Cheap/expensive buildings

[WelshGandalf]

I was wondering what buildings people think are cheap or expensive for what they do. I'll kick it off.

Cheap = Theatres. Only 50 hammers, a chunky 3 culture points (beating the more expensive temples/monasteries), and gives you the power to increase happiness via the culture slider.

Expensive = Customs House, 180 hammers. A big cost for a few possible extra commerce - relies on being at peace with overseas empires. This has rarely netted me more than 2 or 3 commerce extra a turn. Compared to, say, a bank for 200 hammers, the benefits look weak & unreliable.

 

[kossin]

Barely anyone ever builds the Custom Houses.

For the rest of the buildings, it's situational to what you need vs what they give you.

 

[Yoshi1]

Markets are usually a tough one to build, coz they come with a tech you want as early as possible and where production often is still low, so those 120h hurt.

 

[Little Faith]

Libraries are hard to beat.

Comes at writing, two specialist slot of the most consistently useful specialist type, 25% science is nothing to snuff at at a period where you are likely to run 100% science, and then we get two culture points on top.

 

[gilmore606]

Temples seem too expensive to me vs. Monasteries. I get more culture from the monastery AND a science boost AND I can build mishies. Temple gives me +1 happy and priest slots, and costs more hammers. Doesn't seem quite fair.

 

[Ataxerxes]

Temples seem too expensive to me vs. Monasteries. I get more culture from the monastery AND a science boost AND I can build mishies. Temple gives me +1 happy and priest slots, and costs more hammers. Doesn't seem quite fair.

Good point. If only the monasteries didn't go semi-obsolete. If you're Spiritual, temple is in the AP religion or you have UoS or SM, temples aren't too expensive. By themselves, non-spiritual, they do cost a lot for one happiness. Unfortunately, very early, they may be about the only happiness increase you have.

 

[MarcoPollo]

Best value: Libraries.

Worst Value: Customs house.

 

[gilmore606]

What's the consensus on courthouses? I often have trouble forcing myself to build these...so many hammers, just at a time when I want to be building something else.

 

[Ghpstage]

Courthouses vary in usefulness a lot as maintenance isn't constant. Generally I won't build one unless a cities maintenance exceeds 10GPT and the city has nothing else more important to do. When I first get CoL hardly any cities will fit in this bracket but later as the number and size of cities grow, and especially if corps get used, Courthouses become very important.
If I intend to run State Property however, theres no point in building Courthouses.

 

[theskibum]

What's the consensus on courthouses? I often have trouble forcing myself to build these...so many hammers, just at a time when I want to be building something else.

Are you serious?

One of the most beneficial buildings in the game. The work for you the entire game. -50% city maintenance doesn't seem like much early when your maintenance is 2 or 3 per turn, but check back in 60 turns, now its 6 per turn, a little while later its 12, then 18, then 26.

Very few cases I can think of where you wouldn't want to build a courthouse.

 

[xenex]

While the timing to build Courthouses may be a bit tight, they are definetly worth it, when I just get to CoL I usually build them in about 3 cases that I can think of of my head.

1.When building one will allow me to run the slider a bit higher.
2.When there is nothing else to build.This is often in high hammer spots, when I dont need military at that moment from that city.
3.When I settle new cities, this is almost obvious, since by the time you get here your empire has started to spread out and they are a perfect build to keep cost down.

 

[nfw]

Forge: the 25% production bonus pays for itself very quickly.

 

[Rusten]

If I intend to run State Property however, theres no point in building Courthouses.

I agree to some extent, but they do help in SP as well. They cut the number of cities expenses in half (though it's capped around 7-8 depending on map size).

 

[Alamankarazieff]

I just closed a game, where my forbidden city popping gave me a +143 gold all of a sudden, allowing me to double my beaker output.
I was late doing it, but courthouses, hell yes, do build them.

 

[Gwynnja]

I don't know this for a fact, but I'm pretty sure that as the difficulty level increases, so does the city's maintenance cost, thus making courthouses (and ORG) more valuable the higher the difficulty level.

 

[Dr.Null]

Courthouses are also an early source of Espionage Points.

 

[LuCiver]

In the early game, two things I never find myself building are Aqueducts and colleseums. Maybe because health and happy problems are both better solved on a empirewide scale (ie civics or resources).

To supply culture, monument may be low hammer but you get what you pay for. I almost always go library or theater instead when they become available.

Late game: have I ever built a single hospital? Bunker? Supermarket But I do like drydocks to speed up the hammer-intensive and geographically restricted naval production.

 

[Ataxerxes]

I don't know this for a fact, but I'm pretty sure that as the difficulty level increases, so does the city's maintenance cost, thus making courthouses (and ORG) more valuable the higher the difficulty level.

It's a fact. I'll build courthouses before the magic 10 GPT because if it's at 5 early on, it'll get to 10 soon enough. Dr. Null's point is well taken as well. If you concentrate the EP's on one victim, you might be able to steal a few techs or cause revolts in his cities - don't need to suicide siege. If you expand well, courthouses become very attractive.

Very true about ORG. Near-useless on low levels, one of the best on higher levels. If I'm going through a cannon conquest, courthouses are usually the first build.

Forges are very good as well. I don't go much for theatre because I use missionaries in my state religion to get culture.

 

[dirtyparrot]

Granaries are very good value for their costs. For non-philo leaders, universities seem pretty expensive to build in that era. It's almost the price of a national wonder. That is quite steep of a price to pay, albeit often times still worth it.

 

[Yxklyx]

Expensive = Customs House, 180 hammers. A big cost for a few possible extra commerce - relies on being at peace with overseas empires. This has rarely netted me more than 2 or 3 commerce extra a turn. Compared to, say, a bank for 200 hammers, the benefits look weak & unreliable.

Well, in defense, Custom Houses will pay off no matter what your slider is at. Banks do very little or even nothing if you have your tech at 100% and are building Wealth.