pyjamaman;
Lacks Herbalist and it unlikely that Herbalist, Acupuncurist, Inspector will cover all the housing in your example. The 1 Food Vendor option will make this block run out of food too often. The Market is likely to collapse regularly as well.
I assume you play a 'Very Easy' difficulty if you have ever gotten this to work, even partially with lux apparts.

[This message has been edited by TuShaWuJin (edited 12-26-2008 @ 09:23 AM).]

yeah. i did it in a hurry and didnt cheak it. if you run out of food just do the same with a grand m squere. when done properly it can be a very effitiant block

For cities where I am pretty sure I won't create anything more then one-block I use this design:

codename: 9-gate

Legend

It's fairly big, actually almost too big. Most missions I use it I never got past the simple houses, just because I have so much workforce and not much work for them; so no reason to give them access to the commodities required for them to upgrade further.

It's fairly easy to plot too. I only go for Harmonious Balance, so usually everything green except pesky inspector. Strategy: find a spot where you can place 10 houses in 4 rows, and you have some space.

Here's how it looks:
[JPEG, (152.62 KB)]

For big cities I like to plot out a square. I find it efficient in it's own way. Fewer houses = fewer unemployment = fully evolved houses \w low unemployment.

But it's just very easy to plot out.

I use these steps:

codename: ying-yang-square

Legend

In the last image the roads symbols are "how-you-draw-it" (so as to get perfect round road corners).

Blocks are easy to piece together to form bigger and bigger blocks (I initially start with walls, then tear them down and replace them with gardens when I add a adjutant block).

Square blocks look bigger to me then line-patterns. A simple example screen shot from the last tutorial mission:

[JPEG, (292.68 KB)]

Here's another from mission 1 of the 3rd campaign; interconnected blocks:

[JPEG, (299.62 KB)]

Very nice city design.

Thank you. I like going overkill on parks and decoration and covering the entire map with my city.

I got Emperor a few days ago, and started looking around for websites with hints and tips - which is how I found you guys. I've loved looking at these block designs - and I thought I would share the one that most often makes it into my cities with you.

This is actually an adaptation of Nimlot Persson's small block from Post #37. In addition to the inital confusion I had when I realized that there was something wonky going on with the marketplace, I figured there had to be a pretty way to get my administrative palace to work with that design, instead of just floating off one side asymmetrically. This is what I've come up with.

LegendA few notes: 1. I play on Normal mode (will go back and try others once I have beaten the game at least once) - and I am not yet at campaigns that actually use Daoist and Buddist shrines/temples, so in my cities those tiles are usually taken up by beautification items. I also am only ever aiming for "Average" Feng Shui - anything else is a happy accident.
2. I know 2 inspector's towers at the bottom is a little overkill, but if I don't put them there, something always falls down. Usually those inspectors feed into the rest of my warehouses/trade district as well, so they get a bit more use than the glyphy makes apparent.
3. Gates are set to the following:
Ad. City Gate: Inspectors Only
4 Housing Gates: Religious & Market Walkers Only
Market Gate: Inspectors Only
4. Pagodas/Gardens are interchangable with any other beautification items.
5. On normal difficulty, these neighborhoods are desirable enough to evolve the Fountains, Inspector's Towers, and Watchtowers.
6. Oh, yeah. The block is supposed to be on grass - but the character for grass in the legend actually pulls up the 'arid land' tile. Go figure.

Any questions/comments/cc will be welcome - if any of you are still here... I'm pretty darn proud of myself for figuring the glyphy out, but I know that as I get further along in the game the scenarios are just going to get more difficult, so if I can weed out inefficiency in my housing blocks now, more's the better.

[This message has been edited by vadkins (edited 03-02-2011 @ 09:39 PM).]