Desirability
Desirability is an important factor in housing evolution: without good surroundings your housing won't even upgrade to a meager cottage, and with bad desirability you won't even be able to place your elite housing.
Almost every building has either a negative influence on its surroundings or a positive influence. People want to live near gardens, statues, and flowering trees, but certainly don't want heavy industry in their backyard. Residential walls are a great help here: they block bad desirability, so you can safely put industry on one side and elite housing on the other side of a wall.
The desirability effect of buildings decreases in concentric rings when you get farther away from the building, for example: this is the desirability of a flowering tree: (T in the middle is the tree, the numbers surrounding it are the desirability numbers). The first two 'rings' have a desirability of 5, the third ring has a desirability of 3.
| 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| 3 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 3 |
| 3 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 3 |
| 3 | 5 | 5 | T | 5 | 5 | 3 |
| 3 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 3 |
| 3 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 3 |
| 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
The following table contains the actual desirability values for all buildings, instead of the INI, SZE, STP and RNG you see in the building data.
| Building name | Desirability at distance | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | |
| General | ||||||||||||
| Ruin | -5 | -4 | -3 | -2 | -1 | |||||||
| Housing | ||||||||||||
| Abandoned Siheyuan | -4 | -3 | -2 | -1 | ||||||||
| Modest Siheyuan | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| Lavish Siheyuan | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | ||||||||
| Humble Compound | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | ||||||||
| Impressive Compound | 6 | 6 | 4 | 4 | ||||||||
| Heavenly Compound | 8 | 8 | 6 | 6 | ||||||||
| Agriculture | ||||||||||||
| Farmhouse | -3 | -2 | -1 | |||||||||
| Hemp Farm | -3 | -2 | -1 | |||||||||
| Tea Curing Shed | -3 | -2 | ||||||||||
| Lacquer Refinery | -3 | -2 | ||||||||||
| Silkworm Shed | -3 | -2 | ||||||||||
| Fishing Quay | -20 | -17 | -14 | -11 | -8 | -5 | ||||||
| Hunter's Tent | -15 | -11 | -7 | -3 | ||||||||
| Industry | ||||||||||||
| Clay Pit | -20 | -16 | -12 | -8 | -4 | |||||||
| Stoneworks | -30 | -26 | -22 | -18 | -14 | -10 | -6 | -2 | ||||
| Salt Mine | -30 | -30 | -25 | -25 | -20 | -20 | -15 | -15 | -10 | -10 | ||
| Logging Shed | -30 | -30 | -25 | -25 | -20 | -20 | -15 | -15 | -10 | -10 | ||
| Bronze Smelter | -40 | -40 | -37 | -37 | -34 | -34 | -31 | -31 | -28 | -28 | ||
| Iron Smelter | -40 | -40 | -37 | -37 | -34 | -34 | -31 | -31 | -28 | -28 | ||
| Steel Furnace | -40 | -40 | -37 | -37 | -34 | -34 | -31 | -31 | -28 | -28 | ||
| Kiln | -30 | -25 | -20 | -15 | -10 | -5 | ||||||
| Bronzeware Maker | -32 | -28 | -24 | -20 | -16 | -12 | -8 | -4 | ||||
| Lacquerware Maker | -10 | -9 | -8 | -7 | -6 | -5 | ||||||
| Paper Maker | -10 | -8 | -6 | -4 | -2 | |||||||
| Jade Carver's Studio | -5 | -4 | -3 | -2 | -1 | |||||||
| Weaver | -5 | -4 | -3 | -2 | -1 | |||||||
| Commerce | ||||||||||||
| Mill | -20 | -16 | -14 | -12 | -10 | -8 | -6 | -4 | ||||
| Common Market Square | -6 | -8 | -10 | |||||||||
| Grand Market Square | -4 | -5 | -6 | |||||||||
| Warehouse | -15 | -15 | -15 | -13 | -13 | -13 | -11 | -11 | ||||
| Trading Station | -15 | -15 | -15 | -13 | -13 | -13 | -11 | -11 | ||||
| Trading Quay | -15 | -15 | -15 | -13 | -13 | -13 | -11 | -11 | ||||
| Safety | ||||||||||||
| Well | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | ||||||||
| Herbalist's Stall | 2 | 1 | ||||||||||
| Acupuncturist's Clinic | 3 | 2 | 1 | |||||||||
| Inspector's Tower | -2 | -1 | ||||||||||
| Watchtower | -2 | -1 | ||||||||||
| Government | ||||||||||||
| Administrative City | 10 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 2 | |||
| Tax Office | -4 | -2 | ||||||||||
| Palace | 18 | 18 | 18 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 9 | 9 | 9 |
| Mint | -5 | -4 | -3 | -2 | -1 | |||||||
| Money Printer | -5 | -4 | -3 | -2 | -1 | |||||||
| Entertainment | ||||||||||||
| Music School | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | ||||||||
| Acrobat School | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | ||||||||
| Drama School | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | ||||||||
| Theatre Pavilion | 4 | 2 | ||||||||||
| Religion | ||||||||||||
| Ancestral Shrine | 8 | 8 | 6 | 6 | ||||||||
| Daoist Shrine | 8 | 8 | 6 | 6 | ||||||||
| Daoist Temple | 12 | 12 | 9 | 9 | 6 | 6 | ||||||
| Buddhist Shrine | 8 | 8 | 6 | 6 | ||||||||
| Buddhist Pagoda | 12 | 12 | 9 | 9 | 6 | 6 | ||||||
| Confucian Academny | 6 | 6 | 4 | 4 | ||||||||
| Military | ||||||||||||
| Crossbow Fort | -30 | -27 | -24 | -21 | -18 | -15 | -12 | -9 | -6 | -3 | ||
| Infantry Fort | -30 | -27 | -24 | -21 | -18 | -15 | -12 | -9 | -6 | -3 | ||
| Cavalry Fort | -30 | -27 | -24 | -21 | -18 | -15 | -12 | -9 | -6 | -3 | ||
| Chariot Fort | -30 | -27 | -24 | -21 | -18 | -15 | -12 | -9 | -6 | -3 | ||
| Catapult Fort | -30 | -27 | -24 | -21 | -18 | -15 | -12 | -9 | -6 | -3 | ||
| Weaponsmith | -20 | -20 | -16 | -16 | -12 | -12 | -8 | -8 | ||||
| Aesthetics | ||||||||||||
| Gardens | 4 | 3 | 2 | |||||||||
| 1x1 Sculpture | 6 | 5 | 4 | |||||||||
| 2x2 Sculpture | 8 | 6 | 4 | 2 | ||||||||
| Wayside Pavilion | 8 | 6 | 4 | |||||||||
| Pond | 14 | 12 | 10 | 8 | ||||||||
| T'ai Chi Park | 18 | 16 | 14 | 12 | ||||||||
| Private Garden | 22 | 19 | 16 | 13 | ||||||||
| Grand Way | 4 | 3 | 2 | |||||||||
| Imperial Way | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | ||||||||
| Residential Wall | 3 | 2 | 1 | |||||||||
| Flowering Tree | 5 | 5 | 3 | |||||||||
| Monuments | ||||||||||||
| Laborers' Camp | -12 | -12 | -11 | -11 | -10 | -10 | -9 | -9 | -8 | -8 | ||
| Carpenters' Guild | -6 | -6 | -5 | |||||||||
| Masons' Guild | -8 | -8 | -7 | -7 | -6 | -6 | ||||||
| Ceramists' Guild | -6 | -6 | -5 | -5 | -4 | -4 | ||||||