Sunday, November 03, 2024

From Humble Beginnings to Thriving City – MEMORIAPOLIS Step-by-Step

It took me a while to get a good start building a city in Memoriapolis, but watching TheOnlyL0nzY's full playthrough, helped me gain valuable insights into how to tackle the game’s unique challenges and develop an efficient city with minimal missteps. 

Here, I’ll share a structured, detailed breakdown of the main steps he outlines in his play through, the choices, and strategies that TheOnlyL0nz went through in much details, in his two hours and forty minute long playthrough. You read that right - his full play through is almost 3 hours long!


If you don't have time to watch the full play through, this guide should give you a solid foundation to build upon, whether they’re new to Memoriapolis or are looking to improve their city-building skills. 


1. Choosing Your Destiny: Picking the Right Path

The game begins with a crucial choice among six destinies, each setting a different path for your city’s growth and providing unique advantages. In the playthrough, the author chose the path of the philosopher, boosting cultural satisfaction by 15%. This choice is ideal for players who want to focus on keeping citizens happy and developing a rich cultural environment. Here’s a summary of all six options to help you decide:

  • Craftsman: Increases natural resources by 25%, providing an edge in resource-heavy builds or for cities situated in resource-poor areas.
  • Strategist: Reduces the likelihood of incidents like fires by 20%, keeping your city safe from disasters that can disrupt growth.
  • Trader: Generates passive income from trade routes, a reliable choice if you plan on focusing on a strong economy.
  • Politician: Allows two additional decrees to be issued at a lower cost, giving you more control over civic policies and faster access to certain upgrades.
  • Philosopher: Boosts cultural satisfaction by 15%, making it easier to attract and retain a happy, thriving population.
  • Priest: Citizens make regular offerings of random resources, adding a steady flow of materials that can supplement your supply chain.

Each path offers distinct benefits depending on your playstyle. For players who want more immediate benefits, options like craftsman or trader provide quick, tangible advantages right from the start. But starting a new game is super simple and quick. So you'll easily be able to test out each different path/destiny.

2. Building Foundations: Setting Up Your First Settlement

After choosing a path, the next step is to establish a foundation for your city. This is where strategic placement of key buildings will save you time and resources later. Setting up the Town Center in a carefully chosen spot is essential; you’ll want it near abundant resources like wood, stone, and sand. Here’s a checklist to help you get started on the right track:

  1. Pick a fertile, resource-rich area. Positioning your Town Center near resources will make it easier to gather essentials without stretching your workforce. Stones are usually near hills, sand and clay near water. As long as you place your Town Center near these, you should be fine.
  2. Establish a small farm. This will provide a steady food supply for your early population and keep your citizens from starving during your city’s infancy. Start with 8 fields, then increase to the full 12 fields per farm as your population increases.
  3. Set up a woodcutting camp and ensure it’s near the forest. It’s essential to maintain a steady supply of wood without negatively affecting residential areas.
  4. Build a stone quarry. Stone is a critical resource for early construction, so placing your quarry close to a stone deposit will save time and improve production efficiency.
  5. Roads automatically get connected to your buildings and infrastructures. Just realign them using the "Q" and "E" keys to rotate the building so that the they connect to roads in the most efficient - and esthetic fashion.

3. Unlocking the Building Tree: Expanding Your Capabilities

The building tree is where Memoriapolis shines imho, allowing players to tailor their city’s growth to specific needs. The video’s author takes a methodical approach, prioritizing buildings that increase the city's reach and resource management. Here’s a step-by-step approach to make the most of this feature:

  1. Unlock the surveyor’s cabin early. Extending the build radius enables you to access valuable resources in distant areas, making it easier to expand.
  2. Upgrade the Town Center. Once you’ve gathered enough stone and wood, this upgrade boosts the attraction range, helping your city grow faster.
  3. Unlock the Architectural Office as soon as you can. Blueprints are an essential component of the game currency. So make sure you unlock that building and place it in your city at the earliest.
  4. Invest in cultural buildings. These buildings will increase citizen satisfaction and attract new settlers, a great choice if you’ve chosen the philosopher path.
  5. Progress through the building tree systematically. Avoid unlocking too many non-essential buildings early on; focus on ones that will directly support your current population and needs.
  6. Save blueprints for later stages. As you advance, new options will open that require blueprints, so be mindful of your spending to avoid shortages when crucial upgrades are needed.

4. Creating a Cultural Hub: Boosting Satisfaction and Influence

As you develop your city, focusing on making it more attractive to new settlers will pay off. This is where cultural buildings come into play. Adding a ceramic workshop early on, which fits well in attraction zones and boosts health and creativity, will be benefiting to citizens across the city. Here’s how to create a well-rounded cultural hub:

  1. Add the ceramic workshop to a district close to residential zones, maximizing its impact on citizen satisfaction.
  2. Balance satisfaction areas carefully: Focus on health and creativity early on to keep citizens productive and happy.
  3. Use decorative statues within districts. Strategically placed statues improve attraction and encourage population growth.
  4. Expand the radius of cultural buildings. When feasible, prioritize cultural buildings that have a broader impact radius to maximize their effectiveness.

5. Developing Infrastructure: Production and Trade Routes

Setting up trade routes is essential for generating income and balancing resources as your city expands. In the playthrough, the author wisely establishes trade routes to sell excess stone and sand for gold, which funds additional buildings and upgrades. Here’s how to make the most of Memoriapolis' trade and production systems:

  1. Make sure to unlock and build both the Horreum, a large storehouse, as well as the Macellum, a large market which will open up Trade Routes. Without these two buildings trade will not be possible.
  2. Identify surplus resources. Selling excess materials like stone and sand brings in steady gold income, which can be used to fund essential upgrades.
  3. Upgrade production buildings. Increasing output from woodcutting camps and quarries helps meet the growing demand for building materials.
  4. Create a balanced workforce. Avoid overspecializing in one resource, which could create shortages elsewhere in your economy.
  5. Invest in a larger marketplace. Upgrading the marketplace opens up more trade routes, offering new opportunities to exchange goods and expand your economy.
  6. Manage trade efficiently. Check each route’s profitability and ensure you’re getting maximum value from each transaction.

6. Advanced Growth: Reaching the Tier 2 City

As your city grows, upgrading to a Tier 2 city brings new buildings and capabilities, allowing for even greater development. However, this stage also introduces new challenges, such as managing faction tensions. Here are a few ways to make the transition smoothly:

  1. Construct safety-focused buildings. Building structures like arenas can help reduce incidents, which become more likely as factions develop tensions.
  2. Invest in cultural influence points. Advancing through the ages improves your city’s reputation and allows for higher-level upgrades.
  3. Manage faction relations. Keep an eye on faction satisfaction levels and address issues before they escalate into conflicts. Certain factions may have different needs or preferences.
  4. Create additional districts. As new buildings become available, expand your residential and industrial districts to accommodate a growing population.
  5. Save resources for key upgrades. Some Tier 2 buildings are expensive, so stockpile resources like wood, stone, and gold to avoid delays in construction.

7. Unlocking Wonders and Advanced Cultural Buildings

Once you’ve secured your city’s basics, investing in wonders and advanced cultural buildings provides significant boosts. In the video, the author demonstrates how to build high-value structures like the arena and the Agoge Center to enhance influence. Here’s a guide to prioritize wonders effectively:

  1. Focus on the Agoge Center or library to boost cultural influence. These buildings improve city-wide satisfaction and increase your cultural reach.
  2. Place wonders in high-traffic areas to maximize their impact. Wonders near residential zones offer bonuses to more citizens.
  3. Consider safety upgrades for wonder districts. Building defensive structures near wonders ensures they’re protected from incidents.
  4. Save resources for construction. Wonders often require substantial materials, so plan to accumulate what you need before starting.
  5. Regularly expand surveyor cabins. This allows you to build wonders farther out from the core, increasing your city’s total area.

8. Optimizing Faction Management and Decrees

At this stage, you’ll encounter factions with unique demands. Managing these factions carefully, especially if they develop tensions, will become an important of your city management. Use decrees and policies to mitigate conflicts and enhance your city’s stability.

  • Issue decrees strategically. Certain decrees, such as increased food production, improve citizen satisfaction or reduce faction tensions.
  • Manage faction trust levels. High trust prevents conflicts, while low trust increases the likelihood of incidents and disputes.
  • Consider faction removal if tensions rise too high. Sometimes, expelling a problematic faction is more beneficial than dealing with constant conflicts.
  • Create buffers between rival factions. Placing neutral buildings or parks between contentious factions can reduce interactions and potential conflicts.
  • Balance decrees for all factions. Ensure that no single faction feels neglected, as this can quickly lead to dissatisfaction.


Final Thoughts and Recommendation

Building a successful city in Memoriapolis requires a careful blend of resource management, cultural development, and strategic planning. The full playthrough showcased each stage’s intricacies, from early resource gathering to managing complex faction relations and wonders.

 Following TheOnlyL0nz’s guidance, you can start your own city with the foundation necessary for growth and prosperity.

If you found this guide, I highly recommend you check out the author’s channel for even more gameplay insights and tutorials. Watching these choices play out offers valuable context and helps refine strategies for anyone looking to master Memoriapolis.

Carpe Diem!