How do the experienced players build up their regions?
Right now I build a little of everything (Agriculture, Health, Infrastructure and Culture), aiming for 3 buildings of each so to access the Tier 2 structures at least, even if I don't plan on growing much past 20 Pop. But maybe I'm doing it wrong.
What do you think is the ebst build strategy?
[STRATEGY] Region build order and priority?
Moderator: Pocus
Re: [STRATEGY] Region build order and priority?
if you are a poor nation, then anything that costs 0 slots must be taken. Equally in this situation, not buidling everywhere and trying to focus your regions is essential.
if you start in a decent situation, then I'd agree with broad base for all then have a think. There are a few tier III buildings you really want at least one of in your Empire, but for many regions, you can keep it broad. If you are Hellene, you get such good commerce buildings you don't need too many so could focus on culture etc. For food, often the least important but there are some nice tier III buildings with secondary bonus (canals=papyrus, mills=loyalty), so get some regions up to level III in the food focus buildings
if you start in a decent situation, then I'd agree with broad base for all then have a think. There are a few tier III buildings you really want at least one of in your Empire, but for many regions, you can keep it broad. If you are Hellene, you get such good commerce buildings you don't need too many so could focus on culture etc. For food, often the least important but there are some nice tier III buildings with secondary bonus (canals=papyrus, mills=loyalty), so get some regions up to level III in the food focus buildings
Re: [STRATEGY] Region build order and priority?
Specialize your regions to provide for the overall province!
Every county does not necessarily need 3 food production buildings (at least at start).
For me, I tend to aim for food in plains (because in open terrain, you can upgrade farms to large farms and add mills/granaries later on),
industry pretty much everywhere (but forests/hills/mountains getting priority for warehouses/builder halls).
If you're Celtic, spam Celtic Craftsman (with strategic placement of tools and weapons, it's an insane 12 infra for super low investment) + Cattle Pens everywhere,
they're that good, especially if if you can supply both nuts (Celtic Druid Covenants, a T2 culture building that can be built in forest terrain where there are no walls) and grain (large farms).
I also try to get Health Buildings as they get crazy good as population rises, saving you insane amounts of food long-term.
As such, try to get Salt+Smokehouse asap as they both provide +5 food and +8% health + provide internal trade revenue if you own cattle/salt.
Also ideally, you want to get them first, as a priority in tier 1, before you open tier 2, because otherwise they can be hard to get, since tier 1 has ~5 building options in most cases, so reshuffling or building other things to try to get either one to pop is well worth it.
Since early population costs aren't super high, it's okay to delay building other health buildings until you've managed to get both salt and smokehouses online.
Health Bonus caps out at 65% though, so plan ahead. You won't need a Hospital+Stadium in every county (indeed not in most).
On that note, I find Herbalist and Swamp Draining largely worthless, long-term, because they provide nothing really 'extra'.
Manpower shouldn't be a huge problem in most cases (and a gymnasium/stadium would provide a bit more).
You might want one herbalist, because it can sometimes upgrade to a master herbalist (but it is a national wonder, so one available to build in the entire country), as it can import Drugs and Medicine (which in itself, is somewhat rare on the map, and not necessarily something in trade range), for bonuses to other buildings.
It also can provide 8 culture per each bonus resource (Figs/Honey/Nuts/Dates), so if you have several of those, it can be worth building it for the culture alone.
I think Commerce is something I develop the least, only done in provinces that already have a high incomes from other sources:
Natural trade goods or manufactured cattle/salt/lead/tin/wine/etc in 3-5 region radius, gold/silver mines, etc.
Although if as Celts, Blacksmith-> (+2 other tier 1 commerce buildings, but not Crafter District, because it unlocks a lot of commerce buildings, that make getting the one you want harder) - > Tools Manufacture, can be quite useful, because of the Celtic Craftsman getting +4 bonus.
If you want to really min-max, you can abuse the fact that regions in a province, share all of their production.
This means that in a 5 region province, you can complete 5 things that will all finish in maybe 10 turns each.
This means any output from this buildings will not come online until 10 turns pass.
OR you can complete 1 building in 2 turns. Then another building 2 turns after that, and another, etc.
Meaning you will start receiving whatever food/infra/gold/culture it produces 8 turns earlier.
And the 2nd building 6 turns earlier.
And if some of those buildings are infrastructure providers?
That might result in the next buildings coming online faster.
meaning that instead of 5 buildings in 10 turns, you can get 6 or 7 or even more.
Also, most importantly, do not be afraid to reshuffle! If all the buildings offered are bad, redraw.
Every county does not necessarily need 3 food production buildings (at least at start).
For me, I tend to aim for food in plains (because in open terrain, you can upgrade farms to large farms and add mills/granaries later on),
industry pretty much everywhere (but forests/hills/mountains getting priority for warehouses/builder halls).
If you're Celtic, spam Celtic Craftsman (with strategic placement of tools and weapons, it's an insane 12 infra for super low investment) + Cattle Pens everywhere,
they're that good, especially if if you can supply both nuts (Celtic Druid Covenants, a T2 culture building that can be built in forest terrain where there are no walls) and grain (large farms).
I also try to get Health Buildings as they get crazy good as population rises, saving you insane amounts of food long-term.
As such, try to get Salt+Smokehouse asap as they both provide +5 food and +8% health + provide internal trade revenue if you own cattle/salt.
Also ideally, you want to get them first, as a priority in tier 1, before you open tier 2, because otherwise they can be hard to get, since tier 1 has ~5 building options in most cases, so reshuffling or building other things to try to get either one to pop is well worth it.
Since early population costs aren't super high, it's okay to delay building other health buildings until you've managed to get both salt and smokehouses online.
Health Bonus caps out at 65% though, so plan ahead. You won't need a Hospital+Stadium in every county (indeed not in most).
On that note, I find Herbalist and Swamp Draining largely worthless, long-term, because they provide nothing really 'extra'.
Manpower shouldn't be a huge problem in most cases (and a gymnasium/stadium would provide a bit more).
You might want one herbalist, because it can sometimes upgrade to a master herbalist (but it is a national wonder, so one available to build in the entire country), as it can import Drugs and Medicine (which in itself, is somewhat rare on the map, and not necessarily something in trade range), for bonuses to other buildings.
It also can provide 8 culture per each bonus resource (Figs/Honey/Nuts/Dates), so if you have several of those, it can be worth building it for the culture alone.
I think Commerce is something I develop the least, only done in provinces that already have a high incomes from other sources:
Natural trade goods or manufactured cattle/salt/lead/tin/wine/etc in 3-5 region radius, gold/silver mines, etc.
Although if as Celts, Blacksmith-> (+2 other tier 1 commerce buildings, but not Crafter District, because it unlocks a lot of commerce buildings, that make getting the one you want harder) - > Tools Manufacture, can be quite useful, because of the Celtic Craftsman getting +4 bonus.
If you want to really min-max, you can abuse the fact that regions in a province, share all of their production.
This means that in a 5 region province, you can complete 5 things that will all finish in maybe 10 turns each.
This means any output from this buildings will not come online until 10 turns pass.
OR you can complete 1 building in 2 turns. Then another building 2 turns after that, and another, etc.
Meaning you will start receiving whatever food/infra/gold/culture it produces 8 turns earlier.
And the 2nd building 6 turns earlier.
And if some of those buildings are infrastructure providers?
That might result in the next buildings coming online faster.
meaning that instead of 5 buildings in 10 turns, you can get 6 or 7 or even more.
Also, most importantly, do not be afraid to reshuffle! If all the buildings offered are bad, redraw.
Re: [STRATEGY] Region build order and priority?
The region development depends a lot on the character of province it is part of. However there are still some staples I build everywhere:
- For infra the Public works is no brainer to build everywhere on first opportunity. I like to build two more industry buildings so that Regional Roads open to be built. Expert stonecutter is fantastic if marble is around. Sawmill is good. Other choices depend on availability of bonuses.
- For culture there are the three I always go for: Monument is nice zero slot culture booster. Then Oration Tribune for government building and Cult Site for religious building - these two for good decision effects and loyalty. Tavern is fantastic to bring in wine and for bonus goods. Perceptor House is good option if papyrus is around. If you are hellenic go for Theater and its upgrade Odeon. Odeon sometimes produces legacy in event. And we are already pushing for Tier 3 Culture.
- For health Clean Water is nobrainer. Then I add Salthouse/Smokehouse. It needs Salt/Cattle which is are relatively common trade goods. More income. And you have food production. Sanitation is nice if you go for Tier III health.
- Food is actually a little bit neglected in my builds. You need some trade goods production but only here and there. For instance building Salthouse is better for attracting cattle compared to ranch. I mostly build just farm as it is effective by itself and Orchard if I have bonuses. However there is one important exception: Tier 3 Irrigation Canal produces papyrus.
- Now commerce is where there is mist variety between cities. Some things like Anchorage are no brainer. If you are Hellenic/Judean you should have three commerce buildings so you get fantastic Stoa/Merchant district into rotation as possibility. The add global commerce bonus that stacks. Other than that just go for buildings you need based on bonuses.
- For infra the Public works is no brainer to build everywhere on first opportunity. I like to build two more industry buildings so that Regional Roads open to be built. Expert stonecutter is fantastic if marble is around. Sawmill is good. Other choices depend on availability of bonuses.
- For culture there are the three I always go for: Monument is nice zero slot culture booster. Then Oration Tribune for government building and Cult Site for religious building - these two for good decision effects and loyalty. Tavern is fantastic to bring in wine and for bonus goods. Perceptor House is good option if papyrus is around. If you are hellenic go for Theater and its upgrade Odeon. Odeon sometimes produces legacy in event. And we are already pushing for Tier 3 Culture.
- For health Clean Water is nobrainer. Then I add Salthouse/Smokehouse. It needs Salt/Cattle which is are relatively common trade goods. More income. And you have food production. Sanitation is nice if you go for Tier III health.
- Food is actually a little bit neglected in my builds. You need some trade goods production but only here and there. For instance building Salthouse is better for attracting cattle compared to ranch. I mostly build just farm as it is effective by itself and Orchard if I have bonuses. However there is one important exception: Tier 3 Irrigation Canal produces papyrus.
- Now commerce is where there is mist variety between cities. Some things like Anchorage are no brainer. If you are Hellenic/Judean you should have three commerce buildings so you get fantastic Stoa/Merchant district into rotation as possibility. The add global commerce bonus that stacks. Other than that just go for buildings you need based on bonuses.
Re: [STRATEGY] Region build order and priority?
I always start with 3 infra, regardless of my final plan for the region. Public Works, plus two other Tier I infra (trying to both maximize the spread of Lumber and Stone, and capitalize off them with Wheelmakers and Brickworks). After that I build Regional Roads when it appears for the trade range boost, and specialize the region from there. I've only invested 2 slots in Infra at this point, and given myself a firm base from which to build further structures.
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Re: [STRATEGY] Region build order and priority?
Great and diverse strategies 
Know though that the Stoa and the Merchant District will inflict upon you bad events if you have too many. That's a way of nerfing them to a reasonable number, while keeping them good when you have 6 or so in your country.
Know though that the Stoa and the Merchant District will inflict upon you bad events if you have too many. That's a way of nerfing them to a reasonable number, while keeping them good when you have 6 or so in your country.
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