Buildings: What Do You Build and Why?

[TheSavage]

I am curious as to the standard building setup other players use. I find myself building the same buildings, in the same combinations, in almost every province. Some buildings I construct frequently, and some I never use. I'm interested to hear what buildings other players use frequently, and why.

For example, playing as Rome, here's what a standard province looks like: (i.e. not a military production province)
CAPITAL:
-(Yellow) Amphitheatre/Gladiator School (lvl 2-3)
A combination of the following:
-(Black) Brick Kiln / Brickmaker (lvl 2-3)
-(Blue) Fountains (lvl 2) (the one that gives +4 culture, +4 happy, +4 replenhishment)
-(Yellow) Wine Trader (lvl 2) (for the +5% tariff income)
-(Yellow) Delicatessen (lvl 2)
REGION #2:
-(Purple) Shrine of Jupiter (lvl 2, or lvl 3 if I really need the extra culture boost in the province)
-(Green) Farm (lvl 2)
REGION #3:
-(Red) Auxilia Barracks
-(Green) Farm (lvl 2)
REGION #4:
-(Green) Farm (lvl 2)
-either a Sacred Grove (purple lvl 2) or Herding Ground (green lvl 2) depending on whether I need the happiness or the food more

Buildings I almost never build...

ALL:
-Most buildings above lvl 2... Except for military buildings and some of the ports, the food/PO trade-offs at lvl 3-4 just don't seem worth it except for a few buildings. For example:
Farm lvl 2: +6 food
Temple Jupiter lvl 2: +3 PO, +4 culture
or...
Farm lvl 3: +9 food, -4 PO
Temple Jupiter lvl 3: +4 PO, +6 culture, -4 food
...So by upgrading the pair to lvl 3, I actually lose -3 PO and -1 food. (Though granted I do gain +2 culture). Just seems like not a lot of benefit.
CAPITAL:
-(Green) The cattle farms... sure they give 2x the money (80 vs. 40), but I'd rather have +2 food than +$40
-(Yellow) Slave Trader... can somebody explain to me what's so great about this building?
-(Yellow) Supply Pit... when/why would you build this?
-(Yellow) Library... characters have plenty of research bonuses, I'd rather use the slot for something else than get +5% research
-(Yellow) Cattle Trader... the +$120 at lvl 2 is nice, but the 10% livestock bonus is pretty worthless since I always build regular farms
-(Blue) Latrines & Water Tank
NON-CAPITAL:
-(Yellow) "Public Field"... I rarely use this mostly out of habit, but it actually looks pretty good.
-(Black) Industry... the money offered by these isn't that much more than farms, and it's way less than trading docks or the capital industry

Really interested to hear techniques and opinions of others.

[stalkingvengeance]

To be honest, I just make sure my culture is rising, food is not below zero, and if both of those are fine I build economy-type buildings. If it's a frontline province/town, I build military.

Other then that, I have no real strategy with buildings

[BassiveMollocks]

Tend to assign a military province, a culture wealth province (any) commerce province (Carthage), industry province (any two region province) and the rest are all food!

[Zom]

Food, food, and more food. Did I mention food?

[Krixux]

Food, food, and more food. Did I mention food?

AMEN to that m8

and
capital region industry : max grey ,some yellow, few green, some temples
food region : max max green, some temples, some yellow
food and industry region : grey, yellow, green all balanced , and some temples.
:p

[TheSavage]

So it seems like many people are dedicating whole provinces to specific functions (food, industry, culture, etc.). Interesting, I never thought to do that. I've always spread them evenly, though I guess it makes sense to do it by province to take advantage of bonuses.

Is there anybody who frequently builds Slave Traders, Supply Pits, or Cattle Traders? What's your reasoning?

Is there anybody who by default upgrades farms and temples past level 2?

[Drowsy]

I always build them eventually just to have a diverse infrastructure, but prior to the 'mid game' its food/green everywhere minus the capital

[Zonac]

Also always check for special province boni like in macedon (pella) you get + 25% to industry for free!!! so it is wise to build industry buildings here too And check which resources are in a province to combine them with your strategie Therfore you get pretty easy max cash. (And if you use your dignitaries properly you can save PO buildings )

[krigalo]

Should dignitaries be using their special abilities on their own or placed within your armies for reduced upkeep?

[Krixux]

Should dignitaries be using their special abilities on their own or placed within your armies for reduced upkeep?

I personally never use dignys for armies (it feels like cheating from my part) and use them only to boost : agriculture, industry and emp. maintenance.

- ether way they add cool bonuses, although with the latest nerfing , army upkeep isn't that interesting (imho)

[loony]

I specialize provinces in ealry game according to province bonuses. Capital is always cash/commercial.
However, in mid game i begin to "unspecialize" provinces, as a civil war can really screw you by losing a food province you will be forced to untax your money provinces. Then you have no food and no cash.
Bad things could happen.

So later in the campaign it is better so sacrifice some efficiency and get safety.

[Riekopo]

I build the highest level buildings in my capitol because it makes logical sense. Besides that I end up building mostly the same combinations of buildings everywhere else because I don't enjoy the balancing game you have to play. I find it annoying.