Temple or Library?

[Jazzmail]

There is a point where a temple or library can be justified in order to work a whale tile. A library is without question the better choice here (if available).

There's a few exceptions where you might want a temple instead of a lib here:

1. town is corrupt: just a few coins means a 50% science bonus doesn't do much or anything at all. That temple, making the fish tile available and making another happy farmer/fisher can support some scientists, producing more beakers, at a smaller initial investment.

2. the town is actually quite good (shields,river,food,etc.) and close to the capital, but you also want to build a Wonder there, so you build the temple and you let it grow to support many more productive citizens.
(increasing the lux slider here may be wasteful as you don't need too many happy faces in the smaller towns; you can add the lib later).

 

[civverguy]

I think building a temple or library depends on what percent you're spending on science and what percent you're spending on entertainment.

 

[AutomatedTeller]

I build temples when:

A) I am not scientific and need a culture expansion and can't easily plop down a city, like next to another civ or on the coast.
B) I am going for a cultural victory
C) I have few luxes and I want some cathedrals, especially if I have Sistine chapel.
D) If I need a 1 more content face in a city... but usually, I just build a market.

 

[Ansar]

I build both Temples and Libraries.
I don't build Cathedrals, but I do build Universities.

 

[PaperBeetle]

There are plenty of situations in which I build temples. But I begrudge them all. There are also plenty of situations in which I build libraries. I like those situations a whole lot more.