It can be updated with the Reno or One-Up Kits, so all you have to do is keep it up to date with your city and it will produce refined goods from Modern Era on up. That's how it works, just like your set pieces. Except you only have to use one on the ALQ, as opposed to a set.
The OP only refers to regular goods buildings "replacing" defense items, not special buildings that can be motivated. So he is actually advocating having 0% defense, while filling his city with buildings that can't be motivated and thus are always vulnerable to plundering. It is like telling you to leave all your doors and windows unlocked and leave all your valuables out because you live in a "safe" neighborhood. Maybe you get lucky and never have a problem. Maybe not. That is exactly what he is advocating as a game strategy, and he claims it is valid for everyone in every situation. Based on his own "experience". And meanwhile he discounts every other player who relates that their experience tells them the exact opposite, and tries to pass off his small set data from 3 cities as conclusive evidence that he is right. Never mind that there are thousands of cities just on the U.S. servers, so his statistical margin of error is astronomical. smh
.*attackers care
When I attack and see a current age army with 0% defense boost, I laugh and hit auto-battle. Having a current age army means exactly nothing without a defense boost.
I love my Athletes Living Quarters...... great for when you get a daily asking for a lot of goods as well as a good city defense boost
Maybe in higher ages it means nothing where anyone who wants to plunder will have attack boosts. In lower ages it matters. They didn't attack by accident. They are looking for people with even weaker armies, of which there are plenty in lower ages. I seem to have people like that in my hood almost every week. So as I stated, in lower ages, having a current age army can and will prevent attacks. Not all of them of course but many of them.
Sorry, but I play in lower ages, too. I have multiple cities. And I attack my neighbors in all my cities that are past the Military Tactics tech. And yes, even in the lower ages I laugh when I see a defense army with no boost, no matter what its makeup in units.
Stehen, not everyone is you.
Gee, ya think?
No, I think that is exactly why most players that retreat in that situation do so. Not because they are intimidated, but they just don't want to go to the time or trouble.
...in your experience.
I am shocked...shocked, I say, that you think my response is not valid. Some day I'll figure out what you would accept as a valid response. (Never mind, I know the answer. "Yes, gutmeister, you're right.") Anyway, the post I was responding to was trying to make the point that defense boost didn't matter, that it was merely the placing of a current era, 8 member defense army that would deter attackers. Which is simply not true in most cases. And yes, I am a more sophisticated player than I was 3 years ago when I started. However, I was never a "casual" attacker in the sense that I would take one look at a current era defense army and tuck my tail and run. And the fact that he has seen a couple of players do that means precisely nothing in the grand scheme of things. It proves nothing about defense boost. All it proves is that there are a couple of rather incompetent attackers in his hood.
) But, as I've pointed out over and over, the OP doesn't advocate having a low defense boost. Or even a moderate defense boost. And he certainly never advocated in this thread basing your preferred defense boost on variables in your circumstances or playstyle, or even in how your neighbors behave. He advocates, and has never strayed from, 0% defense at all times and in all cases. Period. Now if you want to start another thread where we chat about various levels of defense boost based on different factors, then let's do it. But this thread, if we're to stay on topic, is about 0% defense as an absolute optimal strategy in every city for all players. And that is just wrong.