What materials do you like to use for each building

[solaariel]

I was wondering what materials everyone likes to use for each building if availible. Some of the creatures you can attract are really powerful (particularly elves) but buildings with high attract tend of have weaker other bonus. Do you prefer to have good attract at the expense of other bonuses, or the other way round.

One thing I was considering was building everything out of elven wood early on and then replacing it with better material later on. I've heard that the recruit/attract rate goes down as you get more people. If this is true does that mean it is a bad idea to get attract beast (or any other weak species) so that you can maximise your chances of getting good characters.

[Glaedr]

Prefer to rely on attracting elves if possible, better units all around since the dps with 2 handed axes are insane, But normally i get a cabbage patch and hope for the best :P

[dergefata]

Remember that you can kill off undesirable characters so if you get something you don't want, just run it out into the world with no food or equipment and that problem will take care of itself after a few turns.

I've never seen or heard of anyone getting more than one villager per turn from +Attract, so it seems to me that the best way to stack +Attract is not to spread it all around (since once one hits, any other chances that turn are probably skipped) but rather to focus on one or two types that really interest you.
[EDIT: Ugh, don't it always seem to go? Just saw it happen, so one can indeed get more than one villager per turn. I'm surprised you didn't set me straight, love, you usually know more about this game than I don't even know I don't know ;) ]http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1283638482

In general, your buildings in Ostoya will serve you best if you don't worry as much about maximizing their specific bonus values, but rather by maximising their +Attract. So for example, an 80 Elven Wood Totem or Palisade is probably a better overall choice than a Granite building of the same sort, even though the stat bonus is lower; by the time you've got an elf or two, the extra couple points of shielding or +Magic will be fairly small compared to the bonus you get from the villager.

Personally, I like to try to get a Meeting Hall, Smithy, and Watchtower of gold or steel depending on what I'm trying to attract, and a Totem, Palisade, and Healer's Hut of elven wood. I think overall Orcs are more powerful and better than Dwarves, but nobody matches Elves. So I try to max those two +Attract. Good gear makes up for the loss of Poalisade power; building a Meeting Hall early and getting an Inventor or two more than makes up for the reduced Smithy bonus; I don't find view radius around Ostoya all that big a deal so +3 or +5 is the same to me; the reduced +medic from Healer's Hut is more than balanced out by an Ancient Wood artifact and two ruby ring items on my best medic.

[XenoReaver]

I do it based on which building I need. This is how I break it down.

Attraction: Manger, Meeting Hall, Palisade, Barracks, Archery Range

Bonuses: Pasture, Cabbage Patch, Herbalist Hut, Smithy, Blessed Tree Symbol, Totem, Watchtower, Blessed Path

[love to resign]

I'm a huge fan of value builds. My ideal structure is something that has a high bonus, a low crafting cost, and is made entirely of components that I can't apply toward useful gear. Quartz and Sandstone are excellent for this purpose.

Here are a few of my favorite recipes:
Pasture- Quartz/Grain for +2 Meat & +3 Human at the cost of 450 labor.
Smithy - Quartz/Sandstone for +3 Craft @ 375 labor.
Watchtower - Quartz/Sandstone for +3 Vision @ 375 labor.

I find it tough to both gather the 50 Elven Wood and spend the 800 labor before my population gets to the point that it strangles my own growth, and even getting the structure early is no guarantee that you'll attract the desired character. There's too much risk and opportunity cost for my taste, but it is certainly a viable way to play.

[DG]

It really depends what you think is early and late on. You can beat the main quests with nothing better than wood and sandstone buildings. If you play on then you can take the time to build anything you like.

The smithy is the only building that needs a good value. A 3 smithy is relatively easy to get with 25 quartz and 25 sandstone/darkwood but a 4 is quite hard (granite/silver). The well, watchtower, and totem could use a modest value but a 3 well can be made with just wood and spider silk. By the time you need to build a watchtower or totem you should have the materials to get a modest value and some attracts. Build the food based buildings cheaply and replace them with wheat later.

[solaariel]

As a side note was wondering what villager classes people like, I've never really built the buildings that increase your options (mostly because none of my children want to grow up past around turn 50). I normally build a bunch of smiths, a watchtower, a well, a palasade, a tree, and sometimes the paths (depending on the tile around me).

[XenoReaver]

Well here are some of the character types/classes I like to get from across the board.

Human Warriors.
I love the fight challenges so when playing for fights I grab as many of these guys as I can decked out in the best armour, shields and two-handed swords I can find/make.

Human Scavengers.
A mixed bag for sure as they don't have much of a focus but more often than not they will have a natural poison attack, which when improved over time and with a good dark/ancient wood weapon can do some serious damage. If in desperate need they can make great backup gatherers too. If one wants to use them then they are best got early.

I once got one to 22 poison damage with weapon.

Goblin Boar Riders.
They work just like Human Warriors but can't have a two-handed weapon in one hand but like scavengers they about a 50/50 chance of having some natural poison damage and/or a gathering skill. They are really somewhere between Human Warriors and Human Scavengers and are best gotten early if possible.

Orc Workers.
While they almost always have both a gathering kill and a crafting skill they're usually pretty low but sometimes one creeps in at a 6 or 7. Even on the lower end a half decent a hammer or gathering tools puts them up to basic. Plus they usually have a high strength so can become hardy tanks for defending your village.

[dergefata]

Originally posted by solaarus:

I've never really built the buildings that increase your options

Add a simple Meeting Hall into your building queue. Depending on your start conditions you may be able to begin building a simple wood+meat Meeting Hall as early as turn 1 (with Perun 4+ it's essentially guaranteed - just dismantle your palisade and maybe watchtower and you'll have the wood you need right there), so you'd finish it around turn 10. You don't really appreciate how absolutely bonkers Inventors and Scholars are (but especially Inventors) until the RNG smiles on you and you pull one or two in the first 20 turns of a game. Once you see what a difference that makes, I think you'll find yourself making room for a Meeting Hall in all your games.