So I've been playing a bit of this game and loving it so far. My question is what happens when you lose the battle for a shard - do you ever get a chance to get those buildings again? In my first game I lost a battle for a shard that gave me access to a second level magic school. Would it ever be possible to get this building again? And what happens to the buildings that require that magic school such as the third level building? Or are they all locked forever?

Can't you just attack the same shard again?

As far as I know battle lost is battle lost - time to move on. But then the game introduced this mechanic in which you destroy the opponent shard to little ones when trying to sever his connection to floating land... so maybe in that situation? I still haven't lost a shard, but that is because I'm fighting very defensively in fear of forever losing the buildings and benefits they give.

Really?
That's the first "forgiving kindness" this games offers. :-)
That's very nice of you.

But no, I'm still playing "beginner" level. You don't lure me to change my difficulty level to get crushed by a single goblin.

BTW, the "honest" difficulty setting is an"expert". On that one you have no bonuses/penalties. And the game balance mostly tuned for an "expert" difficulty.
Yet another tip: you can switch difficulty on the flow (one of astral menu options), no need to restart campaign to do that.

Good to know, so that's my goal.

Let's say in about 6 years maybe....

I almost never try to play unfair games. (for the player) Real life is unfair enough, I don't want that kind of challenge in a game! :-D

Then not even touched Dark/Demon Souls I presume? :P

Still it's a relief that one can try again if something goes wrong with a battle.

Of course not. I'm not a masochistic gamer at all.
I like challenge and but I like it on a fair level.
I played Witcher 1 on hard in order to have to use the potions and drugs. Because I liked farming for ingredients and doing some alchemy.
I was actually more of a botanist than a monster slayer.

Great tip good to know, and now I'll quote it in the sticky because I think it's something many will be interested in :)

Wow... expert? I got crushed on "competent" and finally won my first shard on "skilled" after 6 or so tries.

Some good tips here. I also wondered if losing a shard would permanently lose you some schematics. Nice to know they may show up again later. Competent is the hardest I've tried so far and I've learnt to be very cautious. Any harder and I think it would be more stressful than fun. Has anyone won on Lord or even Overlord level?