schools it could mess them up).
Are there no prisons? Are there no taxhouses?
Sadly there seem to be three buildings that don't quite follow this pattern: Police Stations, Tax Collectors, and Courthouses. These buildings will have to be interspersed throughout your housing block. A small price to pay, however, and you'd be surprised at how few you'll need.
What's going on with that topmost building cluster, anyway?
The eight houses are there to ensure labour for buildings. Since the walkers will be coming around to the north side, most of them will pass these houses on their way home, meaning they can grow to a pretty high level. Hence the Physician, Temple, and Police Station up there, as these are services these houses wouldn't have otherwise. It honestly really doesn't matter.
Okay, there are definitely some buildings I don't need here
Absolutely. This is just to give a general idea. For example, if you don't want to do a mixed block you'll probably only want one Temple, you won't need any Library, and depending on your Culture requirements you may not need a Mortuary. If there's no reeds, you won't need that Apothecary. No problem. Get rid of them.
On Very Hard, I find I often need more Firehouses than this - anywhere from 3-5, depending on how big I make the block. Same deal with Bazaars - if I'm doing a particularly large block, the houses can go through the goods faster than the ladies can buy them, so I'll put in a second, sometimes even a third Bazaar. If you need more space for buildings, just extend the roads (but make sure that they follow the pattern!).
All that matters is that the road they leave by goes through the Pavilion around to the north corner of the building.
What's the deal with that random Police Station?
Gotta leave a one space gap there between the Mortuary (or whatever you decide to put there) and the Temple. The road two squares above the Police Station is the north corner of the Mortuary - if it's not there, the Mortuary (or, again, whatever) won't work properly. In that gap is a Police Station because sometimes he'll wander down through the Pavilion and provide coverage for your houses but you could make it something like a Shrine if you want.
Did you come up with this?
Sure didn't! I got this from Phrygiaddicted over on the impressionsgames subreddit.This thread here, to be precise.
Anything else I should know?
Yeah. First, this is obviously a situational tool. If you don't need a large population it's probably not necessary. Also sometimes you just won't have the space for it, as not only can it have a large footprint, but the entire nature of it is a little specific - e.g. you can't just rotate it as is 90 degrees because then you won't have buildings between south and north roads, but between east and west roads, and none of it will work. Granted, you *can* use the principle to make blocks that work in just about any situation, and that's really the purpose of this: To illustrate how it works so you can adapt it as needed.
Second, the Granary and Storage Yard on the side aren't part of the block and are only included as a rough guideline. Depending on how many people you want, you may need more than one Granary and depending on how far you want to develop your houses you may need more than one Storage Yard. Even with over 10000 people in the block, a single Storage Yard with 16 Pottery and 16 Beer was more than enough to keep everyone continually supplied. Yeah, this block makes Baki a breeze.
Third, be very, very cautious about adding in ways to leave the block. It can be easy to break the system. Right now the only way out of the block is through the roadblock beneath the Firehouses.
Fourth, this sucker is expensive. Just plunking down the roads for it can eat into a huge chunk of your starting cash, especially on VH.
Here it is: The (in)famous Forced Walker block, now in glorious HD Glyph.
The Forced Walker block uses an oddity of Pharaoh's walker mechanics to provide services to a massive amount of people. It can comfortably handle 8000 people in a single block, and I've used it to handle over 10000 people on Very Hard.
Yeah, see, this is just the services part of the block. The actual housing begins where this ends. The only rule is that the road extending south through the Pavilion eventually has to link up with the far east road. Make that road as long and as winding as you want, filling it up with houses. They'll get everything they need.
It's a quirk in Pharaoh's mechanics. Most walkers will leave their building by the south end and, if they can, will try to return to their building at the north corner. No matter their regular range, they will walk as far as necessary to get back to their building. The way this block is set up, the walkers will spawn south of their buildings. The only way to get to the northeast corner of their building is by going south through the Pavilion and walking all along whatever road you've built there until it meets up with the east road. This is why it's essential that you connect those two roads - this will not work at all otherwise.
Entertainers, on the other hand, will walk as far as necessary to get to the Pavilion - they'll leave their schools and follow the east road down until it takes them to the Pavilion, giving entertainment access to anyone along the way (this is also the purpose of the gardens there - if you accidentally give northern road access to the schools it could mess them up).
Sadly there seem to be three buildings that don't quite follow this pattern: Police Stations, Tax Collectors, and Courthouses. These buildings will have to be interspersed throughout your housing block. A small price to pay, however, and you'd be surprised at how few you'll need.
The eight houses are there to ensure labour for buildings. Since the walkers will be coming around to the north side, most of them will pass these houses on their way home, meaning they can grow to a pretty high level. Hence the Physician, Temple, and Police Station up there, as these are services these houses wouldn't have otherwise. It honestly really doesn't matter.
Absolutely. This is just to give a general idea. For example, if you don't want to do a mixed block you'll probably only want one Temple, you won't need any Library, and depending on your Culture requirements you may not need a Mortuary. If there's no reeds, you won't need that Apothecary. No problem. Get rid of them.
On Very Hard, I find I often need more Firehouses than this - anywhere from 3-5, depending on how big I make the block. Same deal with Bazaars - if I'm doing a particularly large block, the houses can go through the goods faster than the ladies can buy them, so I'll put in a second, sometimes even a third Bazaar. If you need more space for buildings, just extend the roads (but make sure that they follow the pattern!).
All that matters is that the road they leave by goes through the Pavilion around to the north corner of the building.
Gotta leave a one space gap there between the Mortuary (or whatever you decide to put there) and the Temple. The road two squares above the Police Station is the north corner of the Mortuary - if it's not there, the Mortuary (or, again, whatever) won't work properly. In that gap is a Police Station because sometimes he'll wander down through the Pavilion and provide coverage for your houses but you could make it something like a Shrine if you want.
Sure didn't! I got this from Phrygiaddicted over on the impressionsgames subreddit.
Yeah. First, this is obviously a situational tool. If you don't need a large population it's probably not necessary. Also sometimes you just won't have the space for it, as not only can it have a large footprint, but the entire nature of it is a little specific - e.g. you can't just rotate it as is 90 degrees because then you won't have buildings between south and north roads, but between east and west roads, and none of it will work. Granted, you *can* use the principle to make blocks that work in just about any situation, and that's really the purpose of this: To illustrate how it works so you can adapt it as needed.
Second, the Granary and Storage Yard on the side aren't part of the block and are only included as a rough guideline. Depending on how many people you want, you may need more than one Granary and depending on how far you want to develop your houses you may need more than one Storage Yard. Even with over 10000 people in the block, a single Storage Yard with 16 Pottery and 16 Beer was more than enough to keep everyone continually supplied. Yeah, this block makes Baki a breeze.
Third, be very, very cautious about adding in ways to leave the block. It can be easy to break the system. Right now the only way out of the block is through the roadblock beneath the Firehouses.
Fourth, this sucker is expensive. Just plunking down the roads for it can eat into a huge chunk of your starting cash, especially on VH.