Things you never build...

[Jabarto]

Why not? They give you a good production bonus and they are the first power plant available.

I can sorta relate to this. They cause catastrophic amounts of pollution if you have coal and oil; In my last game with the Persians, I had all three Granary resources (Rice, Wheat, Corn), Fish, Clams, and every Market resource that raises health, in addition to the health bonus that the Persian Markets get. Furthermore I had environmentalism, public transportation, fresh water and 4 patches of forest in my capital, and the unhealthiness ratio was at something like 36:33. My factory + Coal plant was putting out nearly 10 pollution points on top of my 20ish population.

 

[brianshapiro]

does anyone think that the designers should have programmed things so that forts look like they're built around canals when they connect two shores? knowing that the game adapts to a lot of terrain features in other places it seems like this should have been no problem from a design perspective.

 

[Rockstone]

I don't built castles either, the extra trade is nice (there is usually no need for the extra defense), but they are too quickly obsolete.

I built forts just for the fun of it. It kind of looks nice to build a fort on some land lock but there has never been any defensive need. In BtS forts have become a little more useful, but not that much.

 

[MrWhereItsAt]

Apart from the Espionage bonus and the extra trade route, Castles are (or were, in Warlords at least) SPECTACULAR for Spain. With a Barracks, you can start Trebs/Cats/Cannons off having 2 promotions - now THAT's cool. And if you have an instructor settled, that gets even better.

I never build Colosseums still, and before BtS never bothered with Jails and rarely with Hospitals. Now Jails get the Esp bonus and health is more critical than before, so I find myself needing them both. I still never build Coal Plants though - I just wait until something better, which usually isn't hard since Coal Plants often arrive before I've even built the Factories.

I can't see myself resisting clearing forests long enough to ever build the National Park/Reserve whatever it's called, despite its great bonus.

 

[DrJambo]

Does anyone think that musketmen should have been 10 strength as opposed to 9?

 

[baboonfan]

Does anyone think that musketmen should have been 10 strength as opposed to 9?

Yes perhaps, they should get some kind of bonus against stacks of longbowmen.

I almost never build colosseums and explorers. I haven't gotten to the modern era yet though.

 

[RedRalph]

I still dont get why so many people build windmills over mines. I always hear that in the late game thats what you should do, but why? Surely by then your population will be big enough that you can work all squares in the fat cross and have a good few specialists?