I'll use dwarves on other resources a bit as Odin depending on how much food I've got. Like ipso said, it's better to keep the TC in production than wait for enough food for a villie, or have so many dwarves on gold that you can't spend it. Really, if you are running out of food, you need to get more food villies out earlier (see the BO below. But, if things are desperate and I need to build dwarves, I'll favor gold first (obviously), then food (hopefully hunting...), then wood if I'm desperate. It doen't do much good to have 5 dwarves on gold and 2 villies on wood. You won't be able to build your longhouses (should put up 2-3 right away, and another 2-3 when the fighting starts any way...) and armory when you get to classical.
But, (just like ipso said), replace the dwarves with villies when you hit classical, and move the dwarves to gold as soon as you have the food to do it. As you get econ ups, the dwarves start to suck on other resources for thor, and they REALLY suck for Odin and Loki...
I haven't really played Loki. If you are running out of food, maybe cut back a bit on the Hersier and mix in more ulfs and TA's. That should help your food last longer. You should read one of the plentiful Loki guides (see the 'List of all strat guides" thread at the top of the Strat forum).
Here is a build order that was taken straight from the guide by L_Clan_Jason that covers a few different options (I take no credit for the BO and suggest that you read that guide...):
Start direct quots:
- Villagers 1-6 go to food.
- Make an oxcart
- Create 2 dwarves to be sent to gold
- Make another oxcart
- Send 2 vills to wood
- FRom that point I send 3-4 vills to herd animals around TC after being created
- Mix in 2-3 more dwarves to help preserve food to advance 1 more villager to mine gold, eventually going up w/ 22 population at approx. 3:55. (Reach Classical Age by approx. 4:55)
When Getting Husbandry (100 wood 50 gold) the start slightly alters, you still go 1-6 food, but then it is:
- Vill to gold + cart
- Vill to wood + cart
- Dwarf to gold
- Vill to wood
From there it goes back to basic guide of 3-4 more dwarfs to save food for advancing whenver you have enough gold to make a dwarf
When Getting Hunting Dogs (100 wood 100 gold) vills dont collect more food, therefore you can go straight vills at start without any hiccups, so after 1-6 to food
- 2 Vills to gold + cart
- 2 Vills to wood +cart
- Dwarf to gold
- Vill to gold
End direct quote
[This message has been edited by jereth2 (edited 04-23-2004 @ 12:30 PM).]