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Dear All,
Welcome to our weekly Devblog!
Today we're going to discuss the importance of water culture in Builders of Egypt along with its historical accuracy. A little bit different from our usual approach but one of the most vital and crucial aspects of ancient Egyptians' life.
From a historical point of view, the control of water in general, and in particular the control of the Nile River flood often referred to as a source of the rich farmland, has played a major part in the development of the “water culture civilizations” to which ancient Egypt decisively belonged.
At the beginning and throughout many generations, the water supply of the inhabitants was entirely managed by the state, mainly through the local administration which was charged to bring the water, in general from a rural area, into towns and cities and to redistribute it to the inhabitants. Even when the city was far from a water source, the state preferred a simpler system using the manpower available known as the “water-carriers” over the complex installations. Although the Pharaoh appropriated for himself the sacred character of the flood and also at the same time, the sacred character of the water, by claiming to be the guarantor of a regular and fertile flood, and annihilating its destructive effect, the role played by Pharaonic institutions in everyday water management is not very well known, even though many archaeological studies have been carried out on water management in ancient Egypt in terms of the administration of irrigation.
However since the New Kingdom Period the successive development of wells and technological developments, thus the appearance of more elaborate water structures (primarily more complex wells) in the Nile Valley seems to have modified the role and the implication of the state in it and also the approach to the water supply itself. By gradually placing a source of water in the towns, close to the inhabitants who were now able to supply themselves directly, the state decided to withdraw slowly from one of its many responsibilities regarding the supply of provisions to the population.
Let's move on to the in-game water culture introduction! :)
Overall we've decided on implementing wells and larger water supplies buildings, regardless of the historical period in which the specific campaign takes place. Due to the fact that each map in the game is made entirely by hand, the areas where you can build structures providing water are strictly defined and limited. Therefore, these areas determine the possibility of housing development as well as buildings conditional on access to water, such as meadow farms. Both buildings operate within a certain range. Of course, the second one has a much greater working radius. Moreover, depending on the specific mission and the buildings available in it, specifically when it comes to most common farms (for example wheat, cabbage, chickpeas) your whole harvest largely depends on the Nile River flood during which plenty of fertile soil is being left on the edge of the river. Furthermore, in-game time is measured through three seasons - Akhet (flooding), Peret (growing), and Shemu (harvesting) the same way Egyptian farmers have divided their year. The placement of so-called flood farms is also limited to specific areas and restricted by the terrain and the river edges.
Hope you enjoyed our unusual blog with a bit of historical context and we didn't bore you to death! ;) Farming irrigation system and ditches will be discussed in a separate Devblog. Looking forward to your thoughts about today's definitely not brief introduction! Feel free to share them with us in the comments below, at Discord, or on Reddit!
Stay tuned and see you next week Egyptian Rulers!
--- Your Team from Strategy Labs ---