Your building queue?

[sourboy]

What's the best order of build in general, assuming the city has all available tech upgrades and sufficient defenses?

I tend to build a temple, library, market, (repeat with building types) - with a military and population growth added at the obvious times.

I'm wondering if it's better to go all research builds, or all commercial builds or the likes in a new city. I tend to go by the game's flow, but sometimes it's a city that otherwise seems to have little reason to worry about it, and so I tend to focus on research improvements first (with the occasional morale buildings if needed).

Is there a good strategy with this, or is it just a 'decide at that moment based on the circumstances' thing?

 

[Tomoyo]

Barracks, attackers, attackers, and more attackers. Oh, and maybe a granary.

 

[Grogs]

Well, simply put it depends. It's going to depend on what level you're playing at, what sort of victory condition you're after, and if you're concerned about your score. If you're after a high score, Tomoyo's suggestion is probably the best. Reaching the domination limit quickly and milking the game until 2049 should result in the highest score. If you're after a conquest/domination victory this is going to be your best route also.

Most of the time I'm not really playing for score though, so other factors will be involved. If I plan to be doing most of my own research throughout the game (a spaceship game on Warlord for example), I'll build libraries and universities in my core cities. Conversely, if I'm at a higher level and getting most of my research from the AI's, I'll build markets and banks. Libraries are useless (actually worse than useless) if you're running 0% research. Conversely, marketplaces are much less useful (you still get happiness) and banks are useless if you're running 100% science. If you plan to be doing one or the other for most of the game, plan accordingly.

I rarely build temples/cathedrals except in very large (usually 15+) cities that I can't keep happy otherwise. The exception would be a town where I want to get some cultural growth (to reach Dom. limit, capture a resource, etc.) In most cases though I find that plopping down another town is just as effective.

Totally corrupt areas tend to get *no* improvements at all. I generally set these cities to produce workers, settlers, or artillery. Libraries/markets/etc are worthless in a totally corrupt city. Maximize food instead (irrigate everything you can around the town) and use specialists. It's not uncommon to get 4 specialists in a size 6 town. Multiplied by dozens of towns, these specialists can really add up, especially in conquests.