Ideal city build order?

[Lampros]

I am so clueless... :(

[сын мясника]

depends on culture and build. so

[mk11]

1. Most times going to go for things that have Boost.
2. Unless you have a good source of them (Industrious prospecting, feudal lord, ritual cannibal) I'ld concentrate on Food and Production until have 5 pop.
3. Mostly I'ld rate the other resources in order: Research, Gold, Imperium, Mana, Draft but obviously it depends
4. Stability is something you build just before it is needed. Penalties for -ve stability are quite bad, bonuses for +ve are very good but hard to come buy just from buildings
5. Fortification, I like to have basic walls just for safety, but anything else as needed

[Lampros]

Originally posted by сын мясника:

depends on culture and build. so

I think my first full playthrough culture will be either High or Feudal. And I don't know what you mean by "build"?

Any recommendations?

Originally posted by mk11:

1. Most times going to go for things that have Boost.
2. Unless you have a good source of them (Industrious prospecting, feudal lord, ritual cannibal) I'ld concentrate on Food and Production until have 5 pop.
3. Mostly I'ld rate the other resources in order: Research, Gold, Imperium, Mana, Draft but obviously it depends
4. Stability is something you build just before it is needed. Penalties for -ve stability are quite bad, bonuses for +ve are very good but hard to come buy just from buildings
5. Fortification, I like to have basic walls just for safety, but anything else as needed

Thanks for the details!

[сын мясника]

Originally posted by Lampros:

I think my first full playthrough culture will be either High or Feudal. And I don't know what you mean by "build"?

Any recommendations?

High
Workshop --> Shrine --> Library --> Institute --> Academy (if you have mana node) --> T2 Town Hall --> Sunshrine. If you far from 10 populations then Scholars guild. If you have 8-9 population at this point then build Blacksmith and rebuild provinces to 3 farms and 1 gold mine for gold Mint root.

Feudal
Store house --> Library --> Institute --> rebuild all provinces to farms --> Vendor --> Market --> T2 Town Hall --> Levy Camp --> Shrine --> Blacksmith. If you far from 10 populations then Mint. If you have 8-9 population at this point then rebuild provinces for Armory.

Other or different is depending on tomes. Like you dont really need weapon enchants for knights so you can pick tome of faith or alchemy for research post province improvement etc.

If you play a wizard king you need Tavern in 6-8 pop.

[Lampros]

Originally posted by сын мясника:

Originally posted by Lampros:

I think my first full playthrough culture will be either High or Feudal. And I don't know what you mean by "build"?

Any recommendations?

High
Workshop --> Shrine --> Library --> Institute --> Academy (if you have mana node) --> T2 Town Hall --> Sunshrine. If you far from 10 populations then Scholars guild. If you have 8-9 population at this point then build Blacksmith and rebuild provinces to 3 farms and 1 gold mine for gold Mint root.

Feudal
Store house --> Library --> Institute --> rebuild all provinces to farms --> Vendor --> Market --> T2 Town Hall --> Levy Camp --> Shrine --> Blacksmith. If you far from 10 populations then Mint. If you have 8-9 population at this point then rebuild provinces for Armory.

Other or different is depending on tomes. Like you dont really need weapon enchants for knights so you can pick tome of faith or alchemy for research post province improvement etc.

If you play a wizard king you need Tavern in 6-8 pop.

This is so awesome - thanks!

[Alexander]

It is very important to boost the buildings before you build them, so you need to plan not only the order in which you build but also the order in which you claim provinces. Check the boost requirements for the buildings you are planning to build soon when you choose what province to claim and what type of improvement to build there. The easiest choice for the first province improvement is a Forester, because it boosts food producing buildings, and the more food you generate, the faster you claim provinces, which in turn boosts more buildings and, more or less, works as a replacement for production and gold income (because you spend less of those on the boosted buildings).

Also it won't hurt to grab a food pickup in your first turn, if you are lucky, because you'll be able to claim a province -> boost a building in your first turn, which saves you some money and a couple of turns to build your first building.

[Balekai]

I'm no expert but I build my production and food up first after building the required boosts beforehand, spending some Imperium do expand provinces quickly to do so, while also keeping in mind that I want to save Imperium for a second city + affinity traits.

So:

1. Boost Improvement for 1st Production Building --> 1st Production Building
2. Boost Improvement for 2nd Production Building --> 2nd Production Building
3. Boost Improvement for 1st Food Building --> 1st Food Building
4. Boost Improvement for 2nd Food Building --> 2nd Food Building
5. Try to get 5 Pop by this point for boost to second tier City. The second tier also is basically a gold production too.

Then I stop spending Imperium on improvements and instead start to filling out my available affinity traits (especially ones that reward bonuses for wiping out infestations). Start getting into knowledge, gold, wizard tower foundation/level 1, and mana buildings. Then hopefully find a new place to settle and create a new city if I'm not playing some vassal faction build.

Mid to late game when i'm settled and it's advantageous, I start using special improvements and creating optimal improvement zones.

Edit: Also building a stability building in early game is a good idea and something i always forget lol.

[mk11]

I'm not that keen on spending Imperium for pop growth. I'ld rather spend it on running an extra hero.

[Midas]

In general, unless you're building a city for a specific purpose, or working around specific constraints or advantages (lots of magical items, integrating a wonder, etc), the general process I use is the following:

1) Build for boosts, which means get a farm, a forester, and a quarry first.
2) Food first, Production second, income third. (this is a baseline if nothing else is a pressing need. If I need more gold/mana/etc, I'll prioritize income higher)
3) Check for what I want to build next, and what the boost requirements are, and grow the city with those in mind (this often means getting a second farm, forester and quarry).

In general, the boosts usually are x number of provinces of a specific resource per tier. So all the first tier buildings need 1 province of a specific type, the second tier need 2, third need 3, etc. Boosts are how I guide the basic balanced growth of a city.

At the later stages of city growth I decide on two factors; how big I really need the city to be, and what guild I want the city to have. USUALLY I never get cities past like... 20 population. The games rarely last long enough and I rarely care about it past that point. At around the 20 pop stage, you start reaching the point where unless you're nature, you're going to have a hard time reaching for optimal province acquisition.

As part of the choice of what guild I'll use, the main factors are what terrain is available, what I need, and what SPIs I can make. You can swap provinces to different types depending on what's available, and between that and SPIs I can usually completely redefine a city to focus on a specific guild, depending on what I need. Usually I have 1-2 main military cities that produce my armies, and the rest are really just for controlling the map, having teleporters, and providing income, in which case they usually are knowledge/mana if enough eligible provinces are around to make a guild worthwhile, or they're production/gold otherwise. In the case of coastal cities, they get the seafarer's guild pretty much always because it's usually too good NOT to take. In fact, on maps with a lot of open water, I'll even FOCUS on coastal cities because of how good the seafarer's guild is.

[Balekai]

Originally posted by mk11:

I'm not that keen on spending Imperium for pop growth. I'ld rather spend it on running an extra hero.

I try to force myself not to spend Imperium on population for improvements early game after turns 5-10ish. I like to be absolutely cold turkey on doing so by turn 15 at most which is really late (when those first 1 affinity point traits become available). That way I have enough Imperium for other things when I actually need them, while still getting my Throne City off to a good start and able to grow/produce effectively on its own. When spending Imperium on pop it's also a good idea to do so at the end of a turn in case you get a big food pickup that makes the cost a lot cheaper etc.

The idea is to just jump start everything so you benefit from higher income levels early and have this compound itself over the early game. Then it becomes easier to branch out into expanding, maybe lol just my opinion. :)

[сын мясника]

Originally posted by mk11:

I'm not that keen on spending Imperium for pop growth. I'ld rather spend it on running an extra hero.

You can stop that hero abuse. In Wolf patch heroes (ruler too) will have exp penalty per hero in army starting from 20%