Forge of Empires: Which Copper Great Buildings Are Worth Leveling?

Most Copper-only Great Buildings in Forge of Empires are not worth leveling and should eventually be sold. Because Copper prestige caps prevent these structures from receiving the stronger scaling found in Silver and Gold tiers, large buildings producing obsolete resources cannot compete with modern event structures. The primary exception is the compact Tower of Babel, which remains worth keeping and leveling modestly during early eras.

Copper Prestige Comparison

Copper-only structures take up grid space that often yields far lower returns than newer event buildings. The following table outlines how key Copper-tier Great Buildings perform relative to their size:

Structures to Delete or Stop Leveling

Large Copper Great Buildings designed around baseline resources should be removed to free up city expansions:

• Colosseum (42 tiles): Demands a massive footprint while granting negligible medal amounts that fall far behind standard guild expedition rewards and 1.9 reward loops.
• Space Needle and Lotus Temple (36 tiles each): Both produce coins and happiness, two resources readily supplied by normal road networks and standard event items.
• Notre Dame (24 tiles) and Capitol (35 tiles): Generate basic supplies, raw happiness, or population, all of which are easily replaced by high-density event buildings that do not require road connections.

Investing Forge Points into these structures locks resources into low-tier prestige bonuses. If you currently have them in your city, stop leveling them immediately and clear them when you need space for event prizes.

The Early-Game Exception: Tower of Babel

The Tower of Babel is the primary Copper-tier Great Building worth leveling under specific conditions:

• Compact Size: At 4x4 (16 tiles), it takes up minimal space on your grid.
• Resource Generation: It produces unrefined goods and provides a steady population buffer, removing the need to build standard residential houses in early eras.
• Low Investment: Raising Babel to modest levels requires relatively few Forge Points.

Once your daily event building collections produce hundreds of current and previous-era goods automatically, Babel reaches its limit. At that point, it can also be safely deleted to make room for high-efficiency combat or Forge Point buildings.

Audit Criteria for Copper Buildings

Before spending Forge Points on any Copper-capped structure, evaluate it against three benchmarks:

1. Tile Output Density: Divide the building's output by its total footprint, including connected roads. If two event buildings can fit in that footprint and offer superior yields, remove the Great Building.
2. Resource Value: Disregard raw Happiness, Coins, and basic Supplies. Tavern boosts, motivation kits, and settlement rewards make these resources abundant.
3. Forge Point Opportunity Cost: Do not divert Forge Points into Copper tiers if core scaling Great Buildings—such as The Arc or Castel del Monte—still need investment.

If an existing building fails these checks, freeze its level immediately. When your next major event yields powerful compact buildings, delete the obsolete Copper structure to expand your usable layout.