Are buildings generally ok? Do they cost too many monarch points?

[Thanik]

It is always good to have more money, unless you are top1 in military/diplomacy/administration score, and all potential enemies are weak...
Buldings are good (effective per monarch point) for big empires too, if you focus all buldings from one branch in one province.


P.S. You don't gain any score points for having 50k gold in stockpile...

 

[Beagá]

To sum up the discussion so far:

A) If you want to blob, then building buildings is waste of resources.
B) If you don't want to blob, then building buildings help you to improve your realm.

It seems that many people find option A more preferable, while minority enjoys staying small and improving the lands, which they already have, instead of constantly conquering new lands.

Bingo. And since conquering is relatively easy versus the AI on normal, the bias goes toward conquest.

 

[Sorellis]

The thing about buildings is that a lot of the bonuses they provide are percentage based, so they are more effective in provinces that already have high base tax or high value trade goods. I'm playing a Sardinia-Piedmont game at the moment and the income that buildings provide in provinces such as Lombardia and Mantua is ridiculous.

I think buildings are pretty well balanced at the moment due to their MP costs but I do think it would be nice to have them provide other bonuses rather than just income. Having a building line that gives +1 army tradition for full coverage would be very cool, as it would be a buff to smaller nations and help make it possible for "tall" empires to exist.

 

[Alerias]

I find I can both build and blob anyway assuming I go Quality, focus on getting the new trade monopoly bonus that reduce build power costs and wait for tech upgrades till they are penalty-free.

Later on, the cost of tech upgrades really shrinks if youre patient as youll have a few bonuses stacked up reducing them with a little luck.

Then you can blow the majority of your points on buildings and maybe a policy or two. Typically the bonus colonist is worth it if you have the right idea groups, for instance.