Madou Koukaku:Churches vs Buildings

==Various Churches vs Similar Production Buildings (Lv2)==
I pick level 2 production buildings since they gain +1 resource gathered, making them on par with churches.
Format:
Cost = (Building cost+material cost) + (upgrade cost+upgrade materials)
The Δ is calculated by Building - Church (technically it should be the other way around)
===Quarry vs ガーベル教会===
 	Church 	Qaurry 	Δ
Cost 	1500+1360=2860	(700+540)+(1400+1700)=4340	1480
Quality 	+0% 	+2% 	2%
Income 	0 	60 	60
Food 	-10 	-25 	-15
Environment	+1 	-2 	-3
===Lumbermill vs バリハルト教会===
 	Church 	Lumbermill 	Δ
Cost 	1500+1200=2700	(600+640)+(1200+2900)=5340	2640
Quality 	+0% 	+6% 	6%
Income 	0 	60 	60
Food 	-10 	-25 	-15
Environment	+1 	-1 	-2
===Earth Extraction Pit vs イーリュン教会===
 	Church 	Earth Extration Pit 	Δ
Cost 	1500+1000*=2500	(600+600)+(1200+2000)=4400	1900
Quality 	+0% 	+6% 	6%
Income 	0 	60 	60
Food 	-10 	-25 	-15
Environment	+1 	0 	-1
*Harden Clay (硬化粘土) x1 can only be gathered, and is moderately rare.
===Farm vs セーナル教会===
 	Church 	Farm 	Δ
Cost 	1500+1500=3000	(600+660)+(1200+1760)=4220	1220
Quality 	+0% 	+6% 	6%
Income 	0 	-80 	-80
Food 	-10 	110 	120
Environment	+1 	+3 	2
===Barn vs マーズテリア教会===
 	Church 	Barn 	Δ
Cost 	1500+1000*=2500	(600+600)+(1200+1500)=3900	1400
Quality 	+0% 	+6% 	6%
Income 	0 	-80 	-80
Food 	-10 	110 	120
Environment	+1 	+2 	-1
* Gray Soil (グレイ土) x3 can only be gathered.  Although it is quite common and is accessible early on.
Conclusion:
One interesting pattern is that the cost of a church is often similar to the cost of a building upgrade. Unfortunately, due to spacing issue, I do not see the point of using a church instead of an upgrade unless environment is an issue and you have a lot of spare room in that particular town.
On a short term basis, churchs may save you some funds, especially when it comes to mines where the +quality is neligible. However for other resources, the neligible savigs may not be worth the loss in qualify increase. Churches become truly economical when all the resources you are after are in the 100% zone (black letters).
Ie:
A town produces Good Stones (100%, black letters), and two different crystals (50%, orange letters).
If we only care for Good Stones production, a church is more economical.  We can allow the crystals to be produced by RNG over time to satisfy our demands for it.
However, if it is the crystals we are after, it is best to build a good mix of quarries and mines.
Technically, if all the rarity of resources are figured out, there number of curches vs production building can be optimized.
A side effect of this calculation would be an analysis of the benefits of building farms and barns for item sales, which can be found here .
Also note that very early game, due to resources being available at the store, it may be more beneficial to simply invest into additional mercenary shops which generates a base income of +250 with no other costs.
Category:Madou Koukaku Guide