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The construction of guild cities has been one of Age of Conan's main features since release. One such city on the Fury PvP server is Goonrushalem, home to the Thulsa Goons guild. Nestled in the foothills of Stygia's Purple Lotus Swamp, the city of Goonrushalem was once one of the largest player-built cities on the server. Originally intended to be built up into a functional battlekeep for siege warfare, other guilds have since taken the lead and beaten Thulsa Goons to that goal.

Join me as I take a visual tour of the great Goon complex, and discuss the uses of the various buildings it contains.

What are guild cities for?:
Although the biggest reason to build a city at the moment is bragging rights, guild cities do have other uses. They were originally designed to be a meeting place, somewhere for guild members to organise themselves and socialise. Unfortunately, since traveling to and from the city is not very easy and being there provides no real benefit over using chat channels, their use in this role is limited.

For those interested in Age of Conan's much-discussed siege warfare system, completing a fully constructed tier 3 city will give the guild the opportunity to build a separate battlekeep city with which to wage war. For those not interested in battlekeeps, solid benefits of having a guild city include access to top tier crafting recipes and passive combat bonuses for all guild members.

Keep:
The nerve centre of your city, the Keep is the building around which all other buildings and walls are placed. A tier 1 Keep is the first building your city will need and it must be completed before any other buildings can be made. To upgrade your Keep to tier 2 requires that your tier 1 Keep is complete and that you have also built an Alchemist's Workshop. Similarly, to upgrade the Keep to the advanced tier 3 version requires a tier 2 Keep and a tier 2 Armorsmith's Workshop to be completed first. Like many buildings, the Keep also gives bonuses to all members of the owning guild. A tier 1 Keep gives members +13.6 maximum hitpoints, tier 2 gives +27.2 hitpoints and the final tier 3 building gives a hefty +54.4 hitpoint bonus.

Trade Post:
This impressive round building is one of the more useful buildings in a guild city. The Trade Post contains a trader NPC that guild members can use to buy and sell as if they were at one of the many traders found in the game's standard cities. This building is also a prerequisite for many other buildings and must be built directly after the Keep is complete. Upgrading this to tier 2 or 3 offers no benefits other than meeting the prerequisites to further develop your city. To upgrade a Trade Post to tier 2 requires only that a tier 2 Keep be present as well as your tier 1 Trade Post. Similarly, upgrading to tier 3 requires only a tier 3 Keep and tier 2 Trade Post.

Temple:
The Temple is a proud-looking structure that must be built after the Trade Post. When completed, the Temple offers guild members a passive resistance to enemy magic. The basic tier 1 version of the Temple increases the heroic magic resistance of all guild members by +1. The tier 2 version offers a higher +2 bonus and the final tier 3 Temple gives a +3 bonus. It is widely believed that these bonuses are placeholders for larger ones that will have a more significant impact on gameplay. To upgrade your temple to a tier 2 version requires a tier 1 Library and Architect's Workshop as well as a tier 2 trade post. The final tier 3 upgrade requires a tier 3 Trade Post and Keep.

Library:
Otherwise known as the University, the Library's main purpose is to grant guild members yet another bonus. The standard tier 1 library gives a +1 bonus to the heroic magic attack rating of all guild members. The tier 2 library gives an increased +2 bonus and the tier 3 building once again gives a +3 bonus. Since some low level items give higher bonuses than these, it is once again presumed that these bonuses are placeholders for higher ones that will be balanced later. The library must be built directly after the Temple and is itself a requirement for building a Barracks.

Barracks:
Standing proud within the city's walls, the Barracks are a useful building which gives bonuses to all guild members. A tier 1 Barracks currently offers +1 to the heroic defense rating of all guild members, a tier 2 Barracks offers +2 and the final tier 3 version offers a +3 bonus. As with the Temple and Library, it's believed that these are placeholders for higher bonuses which will be balanced later in the game's development. In order to build a Barracks, your city must have at least one Gate and must have its Library completed. To upgrade your Barracks to the tier 2 version requires that a tier 2 Keep, tier 2 Trade Post and a tier 1 Temple all be complete within your city. The final tier 3 version requires a tier 3 Keep and Trade post to construct.

Thieves' Guild:
Other buildings:
There are of course other buildings which have not been discussed here, from the boring old city walls to the other workshops that give guild members access to top tier equipment. You can learn more about the various buildings and their uses in the official city building FAQ and Age of Conan community website.

The effort of building the city of Goonrushalem has had a significant negative impact on the morale of the Thulsa Goons guild and the number of members participating. In the past month, the guild's numbers have dwindled to extreme lows and their star architect may be next in line to quit. After an impressive start to the city, Goonrushalem may unfortunately soon become a ghost town.

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