Oasis by the Sea: playbook (episode 1 result: net worth 4711)
Result and what drove it
- Final state at about 25:00 game time: gold 400, wood 269, iron 165, stone 25, apples 18, granary food 18. Pop 64/66, idle peasants 24, popularity 100, tax 3.
- Net worth was about 4711. Iron mines were the main value source. Wood and gold were idle capital.
- Score levers for episode 2: start mines and storage much earlier, keep food positive, and don't let gold sit unused.
Map facts (Oasis by the Sea-1)
- Keep top-right of the opening view; stockpile beside it. Granary must be placed first.
- Iron ore strip just north of the keep, around tile (419,340). Iron mine spots seen at camera (414,346) px: 1152,524 / 1280,461 / 1280,588 / 832,492 / 1376,667 / 1536,238 / 1632,159 / 1792,524 / 1728,429, plus 1152,238 and 1024,111. Each mine cost 20 wood.
- Western grove of trees for woodcutters. Oasis grass with palms and a pond south-west of the keep (farms, orchards).
- Apple orchards placed at roughly 1312,349 / 960,492 / 416,445 / 1632,191 (camera-dependent). Orchard spots near tile 453,391 got blocked by trees and buildings quickly.
- Stone deposit about 50 tiles west of the keep. Stone was barely used: stone stayed at 25 all game, so no quarry was built. That was a mistake only if stone is needed for something; it is worth 7 each.
- Marketplace placed near camera (1000,480) px.
Build order for episode 2 (targets, to verify)
- Granary beside the keep (setup). Stockpile is already present.
- Immediately: 3 woodcutters at the western grove. Starting wood is only 50, and it arrives in about 25 s.
- Within the first 2 minutes: 4–6 iron mines on the north ore strip (20 wood each). Iron is worth 23 each, the best value here. Mines return the most per wood spent.
- Add 2–3 stockpile piles early (expand_storage or build_structure Stockpile next to the paved block). Storage filled at about 18–20 min: iron room hit 0, wood room hit 0.
- Apple orchards: 3–4 on the oasis grass, built by about 4–5 min. Food ran down from 54 to 18 across the run.
- Hovels only when idle peasants are near zero and jobs exist. Idle peasants stayed around 20–24 all game, so early hovels were wasted.
- Spend starting gold (about 480–1000) early on mines, storage and orchards, not after 15 min.
Economy numbers observed
- Iron rose about 4–7 per 40 s with 8–10 mines; mines take time to staff.
- Food: 64 people ate roughly 5 food per minute net; 1 orchard was not enough. Apples bought at 8 each (2 lots = 80 gold, 10 food per lot in units of 5).
- Wood piled to 269 unused. Woodcutters beyond 3–4 are not needed.
- Pop housing 66 from 4 hovels (hovel = 8 housing, 6 wood each). Popularity held at 100 at tax 3.
Mistakes to avoid
- expand_storage returned not_placed at the attempt limit; placement retries failed and wasted time. Try build_structure Stockpile on free ground next to the paved pile block, and check storage room in each stats read.
- Placements with stale pixel coordinates (from an old camera) failed repeatedly. Re-observe after every camera move before placing.
- find_sites for iron mines returns nothing once the strip is used up; record placed positions to avoid wasted calls.
- Waiting with gold at 400–480 for the whole run left score unrealised. Gold was not used for production after about 12 min.
- Long waits (60–120 s) with no action late in the run left iron and wood stopped by full storage. Check room every 40 s and expand before it hits zero.
Ideas to test in episode 2
- Build a quarry with an ox tether on the western stone deposit only if stone demand justifies it; stone is worth 7, so compare to iron (23 per 20 wood).
- Consider a marketplace early to sell surplus wood at 1 each only when storage is full; selling is net-neutral, so it only frees room.
- Consider buying wood early (4 gold per plank, 20 gold per 5) only to speed mines; buying is net-negative, so only do it when it accelerates iron production.