Best Great Buildings to Start With (and Why)?

[DeletedUser102246]

I've been collecting a lot of BPs recently via Pol-Mot and FP contributions to other people's Great Buildings. Considering the changes to the GB effects, I'm curious what buildings other players think are the most helpful. Which one(s) would you build first and why? Or is the whole GB thing generally a waste of space?

 

[DeletedUser7719]

This would be my preferred order assuming I'm starting a brand new city:

#1: Lighthouse of Alexandria - That supply boost is really useful plus you get goods!
#2: Statue of Zues - Even if you're not a hardcore PvP'r, this GB is too small not to have in your city and becomes useful when fighting on the Continent map (if you purely negociate, you know not to get it )
#3: St. Marks - Coin boost and goods is another must have GB
#4: Cathedral of Aachen - If you're somewhat of a PvP'r or want to be on the military side of GvG, you're going to need this one along with the Castel del Monte and Statue of Zues
#5: Castel del Monte - If you're at least in the HMA, I would pick this over the CoA, but since I said starting a brand new city, this would come afterwards since you would should be able to get the CoA before worrying about this one
#6: Royal Albert Hall - You should not have too many problems with supplies anymore after getting this GB
#7: Alcatraz - Let's you stock up on units, and saves more space than InA military buildings and above.

Of course, I would definitely get a lot of the other GBs, but these seven would be the must-haves if you're into fighting. If you're somewhat into fighting, I would take out the Cathedral and maybe Alcatraz. If you're not into fighting, then I would aim more towards any building that produces goods as a bonus.

 

[Surge]

I would advise two more GB's, but you yourself must exercise caution when building them. The first one is Hagia Sophia. It's a good bulk happiness booster and gives you a nice income of FP's, but be careful because it is a huge building. The second one is Chateaux Frontenac. 5x6 is not much for a GB these days, but they're only useful once you finish the entire tech tree and begin doing loop quests. You can, of course, get it just for getting more goodies from quests, especially the pitiful diamond rewards.

If there is one more GB I would add to byeordie's list, it would be Frauenkirche of Dresden. Takes some time to level up, but it currently has the highest happiness per square value of all GB's (even higher than SN), and it gives you a pretty decent amount of goods. For this reason, you should avoid Notre Dame if you can and use those HMA goods to get a St. Mark's. It is one of the best GB's in the game.

If you want more resources regarding GB's, you should read -Vanguard's.- guide for every single stat on every single GB there is in the game. If you want a fresh perspective, davidb3's guide analyzes every GB until the Progressive Era and, if you have the time, read the spare posts found in the thread itself showing other players' opinions from different standpoints.

There is so much information on Great Buildings on the forum. You just have to dig it up. These two threads give you nearly all of the information you need on GB's.

 

[DeletedUser7719]

The reason why I didn't mention those (as I would also love to get something like the Hagia Sophia if I started my city over again) is the amount of FP you have to invest to keep it "useful" per say. The three non-military GBs are considered useful no matter what age starting from level 1, and Alcatraz is the same if you plan to have at least 2 Industrial Age military GBs.
Chateau would be the one next on the list if I had to add one more because of what I mentioned above plus Surge's reason

 

[DeletedUser2989]

byeordie's list is pretty good, If you don't want to fight as much you could remove the CoA, CdM and Alcatraz, move Chateau Frontenac in earlier and possibly add in Tower of Babel and Frauenkirche of Dresden to maximise goods production.

 

[DeletedUser102246]

If you want more resources regarding GB's, you should read -Vanguard's.- guide for every single stat on every single GB there is in the game. If you want a fresh perspective, davidb3's guide analyzes every GB until the Progressive Era and, if you have the time, read the spare posts found in the thread itself showing other players' opinions from different standpoints.

There is so much information on Great Buildings on the forum. You just have to dig it up. These two threads give you nearly all of the information you need on GB's.

Thanks for pointing me to these two Forum threads! This is exactly the sort of information I was looking for-- davidB3's analysis seems particularly a propos since it compares the usefulness of the GBs to other buildings in the various eras.

 

[DeletedUser102246]

Thanks byeordie for your list. I'm feeling much better about all the FP I've invested toward getting Zeus BPs. I'd been thinking the Lighthouse would be very helpful as well. Seems almost everyone agrees that's a good choice as well.

 

[Surge]

Thanks byeordie for your list. I'm feeling much better about all the FP I've invested toward getting Zeus BPs. I'd been thinking the Lighthouse would be very helpful as well. Seems almost everyone agrees that's a good choice as well.

Generally anything with a flat rate or boost is negligible or forgettable. Percent boosts are significantly better because they are timeless - they transfer to every age without any losses. A level 3 Cathedral with 4,480 coins per day is good for its current age but becomes pitiful later on - take the Modern Era for example. A Suburban (1 day) House can produce more coins over the same time span as the Lv 3 CoA. If you take a similarly leveled Mark's, you find that all of your coins are boosted by 120% 90 times - that's more than double the income. If you add even a level 1 Mark's boost - 100% - to a Suburban House, it produces 2,840 more coins than even a Lv 3 CoA. Let's not forget that's just one use - use it 90 times and if you got 90 Suburban Houses (let's look theoretically), and you can get 658,800 boosted coins from a Level 1 Mark's ALONE. This is absolutely incomparable to 4,480 coins per day from a CoA. This shows that Mark's can be used any age.

This is why percentage boosts are very powerful, and this is why it's in every recommendation list that ever existed. They work in every age with proportional efficiency. It's essentially impossible for a percentage boost GB to fall out of usefulness (except if you like aborting quests, where a Chateaux Frontenac would then be useless despite utilizing a percentage boost). It's just not going to happen.

 

[DeletedUser14664]

all of the GBs, exept Colloseum and Notre Dame

edit: and Space Needle

 

[DeletedUser96867]

LOA, and St.M would definitely be at the top of my list. If you are a fighter than Zeus, CDM, and Aachen, but i'd put CDM ahead of Aachen due to it's 2nd reward of fp rather than Aachen's coins.

 

[DeletedUser9614]

Yes, the battle for the best gb is between st marks and cdm depending on your purpose.

 

[DeletedUser5647]

I would suggest it is a three way tie between St Mark's, Castel del Monte and Lighthouse of Alexandria; in fact, I would go so far as to say that LoA should be your priority as a first GB. With LoA you can reduce the number of Supply buildings for the same output giving space for Military or Goods, as well as the necessary population to run them. With St Mark's you do not get the same effect as you still need population and therefore cannot reduce the number of houses in the same manner. What you can do is use the higher-population but slower, lower producing houses to better effect, again providing space for other buildings.

Building space is the single most important resource in the game.

As for CdM, Forge Points and attack bonus is just plain common sense.

 

[DeletedUser101106]

For us peaceful sorts, Deal Castle looks like the best deal. It has a defense, which I assume discourages looting, and it produces a ton of medals. It has to wait until later in the game, though.

 

[DeletedUser12183]

For us peaceful sorts, Deal Castle looks like the best deal. It has a defense, which I assume discourages looting, and it produces a ton of medals. It has to wait until later in the game, though.

It also needs a metric ass-tonne of FP to make it useful.

 

[DeletedUser100341]

Unless your buying your GB, its a moot point. You would most likely be building one close to the age of your city. I say this because unless your in a large guild well advanced from your own city's age you would most likely be getting BPs close to your age. Same with your neighborhood. And you would need to be producing goods near that age to use or trade to build. In my case my first GB was below my cities age because it took so long to collect a complete set of 9. I would have preferred a Zeus to help in combat but I got a Lighthouse first. And built it right away. Over time the benefit of the lighthouse has paid off as would any. To some a particular GB may seem worthless. To others it fits with their city. For example, I just built Notre Dame because I needed the happiness and supply boost. So Notre Dame is not worthless and its footprint is not too big. There is no right answer to your question.

 

[DeletedUser6514]

Unless your buying your GB, its a moot point. You would most likely be building one close to the age of your city. I say this because unless your in a large guild well advanced from your own city's age you would most likely be getting BPs close to your age. Same with your neighborhood. And you would need to be producing goods near that age to use or trade to build. In my case my first GB was below my cities age because it took so long to collect a complete set of 9. I would have preferred a Zeus to help in combat but I got a Lighthouse first. And built it right away. Over time the benefit of the lighthouse has paid off as would any. To some a particular GB may seem worthless. To others it fits with their city. For example, I just built Notre Dame because I needed the happiness and supply boost. So Notre Dame is not worthless and its footprint is not too big. There is no right answer to your question.

How long have you been playing the game? The reason I ask is because I've yet to see an experienced player say the Notre Dame isn't worthless...

 

[DeletedUser100341]

I've been playing for 6 months. One man's junk is another man's treasure. I found a use for Notre Dame and it has benefited my city tremendously. Other GBs for future eras may be better but I'm not there yet. Since building it I haven't had to worry about enthusiasm.

 

[DeletedUser9546]

So Notre Dame is not worthless .

You sir can no longer be trusted lol

 

[DeletedUser6514]

I've been playing for 6 months. One man's junk is another man's treasure. I found a use for Notre Dame and it has benefited my city tremendously. Other GBs for future eras may be better but I'm not there yet. Since building it I haven't had to worry about enthusiasm.

Never thought I'd see the day someone called the Notre Dame a treasure but to each their own haha.

 

[DeletedUser7719]

Notre Dame is actually very useful if you get it in its age. If it's one of the few GBs you have, it can prove useful until you hit the Modern Era (then Drive-In Theaters overpowered them)