This whole conversation regarding XMLizing starting buildings for settler units is quite interesting, but it actually wasn't what I had in mind (though not far off the mark); what I was speaking of was the starting pops given by the settler units.
Some comments on the buildings. Firstly it is surprising how many I agree with.
Which ones in particular struck you? I'm personally proudest of the systemic changes in building requirements myself.
All animal farms - I don't see the need for lumber. Traditionally ditches, dry stone walls and woven fences have done this task. As have earth mounds.
That's a fair point. Forgive my ignorance, though, but how would you raise, say, a llama in a ditch or in a little earth mound without any doors to keep it in? Due to the OR slot being taken up by Stone Tools and Tools, the resources question here is all or nothing.
Brahmin Library - I would require a scribal school rather than a library. Isn't the Brahmin Library a high caste thing where as a library is more general public. The rich always get good stuff before the rest. That is why the get culled in revolutions.
Well, the Library's just the basic structure; a Brahmin Library, like a specific factory or shop, is what you do with that structure. A School of Scribes meanwhile, is a decidedly different educational building involving the recording of new information, not the accessing of already archived information.
Butchery - herd buildings as an or requirement?
Butchery needs Slaughterhouse, which needs the Carcass or Pelts or Poultry resources, which are produced by the various herd buildings themselves, so it would be kinda roundabout, and not that realistic either.
Cave Painting - strongly dissagre unless you add a new building "Rock Art" which requires not-caves, has the same stats and has a similar wonder Djildri Rock Art which provides science as well.
That's okay by me, but could you explain the reasons for your disagreement in more detail? I'm not clear on what the issue is with this building.
Christian Temple, Dairy Barn and others - pottery in place of glassware or as an OR requirement to it.
I'm considering having the Christian Temple merely be sped up by Glassware and only having the Cathedral proper require it. I'm not sure why either would need pottery, though. I actually think the Dairy Barn should simply be sped up by Glassware and Pottery; the building materials themselves, like Iron, Lumber, Tin and Steel, can also be used for the buckets. Largely I was just going with the default settings on that one, and never really thought of pottery as an essential resource before then.
Dog Kennels - these can only be built by wolves. kennels is probably the wrong word but the meaning of this building is probably a dog breeder and should be required for all the specialist dog breeders.
There is already a Dog Breeder building; I took the Dog Kennels as a more advanced Bronze Age version thereof. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong on this, as always.
Earth wall - why bricks? Much of The Great Wall is rammed earth, lumber used as formwork yes but bricks?
I used Bricks because Common Clay is a potential constituent material in Bricks. As Hydro noted, though, the Brick Mason comes at Masonry and it's successor already needs Bricks anyway, so it'd probably be a better move to have it need Common Clay AND (Stone Tools OR Tools).
Eel Traps should require baskets after all they are a form of basket.
That one's now fixed, thanks. I assumed they were caught like crabs for some weird reason. Ah, the perils of using templates and making assumptions...
Fletcher's workshop - hides rather than rope.
You're definitely going to have to explain this one to me. Are bow strings made of hides, not rope?
Forge and Foundry - charcoal OR coal - in the later game charcoal becomes obsolete
That's fixed now, though like Dairy Barn, I just took that from the default. I've also added the various mining buildings as OR requirements to compensate for the loss of the resource requirements proper.
Homing Pigeon Coop (and other bird buildings) - bricks OR lumber not both
That should actually just be Lumber AND Tools, thanks. Which other bird buildings are you referring to?
Lighthouse - glassware? the Great Lighthouse did not have glass and you need a lighthouse to build it. Maybe we need an early lighthouse?
Good call; it should probably just be made a speedup resource instead. Gone it is.
Marble quarry - stone tools or tools
Heh, guess I must have assumed Marble was discovered by a late-Ancient or early Classical technology. Fixed it is.
Modern Granary - why furniture? maybe I am confusing this with silos.
I use the term "Furniture" very broadly, and this case is no exception; you're right on the money. Reasoning being that I've heard of all kinds of wooden and metal silos, but never a brick one
I've not heard of cloth being used as a writing material, or even such a thing being possible, but I'm all too happy to add it should that be so.
Paved Roads - timber, stone and asphelt have also been used to pave roads.
I've not heard of wooden roads myself, but if that be so, how about having it require Tools AND (Bricks OR Lumber)? I could throw raw Stone in as well, but generally it's counted with Bricks as one of the possible materials you can use to make Bricks out of.
Power Lines - I assumed these are the ones in cities and towns not the power grid ones transmission lines. So I would have thought aluminium was too late and copper wires would be needed. Note: where I grew up power poles were not wood but steel and concrete because of the termites.
Well, it can be interpreted as either going by the effects and description of the building, and the difference shouldn't matter for gameplay purposes. You raise a good point regarding the Aluminium; perhaps it and Lumber should be removed so we're left with Parts AND Tools AND (Concrete OR Lumber OR Nanotubes OR Steel)?
Printer's Workshop - lead or wood?
I'm not seeing exactly what you're driving at here; if you mean to suggest that pencils should be an option in lieu of Dye, that runs into the X AND (X OR X) OR X problem. It becomes obsolete with Industrialism anyway, and the Book Factory would still use dyes in the raw production process. The Paper Factory would probably be a better candidate for such an alteration (this whole conversation reminds me a lot of the classic economics essay "I, Pencil").
Railroad Station - coal, oil or electricity to match the railway line requirements.
I can do the first two, but the last may require some sort of split or new coding/tags to accomplish.
Tire Factory - either a national wonder producing y tires or each tire factory requires x factories
I don't understand the point you're making here; all you need under my plan to build a Tire Factory is the requisite resources and the Factory building in the city you're going to construct it in.
