Skipping intermediate buildings
Is it possible to build the first tier buildings, turn off auto upgrade and then research the next level of the building, turn auto upgrade back on and research the third level building thus upgrading all your buildings from level 1 to level 3?
If not can I disable auto update and manually upgrade level 1 to 3?
If not I assume I can destroy the level 1 and then directly build level 3.
And:
Am I being silly? It seems like most level 2 buildings are a complete waste of production. Level 3 is fine simply because level 4 has such a high research cost you wouldn't beeline it... And my understanding is upgrading from level 1 - 4 is almost as bad as fully building each building while say building level 1 then demolishing it and building level 4 is a lot less production.