Do you tend to overbuild or make new urban tiles?

[evonannoredars]

When growing cities in the last two eras, I'm never sure whether I should make new urban districts or overbuild. Aside from some civics that speed up overbuilding, abilities that give benefits to doing so and the odd relic/artefact, it generally doesn't seem efficient because you're losing whatever base yield was underneath (and the fact it doesn't tell you what base yield you're losing definitely doesn't help) so it makes more sense to just relocate your rural tiles for more urban ones.

Unfortunately, I hate making massive sprawling cities lmao. Unless there's a good yield, I normally try to overbuild whatever new building I have onto an older one of the same type (unless I'm trying to maximise a specific yield).

Imo it'd be better if it told you what base yield was being lost and if overbuilding the same type instead preserved the base yield underneath as an 'upgrade' (and if warehouses could upgrade the same way - I like my towns small lol), but what do you think? What strategies do you go for?

 

[Evolena]

(and the fact it doesn't tell you what base yield you're losing definitely doesn't help)

It's usually only +2 of the basic yield.

 

[evonannoredars]

It's usually only +2 of the basic yield.

Wdym?

 

[Evolena]

Wdym?

I'm not familiar with abbreviations, I suppose it's "What do you mean" ?
There was one question about what you lose of the previous age building when overbuilding. I answer that (and I should have add "from Antiquity to Exploration") the building is usually giving +2 of its basic yield (ie +2 Culture for any Culture-base Building). No adjacency, no specialist bonus.

 

[wesplaysciv]

one thing you are missing is the maintenance cost too. So probably overbuilding makes even more sense in general once you account for that

In my next play through I will focus more on adjacencies, you lose that in the next era and I think it will simplify my planning to just have eg dedicated science corner (overbuilding as needed)

 

[ggmoyang]

Wdym?

If an obsolete building produces gold, its yield becomes +2 gold in Exploration age.
If an obsolete building produces Culture and Influence, its yield becomes +2 culture, +2 influence in Exploration age.
And the yield is +3 in Modern age. Adjacency bonuses are lost for obsolete buildings.

 

[evonannoredars]

I'm not familiar with abbreviations, I suppose it's "What do you mean" ?
There was one question about what you lose of the previous age building when overbuilding. I answer that (and I should have add "from Antiquity to Exploration") the building is usually giving +2 of its basic yield (ie +2 Culture for any Culture-base Building). No adjacency, no specialist bonus.

Ah yeah what I meant is it doesn't tell you while overbuilding what the yield type of what you're overbuilding is. You'd need to go check yourself what's on each tile and what their yield types are, there's no -2 gold or -2 production on the tiles in the building placement view.

 

[SammyKhalifa]

Ah yeah what I meant is it doesn't tell you while overbuilding what the yield type of what you're overbuilding is. You'd need to go check yourself what's on each tile and what their yield types are, there's no -2 gold or -2 production on the tiles in the building placement view.

It's another thing that needs to be in the city screen.

So I guess the answer to the original question is that so far I kind of just wing it. I'm just picking the tiles with the biggest looking numbers. I'm sure I'll get more the hang of it in future plays though.

 

[Evolena]

Ah yeah what I meant is it doesn't tell you while overbuilding what the yield type of what you're overbuilding is. You'd need to go check yourself what's on each tile and what their yield types are, there's no -2 gold or -2 production on the tiles in the building placement view.

Ah yes. However, are these -2 to something really meaningful?

 

[Atlas627]

If an obsolete building produces gold, its yield becomes +2 gold in Exploration age.
If an obsolete building produces Culture and Influence, its yield becomes +2 culture, +2 influence in Exploration age.
And the yield is +3 in Modern age. Adjacency bonuses are lost for obsolete buildings.

It's not necessarily 2, it just becomes the Base Yield. Which could be more.

 

[Evolena]

It's not necessarily 2, it just becomes the Base Yield. Which could be more.

I've had both the first and second tier of the same yield buildings both give only +2 on the next age, so I don't think they keep their whole base yield.

 

[queenpea]

I wish overbuilding was better explained in the city information screen. I find it hard to understand what you are losing versus gaining while overbuilding.

 

[evonannoredars]

one thing you are missing is the maintenance cost too. So probably overbuilding makes even more sense in general once you account for that

In my next play through I will focus more on adjacencies, you lose that in the next era and I think it will simplify my planning to just have eg dedicated science corner (overbuilding as needed)

True, hadn't considered maintenance costs!
Only issue with certain adjacencies is that the optimal place in one era might be different to the optimal place in another, as where your city can reach changes, you have more wonders and resources change. That's why I think a bonus for overbuilding the same type would be interesting, keeping the old science or whatever spots viable.

 

[SammyKhalifa]

True, hadn't considered maintenance costs!
Only issue with certain adjacencies is that the optimal place in one era might be different to the optimal place in another, as where your city can reach changes, you have more wonders and resources change. That's why I think a bonus for overbuilding the same type would be interesting, keeping the old science or whatever spots viable.

I think a production bonus might be interesting, because you're "renovating" that shrine into a shiny new temple or whatever.

 

[evonannoredars]

Ah yes. However, are these -2 to something really meaningful?

Not hugely but I'd like to know what yield it is I'm decreasing because I like to stay reasonably aware of how my yields are changing.
But also, building a new yield building on a different tile would give a bigger yield increase than overbuilding the outdated building of the same yield. Eg. overbuilding an exploration science building on an antiquity science one would give you 4 less science than building it on a new tile would. (new yield + old 2 yield vs new yield - overbuilt 2 yield). When the base yield of a new building is only 6 or 8 or so, that's a not-insignificant difference.

 

[Siptah]

I just want to choose which building I’m overbuilding.

And I really dislike that the UI always suggests earlier unique improvements to overbuild, because they have apparently a free slot…

 

[moondog385]

Overbuild because I don’t wanna lose my farm tiles.

 

[Evolena]

But also, building a new yield building on a different tile would give a bigger yield increase than overbuilding the outdated building of the same yield. Eg. overbuilding an exploration science building on an antiquity science one would give you 4 less science than building it on a new tile would. (new yield + old 2 yield vs new yield - overbuilt 2 yield). When the base yield of a new building is only 6 or 8 or so, that's a not-insignificant difference.

You're right.
But in this case, if I had to choose, I would very much prefer to see the maintenance cost being displayed (as it is when placing a Specialist), because these -2/3 Gold and/or -2/3 Happiness really add up. And then you would have to choose between (+6 Science -3 Gold -3 Happiness +2 Science -2 Gold -2 Happiness = +8 Science -5 Gold -5 Happiness) and (+6 Science -3 Gold -3 Happiness -2 Science +2 Gold +2 Happiness = +4 Science -1 Gold -1 Happiness)

 

[wesplaysciv]

True, hadn't considered maintenance costs!
Only issue with certain adjacencies is that the optimal place in one era might be different to the optimal place in another, as where your city can reach changes, you have more wonders and resources change. That's why I think a bonus for overbuilding the same type would be interesting, keeping the old science or whatever spots viable.

I believe that at least excluding uniques, the adjacencies are the same for building type across ages

 

[UWHabs]

You're right.
But in this case, if I had to choose, I would very much prefer to see the maintenance cost being displayed (as it is when placing a Specialist), because these -2/3 Gold and/or -2/3 Happiness really add up. And then you would have to choose between (+6 Science -3 Gold -3 Happiness +2 Science -2 Gold -2 Happiness = +8 Science -5 Gold -5 Happiness) and (+6 Science -3 Gold -3 Happiness -2 Science +2 Gold +2 Happiness = +4 Science -1 Gold -1 Happiness)

I get why they're not, in that as you show there there's a lot of yields and it does get clustered. But at the same time, now that I know that, I am a lot more conscious about it. I know how much I seemingly care if my building is getting +4 happiness or +5 happiness depending on what tile it's on, when you know about overbuilding suddenly it might be better to place it in the worse spot so that it saves you in maintenance.