Conquered Cities: First thing you build?

[Fafnir13]

Used to be I went with either a monument or an elder council. The first for culture expansion (less area for barbs to expand, tile usage) and the second for that slight boost in research and the low hammer cost.
After a few games with massive empires and dealing with the expense of such I have started to build markets ASAP everywhere. Those little bits of gold really help to offset the maintenance cost without being dependent on city growth and also help to support my army as it continues to conquest.
Is this the generally preferred strategy or is there something better I'm still missing?

 

[Sifaus]

1-Palisade/Wall
2-Monument
3-Market

 

[Sarisin]

I guess it really depends on the location and size of the city.

If near a water resource, I might build a Work Boat first.

If a big city where build times are short, I might go with something like a Courthouse (especially if the city is far from the Capital, which it usually is) or something that provides happiness like a temple of some kind as there will often be unhappy faces.

If nothing on size or location I would go with the Monument, Market or Elder Council. I always try to have a captured Bear available to start dancing for the pissed off citizen of the new city.

I seldom build Palisades or Walls except for my first couple of cities which are subject to early barb attacks. I try to set up a defensive perimeter that will not allow attackers to get near the cities and improvements.

 

[Schmoe]

If I'm not playing a Creative leader, I go with the Monument about 99% of the time. The only time I won't is if the city will be immediately under attack and I can rush walls or a palisade..

 

[orangelex44]

Yeah, my general strategy is to fix Culture first, then Maintenence. Usually, it maininence will be crippling, I just burn it. Of course, I'm only at Monarch, so at higher levels this may be reversed...

Other things I try for are religous buildings, if possible - most of them are useful enough to be the second or third thing on hte list. I don't ever really build Monuments or Walls; if you can't defend the town after you captured it, you shouldn't have captured it.

So, top three things are Monuments, Courthouses, Religous Buildings (and generally in that order). I underuse Markets, really, really bad - I often build none. NOT ONE. I get them a little late, and that -1 Science messes with my head...

 

[Fafnir13]

They're worth it. They actually give you a net gain in research as the extra gold allows you to keep the percentage higher than you might otherwise.
I was running at 100% with mondo amounts of gold pouring in thanks to them and a good number of merchant specialists.

 

[odalrick]

Whatever the governor decides to build. Usually Culture.

When I conquer a city it is in rebellion, has low population, few workable tiles, poorly improved surroundings... In short it takes ages for it to actually be useful, so I stick it on governor automation and figure if I ever need it I'll return to it.

 

[Zechnophobe]

Warrior, sometimes Culture, sometimes Market. All of these are fairly cheap and help equalize either output (Culture) defense (Warrior) or economy (Market). For Philosophic civ's, an elder council is also okay.

And early on, you can consider a monument instead of culture, though I'm not really sure.

 

[Annex]

I underuse Markets, really, really bad - I often build none. NOT ONE. I get them a little late, and that -1 Science messes with my head...

Same here, I dont think Ive ever built a market before. Ususally I consider research about as important as my economy, but I really should start using them in the near future.

 

[Caradoc]

I think Monuments are a waste, especially when the city is only generating a few hammers to begin with. I usually send Disciple units out with my attackers and so I can establish my religion there right away. I also send out Workers to jumpstart the economy.

 

[BillSeurer]

Markets actually allow you to do MORE research on the macro (game-wide) level. They are basically a +2 to your overall income. On the micro (specific-city) level it looks like a research hit but when you take into account the overall effect it really is a net plus.

 

[orangelex44]

I think Monuments are a waste, especially when the city is only generating a few hammers to begin with. I usually send Disciple units out with my attackers and so I can establish my religion there right away. I also send out Workers to jumpstart the economy.

Monuments are nice to have in the long run - if the city is taken before turn 300 or so, and you're not planning on a conquest victory, I think they're worth it. Religions don't always help (RoK or AV, anyone?), and Drama (for Culture production) is usually toward the bottom of my research desires. If the city is supposed to become useful at all, it needs a Monument sooner or later.

Markets actually allow you to do MORE research on the macro (game-wide) level. They are basically a +2 to your overall income. On the micro (specific-city) level it looks like a research hit but when you take into account the overall effect it really is a net plus.

Yeah, a city with a Market and Elder Council has three extra gold and one extra research. However, there are cases where the -1 research hit is painful - Library boost, Great Library, Academies, etc. multiply the loss. Although in general it's much more useful to have a Market. I really have to fix my strategy with them...

 

[Zechnophobe]

Drama gives a free Great Bard though, if you get it early enough. And using that to build the Song of Autumn, or just pop a golden age or tech, is generally pretty worth it.

And honestly, building culture in a captured city is a very quick way to get it to become productive. (Course, having the Hall of Kings is even faster, just assign 5 specialists for a turn).

 

[slowcar]

bringing some lvl 1 disciples (acolytes etc) helps even more. just pop the +20 culture in every new conquered city and voila, instant end of revolt. plus border pop.

 

[Zechnophobe]

I do that sometimes, I'll bring a few disciples along with an aggressive stack to keep pushing the borders back as I go, especially through fertile territory. I'm not sure if it is really more efficient empirewise though, unless you are ending a long revolution on a big city.

 

[loffenx]

If I have had time to plan the attack a few disciples always move in to pop and spread my religion, then i usually move on to obelisk. I probably under-use markets too, but at wartime I've usually already moved down a 10% in research so thoose 2 commerce arent really missed initially. I don't remember how Courthouse worked in vanilla but in FFH I don't use it as much as I used to.

 

[Annex]

Courthouses are much, much more useful in FFH, they lower your maintenance by a good amount, and are relatively cheap to build. Not to mention you need the UB of it if youre Calabim to get vampires.

 

[TeeAhr1]

If it doesn't have my state religion *and* there are resources in the second ring of tiles *and* I can rush a monument, I'll do that.

If it's got fish, I'll do a boat.

If I'm blitzing and don't want to leave a garrison, I'll do a warrior.

If it's super-far from my core and I'm hell-bent on keeping it, a courthouse or market depending on what my leader traits are.

Otherwise I'll burn it or liberate it.

 

[Mailbox]

I usually build an elder council and assign a sage. +5 science per city is great, otherwise I'll build a monument first.

 

[loffenx]

Courthouses are much, much more useful in FFH, they lower your maintenance by a good amount, and are relatively cheap to build. Not to mention you need the UB of it if youre Calabim to get vampires.

Oh I was under the impression it was the other way round, I should probably read up on that a bit better.