Most and least interesting UB's?

[Dom Pedro II]

This isn't really a best and worst comparison. I'm not so interested in which you think is the most and least useful. I'm more interested in which you think is really cool and which is rather boring. Is it the history behind the building? The bonus it gives? Which puts a smile on your face and which puts you to sleep?

My choices:

Cool: Sacrificial Altar - Sure, it appeals to the darker aspect of our nature, but it's a friggin' sacrificial altar! I could really care less what it's ability was.

Boring: Baray - I'm not against the Baray as a concept, but the +1 Food seems really uninspired regardless of whether it may ever be useful.

 

[nbcman]

Boring: Hippodrome - Gives +1 for horses but loses the ability to hire Artist Specialists or Salon - +1 free Artist = Great Person Point pollution in my GP farm

Cool: Ikanda - Reduces maintenance by 20% and double speed build for Shaka (Agg leader building barracks).

 

[r_rolo1]

I hate the Portuguese UB. Graphically it is a pastiche between Belem's Tower ( see left ) and a round castle tower, and that alone would be enough for me to dislike it. Second, the name was awfully chosen : Feitoria was a Portuguese commercial outpost in foreign lands ( much in line of the Venetian and Genoese neighbourhoods in the Middle East in the middle ages ). Third, it is awfully expensive for the effect it has.

The UB I like the most is the American mall. It is, without doubt one of the top notch UB if we forget it comes late as hell . I also like the Korean one: extremely powerful if you play it right....

 

[Dom Pedro II]

I hate the Portuguese UB. Graphically it is a pastiche between Belem's Tower ( see left ) and a round castle tower, and that alone would be enough for me to dislike it. Second, the name was awfully chosen : Feitoria was a Portuguese commercial outpost in foreign lands ( much in line of the Venetian and Genoese neighbourhoods in the Middle East in the middle ages ).

Sounds like you should be building it in other civilizations then

What would you suggest as a better alternative to the Feitoria?

The UB I like the most is the American mall. It is, without doubt one of the top notch UB if we forget it comes late as hell . I also like the Korean one: extremely powerful if you play it right....

See, while the Seowon can be powerful, I don't really think it's all that interesting. It gives +35% science instead of +25%, which while useful, seems a little dull. It doesn't really do something different. It just does something the basic building does but better. I'd put the Rathaus in the same category. Very useful, but to me it lacks a certain level of creativity.

 

[Ghpstage]

To me the interesting Ub's are the ones that add some features that have to be played, or are quite different and good.
The Obelisk is one of my favs, I like the Dun and Hippodrome and Madrassa also, a lot of others too.
The ones I find boring are things like the Stock Exchange and Seowen that while good are just an improvement on the original and nothing more.

**nbc Hippodromes also give extra per culture slider level compared to the Theatre making it very useful in major wars.

 

[Stoney the I]

The Viking Lighthouse (trading port i think?) looks really cool!

 

[r_rolo1]

I hate the Portuguese UB. Graphically it is a pastiche between Belem's Tower ( see left ) and a round castle tower, and that alone would be enough for me to dislike it. Second, the name was awfully chosen : Feitoria was a Portuguese commercial outpost in foreign lands ( much in line of the Venetian and Genoese neighbourhoods in the Middle East in the middle ages ).

Sounds like you should be building it in other civilizations then

What would you suggest as a better alternative to the Feitoria?

Fixed the quote tag in here

Well, to you first observation: I've been entertaining a idea since vanilla for a mod where you can make some mini-GM that can make some kind of "building" in foreign cities with some kind of economical effect ( assured trade route with that city for a example ). That would be a nice Feitoria

About the second: it is buried somewhere in a old thread my opinion: I would had prefered a harbor that gives XP or a economical bonus for the Portuguese UB

See, while the Seowon can be powerful, I don't really think it's all that interesting. It gives +35% science instead of +25%, which while useful, seems a little dull. It doesn't really do something different. It just does something the basic building does but better. I'd put the Rathaus in the same category. Very useful, but to me it lacks a certain level of creativity.

Sure.... but most of the UB suffer from that. You can discount maybe the aztec and the Sumerian ones, but it is not much more.....

 

[Zack]

Boring: Garden - I have one of those. Very boring indeed.

Cool: Hammam - I like ham.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

I like the UBs that are almost complete alterations of the original function or open up bizarre play, such as Sac. Alter, Cothon, Trading Post, Dike (though I still hate the dike orgy), and so forth as MOST INTERESTING.

Least interesting are just finite health/happy bonuses such as hammam or garden. However, despite the fact that they're not particularly interesting, they're damned useful. I'd take the hammam over the cothon in many games, for example, but even so the cothon is more interesting.

 

[Antilogic]

I like the UBs that are almost complete alterations of the original function or open up bizarre play, such as Sac. Alter, Cothon, Trading Post, Dike (though I still hate the dike orgy), and so forth as MOST INTERESTING.

Least interesting are just finite health/happy bonuses such as hammam or garden. However, despite the fact that they're not particularly interesting, they're damned useful. I'd take the hammam over the cothon in many games, for example, but even so the cothon is more interesting.

Exactly right. I disagree with nbcman and I'll put down the Hippodrome as an interesting building. It gives you unparalleled power with the Culture slider to make your people happy, at the expense of the artist specialists (unless you pick the Caste System civic). I also like the Greek UB, the Odeon, because not only is it very powerful, but it also gives you the option in the opposite direction: you can run extra artists and get loads of culture. Makes a Culture win a lot easier.

I'll throw down the Totem Pole as another interesting UB, although I haven't managed to use it yet (I still haven't played a game as Sitting Bull). You could make offensive stacks consisting of a much larger fraction of archery units, with only a handful of maces with city raider for the actual assaults on cities. Is it objectively the "best"? Maybe not. Still different, though.

The extra healths and happies are decent bonuses, like TMIT said, just not the most interesting because several Civs have them.

 

[PieceOfMind]

I think the Hippodrome is pretty neat since it relies on 5% slider adjustments. If I want to play as Justinian I'll actually go and make the single XML change so sliders are adjusted in 5%.

	<Define>
		<DefineName>COMMERCE_PERCENT_CHANGE_INCREMENTS</DefineName>
		<iDefineIntVal>[S]10[/S] [B]5[/B]</iDefineIntVal>
	</Define>

Maybe I'm obsessive compulsive but if a building mentions 5% adjustments then damnit I want those 5% adjustments!

 

[Bast]

Interesting UBs are those that make otherwise boring buildings interesting.

Jails and Coliseums come to mind. Jails become Mausoleums with the Indians and the added happiness is like the equivalent of building two temples. With jails in place, you're more likely to use them for some warring.

Boring but powerful are building that give extra to what they already do like a Stock Exchange. Who doesn't want more money. But it's boring.

 

[PhroX]

I like the UBs that are almost complete alterations of the original function or open up bizarre play, such as Sac. Alter, Cothon, Trading Post, Dike (though I still hate the dike orgy), and so forth as MOST INTERESTING.

Least interesting are just finite health/happy bonuses such as hammam or garden. However, despite the fact that they're not particularly interesting, they're damned useful. I'd take the hammam over the cothon in many games, for example, but even so the cothon is more interesting.

My thoughts exactly.

 

[Fei Kelei]

The Trading Post is a fun UB on any water-heavy map, especially combined with Berserkers for really fast amphibious attacks. It's definitely my favorite if we're just talking about the most interesting UB as opposed to the best.

 

[mushutoku]

Cool: Research Institute. 2 free scientist! Can you do more?

Not so cool: Shale Plant, but maybe just because I build the Three Gorges Dam any time that I can. Even cheating, if it is necessary....

 

[Cashew]

Ziggurat is easily the most interesting UB for me as it allows the strongest and earliest start of an espionage economy in the game.

 

[Dom Pedro II]

I'm liking a lot of the feedback I'm getting, and I'm glad I phrased the question the way I did because it seems I'm not alone in thinking that the most useful UBs are not always the most interesting ones. But it's also cool to see what people consider to be interesting. Some people like ones that are weird or offer an alternative (rather than augmented) gameplay, and some like it when they make unimportant building classes more useful (such as the Jail/Mausoleum example).

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Ziggurat is easily the most interesting UB for me as it allows the strongest and earliest start of an espionage economy in the game.

Not to mention a faster REX speed with shorter recovery on a leader that's already CRE. If I'd thought of it before I'd have mentioned it in my first post here too. It's a really good UB with several unique advantages.

 

[blitzkrieg1980]

Awesome: Obelisk, Ziggurat, Dike (yeah I've read all the threads )

Lame: ... Salon? Can't think of one really... Baray?

 

[mike p]

I think the Stele is pretty useless for most games, and boring. If you're not going for a cultural victory you probably don't need to build monuments anyway since the only Ethiopian leader is CRE already. The Dun is pretty lame too, but at least both of the Celtic leaders have decent traits.

Most interesting is probably the sacrificial altar, because it encourages and rewards bloodlust and a bit of roleplaying, so it's high on flavor.