Why my building refused to upgrade for 3 days - influence and the buildings you need nearby

Hi everyone, i want to share something that make me almost crazy for few days, because maybe it help somebody new like me. this is about influence, and why sometimes your building just refuse to upgrade or work, even when you have all the materials ready. i still not fully expert in this, but i understand enough now to explain the basic, so here it is. ok so the story. i build my town, everything going ok, my buildings are level 1 and working fine after i connect the roads (roads is another lesson, if your stuff not working check road first, but thats not todays topic). so i am happy and i want to grow. i try to upgrade one of my buildings to level 2. i have the materials, i have energy, i click upgrade and... it dont let me. it tell me something about needing a market nearby or influence, i dont remember exact words. i was so confused because i thought upgrade just need materials. so i ask around and i read a bit, and here is what i learn. in this game, buildings dont live alone. they need other buildings around them to give them what is called influence. think of it like, a building need certain neighbours to be allowed to grow. if the neighbours are not there, the building is stuck, no matter how much material you have. the first big one is the MARKET. any building of at least level 2 must be near a market. so the moment you want to go from level 1 to level 2, you suddenly need a market in the area. the market itself dont produce anything, you dont collect products from it, its only job is to give influence to the buildings around it so they can be higher level. when i build a market near my buildings, suddenly i can upgrade them. that was my big aha moment. now here is a confusing part for new player and i fall for it 100 percent. there is the MARKET building inside your town that i just talk about, the one for influence. and there is also the trade market, the place where you buy and sell products with other players for money. these are two different things. when i hear market first i think oh the place i buy and sell. no. the market building in your town is for influence to your own buildings. the buying and selling with other players is a different screen. dont mix them like i did, i was looking in the wrong place for a long time. ok so market is the first influence building. but there are more. as you go further, many buildings need to be in the area of influence of service buildings. for example a lot of buildings need a police station nearby. some need a fire hall nearby. some need a church or a hospital nearby. these service building dont produce product to sell, but they are required for other buildings to function or to upgrade. so even if it feel like a waste to build a police station that dont make you money, you sometimes MUST have it so the rest of your town can grow. it is part of the city, like in real life you need police and fire service even if they dont sell anything. and it dont stop there. some buildings need a BAR nearby or a RESTAURANT nearby to upgrade. bars and restaurants are interesting because they have double job: they actually produce things (bars make drinks, restaurants make food), but ALSO they give influence, and certain buildings cannot be upgraded unless there is a bar or restaurant close to them. so they are useful in two ways. so now when i plan my town i dont just throw buildings random anywhere. i try to think, ok i put a market here in the middle so many buildings can be near it, then i add a police, a fire hall, maybe a bar, so that the area has all the influence my production buildings need to grow. influence is about being NEAR, about the area, so position matter a lot. a building that is too far from the market or the police get no benefit. distance and placement is important, not just having the building somewhere on the map. let me give one concrete example from my own town so it is not only theory. i had a wood factory and a construction materials factory that i wanted both at level 2, sitting in two different corners far apart. to upgrade both i would need a market near each corner, so two markets, plus the road upgrades to each. that is double cost for no reason. so what i did, for the new buildings after that i started placing them close together in one zone. i put one market in the middle of that zone, and now several of my level 2 buildings all use that single market. when i added a police and a small bar in the same zone later, all the buildings there could reach the influence they need. one investment, many buildings benefit. that is the trick i wish i knew from minute one. another small thing, the area of influence has a range, it is not the whole map. so near really means near. when i place a market i now try to imagine a circle around it and i keep my important buildings inside that circle. if a building is just outside, it get nothing, so i move my plan a bit so everything important sits inside the influence area. i am not going to pretend i calculated exact tiles, i just eyeball it and adjust when the game complain, but the principle of keeping things tight inside the influence range is what works for me. honestly this is the part of the game that feel most like a real city planning. it is not only build factory and collect money. you have to build the support also: the market for trade level, the police and fire and church and hospital for the services, the bar and restaurant where needed. all these together let your real money making buildings climb to higher level, and higher level mean more production. so the influence buildings are an investment, not a waste, even if they dont directly give you product. just to recap the influence things i personally hit so far, so you have a checklist: - level 2 and above buildings: need a MARKET nearby. - many buildings: need a POLICE station in the area. - some buildings: need a FIRE HALL nearby. - some need a CHURCH or HOSPITAL nearby. - some upgrades: need a BAR or a RESTAURANT close by. i am sure there are more rules i havent reached yet, but this already covers most of the early game walls. if you are new and your upgrade is blocked and you dont know why, 90 percent it is one of two things: either your road is not good enough (need higher road for higher building), or you are missing an influence building nearby, most likely a market if its your first level 2. check these two first and you save yourself a lot of frustration that i went through. i am still learning the exact which building need exactly which neighbour, it take experience and i still get surprised sometimes, the game tell you when you try. but the general idea is clear now in my head and i wanted to write it down for the next confused person. dont feel stupid if you stuck on this, almost everybody stuck on it at start because the game dont explain influence very loud, you discover it when something refuse to upgrade. ok i think thats all. sorry for long post but i remember how lost i was and i wish someone wrote this for me. if i made any mistake the more experienced players can correct me. happy building everyone, and remember, your buildings need good neighbours.