Post 10 Mar 2013, 06:41 by H.A.H.
You're not getting my point. It includes new players, but it is still a great tool for all players to change game speed and style.
You accept the proposition that the Inn+School should be unlocked (or the Stonemason+Woodcutter, for that matter), that means that atleast you are seeing that the unlocking mechanism changes something about the game speed or how cities are built.
Generalize this and you get my idea of other unlocking orders. I shall not speak about new players, because this proposal is about every player (including new players):
(First a small note about syntax: [building1, building2 -> building3, building4] means that building1 AND building2 are required before unlocking building3 and building 4.)
[Storehouse -> School -> Inn -> Stonemason -> Woodcutter -> Sawmill]
[Stonemason -> Tower]
This is the standard order, which is very linear (unlock only 1 or 2 building(s) at the time)
Now, for a thought experiment, consider the following buildings that are unlocked after the Sawmill.
[Sawmill -> Farm, Vineyard, Fisherman]
It is now impossible to build a baracks or a weapon smith and requires the player to build these buildings first (a slowdown, and change in playstyle!).
[Farm -> Mill, Pigfarm]
[Vineyard -> Weaponmaker]
[Fisherman -> Weaponmaker]
[Mill -> Bakery]
[Barkery -> Weaponmaker]
[Pigfarm -> Butcher]
[Butcher -> Weaponmaker]
After atleast one source of food for in the inn, the weaponmaker is available. This means that atleast one source of food has to be provided, before one is able to make weapons. Note here: a player is "rewarded" for choosing multiple food sources as a) it means a faster build for the Weaponmaker, and b) the Butcher allows progress.
[Weaponmaker -> Baracks]
And whenever one is able to produce weapons, then it makes sense to build a baracks to train soldiers. Training soldiers costs gold,
[Baracks -> Gold mine, Coal mine]
Also note that due to limiting starting resources, the game style is leveled between skilled and non-skilled players (making it more fun for everybody? that's argumentattive): it is not possible for a pro-player to create a huge city before the baracks/gold mine is built as all resources are depleted at that time. This requires clever planning. But also, it slows the game a bit down.
[Gold mine, Coal mine -> Gold smelter]
It only makes sense that a gold smelter is available after both gold mine AND coal mine is completed (also slowing the game a tiny bit down).
And let's continue on the leather weapon tour:
[Weaponmaker, Pigfarm -> Tannery]
[Tannery -> Armory workshop]
[Armory workshop -> Stables]
As you can see, the game is slowed by this order (it continues with iron, but this is sufficient to see the point). It makes the game easier to understand (for novice players) but harder to plan (for expert players) and the challenge is to make sure you don't run out of resources when you expand too fast. Experts probably go for [Vineyard -> Weaponmaker -> Baracks -> Gold mine, Coal mine -> Gold smelter] to ensure a stable gold production, before expanding. Certain trade-offs are possible: it is possible to train lots of builders (and faster progression), but then one cannot train population for buildings until Gold smelter is functioning. On the other hand, few builders have fewer tasks to concentrate on and the economy is started earlier and starts production earlier.
Now consider another build order, which changes the game speed the other way, i.e. it makes it faster.
[Storehouse -> School, Inn -> Stonemason, Woodcutter, Tower]
[Woodcutter -> Sawmill]
(both the School and the Inn are needed but unlocks the Stonemason and Woodcutter and Tower)
[Sawmill -> Gold mine, Coal mine -> Gold smelter]
(both the Gold and Coal mines are needed before the Smelter is unlocked)
[Gold smelter -> Fisherman, Farm, Mill, Bakery, Pig Farm, Butcher, Vineyard, Stables]
[Fisherman -> Iron mine, Iron smelter, Weaponmaker, Baracks]
[Bakery -> Iron mine, Iron smelter, Weaponmaker, Baracks]
[Butcher -> Iron mine, Iron smelter, Weaponmaker, Baracks]
[Vineyard -> Iron mine, Iron smelter, Weaponmaker, Baracks]
Do you notice that the game speed is changed? Because one is able to plan all these buildings at the same time, and gold was already in production, one can plan their cities faster and more builders build them faster. However, one is still not able to produce weapons before atleast some food is provided, and to hold back rushers to produce atleast some kind of food.
[Weaponmaker, Pigfarm -> Tannery, Armory workshop]
[Iron mine, Iron smelter -> Weapon smithy, Armor smithy]
As you can see, these changes of unlocking order change the way the game is played. The former is more focussed on resource and spatial planning, while the latter is more focussed on speedup and micromanagement. Note that as a general rule, the more buildings are unlocked each step <-> the faster the game plays.
I think the unlocking order should be determined by the map maker, and not be set as a general rule or game mode. It really depends on the map what makes sense. If the storehouse initially contains weapons, then the Baracks should be unlocked after the Sawmill, etc. All older maps still use the traditional KaM-way of unlocking buildings.
