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.

 

 

9,696 views 4 replies
Reply #1 Top

Yes.  There's a checkbox for each colony to turn off auto-upgrade.  Disappointingly, it's always checked by default.

Personally, I tend to stagger upgrades.  That is, I will happily run a tier 3 alongside a tier 2 or tier 1 building until I'm ready to upgrade them all to tier 4.  If I'm desperately short on tiles and need to build something else I will demolish the lower tier building rather than using it in an upgrade, because the more times you upgrade a tile, the less benefit you get from doing so.

Also, I tend to do upgrades manually, when it is convenient for me.  The only exception to this that I make are auto-terraforming projects, which are great as they always open up more tiles for use.

Reply #2 Top

Auto upgrade can also crush your economy if you are not careful.  I tend to turn it off somewhere around mid-game, and especially before I start invasions.  

I also turn off auto-terraforming stuff if I intend to make a research run to the super project that instantly upgrades everything free of cost (orbital transformer?).

Reply #3 Top

Is there a way to toggle auto-upgrade on and off throughout your whole civ, or can it only be done planet by planet?

Reply #4 Top

Regrettably, there is no civ-wide toggle for that.

I never build the last manufacturing building except when I can put it on a high bonus tile.

Farms are another problem.  Whenever i build a farm on a farm-bonus tile, I immediately turn off auto-upgrade for that planet.

Similarly, whenever I build a morale building on a morale bonus tile, I check off the upgrade for that planet also, as it will usually be an unneeded expense to upgrade.