Buildings

Overview
Buildings are objects in Axioms which provide a myriad of benefits and output for a character and/or nation. Buildings provide Housing(with Amenities), Industry facilities, services for Religion, and for Research, produce Items, and perform many other functions such as gathering resources and processing them into products.

Housing
Housing is described in the link above. Due to its complexity it has its own page.

Processes
A process converts some input into some output. Processes do things like smelt ore to generate bars and ingots, as well as convert those mid tier materials into their final form, such as making swords or shields. Processes are also what turn simple items into complex items. Buildings also host modules which are special complex items with significant game effects. Modules are used to mediate powerful magical effects for instance.

Properties
Many buildings have requirements based on "properties" of materials rather than specific amounts of specific materials. Any grouping of materials that can provide the right mix of properties can construct a building. Buildings have templates that specify these requirements. All buildings of the same type or template are counted as a group regardless of input materials.

Upgrades And Salvaging
All the materials used for a specific type in a specific province are recorded. If you want to upgrade a number of buildings to a new better template the game will calculate all excess properties from the record of building materials and then upgrade using materials sufficient to provide the minimum amount of properties for the new buildings. Upgrades are a different type and the materials used in the initial build of the upgraded buildings will be swapped to the record of materials for the new template.

The other and more important value of a material record is salvage. When you salvage buildings, either your own or those of your enemies or those you find through various game actions, you get a certain percentage of materials returned based on the material record. This is especially useful to get a boost in a rare material if you are salvaging a building you have no use for.