"This City Is Fantastic" - What Does It Take?

Topic Subject:

"This City Is Fantastic" - What Does It Take?

DDR Jake
Pleb

posted 02-08-21 07:32 ET (US)

I've been searching for a definitive list of requirements for your city to be rated as "Fantastic" "Life here is great" From the comfort of my Villa..." etc etc by the walkers of the city.

The closest I could find is this list from Trurl

- have some citizens , >500 is ok though in my small tent city 600 were needed
- stock a good food reserve: 4 months will do but 5-6 or more may be better.
- please the gods; temples/oracles suffice, you dont need to have any festivals
- give jobs to those who want them, but keep a few people unemployed
- entertain your citizens, and this means give your houses access to venues. in my test city a colliseum with 2 shows was enough, so it shouldn't be too hard providing the necessary entertainment in a normal city.
- give your houses access to a school (this is necessary to get full marks, it's not only for the comment "This city is fantastic!" )

Many of these criteria are too wishy washy.

- Have some citizens.

Is there a hard limit here? >600 seems like a fine ball-park, I never make them so small anyway. Demographics would probably be hell.

- stock a good food reserve: 4 months will do but 5-6 or more may be better.

In my experience, 4 months is vital. I have a city which is OK with 3 months' food stock, but fantastic with 4. This is quite a pain in high population cities, necessitating more granaries that would be desired, but such is the cost of a fantastic city.

-- please the gods; temples/oracles suffice, you dont need to have any festivals

I assume this is just to avoid the citizens from saying "the gods are annoyed with us", which appears when one or more Gods are "Irritated" or worse.

- give jobs to those who want them, but keep a few people unemployed

10 or more vacant jobs will cause people to moan about them. The cutoff for Unemployment seems to be 5% or lower for a fantastic city.

- entertain your citizens, and this means give your houses access to venues. in my test city a colliseum with 2 shows was enough, so it shouldn't be too hard providing the necessary entertainment in a normal city.

I'm not sure what the cutoff here is for people moaning about boredom in the city. Is it a % of houses/population having no access to entertainment buildings?

- give your houses access to a school (this is necessary to get full marks, it's not only for the comment "This city is fantastic!" )

I never understood this one. School access is definitely not needed across the whole city for it to be fantastic.

Is there anything else missing? I'm unsure of a level of health is needed. Thankfully a city can be fantastic at "Good" health so we don't have to sacrifice demographics for happy walkers.

Author

Replies:

Brugle
HG Alumnus

posted 02-08-21 08:07 ET (US) 1 / 10

When I've wanted a fantastic city, it has well over 600 people.

4 months food has always been enough for me.

Don't know about religion, since perfect religious coverage is easy when oracles are available.

Unemployment must be less than 5%.

My guess is that having a colosseum with 2 shows or a hippodrome is enough. Or perhaps coverage matters.

My guess is that having a school is enough. Or perhaps coverage matters.

I don't think health matters.

[This message has been edited by Brugle (edited 02-08-2021 @ 08:15 AM).]

Brugle
HG Alumnus

posted 02-08-21 10:47 ET (US) 2 / 10

I decided to experiment on this a little and found my guesses were bad.

I've gotten fantastic in an all-tent city with less than 600 people.

Houses don't need religious coverage. I've gotten fantastic with only oracles.

Coverage of entertainment seems to matter. I've gotten fantastic from everyone covered by only a colosseum with 2 shows, but not with only a small fraction covered.

Coverage of education seems to matter. I've gotten fantastic with everyone covered by only a school and also by some with no education, some with a school, and some with a school and library.

Health does not seem to matter, but coverage by clinics and hospitals does. I've gotten fantastic in a city with below average health but everyone covered by a clinic or hospital.

[This message has been edited by Brugle (edited 02-08-2021 @ 02:16 PM).]

Brugle
HG Alumnus

posted 02-09-21 15:23 ET (US) 3 / 10

500 seems to be the minimum population for fantastic, even in tents.

I got fantastic with bad health and everyone covered by a hospital but not a clinic.

DDR Jake
Pleb

posted 02-12-21 18:02 ET (US) 4 / 10

I got fantastic with bad health and everyone covered by a hospital but not a clinic.

What is the implication of this? Clearly 100% hospital coverage is not a requirement for a fantastic city, but is a minimum coverage needed?

Brugle
HG Alumnus

posted 02-12-21 19:06 ET (US) 5 / 10

I've gotten fantastic with houses covered only by a hospital, only by clinics (so eventually perfect health), and some by clinics and the rest by hospital. I'd guess that you could also get fantastic with some by clinics, some by hospital, some by both, and some by none, but I didn't test it.

[This message has been edited by Brugle (edited 02-12-2021 @ 07:06 PM).]

Pecunia
CBH Seraph

posted 02-13-21 01:13 ET (US) 6 / 10

Since we now have the reconstructed source available, no more guesswork is needed

Requirements for a fantastic city:
- All gods must be not be angry (happiness points >= 40, which equals "displeased" or better)
- City must have a food supply of at least 4 months
- Unemployment must be at most 5%
- Workers needed must be less than 10
- City population must be at least 500 people
- Average entertainment points per house must be at least 21 (*)
- Average number of health venues per house must be at least 1 (*)
- Average number of education venues per house must be at least 1 (*)

*: average coverage is calculated by adding up all values per house and then dividing by the number of houses and rounding down to the nearest whole number. So to reach "average 1 education", for example, it can be met either by providing everyone with a library, or by providing half of the houses with both library and school (2 venues) and the other half no education at all.

Angel Pecunia | HG Downloads programmer and techie
Caesar IV Heaven | Children of the Nile Heaven | Citadel of Poseidon (Zeus/Poseidon) | The Great Wall (Emperor)

Brugle
HG Alumnus

posted 02-13-21 05:57 ET (US) 7 / 10

Pecunia,
I assume that health means clinic and/or hospital but not bath or barber and that (as in your example) education means school and/or library but not academy.

Pecunia
CBH Seraph

posted 02-13-21 08:05 ET (US) 8 / 10

Brugle, good questions.

Health: is indeed clinic or hospital, not bath or barber.

Education: access is determined as follows:
- school or library: 1
- school and library: 2
- school, library and academy: 3

In short: the point for academy is only added when the house has both school and library access: a house with school + academy will only get 1 point.

DDR Jake
Pleb

posted 02-13-21 15:00 ET (US) 9 / 10

Stellar work. Thank you!

Henry jones
Pleb

posted 03-23-21 16:14 ET (US) 10 / 10

health means hospital and all

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