Buildings
Buildings represent the infrastructure and development of a province. Investing ducats into buildings can give steady returns over the decades and centuries to come.
Contents
Building slots[edit]
Adding a new building requires one free building slot. Some buildings can be upgraded as technology advances. These upgraded buildings don't require an additional slot, and the existing building can be upgraded on the same slot. The maximum number of building slots a city can have is 12.[1]
The number of slots a province provides is mostly influenced by terrain and total development of the province:[2]
![]() |
Conditions |
---|---|
+2 | Base |
+1 | Terrain is drylands |
+1 | Terrain is farmlands |
+1 | Terrain is grasslands |
+1 | Has a ![]() |
+1 | Has a level 3 center of trade |
+1 | Per 10 ![]() |
+1 | Birthplace of ![]() |
−1 | Climate is ![]() |
Note: The University can be thought of as not occupying a slot. In case there are no available slots the University will in fact occupy the future slot it is supposed to provide (prior to Patch 1.15 the player would have had to remove a building, build the University, and then rebuild the original building).
Example: If Paris is a city, a core of France, has farmlands terrain, a temperate climate and
32 development, then:
Building categories[edit]
![]() |
Please help with verifying or updating this section. It was last verified for version 1.28. |
Buildings are built in provinces at the cost of ducats. There are three types of building:
Normal buildings[edit]
These represent common buildings that the player can construct in every province. Buildings are divided into seven categories: government, army, navy, production, trade, defense and taxation.
Each category contains various amounts of buildings. Most of the buildings have an advanced version, but some (for example University) take one slot and can't be replaced by something better. It's not necessary to build a basic building before constructing the more advanced version, although the cost of the basic building will be deducted from the cost of the advanced one.
Manufactories[edit]
Manufactories are proto-industrial buildings in that their unique function is the increased production of a specific class of trade good. For example, the weapons manufactory is only constructable on provinces that produce iron or copper. For a list, see below. Each manufactory is essentially the same as any other, except that they are unlocked at different levels and categories of technology. However, there is no manufactory for gold-producing provinces, while furnaces, which can be built on coal-producing provinces, will increase the production of all trade goods.
Native buildings[edit]
Native American nations get a unique set of buildings that completely replace the usual buildings as long as they have the Tribal Council government. All buildings can be built without technological requirements unlike normal buildings and their effects are different from the normal buildings. Any native buildings built will be lost when the government is reformed.
Cost[edit]
![]() |
Please help with verifying or updating this section. It was last verified for version 1.28. |
All buildings cost ducats to build. The cost of a building is reduced if a building that precedes it (meaning, it is an upgrade) is already built in the province; though the time requirement is not affected by this.
Construction cost is modified by the following:
![]() |
Conditions |
---|---|
−20% | with the ![]() |
−15% | with ![]() ![]() |
−15% | with Seize Clerical Holdings action as ![]() |
−10% | with ![]() ![]() |
−10% | with ![]() ![]() |
−10% | with ![]() ![]() ![]() |
−10% | with ![]() ![]() |
−10% | with ![]() ![]() |
−10% | with ![]() ![]() |
−10% | with the ![]() |
−5% | during ![]() |
−5% | after embracing the Renaissance institution |
+1% | for each percentage point of ![]() |
+10% | with the ![]() |
Ideas and policies:
Many decisions, missions and events.
Local modifiers[edit]
Provinces may also have local construction cost modifiers.
![]() |
Conditions |
---|---|
−20% | producing ![]() |
−10% | in states of the ![]() ![]() |
−5% | in the HRE with the imperial reform “Call for Reichsreform” |
+20% | in states with assigned Pasha of ‘Ottoman Government’ |
Construction time[edit]
Buildings need a certain time to be built. The base construction time of normal buildings is 12 months, for forts 30 months and for manufactories 60 months.
Construction time is modified by the following:
![]() |
Conditions |
---|---|
up to −10% | with a neutral or loyal ![]() |
Ideas and policies:
![]() |
Traditions | Ideas | Bonuses | Policies |
---|---|---|---|---|
−10% | — |
|
— | — |
Some missions.
Local construction time[edit]
Provinces producing iron have a
−20% local construction time modifier.
List of normal buildings[edit]
Buildings[edit]
All normal buildings have a base construction time of 12 months and provide various benefits when completed.
Forts[edit]
- Main article: Land warfare#Forts
The defense type building (fort) has a base construction time of 30 months. Forts resist enemy occupation and must be sieged down. They also hinder enemy movement in the surrounding provinces during war, recapture neighboring unfortified provinces, and reduce devastation in neighboring provinces.
All forts require an ongoing monthly upkeep of Fort maintenance which becomes higher depending on the fort's level. Mothballing a fort gives
−50% Fort maintenance for that individual fort.
Category | Tech | Normal buildings (required technology level) | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Defense | ![]() |
Castle (1)
|
Bastion (14) Upgrades Castle |
Star fort (19) Upgrades Bastion |
Fortress (24) Upgrades Star fort |
Manufactories[edit]
All manufactories cost 500 ducats, have a base construction time of
60 months. A manufactory can only be built in a province which has its associated trade goods present.
Manufactory | Tech | Level | Required trade good | Modifier |
---|---|---|---|---|
![]() |
![]() |
6 | ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
6 | all trade goods | ![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
7 | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
remaining trade goods | ![]() | |||
![]() |
![]() |
11 | ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
11 | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
11 | ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
12 | ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
remaining trade goods | ![]() | |||
![]() |
![]() |
14 | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
14 | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
15 | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
remaining trade goods | ![]() | |||
![]() |
![]() |
16 | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
21 | ![]() |
![]() |
List of native buildings[edit]
All native buildings cost 50 ducats and have a base construction time of
12 months. It is only possible to build one of each unique building per nation. All native buildings are lost after reforming the government.
Normal native buildings[edit]
Unique native buildings[edit]
Building | Effect |
---|---|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
Building strategy[edit]

General considerations[edit]
There are some general rules of thumb that should be taken to heart when investing in buildings:
- Money should be invested in buildings only if it isn't needed for something more important.
- The time needed to generate a profit should be noted; some provinces may be too poor to ever generate a profit in the remaining time-frame.[4]
- When considering a large building spree, it might be advisable to invest in the
Economic idea group and couple it with policies to reduce the building costs.
- It's good to remember that besides
local autonomy, province income can also be affected by the province's
culture and religion (if different than the state religion).
- Space is limited. The number of buildings can only be increased by increasing the
development level, or
raising a center of trade to level three (only in states and trade companies), if one exists in the province. (Corollary: increase development to open more spaces.)
Building prioritization[edit]
Buildings' positioning can have great effect on return-on-investment. It is thus recommended to build the following building types in the appropriate provinces:
- Buildings providing a percentile bonus are best built in state provinces with high
development values, low
local autonomy, and targeted to increase the province's strength(s), e.g., trade buildings in provinces with modifiers benefiting
local trade power (such as
centers of trade).
- Buildings providing a flat bonus are best built in territorial provinces as they won't be affected by the high autonomy, or in state provinces with low
development values.
- Manufactories increase
local goods produced, which in turn also increase both the province
trade value and its production income. In addition, coupling them with production buildings in state provinces with high value trade goods will generate high production income.
- Manufactories are not affected by autonomy, culture, and religion as other buildings. Thus, they can be built even in high autonomy provinces. While the generated production income may not be at its fullest, they can still return the investment when also taking into account the generated
trade income.
- Prioritize building forts in provinces with defensive terrain or those with low
supply limit to couple them with the
local defensiveness and high
attrition bonuses, and to make sure you get a terrain bonus to help break sieges. If possible, they should be built mostly in border provinces and mothballed until needed.
- Other manufactory level buildings introduced in 1.30 may be more useful than increasing production. For example: Ramparts in a province with a fort improve its defensiveness; Soldiers' Houses greatly increase available manpower if built in Grain provinces, likewise Impressment Offices in Fish provinces, both being trade goods of low value.
Avoidance[edit]
Since buildings cost money, their cost-benefit ratio should be considered. Thus, an important step is to know when not to invest in a building type:
- Trade buildings are unnecessary in trade nodes dominated by the nation, and you don't need more trade power propagated upstream.
- Army/Navy buildings can be avoided if the nation maintains large forces and there are no nations of similar or stronger power.
- Due to forts' initial high cost and ongoing
fort maintenance, it's best to avoid building them in the inner provinces of the nation where they are far from enemy borders and forces. If the area is prone to rebellions, several low level forts might be more successful in slowing the rebels down until other forces arrive.
- If playing as a native tribe and planning to migrate, it is not advisable to build buildings unless necessary for immediate survival, as buildings are destroyed upon migration.
Destroying buildings[edit]
Occasionally it is beneficial to destroy a building:
- Excess forts cost money to maintain even when mothballed. Forts that aren't strategically useful - those in the interior if the enemy never reaches it, or multiple forts in a small space after annexing several small countries, for example - can be worth destroying.
- Occasionally a building other than a fort was useful when built, but becomes a waste of a slot due to changing circumstances.
- when annexing an AI, it could be worth to destroy some unsuseful buildings (such as church in low tax income province) to build better one (like manufactories).
Is borrow-to-build worthwhile?[edit]
Is it worthwhile to take out loans in order to construct a certain building? Equivalently, if there is an on-going loan, should the loan be paid off first before initiating on any construction project? Just like in real life, theoretically, the answer is yes if the income provided by the building per year divided by the sum of build cost and interest accrued during construction is higher than interest per annum. This can be the case for highly developed provinces or for manufactories in a highly productive province that produces expensive trade goods. (For manufactories, the player should also include trade income.) However, the player would also need to make sure there is enough income to pay off the loan before inflation gets out of hand. A player considering using debt to build, however, is cautioned to carefully consider these trade-offs, for in many cases, it is not profitable. A safe guide is whether the income before constructing the building is able to cover the principal part of the loan within a reasonable time frame.
When will increased income cover building costs?[edit]
The increase in income is dynamically influenced by provincial and national modifiers such as tax efficiency, production efficiency as well as the development in the province, all of which are bound to increase as technology progresses. Therefore, early game, whether a building will pay for itself is not usually the question. The question is how long and thus if the ducat can be better spent elsewhere. The following table lists the required increase in monthly income (displayed in-game in the building interface) for a certain number of years before the building breaks even.
The benefits of manufactories are two-fold: one is through local production; another is through trade collection. Trade collection is influenced by multiple factors: price of trade good, trade company bonus, player's share in trade power where the goods value is collected, and whether there is any transferring bonus (if collected in a downstream trade center). Assuming no trade company and 100% share in trade, the required increase in monthly income (displayed in-game in the building interface) for a certain number of years before the building breaks even is listed as follows.
The required income is higher for a given schedule if the player cannot fully collect on the value of the trade goods. At the same time, any trade efficiency bonus reduces the required monthly income increase or bring closer the time the building breaks even.
As with other buildings, the increase in income from manufactories also scales with game progress although with the added sensitivity to the price of trade goods. Certain trade goods decrease in value late in the game. See Trade goods strategy.
References[edit]
- ↑ Specified in /Europa Universalis IV/common/defines.lua.
- ↑ Specified in /Europa Universalis IV/map/terrain.txt and /Europa Universalis IV/common/static_modifiers/00_static_modifiers.txt respectively.
- ↑ Note that this is a country-wide modifier.
- ↑ Forum, ROI on Buildings (spreadsheet), 2017-02-05
Concepts | Corruption • Governing capacity • Overextension • Power projection • Rebellion • Regions • Stability • States and territories |
Court | Advisors • Consort • Monarch power • National focus • Ruler • Ruler personalities |
Estates and Factions | Base estates • Cossacks estates • Dharma estates • Estates • Factions |
Events and Missions | Decisions • Disasters • Events • List of decisions • Missions |
Goverment | Absolutism • Culture • Government • Government rank • Modifiers • Policies |
Province mechanics | Autonomy • Buildings • Canal • Capital • Core • Province |
Religions | Christian denominations • Eastern denominations • Muslim denominations • Other denominations • Pagan denominations • Religion |
Specific governments | Native council • Parliament • Steppe hordes |
Colonisation | Exploration • Colonisation • Colonial nation • Tariffs • Trade company |
Economy | Debase currency • Development • Economy • Privateering • Production • Raid coasts • Tax |
Trade | Trade • Trade company • Trade goods • Trade nodes |
Diplomacy | Diplomacy • Diplomatic feedback • Envoy • Espionage |
Other | Defender of the Faith • Great power • Hegemon • Prestige • Regions |
Political structures | Emperor of China • Holy Roman Empire • Papacy |
Relations | Personal union • Relations • Subject nation |
Ideas and Policies | Idea groups • National ideas • Policies |
Ages and Institutions | Ages • Institutions |
Innovativeness and Technology | Innovativeness • Technology |
Declaring war | Alliance • Casus belli • Claim • Peace • War exhaustion • Warfare |
Defense | Fort • Zone of control |
Land warfare | Army • Condottieri • Discipline • Drilling • Land units • Land warfare • Manpower • Militarisation • Mercenaries • Professionalism |
Naval warfare | Flagship • Naval blockade • Naval doctrine • Naval units • Naval warfare • Navy • Sailors |
Other | Force limit • Military leader • Military tradition |