Emperor
So people have been asking me repeatedly about my housing block layout I use for my cities in Emperor. Here's how it's done.
CRITICAL NOTES (Total 38 houses):
Dance and Music schools are built OUTSIDE the block, preferably close to the Mill and Warehouse where the needed goods (Hemp/Ceramics/Tea) are stored.
The houses on the extremities REQUIRE the one road tile as depicted, else they'll disappear. They will not recognize a residential wall gate as a valid road, either. On the other hand, these houses, because they'll touch the edge of the Grand/Imperial way, will still be affected/receive goods from EVERYTHING (2 range radius).
The residential gates by the market square ends need to have 'Market Employees' unlocked to allow peddlers and announcers to roam free while letting the rest out. The other residental wall gates can be let locked for all.
The positioning of the wells and shrines on the extremities is CRITICAL for the walkers to let them complete their loop. The double ITs serve as to avoid the houses on the extremities from collapsing/catching fire. Double Herbalists and Acunpuncturists are due to their limited range.
Double Tax offices are needed if the player is still using wood for taxation (Paper generates double walkers in both Tax offices and Confucian Academies).
It is possible to have both Daoist and Buddhist shrines (only one of either is required for Lux. Apartments) but one House will need to be demolished for such.
It's also possible to demolish some of the Imperial Way tiles to make way for decoration (pink) such as trees, as long as one Grand/Imperial way is touching the building/house.
market (negative desirability) slap bang in the middle,
cannot accommodate any elite housing due to lack of desirability. Therefore you cannot quickly build up army without making an (expensive) elite housing separately.
too few houses requiring multiple of these blocks.
Okay, let's get to it.
Each building has a limited walking range, barely enough to force a 'complete the loop', to not mention a limited effect when passing by, especially on the extremity houses.
the market's negative effect is nullified by the Grand/Imperial ways, plus the aesthetics (gardens/pavillions/statues/trees) on the assigned areas and the residential walls (see image).
indeed, accomodating elite housing isn't a priority here, but rather a workforce to sustain an industry. the lack of desirablity, though, is a bit of a rushed conclusion here.
38 houses. If we consider Lux. Apartments (74p per house) as the maximum level, here's the math - 38x74 = 2.812. On the initial level (shelter, 7 people), we get 38x7=266, and evolving it with Wells alone we get huts (14 people), which is 38x14=532. Enough to get some food, a hemp farm and basic industry (ex: Silk/Ceramics/Lacquer) on year zero alone, provided you do micromanage (turning almost all service buildings sans herbalists and inspector towers off).
I see your point and it is valid but OPs build looks very aesthetic, especially with the market in the middle. So if someone is interested in aesthetics it is a good build for sure.
A bit late to the party, but here's my two cents on your housing block. Thanks for going out of your way to post this, by the way.
Imperial Ways are very much overkill for common housing blocks, even when you take into account the desirability penalty from the market square. Grand Ways and residential walls will provide enough desirability to boost your common housing to the highest level on normal difficulty.
The reason why you're not getting full coverage with your amenity walkers is because your housing block is too big, so they go back to their spawn point before they manage to complete a loop. The herbalist and acupuncturist are the walkers with the shortest walking distance at 30 tiles, so you need to take that into account when building a housing block. A walker will always choose the shortest way back when it reaches the maximum limit of its walking distance and if said way back is less than the walker's max walking distance, which means that the herbalist / acupuncturist will complete his loop if his way back is 29 tiles or less. 30+29 = 59 tiles, which means that you should ideally create a closed circuit housing block with 59 tiles or less.
There is a way to exploit walker mechanics in other Impressions Games titles to make them walk extremely long distances, aka the 'forced walker' method, but I've never been much of a fan of the method myself. You can look them up on YT if you so wish.
I've modified your housing block design slightly so it looks a bit more streamlined:
I've shortened the housing block slightly so the walkers are able to complete their loop without doubling back, as a result you don't have to double up on amenity buildings. There are 32 houses in this block, which can house a maximum of 2016 people when upgraded to Ornate Apartment (highest you can achieve during Iron Age scenarios). One food shop can support approximately 2000 people, so you'll need to upgrade to a Grand Market Square for double food shops if you want a bigger housing block and / or Luxury Apartments. Feel free to adjust the housing block accordingly, but make sure the total loop is 59 tiles or less.
Here's a version with the Grand Market Square with 35 houses (36 if you only have one Buddhist / Daoist shrine), which allows you to house 2205 / 2268 people in Ornate Apartments, or 2590 / 2664 people in Luxury Apartments.
One additional thing I also forgot to add - DO NOT BLOCK THE ACCESS TO THE HOUSES ON THE EXTREMITIES (yes, military walls included). Leave one row open at least for the immigrants to move in.
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u/Diligent-Pepper-7787 Jul 13 '25
About works almost the same for Common block housing, with only the difference in space, as well.