Metal Knights Strategy Guide

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Base Establishment
Opening Moves
Managing Cities
Moving Tips
University Tips
Units
Getting the Upper Hand

III. Managing Cities

Use the management lab by pressing the V key at the beginning of every turn to manage your cities. The key to managing cities is to get more tax $ out of them than it costs you to maintain population growth through buying farms.

Cities with No Farms

Here is the basic idea: if a city has no farms get the population down below 1,000 (960-990) by taxing over 55% which causes a negative population growth. Many cities I capture without farms I automatically tax 100% on the first turn to whack the population down quickly and gain easy cash. If you can't get them under 1000 after the first turn, you will have to lower the taxes to avoid overtaxation. Tax 100% on the first turn, 55% on the second, and whatever percentage on the third to get to the 960-990 tax range. On the fourth turn you can set to 55% to maintain constant population and forget about the city and collect $3 per turn. The management lab screen always tells you what the population will be on the next turn so you can experiment with the tax rate to get a preview of the population you will have. Holding down the CTRL key and highlighting many cities will let you change the tax rate for many cities at once. Useful when you have a lot to manage.

Cities with 1 Farm

Cities with farms I keep between 1000 - 1090. If you capture a city with a farm in this population range, set the tax rate at 55% and you are done. You will collect $4 per turn in tax from the city. If the population is higher, you will want to knock it down to this range by setting an appropriate tax range above 55%. Use the management lab (by pressing V key) to see how your set tax rate will affect population.

Getting Metropolis

A Metropolis is a city with a population of 5000 or more. It is useful because any university built here will get two technological discoveries instead of 1 which can save a lot of money, especially with Air Force universities. After you capture a few cities on your first couple of turns, set 1 or 2 of the highest existing population to 0% and let it grow for a few turns. You will have a Metropolis in no time. Make sure you guard the city well and if you have up to Patriot technology on the ground, build an Airforce university at the Metropolis to get the Predator and Hercule on one turn. You can also use Metropolis' to buy expensive Air Force universities and save a lot of money on tech upgrades by getting 2 for 1.

Next: Moving Tips