- Every empire now has a unique building – a stronger replacement for a standard building, arriving in the early game
- Rome: Forum (Marketplace) – +2 gold, +1 production
- Greece: Academy (Library) – +2 research, +1 culture
- Egypt: Obelisk (Temple) – +2 culture, +1 production
- Mongolia: Ordu (Barracks) – +1 unit XP, and the city counts as having Horses
- England: Royal Dockyard (Harbour) – +3 gold, +1 food, +1 production
- France: École Militaire (Barracks) – +1 unit XP, +2 research
- Aztecs: Chinampa (Granary) – +3 food
- Russia: Kremlin (Walls) – +50% garrison defence, +1 culture
- A unique building counts as the building it replaces – prerequisites, demolishing and defence all work as expected, and the tech tree and city screens show your empire’s version
- England’s “Harbours +1 gold” bonus moved into the Royal Dockyard; the empire bonus is now simply “Naval units +1 movement”
- The Annhexopedia has a page for each unique building, and every empire page describes its unique building and strategy