Buildings

Barracks grant experience points to Land Units built in its city. Barracks are required to build the Military Academy national wonder.

    Warfare has been a recurring phenomenon throughout the history of mankind, and it continues to plague the world today. Although war is not a desirable situation, it is important that even the most peaceful of societies be prepared for the possibility of war. When warring nations are closely matched in technology and manpower, the army with the best training usually wins battles. Military schools and academies exist all over the world, established for the purpose of training military personnel in the latest methods, tactics, and technology. Men and women who graduate from such facilities possess higher than average command and military and technological skills, making them more effective in combat situations.

Granaries store food to help increase a city's growth rate and increase the city's health with access to Corn, Rice and Wheat.

    Early humans were nomadic, settling in specific regions only for brief periods of time. When the food supply was exhausted in one area, the nomads would move on to search for more. Cities became possible only when the development of agriculture made the supply of food more abundant and dependable. However, cities still needed a way to keep the food supply stable throughout all four seasons. To do so, the citizens had to come up with a way to store seasonal crops for later use. The Granary was designed for the storage and protection of surplus food. Food storage technology meant that a smaller percentage of the population could produce and store enough food for everyone, allowing the remainder to pursue other jobs and activities.

Harbors improve the food output of water plots. Harbors are required to build Customs Houses, Wharfs and the San Marco Basilica world wonder.

    Just because a city is built in a coastal region doesn't guarantee that the city is readily accessible by ship. In order for a port city to establish a steady trade, fishing, or other shipping industry, the city must have a harbor. A harbor is a protected body of water that opens into an ocean or lake that shelters ships from waves and high winds. Although some coastal cities are established in areas where a natural harbor exists, most seaports are forced either to improve the existing natural harbor, or to build a man-made harbor to shelter ships and provide channels deep enough to accommodate large vessels.

Libraries boost your city's research and provide culture. They also allow you to hire two Scientist specialists. Libraries are required to build Universities.

    The development of writing meant that the accumulated knowledge of a society could be written down and stored rather than memorized and passed along by word of mouth. The accumulated written material was stored in a library. The libraries of the ancient world, especially those at Alexandria and Pergamum, became leading centers of science and scholarship. The librarians actively collected the books of the world, accelerating the spread of knowledge.

Monuments increase a city's cultural output. They are also required to build Civic Squares and the National Monument national wonder.

    A monument is a structure that reminds people of an important event that occured in the area, or an important person - a famous general or leader, perhaps. Different cultures have constructed monuments out of varied materials - wood, stone, or even precious metals. Generally, the only ancient monuments remaining today are those made out of stone: over time the wooden monuments have decayed, and the ones constructed of precious metals have been looted and destroyed.

Pagan Temples provide a small amount of culture.

    A Pagan Temple (from the Latin word templum) is a structure reserved for religious or spiritual activities, such as prayer and sacrifice, or analogous rites. A templum constituted a sacred precinct as defined by a priest, or augur. It has the same root as the word "template," a plan in preparation of the building that was marked out on the ground by the augur. Templa also became associated with the dwelling places of a god or gods. Despite the specific set of meanings associated with the religion of the ancient Rome, the word has now become quite widely used to describe a house of worship for any number of religions and is even used for time periods prior to the Romans.

Stables grant experience points to Mounted Units built in their cities.

    A stable is any building in which horses are kept; a military stable would also include training grounds, barracks for the troopers, blacksmiths, armories, and the like. A horse must be extensively trained if it is to be successfully used in battle. In their natural state, most horses quite sensibly seek to run away from dangerous situations - say, when surrounded by screaming men armed with sharp objects. A cavalrymen's horse, on the other hand, needs to be able to suppress this instinct and instead instantly carry out any order given it by its rider - no matter how suicidal. Such training takes time and skill - for both mount and rider. Stables provide such training: any civilization which plans to employ large numbers of horsemen would be well-advised to make the investment and build as many stables as possible.

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Walls increase a city's defenses against pre-gunpowder units. Walls are required to build Castles.

    Before the establishment of centralized governments capable of supporting strong, national armies, individual cities were left to fend for themselves when it came to defense. As a result, many cities constructed city walls to protect against raiders and bandits. City walls represented a major investment in both time and materials, requiring years to complete and constant repairs to maintain their strength and integrity. However, these walls turned the city into a fortress capable of withstanding all but the most determined attack. The development of gunpowder largely put an end to the usefulness of walls in stopping large armies.

Weavers increase a city's cultural output. They also increase the city's happiness with access to Sheep, Cotton or Dye and allow you to hire two Artist specialists.

    Weaving is a textile craft in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads, called the warp and the filling or weft (older woof), are interlaced to form a fabric or cloth. The warp threads run lengthways on the piece of cloth, and the weft runs across from side to side, across the bolt of cloth.

    Cloth is woven on a loom, a device that holds the warp threads in place while filling threads are woven through them. Weft is an old English word meaning "that which is woven".

    The way the warp and filling threads interlace with each other is called the weave. The majority of woven products are created with one of three basic weaves: plain weave, satin weave, or twill.

    Woven cloth can be plain (in one colour or a simple pattern), or can be woven in decorative or artistic designs, including tapestries. Fabric in which the warp and/or weft is tie-dyed before weaving is called ikat.

Aqueducts store food to help increase a city's growth rate. Aqueducts are required to build a Bath.

    A major obstacle to population growth and expansion in early cities was the scarcity of water. In many cases, the solution to this problem was an aqueduct. Aqueducts were large, elevated stone "canals" through which water from nearby hills and mountains was channeled into the city. Aqueducts allowed cities to grow much larger by significantly increasing the amount of available water. At the same time aqueducts reduced the chance of contracting water-borne diseases, by reducing the dependence on stagnant ponds and wells as water sources. Aqueducts also allowed cities to be built in normally inhospitable environments, such as deserts, by providing an outside water source. Modern day Los Angeles, for example, obtains its water supply from the Colorado River, through a system of aqueducts over 200 miles long.

Arenas increase a city's happiness and its happiness output from using the culture slider. Arenas are required to build a Stadium.

    An arena is an open-air venue used for entertainment, performances, and sports.
    Ancient Greek theatres were built in a semicircle, with tiered seating above a performance area. Ancient Roman arenas were oval or circular in plan, with seating tiers that surrounded the central performance area, like a modern open-air stadium. Modern usage for "arena" is lax, and does not always respect the ancient usage, and so the word can be found describing theatre-style stages with the audience only on one side, theatres in the round, and stadiums. Natural formations shaped like man-made theatres are sometimes known as natural arenas. The three largest Roman arenas (in the original sense) in the world in order of size are the Colosseum, the Amphitheatre Campania and the Amphitheatre of El Djem.

Baths increase a city's cultural output and add health to a city.

    Bathing is a common (though not universal) human custom. It is both pleasurable and utilitarian; it ensures that the body is not covered in noxious substances, and is often considered highly relaxing. It can also kill pests and parasites by submersion in water, especially with the addition of various soaps and other chemical substances. In many cultures, bathing also has a spiritual function; ensuring purity of the spirit as well as purity of the body.

    Primitive societies generally bathe in naturally occurring bodies of water, but this is impractical in a large city. Even if customs permit the level of public undress this would require, there would be too many people making use of the same water supply. Therefore, public, communal bathing systems and bathhouses were a popular and common form of public infrastructure in large cities. Examples of public bathing infrastructure were found in (but not necessarily limited to) the ancient Indus valley, in classical Greece and (famously) Rome, in Japan and the Ottoman Empire, in Indonesia, and in Scandinavia up to the present day.

    Public (and indeed private) bathing declined in Europe during the Middle Ages due to religious strictures encouraging increased body modesty and condemning bathhouses as sites for prostitution. However, increased awareness of sanitary needs and greater availability of fresh water in the industrial era led to a resurgence, first of publicly available baths that allowed relatively greater privacy than in Roman times, and later of private bathing facilities in every individual home with the rise of indoor plumbing.

Forges increase production, increase the city's happiness with access to Gems, Gold and Silver, but also add unhealthiness. They also allow you to hire one Engineer specialist. Forges are required to build the Eiffel Tower, Iron Pillar and Statue of Liberty world wonders, and the Ironworks national wonder.

    A forge is a furnace where metal is heated or melted. In ancient times smiths with small forges could be found in most settlements. The furnaces were stoked with coal, which was fanned by manually pumped bellows to create intense heat. The blacksmith would heat the metal in the oven and then shape it by putting the metal on an anvil and beating it with heavy hammers. The finished product was then put into cold water to harden and cool. The smith might also melt the metal and pour it into molds.
    Modern forges are huge industrial structures requiring many workers to operate. The operation is similar to that in the smithy; except on a grand scale. Tons of ore are poured into massive vats, which are conveyed into the furnace. Once the metal is smelted, it may be mixed with other materials to create an alloy such as steel, and it may undergo a number of different processes to remove impurities. The finished metal can then be rolled into sheets, poured into molds, stamped into coins, and so forth.

Jails lower city maintenance costs and increase espionage. Jails are required to build Constabularies.

    A jail is a building for holding prisoners. Jails can range in size from a single room to a sprawling complex of buildings inside miles of barbed wire. Prisoners incarcerated in a jail may be there for a variety of reasons. Some may be common criminals; others may be brutal murderers. Some may be captured enemy soldiers and spies. Some might be political prisoners, dissidents, or simply people who fell into bad grace with their rulers. Some might be mad - incarceration being a common way to deal with the insane before the creation of mental hospitals and sanitariums.
     The facilities inside jails vary widely. A jail for commoners or enemies of the state might be horrible, overcrowded dark pits that are infested with rats, while a king's prison may be indistinguishable from royal quarters, except for the small matter of which side of the door on which the guards stand. Mostly, jails are unpleasant and unhappy places.

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Lighthouses provide an extra trade route.

    A lighthouse is a tower constructed on the shoreline, usually near a harbor or busy waterway. A powerful light sits atop the tower, making the structure visible to mariners for miles around. Lighthouses are built to mark the location of rocks and shoals or other hazards in the dead of night or midst of storms. Before the invention of radar, electricity, and global positioning systems, any vessel sailing near the shore ran a risk of running into such hazards and sinking. Naturally, sailors preferred to sail to destinations that had a method of marking these perils, so harbors with lighthouses flourished.
    The original "lighthouse" was probably a bonfire lit by villagers to guide the village's fishing vessels back to harbor at night. Over time people realized that the fires could be seen much farther away if they were built atop platforms or towers. Further improvements were made as technology advanced; mirrors were built to direct the light in the desired directions; oil lamps replaced the more dangerous bonfires, which were in turn replaced by electric lamps.

Markets increase a city's wealth. They also increase the city's happiness with access to Fur, Ivory, Silk or Whales and allow you to hire two Merchant specialists. Markets are required to build Supermarkets.

    As cities grew and prospered, trade between the farmers, artisans, and craftsmen who lived in the vicinity contributed to the economic health of the city. It soon became apparent that the best way for conducting trade within the city was to have a central location, or marketplace, where the people offering goods and services, or seeking them, could meet and conduct business. As a cities marketplace grew larger and more active, the economic vitality of the city grew as well.

Theatres increase a city's culture. They also allow you to hire one Artist specialist. Theatres are required to build Cinemas and the National Theatre national wonder.

    A theatre is a building in which audiences can watch a play or other theatrical performance. The earliest theatres were outdoors, constructed in a bowl-shaped depression to allow all in the audience to see the stage. Later, specific buildings were constructed to house theatres.
     Modern theatres are similar in layout to the earliest buildings. The audience sits or stands facing a stage; behind the stage is an extensive backstage area holding sets, props, dressing rooms and so forth. The primary difference between stages of Shakespeare's time and modern theaters is that the latter have electrical systems allowing them to light the stage as needed and to amplify the actors' voices.

Banks greatly increase a city's production of wealth and allow you to hire one Merchant specialist. Banks are required to build the Central Bank national wonder.

    A highly developed banking system is one of the cornerstones of an advanced civilization. Banks lend money to individuals or groups, providing capital for industrial and real estate development. Banks also contribute to the economic growth of a city or region by stimulating the development of production facilities. Individual citizens can also benefit by investing their own surplus money in the bank and earning interest on it.

Castles increase your cities' defense against pre-gunpowder units, generate a small amount of culture and also grant experience to Siege Units. Castles are required to build the Krak des Chevalier world wonder.

    Castles served many functions in medieval Europe; not only were they formidable defensive positions, but they served as administrative and judicial centers and as the seat of a lord's power. Since food and supplies could be stockpiled at castles, they exerted strong influence over very large surrounding territories. Secular lords were not the only ones to build castles; religious officials often did so as well, to provide themselves with stronger power bases. Early castles were usually little more than wooden stockades constructed on dirt mounds and perhaps surrounded by a shallow trench; by the time of the reign of Edward the Confessor in 13th century England, castle-building had become a much more elaborate affair, with hundreds of laborers and specialists constructing huge stone fortresses with intricate defenses in carefully selected geographic locations. After gunpowder brought cannons into widespread use, castles failed to provide the same protection from attack, and later rulers built palaces more along aesthetic than defensive lines.

Coffee Houses increase a city's cultural output. They also increase the city's happiness with access to Coffee, Sugar, Tea or Tabacco.

    A coffeehouse or coffee shop is an establishment which primarily serves prepared coffee or other hot beverages. It shares some of the characteristics of a bar, and some of the characteristics of a restaurant, but it is different from a cafeteria. As the name suggests, coffeehouses focus on providing coffee and tea as well as light snacks. Many coffee houses in the Middle East, and in West Asian immigrant districts in the Western world, offer shisha (nargile in Turkish and Greek), flavored tobacco smoked through a hookah.

    From a cultural standpoint, coffeehouses largely serve as centers of social interaction: the coffeehouse provides social members with a place to congregate, talk, write, read, entertain one another, or pass the time, whether individually or in small groups of 2 or 3.

Constabularies lower a city's War Weariness and increase espionage. They also increase the happiness output from using the espionage slider.

    A constabulary is a standing body of law enforcement officials charged with keeping the peace, arresting criminals, and otherwise acting as a civilian enforcement arm of the law.

    The idea of civilian law enforcement as a neutral body of servants of the state, as opposed to being the personal minions of individual rulers or magistrates, is tied into the concept of constitutional law. The law authorizes the creation of officials whose office is, in itself, to enforce those laws, and these enforcers are to be loyal not to the ruler, but to the law itself. When this principle is properly enforced and established, it has tremendous social benefits. The "social capital" and public trust of a society are strengthened when people of all classes and races can be confident that the police are enforcing the laws fairly. Doing business on an honest, reliable basis becomes easier and safer. Private citizens have less to fear in their daily lives.

    Efficient, orderly, enforcement of the rule of law is one of the cornerstones of civilization in the modern developed world.

A Grocer increases a city's wealth. It also increases the city's health with access to Spices, Sugar, Wine, or Bananas.

    The word "grocer" is the ancient term for a grocery store. It denotes a market, usually under single ownership (unlike the older bazaar-style markets, which contain dozens or hundreds of small independent operations). The store sells fresh foodstuffs as well as canned goods and other household staples.
    Modern groceries - also known as "supermarkets" - are much larger than the originals, thanks in large part to the invention of refrigeration. They contain an extensive variety of foods from all over the world. Comparatively, food prices are much lower than they used to be, and today's families spend a historically low portion of their income on food of much higher variety than that offered to shoppers in the past.

Pharmacies increase the city's healthiness with access to Banana, Spices or Wine and allow you to hire one Scientist specialist.

    Pharmacists are allied health professionals who practice in pharmacy, the field of health sciences focusing on safe and effective medication use. The role of the pharmacist has shifted from the classical "lick, stick, and pour" dispensary role (that is, "lick & stick the labels, count & pour the pills"), to being an integrated member of the health care team directly involved in patient care. Pharmacists undergo university-level education to understand biochemical mechanisms of action of drugs, drug uses and therapeutic roles, side effects, potential interactions, and monitoring parameters. This is mated to education in anatomy, physiology, and pathophysiology. Professional interpretation and communication of this specialized knowledge to patients, physicians, and other health care providers are functions which pharmacists provide, and are central to the provision of safe and effective drug therapy.

    The most common pharmacist positions are that of a community pharmacist (also referred to as "retail pharmacist" or "dispensing chemist"), or a hospital pharmacist, where they instruct and counsel on the proper use and adverse effects of medically prescribed drugs and medicines. In most countries, the profession is subject to professional regulation. Depending on the legal scope of practice, pharmacists may contribute to prescribing (also referred to as "pharmacist prescriber") and administering certain medications (e.g. immunizations in some jurisdictions). Pharmacists may also practice in a variety of other settings, including industry, research, academia, military, and government.

Post Offices provide an extra trade route and increase espionage. They also allow you to hire one Statesman specialist. Post Offices are required to build News Presses.

    The practice of communication by written documents carried by an intermediary from one person or place to another almost certainly dates back nearly to the invention of writing. However, development of formal postal systems occurred much later. The first documented use of an organized courier service for the diffusion of written documents is in Egypt, where Pharaohs used couriers for the diffusion of their decrees in the territory of the State (2400 BC).

    The first credible claim for the development of a real postal system comes from Ancient Persia but the point of invention remains in question. The best documented claim (Xenophon) attributes the invention to the Persian King Cyrus the Great (550 BC), while other writers credit his successor Darius I of Persia (521 BC). Other sources claim much earlier dates for an Assyrian postal system, with credit given to Hammurabi (1700 BC) and Sargon II (722 BC). Mail may not have been the primary mission of this postal service, however. The role of the system as an intelligence gathering apparatus is well documented, and the service was (later) called angariae, a term that in time turned to indicate a tax system. The Old Testament (Esther, VIII) makes mention of this system: Ahasuerus, king of Medes, used couriers for communicating his decisions.

    The Persian system worked on stations (called Chapar-Khaneh), where the message carrier (called Chapar) would ride to the next post, whereupon he would swap his horse with a fresh one, for maximum performance and delivery speed. Herodotus described the system in this way: "It is said that as many days as there are in the whole journey, so many are the men and horses that stand along the road, each horse and man at the interval of a day's journey; and these are stayed neither by snow nor rain nor heat nor darkness from accomplishing their appointed course with all speed".

    The economic growth and political stability under the Mauryan empire (322-185 BC) saw the development of impressive civil infrastructure in ancient India. The Mauryans developed early Indian mail service as well as public wells, rest houses and other facilities for the common public. Common chariots called Dagana were sometimes used as mail chariots in ancient India.

    In ancient times the kings, emperors, rulers, zamindars or the feudal lords protected their land through the intelligence services of specially trained police or military agencies and courier services to convey and obtain information through runners, messengers and even through pigeons. The chief of the secret service, known as the postmaster, maintained the lines of communication... The people used to send letters to their distant relatives through their friends or neighbors.

    Early stamps of India were watermarked with an elephant's head.

    In South India, the Wodeyar dynasty (1399 - 1947) of the Kingdom of Mysore used mail service for espionage purposes thereby acquiring knowledge related to matters that took place at great distances.

    By the end of the 18th century the postal system in India had reached impressive levels of efficiency. According to British national Thomas Broughton, the Maharaja of Jodhpur sent daily offerings of fresh flowers from his capital to Nathadvara (320 km) and they arrived in time for the first religious Darshan at sunrise. Later this system underwent complete modernization when the British Raj established its full control over India. The Post Office Act XVII of 1837 provided that the Governor-General of India in Council had the exclusive right of conveying letters by post for hire within the territories of the East India Company. The mails were available to certain officials without charge, which became a controversial privilege as the years passed. On this basis the Indian Post Office was established on October 1, 1837.

    China enjoyed postal relay stations since the Han dynasty (206 BC-220 AD). During the Yuan Dynasty under Kublai Khan, China was integrated into the much larger Örtöö system of the Mongol Empire.

    The first well documented postal service is that of Rome. Organized at the time of Augustus Caesar (62 BC-AD 14), it may also be the first true mail service. The service was called cursus publicus and was provided with light carriages called rhedæ with fast horses. Additionally, there was another slower service equipped with two-wheeled carts (birotæ) pulled by oxen. This service was reserved for government correspondence. Another service for citizens was later added.

    Genghis Khan installed an empire-wide messenger and postal station system named Örtöö within the Mongol Empire. During the Yuan Dynasty under Kublai Khan, this system also covered the territory of China. Postal stations were used not only for the transmission and delivery of official mail, but were also available for traveling officials, military men, and foreign dignitaries. These stations aided and facilitated the transport of foreign and domestic tribute, and trade in general. By the end of Kublai Khan's rule there were more than 1400 postal stations in China alone, which in turn had at their disposal about 50000 horses, 1400 oxen, 6700 mules, 400 carts, 6000 boats, over 200 dogs and 1150 sheep.

    The stations were 15 to 40 miles apart and had reliable attendants working for the mail service. Foreign observers, such as Marco Polo have attested to the efficiency of this early postal system.

    Another important postal service was created in the Islamic world by the caliph Mu'awiyya; the service was called barid, by the name of the towers built to protect the roads by which couriers travelled.

    Well before the Middle Ages and during them, homing pigeons were used for pigeon post, taking advantage of a singular quality of this bird, which when taken far from its nest is able to find his way home due to a particularly developed sense of orientation. Messages were then tied around the legs of the pigeon, which was freed and could reach his original nest.

    Mail has been transported by quite a few other methods throughout history, including dogsled, balloon, rocket, mule, pneumatic tubes and even submarine.

    Many religious orders had a private mail service, notably Cistercians ' one connected more than 6,000 abbeys, monasteries and churches. The best organization however was created by the Knights Templar. The newly instituted universities too had their private services, starting from Bologna (1158).

    Popular illiteracy was accommodated through the service of scribes. Illiterates who needed to communicate dictated their messages to a scribe, another profession now quite generally disappeared.

    In 1505, Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I established a postal system in the Empire, appointing Franz von Thurn und Taxis to run it. The Thurn and Taxis family, then known as Tassis, had operated postal services between Italian city states from 1290 onwards. Following the abolition of the Empire in 1806 the Thurn and Taxis postal system continued as a private organisation, continuing to exist into the postage stamp era before finally being absorbed into the postal system of the new German Empire after 1871.

    In the United Kingdom, prior to 1840 the postal system was expensive, confusing and seen as corrupt. Letters were paid for by the recipient rather than the sender, and were charged according to the distance the letter had travelled and the number of sheets of paper it contained. If there is one man who can be said to have changed the face of the postal service forever it is Sir Rowland Hill, with his reforms of the postal system based on the concept of penny postage, and his solution of pre payment. In his proposal Hill also called for official pre-printed envelopes and adhesive postage stamps as alternative ways of getting the sender to pay for the postage, at a time when prepayment was optional, which led to the invention of the postage stamp, the Penny Black.

    It was around this time nationalization and centralization of most postal systems took place. Today, the study of mail systems is known as postal history.

    The postal system was important in the development of modern transportation. Railroads carried railway post offices. During the 20th century, air mail became the transport of choice for inter-continental mail. Postmen started to utilize mail trucks. The handling of mail became increasingly automated.

    The Internet came to change the conditions for physical mail. E-mail (and in recent years social networking sites) became a fierce competitor, but online auctions and Internet shopping opened new business opportunities as people often get items bought online through the mail.

Wharfs increase that city's income from trade routes and increase that city's health from access to Clam, Crab, and Fish resources. A Wharf is required to build the Trafalgar Square world wonder.

    A wharf is a landing place or pier where ships may tie up and load or unload. A wharf commonly comprises a fixed platform, often on pilings. They often serve as interim storage areas with warehouses, since the typical objective is to unload and reload vessels as quickly as possible. Where capacity is sufficient a single quay constructed along the land adjacent to the water is normally used; where there is a need for more capacity many wharves will instead be constructed projecting into the water, as with the well known collection of wharves in San Francisco. A pier, raised over the water rather than within it, is one type of wharf, commonly used for cases where the weight or volume of cargos will be low.

    Smaller and more modern wharves are sometimes built on flotation devices (pontoons) to keep them at the same level to the ship even during changing tides.

Civic Squares increase a city's cultural output. They also increase a city's Great Person birth rate and allow you to hire one Statesman specialist.

    A 'square,' in urban planning, is a large open space in the middle of a city, placed at an intersection of transportation lanes, but considerably larger than is strictly required for the needs of the intersection itself.

    Virtually all inhabited cities of significant size have recognizable large, 'main streets' that evolved either by deliberate advance planning, or by natural flow of traffic forcing builders to leave wide paths for goods and travelers. The sides of these streets are generally extremely attractive to business owners, advertisers, street vendors, and the like. However, while such operations are an economic necessity to the life of the city, allowing them to operate freely would tend to block the flow of traffic. One solution to this problem is the creation of 'squares,' large flat areas free of major construction. In such a square, merchants can set up shop freely on a temporary basis, vendors can wander, and the general population can mingle.

    As squares become more established and enshrined in a city's culture, it is common for some of them to be repurposed. Monumental architecture in the square is likely to get much attention, so it becomes a favorite place to construct statues and memorials. In some cities, a particular square may be placed in front of the royal palace, or in another key political location, from which political leadership can address the masses... or in which the masses themselves can directly discuss the issues. This serves to strengthen the ties between the general public and the ruling elite, and creates a stronger sense of collective 'ownership' of the state, even when the state itself is a totalitarian dictatorship.

Courthouses lower city maintenance costs, provide you with a bonus to espionage and allow you to hire one Statesman specialist. Courthouses are required to build the Westminster Palace world wonder.

    As kingdoms and empires expanded, it became increasingly difficult for the rulers to maintain control over the more distant regions of their realm. To ensure that the far-flung cities of the empire contributed their expected share of duties and taxes to the government, rulers constructed courthouses to help unify their domains. These local centers of government meted out justice and helped preserve order in the midst of the furthest wilderness.

Customs Houses increase the commerce generated by a city's foreign trade routes. Customs Houses are required to build a Container Terminal.

    A Customs House is an organization responsible for collecting taxes on imports or exports, as well as for seizing contraband. Customs Houses were common during the Age of Sail, when the level of trade skyrocketed and the necessity for a centralized system of tax collection arose. In Spain, with the huge influx of wealth from the New World, Sevilla was designated the "Customs City" where all transports carrying Incan or Aztec gold were required to land so that the Crown could take its share. Tariffs became a hotly-debated topic in the New World, especially in the English colonies, where tariffs would fan the flames of several of that region's most violent conflicts.

Drydocks build Water Units much faster and grant Naval Units experience points, but also add unhealthiness to the city.

    A drydock is a facility for constructing and repairing ships. Drydocks may be floating structures or land-based. They contain one or more large bays in which the ship-work is done. These bays are below sea-level and contain drainage systems and water-tight doors. While construction or repairs are going on, the drydock is dry, the vessel sitting on the dock's floor supported by an elaborate structure of scaffolding. When construction or repairs are complete, the dock is flooded and the ship floats gently off the scaffolding. Once the water level inside the dock reaches sea-level, the drydock's doors are opened and the ship can proceed to sea.

Estates greatly increase a city's cultural output. They also increase the happiness output from using the culture slider and allow you to hire one Artist and Statesman specialist.

    Historically an estate comprises the houses and outbuildings and supporting farmland and woods that surround the gardens and grounds of a very large property, such as a country house or mansion. It is the modern term for a manor, but lacks the latter's now abolished jurisdictional authority. It is an "estate" because the profits from its produce and rents are sufficient to support the household in the house at its center, formerly known as the manor house. Thus "the estate" may refer to all other cottages and villages in the same ownership as the mansion itself, covering more than one former manor. Examples of such great estates are Woburn Abbey in Bedfordshire, England, and Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire built to replace the former manor house of Woodstock.

Levees provide a production bonus from all river tiles worked by the city. Levees are required to build the Brooklyn Bridge world wonder.

    The earliest human civilizations all grew up along the banks of rivers. Yet when rains grew heavy, the Nile, Indus, Tigris or Yangtze became a danger to those on their shores. The Levee, also known as a dam, is a wall of earth or stone, constructed to hold back encroaching waters. The ancient Egyptians were among some of the most sophisticated levee builders, channeling the Nile in order to provide water for cities and crops. Today levees provide hydroelectric power to populations throughout the world.

Observatories increase a city's scientific research and allow you to hire one Scientist specialist. Observatories are required to build Laboratories.

    An observatory is a building designed to allow those inside to study the stars, usually with the aid of a telescope. Early observatories consisted of buildings with conveniently-placed windows or high platforms, while later models have sophisticated rotating roofs with an aperture to hold a massive telescope. The rooftop rotates to allow the telescope to point in any direction.
    An observatory's location has much to do with its efficacy. Smog and other pollutants cut down on visibility; further, stars become more difficult to observe when there are other light-sources visible; so modern observatories are usually built as far away from cities as practical.

Sewers improve a city's health. Sewers are required to build Waterworks and the Abbey Mills world wonder.

    A sewer is an artificial conduit (or pipe) or system of conduits used to carry and remove sewage (human liquid waste) and to provide drainage. In the 21st century developed world, sewers are usually pipelines that begin with connecting pipes from buildings to one or more levels of larger underground horizontal mains, which terminate at sewage treatment facilities. Vertical pipes, called manholes, connect the mains to the surface. Sewers are generally gravity powered, though pumps may be used if necessary.

    The earliest covered sewers uncovered by archaeologists are in the regularly planned cities of the Indus Valley Civilization. In ancient Rome, the Cloaca Maxima, considered a marvel of engineering, disgorged into the Tiber. In medieval European cities, small natural waterways used for carrying off wastewater were eventually covered over and functioned as sewers. London's River Fleet is such a system. Open drains along the center of some streets were known as 'kennels' (= canals, channels).

Star Forts reduces damage from bombards from all units.

    A star fort, or trace italienne, is a fortification in the style that evolved during the age of gunpowder, when cannon came to dominate the battlefield, and was first seen in the mid-15th century in Italy. Passive ring-shaped (enceinte) fortifications of the Medieval era proved vulnerable to damage or destruction by cannon fire, when it could be directed from outside against a perpendicular masonry wall. In addition, an attacking force that could get close to the wall was able to conduct undermining operations in relative safety, as the defenders could not shoot at them from nearby walls. In contrast, the star fortress was a very flat structure composed of many triangular bastions, specifically designed to cover each other, and a ditch. Further structures, such as ravelins, hornworks or crownworks, and detached forts could be added to create a complex symmetrical structure.

    Star fortifications were further developed in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries primarily in response to the French invasion of the Italian peninsula. The French army was equipped with new cannon and bombards that were easily able to destroy traditional fortifications built in the Middle Ages. In order to counteract the power of the new weapons, defensive walls were made lower and thicker. They were built of many materials, usually earth and brick, as brick does not shatter on impact from a cannonball as does stone. Another important design modification were the bastions that characterized the new fortresses. In order to improve the defense of the fortress, covering fire had to be provided, often from multiple angles. The result was the development of star-shaped fortresses.

Universities increase a city's research and provide culture. Universities are required to build the National College national wonder.

    Universities are institutions of higher learning. Early universities, established in the Middle Ages, were usually built in cities that had a large or important cathedral. Studies at these institutions focused on matters concerning the church. The curricula quickly expanded to include classical art, literature, and languages. Modern universities provide the opportunity to study a wide array of subjects. They have also become centers for research into many fields, serving as the source of major advances in computers, medicine, physics, and a variety of other subjects.

Warehouses increase a city's wealth and allow you to hire two Merchant specialists. Warehouses are required to build Logistics Centers.

    A warehouse is a commercial building for storage of goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial areas of cities and towns. They usually have loading docks to load and unload goods from trucks. Sometimes warehouses load and unload goods directly from railways, airports, or seaports. They often have cranes and forklifts for moving goods, which are usually placed on ISO standard pallets loaded into pallet racks.

    Stored goods can include any raw materials, components, or finished goods associated with agriculture, manufacturing, or commerce.

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Cinemas increase a city's cultural output. They also increase the happiness output and even more if you have access to Hit Singles and allow you to hire one Artist specialist.

    A cinema or 'movie theater' is a facility designed to allow moving pictures to be displayed to large audiences, typically by use of a large projection screen. Movie theaters emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as the most convenient way to make a profit from the silent films of the era. They were often set up with facilities such as musical instruments or phonograph players to accompany silent film - and later with sound systems of varying types after 'talkies' took over from silent movies.

    Movie theaters remained one of the most common forms of entertainment throughout the twentieth century, serving as one the main vehicles for popular culture in the developed world. Today, with widespread technology for individual viewing of moving pictures in the home or on portable devices, the movie theater still holds its own, due to the social nature of viewing the movie in a public space, and due to the larger-than-life quality of seeing events unfold on the gigantic "silver screen."

Coal Plants provide dirty power with access to Coal.

    Coal has been used sporadically as a fuel since ancient times, but it was not until the Industrial Revolution that the industrial applications of coal became understood. Most early factories used coal as a power supply, burning the fossil fuel to release the energy needed to drive the plant's machines. Coal power provided much more energy than relying on the strength of humans or animals, at the cost of releasing large amounts of toxic pollution into the atmosphere. Despite the environmental hazards associated with coal plants, they remain common today.

Distilleries provide additional happiness from Potato and Sugar and increase the improved tile yield of Rice, Potato, Sugar, and Wine.

    A distillery is a facility which produces highly concentrated forms of liquid chemicals, through the use of boiling. The art of distillation emerged during the classical era, and was first applied by alchemists seeking to concentrate a variety of the new substances they had discovered, and also to accomplish goals such as the creation of highly purified water.

    One of the earliest results of this study that survived to modern times was in the Muslim world, where alchemists discovered distilled essences of varying kinds. These became known in Europe as "alcohols," and in particular the distilled essence of intoxicating fermented drinks became known as "alcohol of wine." Due to the wild popularity of this discovery, and the development of more sophisticated chemical vocabulary in the 1800s, the very "alcohol" soon became synonymous with the intoxicating compound found in beer, wine, and other such drinks.

    Purification of alcohol, or increasing the concentration of alcohol in an existing solution, remains a major application of distillation to this day. However, other applications have emerged over time; distillation can separate gases or liquids from a mixture such as air or crude oil. Today, gasoline is produced by distilling out different fractions from the raw oil, for instance.

Factories increase a city's unhealthiness. They also increase a city's production, increase production output in cities with access to power and allow you to hire one Engineer specialist. Factories are required to build Industrial Parks, Coal Plants, Hydro Plants, Solar Plants, Nuclear Plants and Automation Factory.

    Early examples of factory-like production, where a number of individuals work cooperatively to produce goods for sale or trade, can be found as far back as ancient Greece and Rome. Modern factories, however, evolved from the concept of specialized labor, where each worker performed a single step in the overall production of an item. This specialization allows factories to increase the speed and efficiency of the manufacturing process, far surpassing earlier means of production. The development of the factory system as a means of production played a key role in the Industrial Revolution.

Gas Plants provide dirty power with access to Oil.

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Hospitals help units heal damage more quickly and add health to a city. Hospitals are required to build the Red Cross Society national wonder.

    Hospitals are institutions that focus on the diagnosis and treatment of disease and trauma. While dispensing these services, they also provide housing. With technological innovation in medicine, hospitals have increasingly become community hubs, expanding their role to include teaching and research. Throughout history a hospital's role has shifted from a place to secure the ill or insane, to one of hope and health.

Industrial Parks increase a city's production output and unhealthiness with access to Aluminium and Oil. They also allow you to hire two Engineer specialists.

    During the Industrial Revolution, newly-industrialized cities became grossly polluted, thick smoke filling the air, industrial waste contaminating local bodies of water. This arrangement remained virtually unchanged through the first half of the twentieth century, and cities became increasingly unhealthy places to live.
    One solution to this problem was to create specially zoned areas of industry - Industrial Parks. These parks took the harmful industries out of the population centers and centralized production facilities to increase efficiency.

Laboratories increase a city's scientific research with access to power and its spaceship production and allow you to hire one Scientist specialist. Laboratories are required to build Supercomputers and the CERN Research Complex and Large Hadron Collider world wonders.

    Historically, libraries and universities have acted as the primary centers of research for new ideas and technologies. The growth of private industry in the Modern Age has also given birth to hundreds of privately owned research facilities. These private laboratories, usually dedicated to research in a single field related to their founding company, have made tremendous advances in many fields including physics, biology, chemistry, and medicine. The growth of privately-funded research has vastly increased the speed at which mankind achieves new advances in science and technology.

News Presses increase a city's cultural output. They also increase a city's Great Person birth rate and allow you to hire one Statesman specialist.

    A 'press' is an instrument that copies text onto a background such as paper using physical pressure. The printing press as we know it today was invented in Europe in the 1400s, with some earlier examples of less commercial success but comparable technical innovation around the world. At first, printing was used mainly to mass-produce books. However, it soon became apparent that printing could also be used to produce, on one or a few sheets of paper, cheap copies of advertisements, essays, or a regularly issued release of whatever events were of local interest. This last became known as a 'newspaper.'

    The first known printed newspaper was published in Strasbourg by Johann Carolus in 1605 (along with, within twelve weeks, the first editorial grumbling about the difficulty and expense of operating a newspaper). The practice of printing newspapers spread gradually over the 1600s. Early newspapers were often extremely propagandistic, sensational, and selective in their coverage, but over time a degree of what we now call journalistic ethics began to emerge - usually.

    Improvements in printing press technology allowed production of newspapers for the masses to begin in the 1800s; the advent of telegraphy in the 1840s further allowed news from across the nation to be put into a single daily paper every day. Over time the modern newspaper with its corps of reporters, typesetters, copy-editors, and so forth took shape. Virtually every city and town in the developed world would produce a newspaper on a daily or at least weekly basis, to be distributed en masse to the population as their main means of informing themselves about local and world events.

    Advances in radio and television took away some of the newspaper's uniqueness as a means of spreading information to the masses, but did not destroy the newspaper as an institution. Today's development of the Internet may be presenting still further danger to the newspaper's business model; it remains uncertain how organized daily news agencies will adapt to changing circumstances in the 21st century.

Parks increase a city's health and happiness.

    A park is a large open space filled with a natural, semi-natural, or cultivated environment. Parks are often found in the middle of an urban or suburban area, to provide contrast with the surrounding built-up setting. Such parks are typically landscaped with decorative and utilitarian plants, and contain facilities for outdoor play and meals such as picnics. In addition to grasses, shrubs, trees, and bodies of water, parks may contain playing fields for athletics, monuments, fountains, playground structures for small children, and trails for walking or cycling. In less densely populated areas, parks tend to double as wilderness reserves, allowing large tracts of unspoiled land to be maintained for the sake of ecological preservation.

Railway Stations increase a city's unhealthiness, provide an extra trade route and allow you to hire one Engineer specialist. Railway Stations are required to build the Chateau Frontenac world wonder

    Rail transport is an energy-efficient and capital-intensive means of mechanized land transport and is a component of logistics. Along with various engineered components, rails constitute a large part of the permanent way. They provide smooth and hard surfaces on which the wheels of the train can roll with a minimum of friction. As an example, a typical modern wagon can hold up to 125 tons of freight on two four-wheel bogies/trucks (100 tons in UK). The contact area between each wheel and the rail is tiny, a strip no more than a few millimetres wide, which minimizes friction. In addition, the track distributes the weight of the train evenly, allowing significantly greater loads per axle / wheel than in road transport, leading to less wear and tear on the permanent way. This can save energy compared with other forms of transportation, such as road transport, which depends on the friction between rubber tires and the road. Trains also have a small frontal area in relation to the load they are carrying, which cuts down on forward air resistance and thus energy usage, although this does not necessarily reduce the effects of side winds. In all, under the right circumstances, a train needs 50-70 percent less energy to transport a given tonnage of freight (or given number of passengers) than does road transport.

    Due to these various benefits, rail transport is a major form of public transport in many countries. In Asia, for example, many millions use trains as regular transport in India, China, South Korea and Japan. It is also widespread in European countries. By comparison, intercity rail transport in the United States is relatively scarce outside the Northeast Corridor, although a number of major U.S. cities have heavily-used, local rail-based passenger transport systems or light rail or commuter rail operations.(Wikipedia)

Supermarkets increase food output in cities with access to power.

    Supermarkets are large, self-service retail stores that sell a wide variety of food items and household goods to the general public. The first true supermarket, King Kullen, was established in 1930 in the borough of Queens, New York City, by Michael Cullen. Improved storage techniques and refrigeration allowed supermarkets to stock and sell perishable foods in large quantities, reducing the price to the consumer. The combination of ready availability and low prices made the supermarket an instant success in the U.S. during the years of the Great Depression. The supermarket continues to grow in popularity in countries around the world.

Airports add an additional trade route, provide an experience bonus to Air Units, house four extra Air Units for a total of eight and can airlift one unit per turn to any of your other cities. Airports also add unhealthiness.

    Since the middle of the 20th century, the airplane has been one of the chief means of long-distance transport in the world. Nearly every major metropolitan area today has at least one airport, with facilities to handle passengers and ticketing, as well as facilities for refueling and repairing the aircraft that land there. Beginning in the 1940s, the growing role of airplanes as combat vehicles led to the widespread construction of military air bases. Nearly 400 of these facilities in the U.S. alone act as bases and maintenance facilities for aircraft assigned to all branches of the military.

Bomb Shelters reduce damage from nuclear attacks.

    A bomb shelter is a structure designed to protect the people inside from falling bombs. Today's bomb shelters are designed to shield one from the destruction of a nuclear attack. People have constructed bomb shelters since the first artillery piece was put into action. Sometimes these are rude caves dug in a hillside; sometimes they are elaborate and complicated affairs, self-sustaining for weeks, dug hundreds of feet below the surface.
    In the 1950s during the Cold War, American citizens began constructing bomb shelters in their back yards and basements, hoping to avoid destruction during the atomic war they were sure was coming. The US government embarked on an ambitious program to create large bomb shelters in all major cities, stocking them with food, water, blankets, and other essential supplies. These are mostly abandoned today, probably because of the realization that most of them are not strong enough to do much good in the event of a nuclear attack.

Broadcast Towers greatly increase a city's cultural output with access to power. They also increase the happiness output from using the culture slider, or if you have access to Hit Singles and allow you to hire one Artist specialist. Broadcast Towers are required to build the CN Tower world wonder.

    Although newspapers are published on a daily basis, they cannot often keep up to date on what is happening at the moment. Radio provides a means of doing that, as well as providing entertainment sources that would not otherwise be possible. With many events that occur in the world, it is important that the goverment be able to repudiate claims made by others, especially those that are true! Although radio has been superceeded by the television in most parts of the world, it is still a valuable tool to disseminate pro-goverment propaganda to the populace.

Bunkers reduce damage from air attacks.

    The term "bunker" is often used to denote military bomb shelters, often those housing high officials of the military and government. As shown in the second United States-Iraq War, a country with air dominance over a foe can do significant amounts of damage to a city with just a few bombs. Military and political leaders are prime targets for such attacks; often these officials will be protected in bunkers far below city streets. Bunkers are also used to protect communications networks, another important target.
    Any improvement in defense usually sparks an improvement in offensive weapons. The United States is building special "bunker-buster" bombs, designed to burrow deep into the ground before exploding. While such bombs may not destroy the deepest bunkers, they can cut off their communications, escape routes and air supply.

Container Terminals increase the commerce generated by a city's foreign trade routes.

    A container port or container terminal is a facility where cargo containers are transshipped between different transport vehicles, for onward transportation. The transshipment may be between container ships and land vehicles, for example trains or trucks, in which case the terminal is described as a maritime container port. Alternatively the transshipment may be between land vehicles, typically between train and truck, in which case the terminal is described as an inland container port.

    In November 1932, the first inland container port in the world was opened by the Pennsylvania Railroad company in Enola, Pennsylvania. Port Newark-Elizabeth on the Newark Bay in the Port of New York and New Jersey is considered the world's first maritime container port. On April 26, 1956, the Ideal X was rigged for an experiment to use standardized cargo containers that were stacked and then unloaded to a compatible truck chassis at Port Newark. The concept had been developed by the McLean Trucking Company. On August 15, 1962, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey opened the world's first container port, Elizabeth Marine Terminal.

Department Stores increase wealth in cities with access to power and allow you to hire one Merchant specialist.

    A department store or magazine is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different product categories known as "departments". In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic appearance in the middle of the 19th century, and permanently reshaped shopping habits, and the definition of service and luxury. Similar developments were under way in London (with Whiteleys), in Paris (Le Bon Marché in 1852) and in New York (with Stewart's).

    Department stores today have sections that sell the following: clothing, furniture, home appliances, toys, cosmetics, houseware, gardening, toiletries, sporting goods, do it yourself, paint, and hardware and additionally select other lines of products such as food, books, jewelry, electronics, stationery, photographic equipment, baby products, and products for pets. Customers check out near the front of the store or, alternatively, at sales counters within each department. Some are part of a retail chain of many stores, while others may be independent retailers. In the 1970s, they came under heavy pressure from discounters. Since 2010, they have come under even heavier pressure from online stores.

Diagnostics Center increases a city's health with access to Uranium and Rare Earths.

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Electrical Grids increase commerce output in cities with access to power. Electrical Grids are required to build a Fiber Network.

    An electrical grid is an interconnected network for delivering electricity from suppliers to consumers. It consists of generating stations that produce electrical power, high voltage transmission lines that carry power from distant sources to demand centers, and distribution lines that connect individual customers.

    Power stations may be located near a fuel source, at a dam site, or to take advantage of renewable energy sources, and are often located away from heavily populated areas. They are usually quite large to take advantage of the economies of scale. The electric power which is generated is stepped up to a higher voltage at which it connects to the electric power transmission network.

    The bulk power transmission network will move the power long distances, sometimes across international boundaries, until it reaches its wholesale customer (usually the company that owns the local electric power distribution network).

    On arrival at a substation, the power will be stepped down from a transmission level voltage to a distribution level voltage. As it exits the substation, it enters the distribution wiring. Finally, upon arrival at the service location, the power is stepped down again from the distribution voltage to the required service voltage(s).

    Electrical grids vary in size from covering a single building through national grids which cover whole countries, to transnational grids which can cross continents.

Hotels increase a city's cultural output. They also increase trade route yield and increase trade route yield even more for each level of culture.

    A hotel is a large structure in which furnished rooms suitable for sleeping are made available for short term rent. Hotels have existed in some form throughout recorded history. However, prior to the rise of rail and steamship travel in the 19th century, travel was typically slow enough that travelers' lodgings would be decentralized affairs. As the upper and middle classes gained more access to fast transportation, it became more necessary to accomodate itinerant travelers who would literally be "here today, gone tomorrow," in accordance to a predictable schedule.

    This gradually led to the evolution of the hotel in its modern form - a large, typically multi-story building with individual rooms or small suites for one or more guests, including bathing facilities, a bed, and various other amenities. Rooms are generally cleaned and maintained by a permanent hotel staff, with clerks present at all hours of day and night to track the flow of guests in and out of the building and to reserve rooms for future clients. While the details vary (and prices can vary by as much as an order of magnitude depending on quality), hotels following this basic outline can be found throughout the modern world.

    Since travelers depend on professional hotel services to keep a roof over their heads, hotels have become an indispensible part of modern travel. Having a network of well-maintained hotels helps transform a given city into a nexus of travel for both business and pleasure.

Hydro Plants provide pollution-free power.

    One alternative to power generation utilizing coal or petroleum fuels is the hydroelectric power plant. This facility utilizes the energy of rapidly moving water to turn the turbines of its generators and produce electricity. In locations where a source of moving water is available, hydro plants offer a clean, safe alternative to coal, petroleum, and nuclear power generation. Hydro plants have their own set of environmental dangers, however. The disruption of a river's normal flow and the massive flooding of the land behind the facility's dam can destroy the habitat of the wildlife inhabiting the river basin.

Intelligence Agencies increase the espionage points created by the city and grant experience points to Espionage Units built in their city. Intelligence Agencies are required to build the Lubyanka world wonder.

    "Know thy enemy" has been an essential part of warfare since the dawn of time, with victory almost always falling into the hands of the informed. And while intrigue and backstabbing (usually quite literally) have been a part of the war since time immemorial, in the modern era, intelligence has become a multi-billion dollar endeavor. New technologies, such as spy satellites and remote microphones, have facilitated the gathering of information, giving eyes and ears all over the world to those who need to be in the know.

Nuclear Plants provide pollution-free power with access to Uranium, allow you to hire one Scientist specialist and allow the city to build ICBM. Nuclear Plants are required to build the ITER world wonder.

    Nuclear power plants utilize radioactive materials and the process of nuclear fission to generate the heat and steam needed to run electrical generators and produce electricity. Because nuclear power doesn't cause the air pollution associated with the burning of coal or petroleum products, this means of generating power is considered a viable alternative energy source. However, the toxic nature of the byproducts produced by the fission process creates serious problems of its own. No method of safely disposing of this toxic waste has been found, and the volatile nature of the fission reaction can lead to a meltdown of the reactor core if the reaction is not properly controlled. Because of these problems, the future of nuclear power is uncertain.

Public Transportation increases a city's health and even more increase the city's healthiness with access to Oil.

    At the turn of the twentieth century, most modern cities were cesspools of filth. In the United States, the affluent often moved to the suburbs, using automobiles to return to their jobs in the cities. In Europe, on the other hand, where most roads had been designed for horses, not cars, impressive systems of Public Transportation became the most effective way for large numbers of people to get about. As an added bonus, these mass transit systems greatly decreased the amount of pollution created. Subways, trolleys, monorails and buses have become staples in major metropolises like London, Barcelona and even in major US cities like New York City.

Recycling Centres reduce unhealthiness from corporations.

    The continual growth in city populations leads to an inevitable increase in garbage. Eventually, existing landfills and garbage dumps are filled, forcing new dumping sites to be established. This leads to the gradual but steady destruction of the local environment. To reverse this problem, many areas have established recycling centers, where much of the garbage is sorted and reduced to reusable components through various means. These components are then used to manufacture new products. In this way, much of the trash produced is turned into raw materials for production, rather than contributing to the ever-increasing pollution problem.

Security Bureaus increase the cost of enemy espionage missions in their city and grant Informant I to Espionage Units built in its city.

    As long as there has been espionage, there has been a need for counter-espionage. This is the realm of the Security Bureau. Bureaus like the American FBI or the British MI5 make sure that sensitive intelligence is protected from outside sources. While espionage is an ancient practice, most Security Bureaus are less than one hundred years old. MI5 has only been in existence since 1909, organized originally to fight against German spies before World War I. The FBI began its expansion in the 1930s thanks to J. Edgar Hoover, the Bureau's first director.

Stadiums provide happiness and increase a city's cultural output with access to power. They also increase the happiness if you have access to Hit Football Event.

    A modern stadium (plural stadiums/stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit and view the event.

Supercomputers increase a city's scientific research with access to power and allow you to hire one Scientist specialist.

    A supercomputer is a computer with a high level of performance compared to a general-purpose computer. The performance of a supercomputer is commonly measured in floating-point operations per second (FLOPS) instead of million instructions per second (MIPS). Since 2017, there are supercomputers which can perform over a hundred quadrillion FLOPS. Since November 2017, all of the world's fastest 500 supercomputers run Linux-based operating systems. Additional research is being conducted in China, the United States, the European Union, Taiwan and Japan to build even faster, more powerful and more technologically superior exascale supercomputers.

    Supercomputers play an important role in the field of computational science, and are used for a wide range of computationally intensive tasks in various fields, including quantum mechanics, weather forecasting, climate research, oil and gas exploration, molecular modeling (computing the structures and properties of chemical compounds, biological macromolecules, polymers, and crystals), and physical simulations (such as simulations of the early moments of the universe, airplane and spacecraft aerodynamics, the detonation of nuclear weapons, and nuclear fusion). Throughout their history, they have been essential in the field of cryptanalysis.

    Supercomputers were introduced in the 1960s, and for several decades the fastest were made by Seymour Cray at Control Data Corporation (CDC), Cray Research and subsequent companies bearing his name or monogram. The first such machines were highly tuned conventional designs that ran faster than their more general-purpose contemporaries. Through the 1960s, they began to add increasing amounts of parallelism with one to four processors being typical. From the 1970s, vector processors operating on large arrays of data came to dominate. A notable example is the highly successful Cray-1 of 1976. Vector computers remained the dominant design into the 1990s. From then until today, massively parallel supercomputers with tens of thousands of off-the-shelf processors became the norm.

Waterworks improve a city's health.

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Automated Factories increase production output in cities with access to power and allow you to hire one Engineer specialist.

    Automation is the technology by which a process or procedure is performed with minimal human assistance. Automation or automatic control is the use of various control systems for operating equipment such as machinery, processes in factories, boilers and heat treating ovens, switching on telephone networks, steering and stabilization of ships, aircraft and other applications and vehicles with minimal or reduced human intervention.

    Automation covers applications ranging from a household thermostat controlling a boiler, to a large industrial control system with ten of thousands of input measurements and output control signals. In control complexity, it can range from simple on-off control to multi-variable high-level algorithms.

    In the simplest type of an automatic control loop, a controller compares a measured value of a process with a desired set value, and processes the resulting error signal to change some input to the process, in such a way that the process stays at its set point despite disturbances. This closed-loop control is an application of negative feedback to a system. The mathematical basis of control theory was begun in the 18th century and advanced rapidly in the 20th.

    Automation has been achieved by various means including mechanical, hydraulic, pneumatic, electrical, electronic devices and computers, usually in combination. Complicated systems, such as modern factories, airplanes and ships typically use all these combined techniques. The benefit of automation includes labor savings, savings in electricity costs, savings in material costs, and improvements to quality, accuracy, and precision.

    The term automation, inspired by the earlier word automatic (coming from automaton), was not widely used before 1947, when Ford established an automation department. It was during this time that industry was rapidly adopting feedback controllers, which were introduced in the 1930s.

Fiber Networks increase commerce output in cities with access to power.

    Fiber optics is the technology of creating fibers that transmit light. Fiber optic cables are used to transmit information - computer data, telephone signals, cable television, and so forth. They have many advantages over traditional wire cables: fiber optic cables are lighter than wire cables, they can carry huge amounts of data and transmit that data faster than wire, and they don't lose signal over distance. In short, fiber optics make a nation's information network far more efficient.

    Fiber optics have other interesting uses, as well. They can be used to make extremely small cameras, such as endoscopes which allow physicians to see precisely what's going on inside a patient's body without requiring surgery. Law enforcement agencies find such cameras extremely useful as well, particularly in hostage situations. And they can be used to make decorative jewelry, sculptures, and Christmas trees.

    Fiber optics were first conceived in the 1960s. The first useful cable was created in 1970, and the first trans-Atlantic fiber optic cable was laid in 1988. They are now in common use the world over, and many modern cities have begun to replace their existing wire cables with the new optical cables.

Logistics Centers increase wealth in cities with access to power and allow you to hire one Merchant specialist.

    Logistics is generally the detailed organization and implementation of a complex operation. In a general business sense, logistics is the management of the flow of things between the point of origin and the point of consumption in order to meet requirements of customers or corporations. The resources managed in logistics may include tangible goods such as materials, equipment, and supplies, as well as food and other consumable items. The logistics of physical items usually involves the integration of information flow, materials handling, production, packaging, inventory, transportation, warehousing, and often security.

    Logistics management is the part of supply chain management that plans, implements, and controls the efficient, effective forward, and reverse flow and storage of goods, services, and related information between the point of origin and the point of consumption in order to meet customer's requirements. The complexity of logistics can be modeled, analyzed, visualized, and optimized by dedicated simulation software. The minimization of the use of resources is a common motivation in all logistics fields. A professional working in the field of logistics management is called a logistician.

Solar Plants provide pollution-free power.

    Solar power uses the energy of direct sunlight to generate electrical energy. It is typically gathered through one of two basic methods: One is solar-thermal, in which the sun's rays are concentrated in a specific location through the use of mirrors until the heat is great enough to boil water. The boiling water then drives turbines which run electric generators. The other method is to use 'panels' of photovoltaic materials. Being struck by light causes electrons to flow in these materials, generating a steady electric current.

    Both methods have varying advantages and disadvantages. Among the advantages are that solar power requires few or no moving parts and emits no harmful gases or other pollution, aside from that associated with manufacturing the panels themselves. Among the disadvantages is the obvious one that power derived from sunlight is not available at night, is of limited availability on cloudy or misty days, and is available only for a short time or at unfavorable angles in the polar regions or during winter.

    The massive supply of sunlight striking the Earth's surface (including in utterly unpopulated, desert regions, and the surface of the sea) makes solar power an attractive choice for providing human energy needs into the distant future, as fossil fuel availability diminishes. The key challenges to be overcome are:

    1) Storing massive amounts of energy, comparable to those released by nuclear explosions, overnight. This needed so that solar plants can 'charge up' our storage infrastructure so that it can provide electricity at times of low or no sunlight.

    2) Producing solar panels at a cost that makes them broadly competitive with energy-rich fuels such as coal and uranium.

    3) Supplying any rare metals needed for production of the panels

    4) Establishing long-range transmission infrastructure so that efficient solar plants in sunny regions can be used to provide power in foggy, cloudy, or high-latitude regions.

Vertical Farms increase food output in cities with access to power.

    Vertical farming is the practice of producing food and medicine in vertically stacked layers, vertically inclined surfaces and/or integrated in other structures (such as in a skyscraper, used warehouse, or shipping container). The modern ideas of vertical farming use indoor farming techniques and controlled-environment agriculture (CEA) technology, where all environmental factors can be controlled. These facilities utilize artificial control of light, environmental control (humidity, temperature, gases...) and fertigation. Some vertical farms use techniques similar to greenhouses, where natural sunlight can be augmented with artificial lighting and metal reflectors.