Buildings | Gameplay Mechanics Forge of Empires Guide & Walkthrough
Last update: 05 March 2018
Buildings in Forge of Empires form the core of the gameplay - the success of the player and how quickly the city will grow depends on the proper selection of constructions. In this chapter you will learn how the building construction mechanic works, as well as how to expand the city without wasting precious and limited space.
Buildings - how does the construction mechanic work?
Building construction is, generally, very simple - you need to accumulate enough resources (coins and supplies), select the place where you want to place the building and start the construction. However, there are several additional factors that determine whether and how well the building will function. Those are:
Access to roads. A constructed building must be placed next to the road. This can be done from any side of the building - it just needs to "stick" to at least 1 "grid" of the road. If there's no road next to it, the building will stop function (producing goods or recruiting army) and a specific information icon will appear above it. Most of the buildings available in the game require connection to the roads - only buildings from the "Decorations" group can function without it.
You need to research the required technology. At the beginning of the game the player has access to only the most basic buildings, unlocking hundreds of new constructions as he/she advances in eras.
The effectiveness of the buildings is affected by the satisfaction of the people. Increasing it to 120% (with the help of cultural buildings and those from the "Decorations" tab) allows the player to increase the effectiveness of buildings by 20%.
Tips concerning buildings
Even though the construction mechanic in the game is simple, it's extremely important to plan the placement of buildings beforehand to not waste precious buildings space. If you have problems with that, you should read the following tips:
Buildings space is severely limited, which is why proper planning of the expansion is extremely crucial. You can divide the city into sectors, building roads every 4 "grids". This will allow you to fit 2 rows of buildings that require 2x2 space, or a line of buildings that require 4 "grids" of width. All can be seen in the above screenshot.
Residential buildings should take up the most space in your city (about 50-60%). They provide residents who then can operate in other buildings, as well as allow you to generate coins (their surplus can be used, for instance, to purchase Forge Points). Aside from that, try to have at least 1 building for each type of unit from a given era, 1 building producing a specific good and use the rest of the space for buildings from the "Production buildings" tab.
Always try to keep the satisfaction level at 120% ("Delight"). It's better to have less and more effective buildings.
To increase the satisfaction level of your residents at the beginning of the game, you should use buildings from "Decorations" that take 1x1 space - such as Brushes or Trees. They give decent amount of satisfaction, can be placed anywhere (they don't require roads) and you can replace them as you progress in the eras.
When it comes to buildings producing goods, you should construct only those that you have access to - the ones that were given to you as a reward for conquering a land. This will increase the effectiveness of those buildings, allowing them to create more goods - those can then be traded on the market to acquire the goods you aren't producing.