Zones

[wodin]

I've no idea when if at all I should start up a new zone and also where to start one ie how far away from you first City..

Thanks

Jason

[Shards]

I suspect it's as much an art as a science.

I generally make a new one if there's a cluster of resources that are a distance away from any of my other zone towns.

There's an inefficiency that kicks in when a zone has too many assets built at more than 6 hexes from it's town. It's negligible for the most part, but gets nasty if there's, say, a set of ruin hexes that you want to exploit.

I've also sometimes done it just to help simplify my logistics network or to accelerate my IP production as some buildings can only be made in zone towns.

[Destragon]

When you have resources/assets 7+ hexes away from an existing city, like Shards said.

[wodin]

WOW..Ive been going much farther out without bothering!!

[Destragon]

If you click on the zone tab at the bottom and then click on the top middle button that says "regular zone" or "unincorporated zone", you then can see on the left side how high your admin strain is. If your zone is working assets that are 7 tiles away from your city, that will rise.

[gmsitton]

When conquering large, unpopulated areas, I try to have a new zone city every 12 hexes on the road/rail, refining a little depending on what advantageous hexes for creating a zone are nearby.