Buildings

Observatory

The Observatory is the building of the science victory: the seat that completes it wins the match at once (Victory conditions). It gives no score, income or defense; its only job is to end the match.

Rules

• Prerequisite is the Prosperity node. A player who does not know it cannot queue the Observatory.
• Cost is 50 production, and like other buildings it spends a building slot (Cities and population).
• Your empire can hold only one; if one is waiting in a queue in one of your cities, you cannot queue a second one in another city.
• It cannot be rushed with gold. It has no price and the rush command is rejected (Economy). The only way there is production.
• The moment it enters a queue, every seat is told. The time until it completes is a window for a countermove against the rival.
• Its progress is public. Which city the artifact is in and how far along it is can be read by rivals too.
• If the city falls, the queue is reset. Both in a direct capture and in the transfer after a capital's fall, the queue and the accumulated production are wiped as the city changes hands (Victory conditions). A city in revolt does not advance its queue.

When to build it

The Observatory is a late-game item and its risk is bigger than its production: every turn it sits in a queue it can be the target of all rivals. Look at the city's defense before you build. A city away from the front, protected by Walls and outside the capital's transfer radius, is safer (Victory conditions). Since it is announced the moment it enters the queue, there is no "finish it quietly" option; building it means taking on the defense of that city.

If you see a rival's Observatory, the countermove is single: take that city. As the city changes hands, the queue and the accumulated production are wiped, so all of the rival's investment is lost.

The opposing AI builds an Observatory too; its weight comes from the personality (The AI opponent).

The numbers on this page are read from the game’s balance tables.