Courthouses - when do you build them?

[Ribannah]

I tend to build Courthouses before Libraries and Marketplaces, if I can even before Temples, and eventually I want them in all my cities except the most remote ones or when I'm already nearing victory.

Do you do the same or do you ignore them / keep coughing up new Settlers in border towns?

[dawidge]

It depends.

Vel's construction rule #1: Build marketplaces and banks as soon as possible, buying them if necessary.

The possible exception to this is if you are suffering from WW or rampant corruption, in which case a courthouse might precede a marketplace (again, buy it if necessary... buying the courthouse first will make buying the marketplace a little cheaper as more shields will have gone into the first turn og the marketplace build).

Unless I'm really behind in tech or gunning for culture, I'll delay building the library until more important things are dealth with (in no particular order - courthouse, marketplace, bank, factory, temple, barracks).

As usual, YMMV.

[candybo]

With me, it depend mostly on the individual city in question, and corruption effects

[Alex]

It is a matter of bang for the buck. If you have a city whose strategic importance is vital to your empire, then by all means build a courthouse to alleviate corruption. On the other hand, if the city is not that important, you can skip the courthouse.

But there is another important consideration here: if you build a marketplace to improve the gold generation in a city and all that gold is lost due to corruption, your marketplace is not of much use to you. Better build a courthouse before the marketplace.

[alva]

Indeed, this is a case by case thing

[Lord Merciless]

Courthouse gains importance as the distance to your capital and the number of cities increase. However, there is a point at which even a Courthouse can no longer reduce the corruption below 95%. By then, the Courthouse becomes useless.

I always build Courthouse when Corruption is greater than 50%.

[Theseus]

This is almost a non-logical, non-trivial issue for me, but Temples MUST BE BUILT FIRST!

After that, it's either Libraries, Harbors, or Courthouses, depending on the situation.

Lately, I've been prioritizing Courthouses, however... I've even experimented in burning late GLs just to get them up and running.

I like your rule of thumb, Lord Merciless... it sort of matches the way I've been playing.

BTW, Police Stations are equally important, and have a similar priority.

[Catt]

Definitely a case-by-case thing . . . but I pretty much agree with Theseus in 99% of the cases. For me, getting that first cultural improvement completed is very important - I need the border expansion, either to: (1) reduce the effectiveness of enemy attacks (loss of movement points in getting to target), (2) relieve some of the cultural pressure (culture flip), or (3) where the front lines are moving so quickly that enemy attack is unlikely, to claim the vast open spaces between former AI cities before third-party settlers claim land.

If a peaceful expansion, courthouses often don't make my top 5 build list, only because most of my peaceful expansion takes place within confines where corruption is tolerable. In those cases where corruption is truly problematic but I am expanding peacefully with settlers, I am still likely to build a temple (if religious) or a library (if not religious) first just to get the border expansion started as soon as possible.

Catt

[The Pioneer]

Temple->Libraries->Marketplace->Aqueducts

Is the general line I follow, although this varies greatly from city to city and game to game. I do not consider Courthouses until much later. I never play above Regent so and there is no acute need for them until the cities really grow in size and distance (from the capital).

So long...

[Ribannah]

Originally posted by Theseus
This is almost a non-logical, non-trivial issue for me, but Temples MUST BE BUILT FIRST!

Why, if [1] I already have 5 luxuries and the Hanging Gardens or [2] I have to set luxuries at 30% anyway to keep the capital content? (This when there's no cultural threat or important resource two squares out.)

Most of my games are over or near the end by the time I can build Police Stations so the considerations are different.

The Pioneer, wouldn't your Aqueduct be completed much earlier had you built a Courthouse as your first improvement?

[Bambul]

Usually I build Temple-Granary-Library. If corruption is high I will build a couthouse first, unless I have enough luxuries (between 6-8) in which case I will build a marketplace instead to get WLTKD and reduce corruption that way.

[Harovan]

Originally posted by Theseus
This is almost a non-logical, non-trivial issue for me, but Temples MUST BE BUILT FIRST!

Right after Barracks, that is!

[Arrian]

Case-by-case, of course, but in general I put a high priority on courthouses. They're pretty effective. I tend to start building them as soon as I have code of laws. Any city that has 50% or less shield wasteage early on starts one. That's my "is it worth it at this point" test. Later I will buy courthouses farther out from the core, but in the crucial early going, I spend on the better-placed towns.

Later on...

In a city that is distant, but has hope of becoming productive:

Temple
Courthouse
Marketplace
Aqueduct (if needed)
Harbor (if needed)
Library
...etc, etc.

For an "overseas colony" with some hope of productivity (I use these babies to steal luxuries from the AI):

Temple
Barracks
*may rush several spearmen*
Harbor
*upgrade any cheapy spearmen*
Walls
Courthouse
Library
Marketplace
Aqueduct
...

Or something like that

-Arrian

[publius]

Originally posted by Theseus
This is almost a non-logical, non-trivial issue for me, but Temples MUST BE BUILT FIRST!

i used to build temples first, but if you're playing a scientific civ it's cheaper to go with libraries... plus they have a higher culture rating, so that you get a border expansion in fewer turns.

[publius]

[SIZE=1]But there is another important consideration here: if you build a marketplace to improve the gold generation in a city and all that gold is lost due to corruption, your marketplace is not of much use to you. Better build a courthouse before the marketplace.

well, a lot of times i'm building the marketplace as much for all those happy faces as for the gold...