[GS] Unique District Vs. Unique Improvement Vs. Unique building?

[Pure24]

Of course it depends with what the bonuses are; but as a general rule, which one gives Civs the biggest advantage - those with unique districts, buildings, or improvements?

How about forcing you to play the most unique playstyle?

PS: any exceptions to the rule welcome. That is, to include the Unique Ability that is extra powerful/useless (you lose points for mentioning Georgia, shame on you!)

 

[Isengardtom]

In general I find the unique districts always strong. In part because they are available early

Some unique buildings don’t kick in until later in the game (hockey rinks, chateau,...) and in general, anything that kicks in later is weaker

 

[Pure24]

In general I find the unique districts always strong. In part because they are available early

Some unique buildings don’t kick in until later in the game (hockey rinks, chateau,...) and in general, anything that kicks in later is weaker

Okay... later is weaker. Great tip, thanks

 

[ezzlar]

A unique district is half construction cost. So that´s my pick.

 

[The googles do nothing]

Unique districts (UD) are half price, unique buildings (UB) are full price, and unique improvements (UI) are the cost of one builder charge. From a cost perspective UI>UD>>>UB.

 

[XplosiveLun]

Unique improvements are more suitable for wide play. Builders are always cheaper than districts so you can always field many of those. Builders can also come from peaceful or expansive approaches, such as Audience Hall's bonus, hard-building from city. Under right circumstances, Unique improvements have absurd yields.

 

[leandrombraz]

Unique districts are powerful just for the fact that they're cheaper, so it win this comparison if we don't consider the actual bonus of each item. Playing as Phoenicia, for example, I couldn't care less about the Cothon bonus, what made it powerful was the fact that it was easy to build one in new cities I settled, which was essential to my strategy of spamming settlers and settling everywhere (I got 40+ cities, only 3 conquered and around the same through loyalty).

Unique improvements are hard to justify using unless they are truly good, because it compete with normal improvements that sometimes are better on that tile. If we don't consider the bonus, they're dead weight and can easily go unused. Unique buildings have nothing special aside form the bonus, so depends solely on what each gives.

 

[iammaxhailme]

Districts are the most actually powerful.

Impovements are the most fun and satisfying IMO.

I don't like unique buildings most of the time, becuase it funnels you into building certain districts. Usually it's ones that make sense for the civ at least, but there are a certain couple that I may not make its district if there wasn't a unique building... Norway, Aztec, Hungary...

 

[Foulweather]

Half price districts are the most powerful. I find that the unique districts really define my style of play, whereas improvements and buildings merely complement the play style, and I’ll build them if appropriate.

Unique buildings are usually worth building, assuming it’s in a district that fits your win condition (Marae, Sukiennice, and Madrasa for example being great, Stave Church being not worth building unless you’re reaching for a religion win, the production bonus isn’t worth building the Holy Site and Shrine otherwise).

There are two types of improvements. Only one per city improvements like the Golf Course and Open-Air Museum can be really powerful, and cheap (one Builder can build at least 3 of them). I find the spammable improvements in general (Chateau, Stepwell) are weak, because they take up valuable physical space and they have to be designed not to break the game if you build them everywhere, though there can be exceptions (I really like the Kampung).

 

[kaspergm]

Unique districts (UD) are half price, unique buildings (UB) are full price, and unique improvements (UI) are the cost of one builder charge. From a cost perspective UI>UD>>>UB.

I don't understand that logic. UI are 1 builder charge, same as any other improvement. So if the improvement doesn't offer anything worthwhile (which has been the case for quite a few of them, although things are less bad than they used to be), that's going to be a wasted builder charge.

I'd say UD >>> UI > UB.

The half price district is a pretty massive bonus.

 

[Bibor]

I’d take the terrace farm or ziggurat over most unique districts, just as rarely if ever start bias comes into discussion: riverside bias is the most powerful of all.

 

[Sostratus]

Most people do find UDs to be the best.

If we just go by opportunity cost, almost every UD is a strict improvement over whatever it replaces. So not only is it half cost, but since you were going to build it anyways you are getting a straight bonus. Look at a seowon. You were already going to build a campus. The seowon is giving you free science just for building it plus it buffs the adjacent tiles. That's up to +10 free yield plus half cost for something you were going to do anyways. If I proposed a civ ability that was "+10 yield in all cities" you would say i'm a madman, but that's what a seowon really is.
Buildings are a similar logic, although for some reason the great majority of buildings are quite milquetoast compared to unique district effects. Except the Maori Marae, which is mind-meltingly good.

Improvements are a problem because any improvement except the kampung replaces something you would have put there, and this is usually a farm or mine, which are very high yield improvements. Why would you sacrifice a mine tile to build a sphinx when you already have holy site spam for all your faith needs? Etc. Ziggurats offer something you really can't get elsewhere early on (uber free science+culture) and terrace farms and outback stations have wild yields - making them superior to the farms and mines they replace. Outbacks in particular can go on the desert, where you would otherwise have empty space. Kampungs don't replace anything, they are just free turbo yield that coastal cities otherwise struggle with (prod and housing.) That's why those improvements are so good - either you are just getting more for free (outback, terrace) or the alternative is to simply not have anything (outback on desert, Kampung) or it's Sumerian and thus OP (ziggurat.)

This same reasoning is also why the Brazilian UDs aren't so hot. Sure, you get an extra amenity for building them, but the unique project requires you to not build other stuff. Usually you'd rather build other stuff.

Let's not forget that on release UDs used to not even take a district slot - they changed that real quick!

 

[Foulweather]

Not yet having played every civ, so far I'll say my favorite improvements are the Open-Air Museum (ridiculous Culture), the Kampung and Outback Station (great growth and production on low-value tiles), the Golf Course (directly improves Scottish Enlightenment), and Terrace Farms (take up mine tiles unfortunately, but also give food/production to mountains, which you can work with Inca's huge cities and would otherwise be worthless). Haven't played Sumer yet, but am looking forward to getting nice early-game science from the Ziggurat.

Film Studios and Electronics Factories came too late in the game to be much use. I never even built a Thermal Bath. The Tsikhe... well, I foolishly built them for the Faith, but investing in three sets of city walls just for that Tourism and Faith wasn't worth it. That one still needs to be buffed.

I also have yet to play Aztec. Will I even build a Tlachtli?

 

[iammaxhailme]

This same reasoning is also why the Brazilian UDs aren't so hot. Sure, you get an extra amenity for building them, but the unique project requires you to not build other stuff. Usually you'd rather build other stuff.

Yeah. I usually just do one street carnival because...well, I feel like I should. Role playing? And then I go back to rushing wonders and building theater square districts

 

[kaspergm]

Let's not forget that on release UDs used to not even take a district slot - they changed that real quick!

Day 0 Germany with half prized Hansas that stacked and didn't take a district slot was so OP. Those were good times.

 

[Sostratus]

I also have yet to play Aztec. Will I even build a Tlachtli?

You will for the same reason everyone does. You need it for the Colosseum.
And because, as nice as the aztecs' +2 amenities per lux is, you'e going to need zoos and stadiums eventually.
It's a pretty low grade UB, but, the other aztec abilities are so overwhelming that the tlachtli isn't even necessary.

Day 0 Germany with half prized Hansas that stacked and didn't take a district slot was so OP. Those were good times.

When every city had +10 amenities and 200 production from aura buildings? When people were complaining that they had too much production and there was nothing to build?
It was indeed a different time and place. I'm glad they changed it, I just wish we hadn't had 2 years of production dark ages following it.

 

[lotrmith]

Of course it depends with what the bonuses are; but as a general rule, which one gives Civs the biggest advantage - those with unique districts, buildings, or improvements?

How about forcing you to play the most unique playstyle?

PS: any exceptions to the rule welcome. That is, to include the Unique Ability that is extra powerful/useless (you lose points for mentioning Georgia, shame on you!)

District > Tile Improvement > Building > Unit as a general rule unless your UU is an ancient or classical. The earlier you can benefit from an ability, the stronger it is. Units like War carts, Saka Archers, Immortals, and Pitari Archers are thus some of the strongest things in the entire game.

 

[Pure24]

Two points. Firstly, I wonder why the devs don't dramatically increase the yields of late-game buildings to compensate for the advantages of the snowball.
It would be a cool, not to mention different, strategy. You play catch up most of the game before kicking in the +10 culture film studio (+20 when powered). It would even make people playing the early game panic, force them to rush a victory before this kicks in. Just to bring some variety; basically, the late-game equivalent of seeing a half dozen War Carts headed for your Canadian civ's border.

Secondly, why aren't unique buildings half-cost? Seems really unfair.
Also, what's up with Georgia?! Maybe if they had half-cost ancient walls which provided faith and culture (or an additional combat strength, or the equivalent of Victor's 'Garrison Commander' or 'Defense Logistics' promotion...)

 

[UWHabs]

I'd generally agree with the above. Although I do feel some of the UI are awesome, and while they may not strictly be as powerful, it's so satisfying to create a massive terrace farm chain, or to build outback stations on an entire continent, or to have that perfect lake or sea channel for polders.

But half price UD are still awesome, except for the fact that you can't get the +3 era score for adjacency on them like you would a normal district, so in that sense, they do provide a little bit less of a bonus. But that's such a minor factor compared to saving tons of production. I still can't for the life of me understand why they haven't made UB half price to match the UD bonus. Just makes no sense to me.

 

[King of Prussia]

for me its UD first, then either UB or UI depending on the quality of said item. UB would be better if they were half off like districts or made far stronger in general to compete. UI cost to make are fine, its mainly what they provide and on what tiles that make them good or not.