Shops and supermarkets
Shops in Build and Conquer: why supermarkets are the strongest early income building, how shop income scales with population, and how to lay out a.
Shops convert population into money, and supermarkets are the best of them for early and mid game. Place commercial buildings where your population lives — income scales with the population the district serves, not with the building count alone.
Your first income in Build and Conquer comes from shops. There is no trick to it — place commercial buildings where people live, keep the population growing, and upgrade the commercial line when you can afford to. The difference between a rich player and a poor one is usually how well they did this.
Commercial buildings compared
| Building | Notes from live testing |
|---|---|
| Small shops | Your first income; cheap and always useful |
| Supermarket | The strongest early money building per plot |
| High-end commercial towers | Late-game money makers; upgrades climb past a million |
| Residential-adjacent businesses | Always better next to housing than in empty land |
Layout that earns
- Shops in among the housing, not on the outskirts. Income follows the population the building can reach.
- One commercial artery per district. A street of shops beside your tallest housing is the standard pattern, and it looks intentional rather than random.
- Upgrade early, sprawl late. Upgrading a supermarket beats placing a second small shop almost every time.
- Keep them powered and watered. A dark commercial district is the most common silent income leak in the game.
The full loop
Shops are step two of four in the money chain: population → shops → upgrades → sector bonus. Each step multiplies the last, which is why raiders aim at commercial districts when they cannot crack your army.
