Multiple Towns

After searching, I cannot find any recent threads about this, I apologize if I missed it.

After the recent purge of inactive players, I found myself with a lot of extra settlers and cells so I settled 2 new towns.  I expected the heavy penalties of inefficiency but since the game was ending I wanted to see what would happen.  I found that in order to found an eighth town I would have to either increase my domain by more than 300 cells or 105 settlers,  more than double my current domain.  Since neither is possible for me it led me to wonder if there is an inequality in determining what is necessary for each additional town.   How are the amount of cells necessary calculated.

Obviously multiple towns should really be kept to a minimum until all research has been completed, but just wondering what determines the requirements

At present I have built 7 towns and in order to build the 8th I need 137 cells or 46 settlers more (at the beginning I was jammed between many fast growing domains, so I was forced to build my towns too near one another, which heavily influenced the size of my domain). Most of my towns have almost everything possible built up to lvl 18 (max possible for me without buying cash for blueprints), military buildings are the minimum possible number needed for fighting monsters and defense. So it is absolutely impossible to increase my domain with 137 cells. I have Monastery lvl 18 in all towns and even if I dismiss all Sisters of Mercy and replace them with Settlers, I will have 33 more Settlers, not the 46 needed. If I remember well, one of the Victories in the game was Building 16 towns?!!! I think this is impossible with the new requirements for expanding. Maybe Renaissance science will help?

For me the problem was corruption. I had an eighth town before the corruption was increased and I destroyed it because the corruption was too much. Even with seven towns the research was very slow. Right now when my army is fully trained I don't produce enough food in my entire country to support them. 

I have 7 towns, and my experience is that when you don't have all towns on fertile plans you can't max. upgrade all buildings, you have to decide between e.g. army, towers and resources. Bonuses like windmill, silver and so on bring not much. The population eats too much, medieval army need much food too, and corruption do the rest. For an 8th town I would need 113 settlers, with 7 level 9 monasteries is it impossible.

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, because I could be...  When you hover your mouse over the "New Settlement" button, which tells you how many more cells and settlers you need to start a new town, isn't it referring to the original settlers that you train in the Gathering Place?  But if you have Pilgrims to do the settling, it will take fewer of them than what that number shows?  I thought that's how that worked, but I forget how that number of Pilgrims is figured. 

The problem is, it doesn't tell you how many Pilgrim settlers you need, so you just have to keep training Pilgrims until the New Settlement button shows you have enough settlers to start a new town.  It would be nice if that number of settlers needed showed how many of the different types of settlers.

If the game were continuing I would have no choice but to delete these 2 towns due to the inefficiency corruption.  One town had to have all of its army removed.  Food production 1600, inefficiency -800

science spending -218, population upkeep -567   net  +15.     Fortunately for me I have 3 tropical fruit so I am able to keep small armies distributed among these other 3 towns.  Even the Tropical fruit seems wrong.  With a production of 1630, corruption of -815, science -239 population -543, army -15 (3 artistes and 1 classical settler), my 50% fruit bonus gives me just +288 as a bonus.  My net for that town is +306

My farms are all level 6 or above so there isn't much hope of increasing food supplies there.  I appreciate knowing what others have experienced.

I deleted my 8th town long ago and have fruit on all but one town. All my farms long since at Max and I keep plows on my towns so that food is at +. The farmer perk has helped also but still the 8th town is a killer.

I also kept my other hero at only 6 towns to not fight the corruption. This has saved me from feeling like I need plows on those towns.

I like either 4 or 5 towns, once I hit 6 it is like walking through quicksand. Even with the Courthouses maxed is close on resources. Maybe with the next age we can improve on that issue. 

I found that six towns seems to be the optimum between building a healthy-sized army and building a healthy army :). I have built my seventh town several times only to dismantle it. The corruption just doesn't make it worth while.

I was under the impression that the corruption was implemented purposefully to discourage the building of so many towns. It has definitely worked.  So ... has this counter-incentive that we have been struggling with all this time now become obsolete?

While I can't speak to the expansion requirements, I have found that with the corruption as high as it is, 6 towns is the max we can make without losing so much production and research time that we are set back.  I personally think corruption is too high and I don't like what it does to research, making expansion much more difficult precisely during the stage it should occur.

My approach to expansion is to not make a new town until I need no more than one settler type unit to settle it and I've succeeded with every town I've made this stage.  I have only been limited in one hero using that approach, though I could make her 6th town now with only a couple of pilgrims.  I just choose not to  because settling a new town in medieval is very slow going and at this point, not worth it.

And, Bers, I think there should be an achievement for using no more than one expansion unit to settle all secondary, tertiary etc towns!  lol

i didn't start a 7th town, till after my research was finished, so the loss to corruption, didn't make too much of a difference. As I am squashed between several countries, I needed lots of settlers and need even more for an 8th town, which I gave up on. Putting us so close together will incite war, but putting us a bit further apart will also incite war, but it will just take a little longer, so we have more time to prepare.

  Bers: WE ARE NOT SARDINES!!