Maximizing Use of the "Hurry Production" Option

By: JAT
Last Updated: July 8, 2002

In AoW2 there is a “hurry production” feature that allows players to build military units and structures in only one turn, that would normally require several turns to build.

Reading the manual, a player might get the impression this is a very expensive option. However, this is not necessarily the case! On the contrary: hurrying production may even save the player some extra gold.

The manual sets forth the basic rule for hurry production:

“Hurrying production costs 10 gold and 10 population for each unfilled coin remaining.”

The manual is referring here to the City Manager, where each coin represents 10 gold, and all (un)filled coins represent the total cost of a unit.  So one swordsman would cost 30 gold and this would be represented by 3 coins on the city screen. Every turn the coins that fill up, corresponding to the production value that may vary for each individual city. Therefore, that swordsman would require 2 turns to produce for a settlement that has, for example, 20 production points.

What you pay for each unit is therefore the normal cost (30 for the swordsman) + (10 gold + 10 pop) * DT, for every day less it takes to finish the unit.

However, for each day you save by hurrying production, you could have your city do nothing (produce merchandise) instead.  Each day you win by hurrying production thus allows you to gain 20% extra income in that city. This extra income is usually a little over 10 gold for an average city.

Cities (not towns and villages) have a base production of 40 gold. Added to that is the income from the crop fields around the city; cities on a plains easily make 50 gold each turn. So 20% extra would yield 10 gold in this case.

If the unit cost is then a little greater then the production value of the city, the costs of hurrying the production may very well be less than the gains from the merchandise.

For example, I often find that my Level 2 units, such as Swashbucklers, just barely exceed the production value of my cities. A swashbuckler costs 60 gold, while my cities–upgraded with building halls–often have 50 production points and make 60 gold each day. Hurrying production actually save me 2 gold in this case, instead of costing extra.

Of course, there was one other cost mentioned in the manual: 10 population each day. Yet, this is in fact no concern at all. A city, unlike towns, villages and outposts, cannot grow any bigger, yet it will still produce excess population each turn. This growth will usually be something like 25 pop (a city’s base growth value).

So for any unit or structure that would require 10 to 20 population to hurry, you will still not lose population. If the unit is more expensive still, your city will in most cases still have enough population in reserve, and will not be reduced to a town (but you are likely to start losing more gold then).

So to sum it all up, in a city that makes more than 50 gold normally, hurrying production may allow you to produce units faster and at a slightly reduced cost, just as long as the unit doesn’t cost too much. In the case of a wealthy town, where the owner doesn’t mind slowing growth a little, hurrying production may also be profitable.

Keep this in mind when you need to mass produce some Level 2 or Level 3 units, which normally take 2 turns to build, and you are considering to begin production in several cities or towns at once!  Hurry production may actually be cheaper, faster and allow your units to all start from the most preferable location.

Also, when you have more than one city you will immediately benefit from the extra gold income from trade goods as well, instead of having to wait for it.

Still there’s more: if a unit exceeds your city’s production by more than twice as much, thus requiring more than 2 turns to build, it is also possible to hurry production on the next to last turn (2 days left). You may then still save one day and profit from the merchandise if the required remaining amount of production needed to complete the unit is, again, just a little greater than the city’s production value.

Speed is a very important in AoW2. The hurry production option is a great feature that should not be overlooked! I hope I’ve been able to take away the impression that some player may have that it would be too expensive. For the perfectionists, I may now have handed you a new tool to maximize the efficiency of your empires and to crank out the most from your holdings on your quest for more power.

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