A City is Made up of its Buildings

Buildings make a city. What would Paris be without the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower? Who would know London without the Tower and the Tower Bridge? That is why nobody knows Washington; there are no buildings of any significance to be found there. In Grepolis, the buildings define the city. Not because a city has landmarks to remember, but because the use of the buildings give away its purpose.

I've already told you how to build your first city. And I posted about the ideal city and that that is a matter of discussion among Grepolis players. Each time I was mainly talking about the city and what it can do for you. But a city is made up of buildings. We will take a look at those buildings and see how you can tweak them to suit your needs.

Going by Grepolis logic, I'll give you the numbers to crunch and think about. Some buildings need to go up to a certain level, but then can come down again. The most complicated is the one I will deal with first.

The Regular Buildings

The Senate's first function is to speed up building times. Every level reduces the time buildings take to go up by a few percent. Over 20 or so level, that means quite a lot of speed that can be gained.

The second function is to give access to certain buildings. A harbor can only be built after the Senate has reached level 14. After that its all the special buildings that ask for a high level of the Senate. There are 8 special buildings split into two groups of four. Only one special building can be built per group.

The group to the left of the buildings menu contains the Theater, the Thermal Baths, the Library, and the Light House. They all require the Senate on level 24 before they can be built. The group on the right contains the Tower, the Divine Statue, the Oracle, and the Merchant's Shop. They all require the Senate to reach level 21 before they can be built. These figures spell it out for you: If you want to build one of the left hand buildings, 24 is the level you must reach.

To build buildings you need resources like wood, stone, and silver. They are provided by the Timber Camp, the Quarry, and the Silver Mine. Resources are also need to recruit units in the barracks and to build ships in the harbor. While the sky is (almost) the limit on how many levels you can build, you should stop at a point where they still come in handy and useful. Producing to overflow the Warehouse is not the aim of the game. 

What is useful when talking about resources is a flexible term. It might be just enough to keep the production lines in harbor and barracks going. It might be more because you intend to run expensive Festivals to gain culture points. You might want to go to the maximum and transport the overflow to other cities that need more than they produce. However, you should keep an eye out for the special buildings that require certain levels in the three resource productions.

The Farms provide the food for the people in the city. The higher the level of the farms, the more people are living in the city. The total of people that can live in the city is the free population. They are needed for every level of every building, every unit from the barracks, and every ship from the harbor. The Farms don't use population, they even provide a Homefront in the form of Militia that can be called on in times of war. Because the farms only give population, they should be pushed to the maximum level; no population is used on any level in the Farms.

The Warehouse is the storage room for all resources of wood, stone, and silver. The more levels of the Warehouse are built, the more resources can be kept in storage. The Warehouse is the exception to the rule that all buildings use population to build. No population goes into any of its levels. It should be pushed to the maximal level.

The Barracks are the place where you recruit the land units and the mythical units except the Hydra. The levels of the Barracks determine the speed by which you can recruit the units. This might not be the most important feature in a building, but the level of the Barracks also determine what kind of researched land unit you can recruit there. 

The cheapest units just require Barracks, they can be recruited at level 1. Others are more determined to make the most of it. Horsemen need level 10, and chariots need level 15. And there is the point that the Academy demands that the Barracks be at level 5 before you are allowed to start building the Academy. 

That means that in a city where you intend to build only sea units, you still need to build the Barracks to level 5. In all other cities, the level depends on what you want to recruit if you ignore the speed or not so much speed issue. Level 20 is a compromise level on using population and speed. If speed really is an issue, go for level 30.

Mythical units can be recruited in the barracks at level 1 if the Temple has the required levels.

The Temple is the home of the gods, everybody knows that. Each god runs a centralized accounting office. Where resources are accounted for city by city, divine favor is shared between all the Temples of the same god in all cities of the player. The levels of the Temples are responsible for the moment the recruiting of the Mythical units may start. The crucial levels are different from god to god depending on the unit they offer.

The production output of Divine Favor in the temples increases only by very little for every level that is built. It is therefore sensible to keep Temples at a sensible but fairly low level if not needed for the recruiting of a mythical creature. Level 10 could stand for the compromise between use of population and gain of Divine Favor.

The Market is the hub to move or dispose of resources. The Market needs a minimum of 3 levels to allow the player to build the Cave. To get resources moving off the island the city is built on, level 5 must be reached. Level 5 gives you 2.500 resources that can be moved. That is the total of the resources that can be moved, you will have to decide how to split the total into wood, stone, or silver. The level you want to build the market up to depends on how much you intend to trade. Every level equals 500 resources that the merchants can carry. In a World Wonder world, you'll need your Markets up at maximum level to feed the wonder builders.

The Harbor is the place where you build your ships and recruit the Hydra. You can build all ships at level 1 except the colony ship. That one requires level 10. The Hydra can be recruited at level 1, too, once the Temple has reached the correct level for that unit. Level 5 is required to build any special building in the left hand group.

The Harbor level determines the speed of building the ships or recruiting the Hydra. A compromise between speed and population use is level 20. If you need the speed, go for the maximum level. In a city where you recruit only flying mythical units, the harbor can stay at 5. But if you are recruiting land units as a nuke, then you will need ships. The level is determined by how much speed in building ships you need.

The Academy is the place where all the research is done. Research means new units to recruit, new ships to build, and improvements to them and the city. You need a level 1 to improve the Militia, level 7 to get Ceramics, level 13 for biremes, level 16 for light ships, level 22 for Plow, level 25 for Phalanx, and level 28 for Battering Ram. So far I have just touched upon some of the things you must have. If you are running a mythical nuke, then level 31 with Divine Selection and Temple Looting is also needed.

If you want to run Festivals to earn culture points, then you need to go to level 30.

The Wall is part of your main defense. Every level adds a certain percentage to the defense values of the Militia, the land units, and the mythical units (except the Hydra). In Revolt worlds and Hyperborea, level 25 is the standard. In Conquest worlds, level 1 is the maximum except if you turtle up.

The Wall has an additional interesting feature. When you click on the Wall in the city view, a pop up window gives you the battle statistics in the form of units killed on either side. One statistic shows the defense, the other the attacks. But you must have a wall to click on, hence the level 1 for Conquest worlds.

The Cave is my favorite feature. The highest level you can get the cave to is 10. Every level from 1 to 9 allows you to squirrel away 1,000 silver. Level ten gives you unlimited storage for that silver. The silver stowed away is your MI5 or CIA or KGB. You pay your spy with it, or rather you pay his bribes.

Whenever you send a spy out, you need to give him silver. If it is more than the enemy has in his cave in the city, then you get a spy report with all the information available. If the cave contained more silver, then the silver amount is deducted from the spied on cave. And you have to try again. Any silver you put into the cave is now solely at the disposal of the spooks. You can't get it back. That is very much like real life.

The Special Buildings Left Hand Group

The Theater is the place where you enact plays. They come one third cheaper than the City Festival to gain a culture point by spending resources. If you build the Theater, you use up 60 population and prevent the building of the Thermal Baths. The loss of the Thermal Baths means the loss of several hundred population. I can't recommend the Theater at the cost of your fighting units.

The Theater needs the following buildings in place before it can be built: The Senate must be at level 24, the Timber Camp at 35, the Silver Mine at 32, the Academy at 5 and the Harbor at 5.

The Thermal Baths raise the population in the city by 10 %. That means you can recruit several hundred more units to fight for you. This building uses 60 population to build; make sure you have that much free population when you want to build it. The requirements for building it are the Senate at level 24, the Farms at 35, the Academy at 5 and the Harbor at 5. In my opinion this is a must have special building to the exclusion of the other three in the group.

The Library is an annex to the Academy. As the Academy gives only a limited amount of research points, building the Library adds 12 points to do further research. It is the most useless of all the special buildings. Stick to the points the Academy gives you instead. You use up 60 population and prevent the building of the Thermal Baths. The loss of the Thermal Baths means the loss of several hundred population.

The Library needs the following buildings in place before it can be built: The Senate must be at level 24, the Academy at 20, and the Harbor at 5.

The Lighthouse speeds your ships and Hydra up by 15 %. It is unfortunate that it does that at a cost of 60 population and the loss of several hundred on top because the Thermal Baths can't be built. A bit of speed can't replace the clout of several more Hydra and scores more light ships.

The Lighthouse needs the following buildings in place before it can be built: The Senate must be at level 24, the Academy at 5 and the Harbor at 20.

The Special Buildings Right Hand Group

The Tower adds 10 % to the defense values of your land units, sea units, and mystical units. That includes all units that are in the city at the time of an attack. Where the fighting units came from is immaterial. The fact that they are in the city is what counts. The Tower is, in my opinion, a must have in Revolt worlds and Hyperborea, but should not enter a Conquest world except in a turtle situation. Remember to have 60 population free when you want to build it.

The Tower needs the following buildings in place before it can be built: The Senate must be at level 21, the Walls at 20, the Temple at 5 and the Market at 5.

The Divine Statue increases the divine favor production at the ratio of 5 Temple levels. that is not a lot. In fact, I can't repeat often enough that each god has his central administration, where the favor of all his Temples in all your cities are collected together. And 500 divine favor is the limit, after that they just pollute the environment. This is the third most useless building after the Library and the Oracle. And all waste 60 population.

The Divine Statue needs the following buildings in place before it can be built: The Senate must be at level 21, the Temple at 12 and the Market at 5.

The Oracle uncovers all spies that come into you city and shows you their employer. If a spy brings less silver than you have in the cave, then you get a report and his employer doesn't. If he gets past the cave, you get the information and his employer gets his report. That is all the Oracle does for you. It is the second most useless building in the lot at a loss of 60 population.

The Oracle needs the following buildings in place before it can be built: The Senate must be at level 21, the Cave at 10, the Temple at 5 and the Market at 5.

The Merchant's Shop increases the 500 resources per level in the Market to 750. It also gives a slight advantage when dealing with the farming villages; the ratio of trade increases from 1.25 to 1.35. While I  wouldn't touch it in Hyperborea or in a Revolt world, it's the best of the lot in a Conquest world if at the loss of 60 population.

The Oracle needs the following buildings in place before it can be built: The Senate must be at level 21, the Temple at 5 and the Market at 15.

The Merchant's Shop is also an option in World Wonder worlds to increase the transport of resources to the wonder builders. The decision must be based on how exposed a city is to anemy invasion. But in quiet waters the Tower can be torn down and replaced with the Merchant's Shop.