This is a very simply, very brief guide for anyone confused about what to do with an L10 NPC they have just acquired.
OK, you've got your L10, and now you are about to start tearing it apart to build barracks. Before you start, let's look at the buildings inside an L10 NPC town:
Before you start demolishing anything, note the three buildings I have marked - the Forge, the Stable and the Workshop.
DO NOT demolish the Forge until you have researched Military Science to Level 10.
DO NOT demolish the Stable until you have researched Horseback Riding to Level 10.
DO NOT demolish the Workshop until you have researched Metal Casting to Level 10.
You only need an Inn in 1 of your cities. Some people prefer to keep their inn at L10, some prefer to knock it back down to L3 or 4. Whatever you decide, remember that having more than 1 Inn is a waste.
Some people demolish the Marketplace also. Personally, I prefer to have a marketplace in every city, just in case I have to buy or sell something in a hurry.
ALL OTHER NON-COTTAGE BUILDINGS MUST BE LEFT ALONE!
Assuming you have researched everything to Level 10, you will demolish the "unneeded" infrastructure buildings and some of the cottages, and in their place build barracks. It will take a while to knock all the unwanted stuff down and then build barracks, but the end result is worth it. For reference, you'll end up with a city that looks much like this:
How many cottages you will demolish and replace with barracks is a matter of personal preference. The above city with 11 barracks is what I have found "optimal" for an "Iron City". If the city is a "Wood City", I usually have 14 barracks. For some reason you need more people to mine Iron than you do to harvest Lumber; Don't ask me why - that's just how the game is!
Now, for the resource fields. Here's one of my Iron Cities:
You will note that I have NO STONE QUARRY. They are a complete waste of space - Stone is so cheap to buy, you are better off selling a little wood or iron, and buying whatever Stone you need. In fact, I recommend spending "excess" gold to buy Stone - simply because having a huge pile of stone means that if anyone pillages you, what they take is mostly stone! This works MUCH better than Warehouses!!!
You will also note that I have left the single L10 Sawmill. The reason is simple - if you use up ALL of your wood, then you don't have to immediately cart more across from another city. The same principle applies to a Wood city - Leave the single L10 Iron Mine.
I also leave 10 x L10 Farms. Generally, this is too little to support your army, however it does reduce the negative for food by about 180K per hour. Also, by having some farms, you'll never lose ALL your troops to starvation if for some reason you don't get on to go farming NPC's or whatever. However, some people remove all the farms and just have mines - it's more a matter of personal preference.
What IS important is that you ensure that one resource is "specialised". This makes optimal use of the Valley Bonuses! For example, in this city, I have 10 x L10 Hills giving me an additional 300K iron PER HOUR. This is THE MOST EFFICIENT way to gather Iron and Wood - simply set up two cities "near" each other - one as an Iron City, one as a Wood City. Move the required resources from one city to another (i.e. Wood to the Iron city and Iron to the Wood city) and you'll have more than enough to build the army of your dreams!
1 other thing I should mention - keep around 2000 transports "free" in each city for moving stuff around. Nothing is more frustrating than having to wait for transports to return in order to ship resources from one city to another.
There you have it. I hope this helps!
(a Guide by Alderic)
