Production buildings
Unlock, workers, logistics, upgrades, and delivery on your estate
Estate production · EA5
How production buildings work
Production buildings turn raw tiles and input goods into trade goods on your estate. Unlock them at the right town level with research points, place and connect them to the warehouse, build, then run production. Workers carry output when storage is full.
From unlock to delivery
Six steps every production building follows on your estate.
- 1Unlock
Each building needs the matching town level (same rule as goods on the database cards) plus research points in the tech tree before you can place it.
- 2Place on map
Pick a valid spot on your estate grid. Building size and terrain must fit. Use the layout builder to plan ahead.
- 3Road to warehouse
Connect the building to the harbour warehouse with roads. Construction cannot start until the route is complete.
- 4Construct
Assign a worker to build. When the timer finishes, the building is ready for production.
- 5Produce
Assign a worker whose profession matches the building. Production begins once the worker is on the job.
- 6Deliver output
When output storage is full, the worker walks goods along your roads. Where they go depends on building type (see How workers move goods below).
How workers move goods
Workers travel along roads to the nearest valid destination. Shorter chains and good placement mean less time carrying goods and more time producing.
Raw material buildings
The worker keeps gathering or producing until output storage is full, then delivers along roads to the warehouse, or directly to a downstream building that needs that good if it is closer than the warehouse.
Craft and processing buildings
If another worker is already bringing inputs, this worker stays put and focuses on output. If not, they fetch inputs themselves from the nearest raw-material building with stock, or from the warehouse if that is closer. Once output storage is full, they carry finished goods the same way: to the warehouse, or directly to a downstream building that needs them if it is closer than the warehouse.
Idle and rest bonus
Workers idle when they cannot work: no inputs available, a full warehouse, or nowhere to deliver. While idle, rest bonus accumulates for up to 24 hours. When work resumes, production runs 50% faster until that stored bonus is used up. For example, if the warehouse is full the worker waits; once you move goods out and they can deliver again, they start working with the rest bonus active.
Plan road length and building order in the layout builder. For profession match and traits, see the workers guide.
Worker production speed
Profession match sets how fast a worker produces while at the building. The percentages below apply to production speed, not to walking or carrying.
Wrong profession
100%
Base speed. Worker can still operate the building
Pioneer or same profession
150%
Correct profession line, but not the building specialist and not yet trained to 200%
Specialist or trained to 200%
200%
Building specialist, pioneer trained at the Academy, or same-profession worker trained at the library (Town Library)
Specialist trained in Academy
250%
Building specialist after Academy training
Beyond profession match
The tiers above set your baseline. Plan and use manifest cards wisely. Combine them with well-trained workers and every other active bonus when timing matters.
- Manifest cardsTimed production boosts across many card types and tier combinations
- Auction personalities24-hour guild buffs from historical personality auctions
- Mayor bonus10% or 20% on selected goods for 48 hours
- Rest bonus+50% output while stored idle time is spent working
Line up manifests with your best workers and every bonus that is active. Use the production calculator to model the combined stack.
Academy
Train a worker for +50% on their current tier. A pioneer can reach 200%; a building specialist can reach 250%.
Town Library
Pair two workers from the same profession but different specializations to gain skill: 150% becomes 200%. Matching the same specialization only earns research points.
Library pairing
Hemp planter + orange planter → skill progress toward 200%. Hemp planter + lumberjack forester → research points only.
Use the production calculator for output estimates.
Gold upgrades
Spend gold on each building to raise production speed, add worker slots, extend building radius, increase output capacity, and reduce input goods ratios.
Production level
100% → 300%Twenty levels at +10% each. Level 1 is base speed; level 20 is triple output.
Worker slots
1 → 2 → 3More slots let more workers operate the same building at once.
Building radius
Up to 6 tilesPlantations, tree harvesters, and farms let workers assign gather tiles farther from the building.
Output capacity
1 → 8 batchesHow much a worker holds before walking to the warehouse. Tech tree unlocks raise the cap; this building upgrade sets the batch size per trip.
Input goods
Max → minCraft buildings need more inputs at low upgrade level and less at max. Building cards show max → min per input good.
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