Happiness from bricks

  • Hi,


    I've run a contest game through to about September, and am wishing I'd built more brickmakers to begin with. Still, I didn't want to be short of food at years end with too many people making bricks...


    So, I'm wondering which of the uses for bricks is going to have most effect on happiness, given that not all of the choices below can be filled by end of 1300. They can go to -


    Increasing road coverage
    Extending churches
    Dumped into markets and hopefully turned into gate towers
    (Wells are already built)


    Does anyone know how the effect of these compare for happiness?
    Assume 2000-ish people towns, few gate defences (which guards are complaining about) and road coverage already high enough that people aren't complaining about smells.
    People always seem to say "the church could use an extension" until $20k is paid, but I assume that paying the $20k doesn't give a happiness boost until after the extension's actually built.


    BTW, does anyone know the item requirements for a first church extension?

  • As far as I know, church extension needs just your money.


    I never noticed bricks, IG or lumber being taken when the construction finally started.


    Well, I never paid attention to it, so I might be wrong...

  • Reputation increases as soon as moeny has been donated for expansion or additional frills. IIRC the 1st extension is 5,000. Additions or extensions only cost money.


    Why don't you use your surplus bricks to build grain farms and breweries or some whalers?


    I build roads when the citizens complain about stench in the streets. Again, the happiness increases as soon as you gave the workorder.

    Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new
    Wer niemals einen Fehler gemacht hat, hat noch nie etwas neues probiert Albert Einstein

  • Church extension needs some bricks, wood and iron goods, but I do not know the exact amount. I think it is mentioned anywhere in the german archive...

  • So too does the American. The priest will buy iron goods and items ahead of the town or AI competition, if you sell and watch carefully you can see the purchases (comparing to normal levels of consumption). He buys before starting construction. I think it is the same as for the merchant house for goods. But there sometimes is a "cheat factor" too, where the AI or the church will be able to build anyway even if no goods are present.


    First expansion is 20k, second 40k, third 80k. Reputation boosts are weekly, with 10,000 being the minimum for the boost. I am not sure if 20k gives a bigger boost or not.


    So far, other than one pitchmaker, I am just about to the end of June, all I have built is brickmakers. After I get about 45 (nine per town), and I am building them in tandem with wells and I am also funding church expansions as soon as I can afford a donation, I will begin sawmills, then grain and breweries. Looking at the contest, I can get cloth from the Med for a while, so I will build sheep farms next, and buy up hemp for later building fisheries. I am buy up the cheap hemp, meat, train oil and grain ahead of construction.

  • For clarification: Multiple answers have mentioned that church expansion helps reputation. Does that mean it has no effect on happiness?


    For bizpro, I already have industries filling up with workers in all towns except Ladoga, which is filling up town industries after supply shortages caused the population to fall rather far... I don't expect grain supplies to go below 3 weeks worth before Dec 31, and don't care too much about after that!.

  • The curch expansion does help with happiness. That's why the people learned to complain that the church needs an expansion. However, I dont' know if that is effetive as soon as the money has been donated. The reputation is increased right away. I leave that as ace in the hole for LM elections.

    Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new
    Wer niemals einen Fehler gemacht hat, hat noch nie etwas neues probiert Albert Einstein

  • They stop complaining about it. Other than that, I don't know either. Hospitals have to be finished to count. I think it is the same with the street as with the church. They do stop complaining about the smell with the new street, even if it isn't done.

  • And then there are those Baltic rascals. If they don't have everything, including churches, wells, streets, they pout. Just let them go without whale oil and wool for a couple of weeks and they march off in great numbers. Even feeding them will not bring them back in good time.

    Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new
    Wer niemals einen Fehler gemacht hat, hat noch nie etwas neues probiert Albert Einstein