Downtown should be an opening piece

[James Finn]

Now having seen how the Wonder works, I don't really get why the Downtown is hamstrung so much. It doesn't have to be the very first piece, but I just went through an entire playthrough where it felt like more often than not downtown was one of the last pieces to be dropped, when there's almost no space for it at that point.

[Lord_Eol]

They make a tech for that, use your rerolls to get it. The game is about choices.

[Sleepy Mill Studio]

If Downtown is an openning piece, it's more difficult to place it in a central position to maximize its efficiency. It can get tricky depending on your luck, but planning around specific pieces is the core of the Republic gameplay/challenge

[Moonbane]

Keep at it, Belfry becomes noticeably better with the more quests you complete for more starting cards/resources. But it is a brutal slug in the beginning until you realize how you are supposed to do damage. Just finished all their quests on normal.

Edit: Yes, you dont want to have downtown as an opening piece. You want to set it up properly, being mindful of its ranges to where you can convert forest and plains to neighbourhoods. As well beelining for the tech that adds more neighbourhoods to the deck. Takes time to build up the snowball, but soon it reaches avalance power!