As mentioned in the TechMod thread I have been planning a little second year anniversary teaser from my old and forgotten modding project known as MARE NOSTRVM (or Mare Nostrum depending on who is writing 
I was not really sure what to showcase but when I read this thread http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?t=472145 I decided on the topic “Buildings and building them”
Now MN is mostly a mod of game mechanics and their effects on game play so a lot of the references below might be a little confusing but I will try to give short explanations where appropriate though since this is a small teaser for a very small aspect of the mod and not a complete preview some subjects will be left veiled in secrecy so consider yourself teased
In both EU3 and EUR you pay a nominal sum of money and have a building after a year or two, you can build pretty much all buildings in all provinces and usually do so in bulk – especially in the late game because the buildings are tied into the tech system which in EUR progresses one level every ten years. This makes buildings little more than rather expensive global modifiers. Add to this that many nations start out with several building and still being unable to reproduce them in other provinces and you are left with a certain level of annoyance towards the game.
Our (we used to be more people on this project) initial approach to this was simply to remove the construction system all together and make building event driven (before VV we made everything event driven including colonisation and factions) however with the advent of VV I (being the only one left now) decided to do something even more radical and re-introduced the construction interface – or at least its ugly cousin.
Now the keen observer will be quick to point out that you are unable to choose any buildings and said observer would of course be right. This is because you are not actually building anything yet. The money, time and penalty to administration is only the beginning of the process; setting up an organisation to handle the project and initial surveying.
Letting everyone build everything from year one would of course be just as undesirable as holding them back to a given year so we came up with a development process for buildings based on the number of a given building you already own. This means that if you start from scratch you have to go through a total of five development stages before actually getting the building, many of which are expensive and time consuming, the point being to encourage planning and strategic focus as you will not be able to develop all buildings at the same time.
The keen observer from before will note that this means you can get access to buildings by conquering provinces where they are already present and would again be right. This is a viable strategy to obtain all sorts of tech in MN but on a side note warfare is also very expensive so it is not always the best way. You can trade for tech too as well as encourage tributaries to give it to you in various ways.
Another fast way to get access to buildings is through “national ideas” (they are called something else in the mod though). A total of eleven ideas give access to various of the twenty buildings in the mod meaning if you pick one (or more for that matter) of these ideas you can skip the development phases for the buildings covered by the idea(s) and build them directly.
Here is an example of such an idea:
You still need to setup up the process though and building time and cost is still dependent on availability of slaves and materials, corrupt magistrates, greedy governors and everything else that can go wrong when building in the age without yellow hardhats.
Below is a short description of the twenty buildings. Note that you will only be able to build ten (plus two; the stockade still upgrades to city walls etc) of them in any given province requiring the player to make a provincial strategy to take advantage of the various interdependencies and exclusions between the buildings.
Temple
This is a very interesting and versatile building which ties deeply into your overall religious strategy. Needless to say having a temple in the wrong province can lead to disaster while in the right place might evolve the state religion into a powerful weapon against enemies both foreign and domestic as well as a tool to control your citizens.
Tenement
When you are having problems with all the plebs flooding your major cities stifling growth and stirring up discontent among your more affluent citizens (and among them selves as well) maybe some cheap housing will help or at least keep them away from the nice neighbourhoods. While not the best long term solution to overpopulation it is cheap and might give you some breathing room to come up with aforementioned solution.
Aqueduct
Definitely one of the biggest and most expensive building projects but also one of the most powerful. Without ample water supply long term growth will be very limited but be sure to defend it well since invaders like to mess with it.
Arena
The second of the Big Four in term of size and cost, the arena will serve to distract your citizens from their many grievances. Entertain them with horse races, the Greek classics acted by a masked emperor, exotic animals imported from the far corners of the world or just have some slaves kill each other.
Academy
Generating the intellectual manpower of the nation, this is a very important building if you plan to do more than merely survive and eventually expand the reaches of you empire.
Basilica
The third of the Big Four this building signifies a level of sophistication otherwise reserved for our capital. Once built, the province will become the regional capital and enable the appointment of magistrate devoted solely to that region. It is also one of the key factors when moving the capital to a new province. Be careful though since the local governor might decide to make the province the capital of his empire instead of yours.
Forum
Probably one of the most important buildings as it is not only key to local trade but also a centre for the local administration in particular for territories and colonies. Beware though; once trade flows it will be hard to divert it to what might be considered more suitable later on, so plan carefully.
Roads
Important to both trade and military a road network will not only allow your troops to move faster through your provinces but is the only way to connect provinces without waterways to your trade network.
Port
The slightly easier way to connect a province to the trade network is by placing a port on the coast or river. Will also help growth but keep an eye on pesky pirates.
Irrigation
The only way to take full advantage of slaves in agriculture.
Mine
The only way to take full advantage of slaves in mining.
Forestry
The only way to take full advantage of slaves in forestry.
Manufactory
The only way to take full advantage of slaves in the production of goods.
Harbour
An expansion of the Port allowing basic ship building and better protection against the elements and pirates. Only available in costal provinces.
Shipyard
The only way to take full advantage of slaves in ship building.
Standing Camp
Allows the recruitment and training of the more advanced military units and is also a good place to garrison your legions when not as war to avoid attrition and discontent during the “off-season”.
Barracks
Improving the camp with actual buildings make recruitment, training and garrisoning considerably more pleasant and efficient. The permanent staff also improves the local defensiveness.
Stockade
Basic city protection against raiders and smaller invading forces.
City Walls
Advanced city protection against raiders and invading forces.
Large City Walls
The last of the Big Four; the invaders will need a huge wooden horse to penetrate these.
I was not really sure what to showcase but when I read this thread http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?t=472145 I decided on the topic “Buildings and building them”
Now MN is mostly a mod of game mechanics and their effects on game play so a lot of the references below might be a little confusing but I will try to give short explanations where appropriate though since this is a small teaser for a very small aspect of the mod and not a complete preview some subjects will be left veiled in secrecy so consider yourself teased
In both EU3 and EUR you pay a nominal sum of money and have a building after a year or two, you can build pretty much all buildings in all provinces and usually do so in bulk – especially in the late game because the buildings are tied into the tech system which in EUR progresses one level every ten years. This makes buildings little more than rather expensive global modifiers. Add to this that many nations start out with several building and still being unable to reproduce them in other provinces and you are left with a certain level of annoyance towards the game.
Our (we used to be more people on this project) initial approach to this was simply to remove the construction system all together and make building event driven (before VV we made everything event driven including colonisation and factions) however with the advent of VV I (being the only one left now) decided to do something even more radical and re-introduced the construction interface – or at least its ugly cousin.
Now the keen observer will be quick to point out that you are unable to choose any buildings and said observer would of course be right. This is because you are not actually building anything yet. The money, time and penalty to administration is only the beginning of the process; setting up an organisation to handle the project and initial surveying.
Letting everyone build everything from year one would of course be just as undesirable as holding them back to a given year so we came up with a development process for buildings based on the number of a given building you already own. This means that if you start from scratch you have to go through a total of five development stages before actually getting the building, many of which are expensive and time consuming, the point being to encourage planning and strategic focus as you will not be able to develop all buildings at the same time.
The keen observer from before will note that this means you can get access to buildings by conquering provinces where they are already present and would again be right. This is a viable strategy to obtain all sorts of tech in MN but on a side note warfare is also very expensive so it is not always the best way. You can trade for tech too as well as encourage tributaries to give it to you in various ways.
Another fast way to get access to buildings is through “national ideas” (they are called something else in the mod though). A total of eleven ideas give access to various of the twenty buildings in the mod meaning if you pick one (or more for that matter) of these ideas you can skip the development phases for the buildings covered by the idea(s) and build them directly.
Here is an example of such an idea:
You still need to setup up the process though and building time and cost is still dependent on availability of slaves and materials, corrupt magistrates, greedy governors and everything else that can go wrong when building in the age without yellow hardhats.
Below is a short description of the twenty buildings. Note that you will only be able to build ten (plus two; the stockade still upgrades to city walls etc) of them in any given province requiring the player to make a provincial strategy to take advantage of the various interdependencies and exclusions between the buildings.
Temple
This is a very interesting and versatile building which ties deeply into your overall religious strategy. Needless to say having a temple in the wrong province can lead to disaster while in the right place might evolve the state religion into a powerful weapon against enemies both foreign and domestic as well as a tool to control your citizens.
Tenement
When you are having problems with all the plebs flooding your major cities stifling growth and stirring up discontent among your more affluent citizens (and among them selves as well) maybe some cheap housing will help or at least keep them away from the nice neighbourhoods. While not the best long term solution to overpopulation it is cheap and might give you some breathing room to come up with aforementioned solution.
Aqueduct
Definitely one of the biggest and most expensive building projects but also one of the most powerful. Without ample water supply long term growth will be very limited but be sure to defend it well since invaders like to mess with it.
Arena
The second of the Big Four in term of size and cost, the arena will serve to distract your citizens from their many grievances. Entertain them with horse races, the Greek classics acted by a masked emperor, exotic animals imported from the far corners of the world or just have some slaves kill each other.
Academy
Generating the intellectual manpower of the nation, this is a very important building if you plan to do more than merely survive and eventually expand the reaches of you empire.
Basilica
The third of the Big Four this building signifies a level of sophistication otherwise reserved for our capital. Once built, the province will become the regional capital and enable the appointment of magistrate devoted solely to that region. It is also one of the key factors when moving the capital to a new province. Be careful though since the local governor might decide to make the province the capital of his empire instead of yours.
Forum
Probably one of the most important buildings as it is not only key to local trade but also a centre for the local administration in particular for territories and colonies. Beware though; once trade flows it will be hard to divert it to what might be considered more suitable later on, so plan carefully.
Roads
Important to both trade and military a road network will not only allow your troops to move faster through your provinces but is the only way to connect provinces without waterways to your trade network.
Port
The slightly easier way to connect a province to the trade network is by placing a port on the coast or river. Will also help growth but keep an eye on pesky pirates.
Irrigation
The only way to take full advantage of slaves in agriculture.
Mine
The only way to take full advantage of slaves in mining.
Forestry
The only way to take full advantage of slaves in forestry.
Manufactory
The only way to take full advantage of slaves in the production of goods.
Harbour
An expansion of the Port allowing basic ship building and better protection against the elements and pirates. Only available in costal provinces.
Shipyard
The only way to take full advantage of slaves in ship building.
Standing Camp
Allows the recruitment and training of the more advanced military units and is also a good place to garrison your legions when not as war to avoid attrition and discontent during the “off-season”.
Barracks
Improving the camp with actual buildings make recruitment, training and garrisoning considerably more pleasant and efficient. The permanent staff also improves the local defensiveness.
Stockade
Basic city protection against raiders and smaller invading forces.
City Walls
Advanced city protection against raiders and invading forces.
Large City Walls
The last of the Big Four; the invaders will need a huge wooden horse to penetrate these.
