Vokarya's Workshop: Buildings

45°38'N-13°47'E;13500576 said:

I have the same concern. When we tweaked forge and foundry a long time ago, it threw the game totally out of balance and it took me more than a while to balance it again

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I suppose you are right. I just feel like it takes absolutely forever for a new city in the Classical/Medieval Eras to get off the ground and build even a basic infrastructure.

It pretty much does, which is the main problem with new colonies. Perhaps we could have Work Crews, basically a hammer-caravan that another city can build to send to a colony and boost their production?

Vokarya said:

So I would like to give this building a makeover. First of all, change its name to the Builder. (I thought about calling it a Mason, but I think that would imply a connection to Stone or Marble resources that I don't want to add.) Second, move the new Builder to Architecture tech. This puts it after Engineering and the appearance of the Castle. Third, move its obsoleting point to Manufacturing. This will allow creating a neat unified chain of builders:

• Carpenter: +10%
• Builder: +15%
• Construction Firm: +20%
• Industrial Park: +30%
• Unnamed building at Organic Cities tech: +50%

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I like these changes except for the name. Builder is just too generic. Also it sounds like a unit rather than a building. I think trade mill crane is a very good name. We should keep it.

Vokarya said:

I suppose you are right. I just feel like it takes absolutely forever for a new city in the Classical/Medieval Eras to get off the ground and build even a basic infrastructure.

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Don't we have colonist units? Maybe add a unit in-between settler and colonist?

Not a new 'Settler' unit per say, but say an upgrade due to an era evolution.

Keep it as a Settler, but it gains extra buildings upon settlement, when say Medieval era is achieved.

It could start with a Granary and a forge (Blacksmith), Carpenter. Mabe begin at 2 population as well.

These seem reasonable building for the Era, Generic enough for the times, reasonable for starting out and basic 1st builds for most cities.

I volunteer the name Burgher, which was a mediaeval townsman of high quality.

One issue that I have had with my own trick-counting system is that it really over-values the Guilds and Corporation techs by counting each guild and corporation as a separate trick. However, due to competition, players are not usually in a position to take advantage of all of these tricks.

I have also been counting the Special Building types (Temple, Monastery, Pantheon, Cathedral) as a single trick, as those buildings are also highly reliant on other factors (presence of religion, which might be on the other side of the globe). I have decided to apply this to guild headquarters and corporate stores, taking a page from the special building definition for corporate headquarters. No one should notice any actual gameplay changes, and if/when there are radical changes to guilds and corporations, this is a quick find-and-replace in the building XML.

1. Define Guild Headquarters (SPECIALBUILDING_GUILD_HQ) as a separate building type from Corporation Headquarters (SPECIALBUILDING_CORPORATE_HQ). Put Guilds as a tech prerequisite on the special building definition. This results in giving a much better picture of what Guilds allows (before/after screenshots):
View attachment 384092View attachment 384093
Note: the only time SPECIALBUILDING_CORPORATE_HQ is ever used in game is allowing the Corporatist civic to build executives without the headquarters. Otherwise, headquarters status is determined by the <FoundsCorporation> tag in the building definition, so the relationship is from the building to the corporation, not the other way around.

2. Move the Corporation tech prerequisite from the individual Corporation Headquarters buildings definitions to the Special Building definition. This results in a single entry in the Corporation tech line. I am actually surprised this was not done in regular BTS, as this is how the tech prerequisites on the religious buildings are handled.

3. Define Corporation Store (SPECIALBUILDING_CORPORATE_STORE) for all of the auxiliary corporate buildings, with Corporation as a tech prerequisite. All Corporation Stores used to have Corporation as a tech prerequisite, but I removed it as being redundant. When I moved Corporation into the Industrial Era, I made Corporation no longer redundant, but I would prefer attaching the Corporation tech requirement to a special building definition. Corporation's Civilopedia entry changes like this:
View attachment 384094View attachment 384095

BTW there is something I always wanted to mention:

Could the civic screen be changed to display Special Building Classes, please?
Afaik, some religion civics affect all temples/monasteries and it is a bit confusing to see the overcrowded list of many buildings receiving the same bonus.

Wow. That is a difference. Corporation seems weak now!

Arakhor said:

Wow. That is a difference. Corporation seems weak now!

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It's not weak. 3 tricks is middle-of-the-road, and I'm tempted to count an entire class as a double trick because it's big but limited.

Afforess said:

Don't we have colonist units? Maybe add a unit in-between settler and colonist?

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We have Colonists (Navigation) and Pioneers (Steam Power). I think an early Medieval settler might be a good idea to smooth out the curve. Right now you go from Settler (size 1, no buildings) to Colonist (size 3, several buildings).

Possible name ideas: Immigrant, Pilgrim.

Other name suggestions?

Pilgrim sounds ok, definitely better than Immigrant.
Has a nice medieval flavor.

I previously suggested Burgher (a well-to-do mediaeval city tradesman). Pilgrim (in the city-settling sense) is definitely Renaissance, not Mediaeval.

Arakhor said:

I previously suggested Burgher (a well-to-do mediaeval city tradesman). Pilgrim (in the city-settling sense) is definitely Renaissance, not Mediaeval.

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Burgher sounds German in an English game. I know it is part of the English vocabulary - I checked the dictionary - but it sounds like a misplaced UU name.

On the other hand Pilgrim sounds too religious

How about a name-swap?
Call the new unit Settler, and rename the original to Tribesman?


EDIT:
Immigrant would be a perfect name for the Industrial era and onward - If we ever want one

We have a problem with the Communication Tower right now. Its culture percentage bonus has been radically cut, but the buildings it's replacing have not, so that results in a culture dropoff if when you are building it. This is not something I ever want to see with building replacements.

Here's the current status:

• Broadcast Tower gives +30% culture
• Telephone Network gives +10%
• Communication Tower replaces both but gives only +15% (drop off of 25%)
• Network Node replaces all previous and gives +25% (drop off of 15% over the BT/TN combo)

Here's what I think we should do:

• Cut Broadcast Tower to +15% culture
• Increase Communication Tower to +30% (slightly greater than BT +15% plus TN +10%)
• Increase Network Node to +50% (make it a good upgrade over CT)

For the medieval Settler, I like Townsman as a name. I think Burgher could be used as a German flavor name.

For buildings, I think Townsman cities should start with a Granary, a Forge, and a Fisherman's Hut if coastal. Colonist cities start with Barracks, Granary, Forge, Market, and if coastal, Fisherman's Hut, Harbor, and Lighthouse. Pioneer cities get Garrison in place of Barracks, Port in place of Harbor, and on top of everything Colonist starts with, also get Courthouse, Stable, Grocer, Library, Bank, and Doctor's Office.

I agree with both of your posts Vokarya.

Me too, 100%

Burgher actually comes from the same Anglo-Saxon root as "borough". The German equivalent would be Bürger.

That said, I like your ideas, Vokarya. I usually do.