What guilds do you accept when they offer?

[Fisherking]

I usually take one or two of what they offer and get more selective as the game moves along. After I get a world headquarters for a guild I may even tear a few down to see what I can get next.

I still have never been offered the Alchemists Guild though... Maybe I don't build enough cannons...

[predaturd]

i think you need to make the gunpowder makers (dunno the name never use gunners much) and both cannons and firearms men

[ReiseReise]

I don't build thieves guild because the AI spams them all over the place and it is easier to capture one and have it closer to the front lines. Other than that I usually build all my merchants and priests from the city I want their respective guild in. Of course as Egypt or Hungary Assassin/Hashashim are necessary so you can play around with the unique units. I never saw the use of Explorers guild, does it actually give global movement bonus? That would be very nice, I thought it just gave a chance for ancillary characters.

[imnothere]

I thought that Guild will have maintenance cost?

so accepting just any crappy guild (gee... 5th Thieves Guild in a row) is not a good idea as it is a florins-draining exercise.

[Monsieur Alphonse]

I thought that Guild will have maintenance cost?

so accepting just any crappy guild (gee... 5th Thieves Guild in a row) is not a good idea as it is a florins-draining exercise.

There are no maintenance costs for guilds. You only pay once a 1000 florins to get it build.

[ReiseReise]

The downside of spamming thieves guilds all over the place is that you can only have one type of guild per city. Building a couple might be alright because each one gives the other a boost towards the next level, but i wouldn't build more than 2 or 3 if you want to have room for anything else. This is probably why the AI spams them, they build spies like crazy, getting points towards guild for each one recruited, then get a guild, which gives every city a bonus, so 2 more cities get offered a guild, they build them, every city gets another bonus, 5 more cities get offered guilds and so on until every AI city has a Thieves guild.

[Fisherking]

Once I have a world headquarters of something I usually get rid of extras of the same type. The penalty for tearing it down won't hurt you at all then. The things I keep most are Chapterhouses for Knights Orders and Woodsmens Guilds as well as Swordsmith's Guilds...those come in handy.