Buildings requirements are gimmicky

[Boomy]

To upgrade the barracks I need a lumberyard.
After I make the upgrade, I can destroy the lumberyard and put whatever I want there instead.

This really annoys me for some reason. If the lumber is needed to build the upgrade, well, I have 5x the wood required anyway. If the lumberyard is necessary for training and equipping the soldiers, I should lose the benefits of the upgrade once I demolish it.

I really do feel like this should be more consequential. Stop generating new upgraded soldiers if the required building is absent, stuff like that.
Currently it feels like the requirement is there because strategy games often have those, not because there's a purpose behind it.

[Jolly the Joker]

Well, there is one. If you ever played a map where your town has only 3 levels, (offering 3 small, 2 medium and 1 larger space) often make it necessary to have an early-game-build, and a late-game build (and maybe even a midgame build) because you have needs in the game that a 3-level town cannot fulfill. If you'd lose something when you demolish a prerequisite, you'd be stuck with each building you got or suffer massive losses (like losing the troops in the building that would just disappear (not the demolished one).
You may also use the large space for something (as long as you cannot or don't want to) you need as a prerequisite and later, when you can make better use of it, free it.

So this is prette much a necessity, otherwise you'd have to decide very early what to do without having much information about what's going on on the map.

[Boomy]

This is why I feel that the current system is inconsequential. You essentially just swap the buildings however you feel all willy-nilly.

Having consequences to your build decisions would force you to strategize more about why you build this and not that, when and which buildings you upgrade, and so on. You could still remodel your town in late-game, but it would be a more demanding process.

I don't think it's necessary the way it is. In fact, I feel like having it this way makes it a bit too easy. Especially since towns don't take that long to prop up anyway. Most maps give you access to multiple towns, so you can also adapt your strategy to the environment as you advance, correcting course with each settlement you capture.

[tomhughesnice]

I think this is by design, I think its optimal to be chopping and changing buildings in each position.

But I agree, I dont like building dependencies in this way. Would prefer you could build anything as long as it fits the slot and you have the resources.

[Jolly the Joker]

Might be you play too rich maps.

[Zanaki]

Maybe some kind of middle ground where if you have the base building you get full troops each round and if you don't you lose 1 from the total so there's some punishment?

But it doesn't really bother me much as is,

[Boomy]

Originally posted by Zanaki:

Maybe some kind of middle ground where if you have the base building you get full troops each round and if you don't you lose 1 from the total so there's some punishment?

But it doesn't really bother me much as is,

That would work too. At least then there's an incentive to plan ahead.

[Jolly the Joker]

Wait, WHAT???
There is no incentive to plan ahead? I must play a different game then. Because there is. I mean, say you play Arleon. Now look at your 3 medium builds. Barracks upgrade needs a Lumbermill. Faey Grove upgrade needs a Farm. Castle for Knights needs the Peasant Hut and the upgrade needs a Quarry. Your large troop dwelling upgrade needs the Faey Grove.
If you have only a level 3 base, you have 3 small buildings, 2 mediums and 1 large. I can tell you that you WANT a Tavern, because those Minstrels/Troubadours give creation and chaos essence. You want Militia as well, intially - someone's got to do the work. But now what? And keep in mind that you lose all troops in a dwelling when you demolish it.
With everything you do you'll shoot you in the foot. And even if you keep the advantages when you demolish something, OF COURSE you need to plan ahead. Because you want to demolish as few things as possible and you need to have the resources to get stuff built.
In short, you plan all the time.
When you have a 5-level town, you have space enough, so there isn't any advanced planning necessary, you just need to keep an eye on resources, so there it makes no differenfe anyway.

[Boomy]

Say you buy the grove in late. At this point you have enough resources to make a farm, then destroy it, make a quarry, and then swap it to a tavern. The only punishment is the time it takes to swap these buildings, assuming you don't have double building yet. The requirement itself becomes moot. You don't have to plan ahead to build the grove there. When you make a decision to go humans or fae with your town the commitment only lasts as long as the building takes to be produced.

[Jolly the Joker]

See it from your perspective. With a 5-level town it makes no difference because with 4/4/2 spaces you can build what you want - you don't need planning, you can just go ahead and decide later what you need and what you don't need.
However, with a level-3 town you have only 3/2/1 and that means you must give up on SOME things, and that's EITHER units in general OR upgrades. THAT, in turn, could make any sense only, if there wasn't a superior built. If there was one, prerequisites would have to be changed accordingly which might as well lead to no prerequisites at all.

I mean, when you play a map on which there is a lot to simply pick up and you can build everything, no matter what, sure, things may look somewhat meaningless. But there are also sparse maps and you may be required to build a lumbermill or a quarry immediately. You can do that NOW - build a Lumbermill immediately, get wood when you need it, then build Barracks en passant, grade them up - and demolish the Lumbermill. Makes sense.
If you lose the upgrade, though, you may be in trouble later because of it, but might have not much play immediately without it.

[xlnt4real]

single player problems :D

[Jolly the Joker]

No problem at all. :)