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Spiffor
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CPA - Evil Clone brigade
Nov 2001
time: 06:23
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We're the Legoland, we strive to build plenty things, and we strive to show the viability of a builder strategy in a MP game.
But, in order to survive and to absorb our rivals into our great infrastructure and culture, we have to think our strategy thoroughly. The ancient era will be especially tricky for us, because it'll probably be full of wars between the bloodthirty teams.
We have to be very careful in our building decisions, and we have to avoid building useless improvements... Here's my annotated list of ancient buildings :
Some theory
I can speak of the "rentability" of some buildings. To do this, I use rush-equivalents to shields:
When you rush a building with money, you pay 4 gold per rushed shield, hence 4 gold = 1 shield.
When you rush a building with people, you get 1 citizen = 20 shields. Cities get a citizen every 20 food, so 20 food=20 shields. Hence 1 food = 1 shield
This is a purely theoretical model, and it cannot fit any building precisely, but helps to know if a building is a waste or not.
Barracks
Cost 40 shields. Makes all land units produced in the city veteran. Allows units to be upgraded. Repairs land units in the city in one turn. Upkeep 1 gold.
Very good improvement, to be built early IMO. With veteran units, we have to build fewer units for the same efficiency, or we have a better military with the same number of units (whatever you want). Also, the ability to upgrade will allow us to upgrade warriors to swordsmen with only money, which could be extremely helpful if we are at war when we connect to Iron.
I don't think we should build barracks in all our cities, but in every core cities (these could build most of our military, while the more remote cities build their improvements slowly). It should be one of our first priorities, as soon as we're discovered by a bloodthirsty Civ.
Granary
Cost 60 shields. City needs twice less food to grow. Upkeep 1 gold.
This improvement should be built in our city dedicated to wonder-building (to have the needed workforce quickly), and in the cities dedicated to churn out workers, should we have one.
Also, if we have access to many luxuries (min. 2 or 3), we'll be able to poprush often, because we'll have enough happiness to afford it. Granaries will help having the sacrifiable population quickly.
IMO, granaries should be built everywhere we need workforce before temples, once the REX (Rapid EXpansion) period is over.
If our cities are in grasslands or irrigated plains, they'll get a new citizen every 5 turns instead of 10. According to my theory, granary's cost will be recovered in 15 turns.
Temple
Cost 60 shields. Makes 1 unhappy citizen content. Generates 2 culture. Upkeep 1 gold.
We're playing Monarch, i.e we have max. 4 citizens in a city before it's in unrest (2 base contentment + 2 policing units). If we have only one luxury, we'll need a temple to have size-6 calm cities. If we don't have any luxuries, temples will be needed to get to pop. 5.
Also, temples will generate twice more culture after 1000 years (like any other cultural building), meaning we should build them as soon as possible, to profit from the great lenght of the turns in early game.
I suggest we build those in every border city once REX is over, and that we build those right after granaries in cities which need them.
City walls
Cost 20 shields. Gives +50% bonus to defending units in the city if it's less than size 7. Upkeep : none.
Walls are basically a waste of shields. They are outdated as soon as the city grows to 7, and don't provide the impressive bonus they provided in Civ2. We should build them only in border cities which are threatened by a bloodthirsty team (and bring units in that city from behind our lines).
Library
Cost 80 shields. Raises science output by +50%. Generates 3 culture. Upkeep 1 gold.
Libraries are good to build once we have a stable territory. With their 3 culture, they are a cheap source of culture, and can boost our science significantly, if we have a high science output.
However, in a raw economic basis, these 80 shields represent 320 gold (320 bulbs). In a city which produces 10 bulbs per turn, the library would produce 5 bulbs per turn, and the investment would have been rentabilized in 70 turns 
Libraries are an expansive improvement if we take it only for its scientific value, so we should build them only when we're sure there are no short-term threats, and we should build them in a city which can compete in the wonder-race (and get culture in the process).
Courthouse
Cost 80 shields. Reduces corruption in the city. Upkeep 1 gold.
We builders will probably won't have many cities in the acient era. AFAIK, courthouses only reduce corruption from the # of cities, not corruption from distance. Plus, we are commercial, and get bonuses against coruuption. Building courthouses will hence be completely useless in the ancient era.
Harbor
Cost 80 shields. +1 food in each sea/ocean tile worked in the city. Produces veteran ships. Ships are completely healed in the city in one turn. Allows sea-trade. Upkeep 1 gold.
We just have to read the list of features to understand how fantastic a harbor is. It should be built very soon in all coastal cities, and as a top priority in any coastal city which has a crappy land around it (desert, jungle). Harbors allow rotten cities to become flourishing hubs of trade and commerce (2 commerce per sea tile under despotism). If we are near the cost, we shouldn't hesitate sending settlers in rotten coastal places once there is no more good land to settle, because harbors will make them valuable.
Harbors basically double the food output of a crappy coastal city, and will be rentabilized in less than 30 turns.
Aqueduct
Cost 100 shields. Allows a city to grow past size 6. Upkeep 1 gold.
Aqueducts are very valuable if we don't have happiness problems. It will allow us to have a higher workforce, which will help in the wonder-race. However, if we continue to have a poprushing strategy by the time of Aqueducts, we should avoid them : a size-6 city needs 40 food for one more citizen, i.e twice as much as a smaller city. We won't be able to poprush as quickly in a too big city.
Also, size-7+ cities give a +50% defensive bonus to defending units, and we should encourage such a size in our core cities.
Colosseum
Cost 120 shields. Generates 2 culture. 2 unhappy citizens are content. Upkeep 2 gold.
Colosseums are an inferior version of Cathedrals. They should be avoided if we're near discovering Monotheism. However, they can do good if we're in need of an urgent happiness fix, or if we have to build more culture. I consider them to be at a very low priority.
Marketplace
Cost 100 shields. Gold output in the city +50%. Raises happiness coming from luxuries, from the third lux. Upkeep 1 gold.
If we have 2 luxuries or less, we should be very prudent before building marketplaces. They cost very much if we only consider their +50% gold (a city producing 10 gold will need 80 turns for the marketplace to be worth it ). In this case, we should build them only in very rich cities, or cities which don't have anything else to build, including military units. Since marketplaces don't generate culture, it wouldn't hurt not to build them until later.
Now, If we have 3 luxuries or more, marketplaces become much more valuable. With only 3 luxuries, it acts like a temple (+1 happy citizen), with 4 luxuries like a colosseum (+2 happy citizens), and like Cathedral+Temple with 5 luxuries (+4 happy citizens). If we have many luxuries, marketplaces will be a much cheaper and faster way to get to size 12 than collosseums and cathedrals. They would still be useless in cities without aqueduct or nearby rivers, except if we massively poprush in these cities.
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19-11-2002 19:57
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