City Building Strategy?

[Hydromancerx]

Which buildings to you build first?

What type of city should have which buildings in them?

Which buildings do you never build?

Which buildings do you destroy and when?

Should you try to build all buildings?

 

[Afforess]

Which buildings to you build first?

Walls, then a forge. The bonus production speeds up everything.

Should you try to build all buildings?

No. I find many of the buildings won't help me or my cities, or aren't worth my time. Don't build them all.

 

[Bezhukov]

Start with a culture source (if you don't have one), then a granary/forge/slave market (if you can take the happy hit) and a lighthouse if needed. If you have the resources, a fish hut/butchery is also crucial. I'll usually build these working a single mined, roaded hill (preferably forested) before growing out, or after growing to two with a food bonus tile. Unlike in BtS, every city can benefit from a great many buildings, so lean on your core for military/utility units.

 

[generalstaff]

I usually don't have to worry about a culture source since I either have a religion or Olympic Games; all a city needs is +1 Culture to get access to all tiles.

I start building construction with production buildings followed by food buildings (allowing access to more tiles and specialists), then what ever is needed for the location (Ports for coastal cities, Courthouses for corporate cities, Bunkers and Culture buildings for border cities, etc.).

I have never built the Biological Warfare Lab, as well as several others I cannot think of offhand.

As for trying buildings, it depends on how the player learns new strategies, some do not have to build a building to realize the building is not great for their current strategy, while others do.

 

[SaintRaw]

Since I'm a builder/scientific player I build almost everything.
Starting usually with monument if I need culture or granary & then focussing on production, growth, science followed by buildings with a minor positive effect on the city. Avoiding buildings with negative effects & only build warfare buildings if I intend to build an army from here..
I generally focus my army creation in a single city with the warfare related buildings, wonders & generals to get the best rookie army possible!

I always build a reasonable defensive army before the offensive one.

 

[Hydromancerx]

Which order should I build these types of buildings in?

- Culture
- Defense
- Espionage
- Food
- Gold
- Great Person
- Happiness
- Health
- Production (General)
- Production (Military Units)
- Science
- Trade
- Unit Experience or Bonuses

I have tried food first vs production first and I can't tell which helps me grow/produce faster.

 

[Supercheese]

Which order should I build these types of buildings in?

- Culture
- Defense
- Espionage
- Food
- Gold
- Great Person
- Happiness
- Health
- Production (General)
- Production (Military Units)
- Science
- Trade
- Unit Experience or Bonuses

I have tried food first vs production first and I can't tell which helps me grow/produce faster.

I always build food storage (i.e. Granaries) first, then food % increases (Fisherman's Hut, Butchery), then basic production buildings (Forge, Tannery, Townclock, Guild Hall) -- assuming I have access to the necessary resources. From there I find that subsequent builds take only a couple turns, so I can start cranking out either more buildings for gold/happiness, units/workers, or even a cheap national wonder.

I play on Epic speed, btw.

 

[SaintRaw]

Which order should I build these types of buildings in?

- Culture
- Defense
- Espionage
- Food
- Gold
- Great Person
- Happiness
- Health
- Production (General)
- Production (Military Units)
- Science
- Trade
- Unit Experience or Bonuses

I have tried food first vs production first and I can't tell which helps me grow/produce faster.

I prioritize like this:
- Production (General)
- Science
- Food
- Gold
- Trade
- Culture
- Happiness (As long as my city won't get unhappy after growing.)
- Health (As long as my city won't get unhealthy after growing.)
- Great Person
- Defense
- Espionage
- Production (Military Units)
- Unit Experience or Bonuses

And ofcourse changing what to build according to the 'actual' thingeye.

 

[pixiejmcc]

Its very much situation dependent but for me culture is crucial. Unless you're fortunate enough to have several good tiles adjacent to your centre tile you will need to expand in to your fat cross quickly (I'm sure you know what that is, but if not just ask - you probably stopped watching this thread a long time ago anyway ). So often an obelisk.

I used to play on normal speed, when both slavery and tree cutting were over-powered, so I always used to stick a granary in there from the off. Now I play on harder settings and they are less over-powered and I reach my hapiness limit early, it feels less important. So sometimes I prioritise a forge, especially if I'm industrial.

Obviously if you have a food sea resource, build a fishing boat off the bat.

So, as a rule, its one of those three buildings.

Priority is food/culture then production for me. Generally.

 

[szemek77]

Which buildings to you build first?

What type of city should have which buildings in them?

Which buildings do you never build?

Which buildings do you destroy and when?

Should you try to build all buildings?

I think that forge is a must. It is not only speeding up production but it gives you a slot for an engineer, which can give you 1-2 Great Engineers in near future. It is very important as you can use them to build necessary Great Wonders.

Culture buildings (library, or at least monument) is a must if you new city is "producing" 0 culture. It may be important if the valuable resources are not placed in initial city square but two tiles away. It is good to enlarge city borders asap in that case.

You should definetely NOT trying to build all buildings (is it really possible in RoM, BTW?). You should build the buildings you NEED. Simple example is stable and the bulding you need for siege weapons. You don't need to build them in all cities - one or two will be enough, according to your needs, of course.

Which buildings I don't use? Hmmm. I'm rather GP and science oriented, so I try to get all buildings which gives you bonuses in that areas. On the other hand - I don't like espionage, so I don't build those which apply to spying. Some buildings I find useless - i.e. archery range. When it comes to serious war, archery is usually obsolete. And I don't think I need a special training for my crossbowmens who should defend us at early phase of the game....

 

[Hydromancerx]

For early game I have found that if you can chop productions buildings like wheelwright, timekeper's workshop, stoneworker's hut and forge that the cities are much better off in the long run. If you are lucky enough to have some horses or elephants then build an elephant trainer or horse farm.

Then by the middle ages you want to get a candle maker's shop, treadmill crane and of course found the masons guild. Try t get as much stone as you can and your production will be through the roof. I once had +63 production just by spreading the masons guild to a city. Building a stone quarry resource building also helps boost your stone output.

Before you know it you will be able to get to the industrial era where you will have more production than you know what to do with. Which is great since there are lots of buildings to build then.

 

[JaeChunDaeSung]

I figured to ask here because it has to do with overall city building but, is having your capital as the holy city of your religion the recommended, NON-CORPORATE way to have a wealth-generating city?

 

[Killtech]

the optimal buildup seems to be the following:

1. most cheapest culture building or something else to let the city slowly reach 1st culture level.

2. maximize food & production. which first depends on the city: food increases population and adds further worked tiles which increase your base . production increases directly. choose the path that maximizes fastest (and for small towns that can expect caravan support thats always food)

3. commerce. now that your city builds everything quite fast this is next on the list - ensures your empire prosperity. focus on commerce in general first. science and gold later.

4. culture & happiness if needed (to prevent revolutions, expand borders to valuable resources, unhappiness...)

5. caravans. to ensure smaller cities in your empire develop quickly

6. missionaries: cloisters give a science bonus

7. espionage. helps if you have well trained spies.

8. health - but only if really needed.

9. defense... can't hurt.

10. military buildings... it there's just nothing else to build. except it's the city where you settle all your great generals. in that case this comes at number 3.

(11. military units. but only in your main military city. then this comes directly after military buildings at position 4)

 

[os79]

...9. defense... can't hurt....

#9!? Don't you want your city to have good defenses long before *6 and later? In case an enemy attacks. Defense help reduce damage done by the enemy... Or does it?

 

[Killtech]

#9!? Don't you want your city to have good defenses long before *6 and later? In case an enemy attacks. Defense help reduce damage done by the enemy... Or does it?

my cites frequently don't have a garrison - especially in the early game... i prefer fighting or blocking the enemy before he can reach my cities (and i have higher terrain defense). in later game i don't have to worry much about attacks.

though i build the dun (Celtic city walls) earlier in special cities. gives a free guerrilla I promotion.

 

[Afforess]

9. defense... can't hurt.

I regularly skip these. Walls...maybe, for a border city on the edge of the arctic wilderness (for barbs). Never more than that though. A waste of hammers. If you are ever in the position to need better defenses, you royally screwed up your strategy early in the game.

 

[os79]

Hmm...

Works for you .

Like I said before, I have low vision. So if I were to have "Show Enemy" option turned on, I would be confused blind by all these movements of the map terrain where the enemies are moving. That is why I depend on garrisoned units and Defense buildings. Oh well, the joys of strategy-ing with low vision :sigh:.