Discuss selling buildings

[Rathelon]

From the reported patch notes:

* Economy - Can now sell Buildings in a city (to help lower maintenance for obsolete buildings later in the game).

So, at first, like many I said ALRIGHT! Sounds like a great addition.

Now, after thinking about how it is worded there, I said - Wait a minute...obsolete buildings? I wasnt aware they were obsolete. I thought all culture buildings stacked, as would happiness or science buildings. Am I missing something?

 

[Unearthly]

It may be just so you can sell the crap that a puppet made before you annexed them. But I guess you could make walls etc. in a frontier city, then expand outward so they are no longer needed. (Does anyone make walls?)

 

[vmxa]

They likely mean obsolete from your perspective. Have an barracks, but no longer wish to make units in this city, sell it just like civ III. Annexed that city state and do not like all the stuff they build, sell it.

 

[S.K. Ren]

Heh, Razing Sale! All buildings must go!

 

[alpaca]

It definitely is a great addition. You can keep puppets around longer with it, though, because the economic cost won't stay until the late-game. It's very useful to be able to remove those walls and stuff again.

I just hope the gold/hammer ratio isn't too good because otherwise this will just add more micromanagement.

 

[glaivemaster]

In this case it's a subjective form of obsolete i.e. a building you no longer need. I know there have been a couple of games where I've been running short of money and wished I could sell buildings that I clearly don't use any more.

My main question though would be: what if I want to sell a building that is a requirement for a further building along the chain? Say, I've built a castle, but also think that walls are too expensive for me to continue maintaining - does the castle automatically get destroyed? Stay there, and continue to allow me building further in that building chain? Or will I not be allowed. It'll be interesting to see how they implement it

 

[Ahriman]

Stables are the most clearly obsolete building.

I hope you can't sell buildings that are pre-reqs for others; you can't sell walls if you have a castle, can't sell library if you have a university, etc.

 

[Ymir9]

I should think this would only apply to annexed cities, since there's no way to access the city screen of puppets, which is as it should be as I see it. This will be one more much needed incentive to annex old puppets. In all my Civ 5 games I think I've ever only built 1 Courthouse, but maybe that's just my play-style.

 

[Rathelon]

Why would you want to sell off walls? They dont lose their bonus vs gunpowder, like they did in Civ IV, and they only cost 1 maintenance.

 

[Ahriman]

Why would you want to sell off walls?

Because in a city in the heart of your empire, which isn't on the border and will never be under military threat, walls are useless and just bleed maintenance.

 

[Mark Havel]

That's a good idea for the people who like me, screwed their economies while building too much stuff in all of their cities and ends up in a total economic crisis soon after. At least it would offer some way to repair the damage and not cause a poor economic planning an immediate loss of the game.

 

[linearcore]

Why would you want to sell off walls? They dont lose their bonus vs gunpowder, like they did in Civ IV, and they only cost 1 maintenance.

Yes, they do. Rifled units ignore the defensive bonus of buildings. That info, of course, is in the XML but absolutely nowhere else a player may look.

There are also two obsolete buildings. They are wonders. The Colossus becomes obsolete when someone techs Navigation, which is stated in game. The Great Wall becomes obsolete when someone techs Metallurgy, which isn't stated anywhere in game. This info is also in the XMLs.

Edit: Defensive buildings do have another use though, they up the Combat Strength of a city, which isn't ignored when Bombarding someone. So, walls are useful for an attacking city, but not if the city is attacked by Riflemen or better. Weird, neh?

Edit2: My bad, everything after gunpowder ignores building defense bonuses, including Lancers.

 

[factorial]

Edit2: My bad, everything after gunpowder ignores building defense bonuses, including Lancers.

Are you sure about that? As in, have you tested in game or just read the XML? If this is true, then the military base is a completely useless building, since it comes well after gunpowder.

 

[linearcore]

Are you sure about that? As in, have you tested in game or just read the XML? If this is true, then the military base is a completely useless building, since it comes well after gunpowder.

Not necessarily because it still increases the Combat Strength of the city for bombardment. I've had trouble really testing the defensive nature though since Infantry and beyond take cities so fast anyways. I don't know if they are ignoring the defensive buildings or are just that much stronger than the cities they are conquering. I would test worldbuilder or firetuner, but I don't have the HDD space for the SDK.

 

[Pantastic]

The Great Wall becomes obsolete when someone techs Metallurgy, which isn't stated anywhere in game.

Wow, that explains why I've never seen the slowing effect from the Great Wall, I had no idea it went obsolete so early.

 

[Zelig]

Yes, they do. Rifled units ignore the defensive bonus of buildings. That info, of course, is in the XML but absolutely nowhere else a player may look.

Have you actually checked this vs. city strengths in game when attacking with pre- and post- gunpowder era units?

I ask because a fair number of the settings in various different XML files are left over from civ4, and don't actually have any effect in civ5.

 

[Dermo]

Wow, that explains why I've never seen the slowing effect from the Great Wall, I had no idea it went obsolete so early.

Agreed. Kind of annoying that this isn't documented anywhere (anywhere obvious that is) I've been trying for the a Bollywood achievement with the strategy of building the GW and pushing my borders as far out as possible, with the intention of pounding the enemy with artillery for as long as possible. No wonder it wasn't so successful

 

[Paeanblack]

The Great Wall becomes obsolete when someone techs Metallurgy, which isn't stated anywhere in game.

The only benefits of the Great Wall are +1 culture, +1 GE points and a really cool looking visual effect. All of those are kept post-Metallurgy. Since, it doesn't actually work as advertised with regards to enemy movement, it currently does not go obsolete.

 

[Airey]

Sell it after you get the national wonders...ie heroic epic/barracks

 

[Azedenkae]

Sell all your buildings in a city before it is conquered sounds like a good idea. XD