Guide to Building

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Introduction
Building is a key element in playing Ikariam. Buildings must be built in order to have the ability to perform other tasks.

The Academy, the Barracks, the Trading port and the Town wall are the first buildings that are available to be built, and, via researches at the Academy, enables other buildings and units for the barracks. __NOWYSIWYG__

Town view and building
Buildings can only be built from the Town view of a player's own town.

All buildings are immovable once placed (except if completely demolished).


 * There is no strategic advantage to geographic placement of buildings within a town. Resources can not be gained faster by placing the Warehouse near the Town wall, nor do Cargo Ships at the Trading port load faster by placing the Trading post or Warehouses nearby.

It is not possible to place more than one (1) of each building in a single town, with the exceptions of the following:


 * Warehouses, you are allowed to have a maximum of 4 per town.
 * Trading ports, you are allowed to have a maximum of 2 per town.

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Building prerequisites
There are no building co- or pre- requisites. Aside from researches, buildings have no ties to one another. It is true that certain buildings cannot be built without appropriate research at an Academy, but once the research is completed for an eligible building, that building can be built without the existence of an Academy.

Any building may be built or upgraded without regard for the building level or existence of buildings other than the Town hall.

A special exception is that neither the Town hall (automatically built and centered in the new colony when the colony is completed) nor the Governor's Residence (which can only be on a Colony) can be built without a Palace of appropriate level built at the Capital.

Resources required to build
Most of the early buildings that are available to build need only wood to build.

The first town's initial allotment of resources is ample to build immediately.

To build, simply click on a parcel of land that contains a red or blue flag, and choose from the available buildings that are listed. If there are eligible buildings, the reason for inability to build might be because of:
 * 1) Insufficient resources
 * 2) A building already being constructed or expanded
 * 3) In the case of Hideout, there are spies being trained
 * 4) In the case of the Barracks, Shipyard or Workshop, you have units, ships or upgrades in their queue(s). __NOWYSIWYG__

Buildings levels
Each building starts at Level 1, and is capable of being upgraded or demolished


 * In Town view, hovering with a mouse over each building shows its type and level.
 * Clicking on a building shows the building's capabilities and on the left side, shows upgrade and demolish buttons, as well as the current level and costs for upgrade of the current building. __NOWYSIWYG__

Upgrading buildings
Upgrading a building also requires resources, and at certain levels requires more than only wood to increase.

Buildings take time to build and increase level. While a building is being built, or a building is increasing its level, no other building actions are available.

It is, however, possible to cancel a building's construction.

To cancel a building's construction, click that building and then click "Cancel". A confirmation screen will appear and indicate how many resources will be recovered when canceling construction. Canceling a construction upgrade returns a slight percentage of goods spent (depending on the level). __NOWYSIWYG__

Demolishing buildings
The "Demolish" button downgrades one level at a time. Demolishing / downgrading a building takes no time and refunds you some materials, but you do not get back 100% of the materials it took to build to that level. You get back a percent based on the current level of the building. Returned resources is calculated from the current building cost (after resource reducing research and buildings), not the cost you paid when building it.


 * The formula appears to be $$27 / ( 10 * Level + 20 )$$ - Ikariam rounds down the percentage which is displayed.
 * The minimum amount of resources returned from demolishing any building has been confirmed to be 5%, you will always get at least this amount, no matter what the building level is.


 * The following resources are returned by demolishing a particular level of a building:

When a building reaches Level 0, it is completely torn down and the building ground becomes available again.


 * If you click the "Demolish" button you will see the following message (to continue or cancel):




 * Town halls can not be downgraded. The only way to demolish a Town hall is to abandon the respective colony. __NOWYSIWYG__