Why a 7-Food Square is SO Important

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        There have been several entries written here in the Forum regarding the benefits of a 7-food square for your cities. They provide charts and spreadsheets which, regrettably, some mathophobes find daunting. To address this I shall make it very simple. 
        
  
        A level 20 Food resource plot in your city will produce 2014 food per hour. 
        A level 20 Flour Mill provides a 40% bonus, adding 856 for a total of 2870 food production per hour. 
        
  
        With 5 food resource plots in your city, you will produce 2870x5 or 14,350 food/hour. 
        With 7 food resource plots in your city, you will produce 2870*7 or 20,090 food/hour. 
        The difference is 5740 food/hour. 
        Sovereignty food squares provide 0.2% x food quantity x building level. 
        So a 14-food dolmen with a level 5 Farmstead will generate 14% additional food on the BASE production (2014) or 282 food/hour. That works out to 1410 for a city with 5 food plots. 
        To equal the difference will then require FOUR (4) 14-food dolmens! That location does not exist! 
        In addition, there is a cost (in resources, gold and research points) associated with adding sovereignty.

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arnesson Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Greenhorn Joined: 27 Feb 2012 Location: Ontario, Canada Status: Offline Points: 69	Post Options Post Reply Quote arnesson Report Post Thanks(2) Quote Reply Topic: Why a 7-Food Square is SO Important Posted: 05 Mar 2014 at 16:50
	There have been several entries written here in the Forum regarding the benefits of a 7-food square for your cities. They provide charts and spreadsheets which, regrettably, some mathophobes find daunting. To address this I shall make it very simple. A level 20 Food resource plot in your city will produce 2014 food per hour. A level 20 Flour Mill provides a 40% bonus, adding 856 for a total of 2870 food production per hour. With 5 food resource plots in your city, you will produce 2870x5 or 14,350 food/hour. With 7 food resource plots in your city, you will produce 28707 or 20,090* food/hour. The difference is 5740 food/hour. Sovereignty food squares provide 0.2% x food quantity x building level. So a 14-food dolmen with a level 5 Farmstead will generate 14% additional food on the BASE production (2014) or 282 food/hour. That works out to 1410 for a city with 5 food plots. To equal the difference will then require FOUR (4) 14-food dolmens! That location does not exist! In addition, there is a cost (in resources, gold and research points) associated with adding sovereignty.

Sir A Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Wordsmith Joined: 26 Sep 2012 Status: Offline Points: 121	Post Options Post Reply Quote Sir A Report Post Thanks(1) Quote Reply Posted: 05 Mar 2014 at 17:31
	7 foods are important if you want to have huge cities but having a huge city is not always the best way to make gold and it really depends what you are trying to do with the city. For example if you want your city to build troops at >250% normal rate its better to have a 5 food city with 5-5-5-5 res plots since troop sov costs basic res. Its true that more food means you can have higher taxes but you can make just as much gold if you have res production sov. Like if you make cows at 300% you can sell them or use them to make saddles and profit from that. It takes more work than just setting your taxes really high and sitting back to watch the gold pile up but its more fun I think. But I think most people should have a mix of 7 fooders and 5 fooders. That way they kind of balance each other out and your cities will be more versatile and you can use them to do more things.

Rill Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Postmaster General Player Council - Geographer Joined: 17 Jun 2011 Location: California Status: Offline Points: 6903	Post Options Post Reply Quote Rill Report Post Thanks(1) Quote Reply Posted: 05 Mar 2014 at 19:42
	This analysis actually understates the benefits of a 7-food square, since the geomancy bonus and any sovereignty are ALSO related to the underlying base production. Once you add 20% for a boosted geomancy and 20% for sov, the difference is much larger than stated here.

arnesson Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Greenhorn Joined: 27 Feb 2012 Location: Ontario, Canada Status: Offline Points: 69	Post Options Post Reply Quote arnesson Report Post Thanks(1) Quote Reply Posted: 06 Mar 2014 at 00:04
	Agreed Rill. I also ignored the seasonal bonus to food production. I was trying to keep it simple.

Aral Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Forum Warrior Joined: 20 Sep 2012 Status: Offline Points: 205	Post Options Post Reply Quote Aral Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 06 Mar 2014 at 00:27
	5 food plus the flour mill bonus will produce 14098 food. 7 food plus the flour mill bonus will produce 19737.2 food. This is a difference of 5639.2 food. The flour mill adds 805.6 food, not 856.
	Aral Llc is not responsible for any grievous bodily harm sustained while reading this signature. No rights reserved.

arnesson Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Greenhorn Joined: 27 Feb 2012 Location: Ontario, Canada Status: Offline Points: 69	Post Options Post Reply Quote arnesson Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 06 Mar 2014 at 00:45
	Aral is correct. When I wrote this thread, I misread the number when transcribing my notes. That changes NOTHING with respect to my point.

Elmindra Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Forum Warrior Joined: 10 Sep 2012 Status: Offline Points: 464	Post Options Post Reply Quote Elmindra Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 06 Mar 2014 at 01:08
	Well, I have learned over my time in Illy that population isn't everything. 7 food towns are great of sustaining a large military force, but to build and then rebuild and replace that force as it suffers casualties a 7 food isn't ideal. As stated earlier, a 5 food town can sustain a much higher level of constant sov production much more efficiently than a 7 food town. The production can either be used to make T2 resources for use or sale, or can be used to train troops. In regards to this, I actually exo'd 1 town from a 7 food to a 5 food to give it a try. The main problem with 7 food is that it is very difficult to sustain sov over 250% without going negative in at least 1 basic resource. A 5 food town can go over 350% without hitting the red in basics pretty easily.