Can being a balanced player work long term?

[-Chen-]

Since I started this game a few months ago, I always hear that you need to pick between being a fighter or a farmer, and from the beginning I have always preferred the idea of being good at both.
Thus far it's working out fairly well, have settled down in HMA for a bit to work on my city and GB's, after I had gotten a bit ahead of myself initially with leveling up too fast. Was finally able to find a guild that I liked, with enough active members that help out with each others GB's, while not being to demanding in their requirements. In a relatively short amount of time I've been able to get my SoZ, LoA, and CoA all up to level 5, and will be looking to plant CdM soon. Am in the process of my first special event, and the buildings from that have allowed me to bulldoze a lot of old houses while increasing my population, and has given me a nice boost in FP's and production

Since I don't fight a LOT, I was thinking of passing on Alcatraz when the time comes, and concentrating on GB's like the Arch, Chateau, Inno, etc.

Although it's going well thus far, I still have the whole "be a fighter or farmer" mantra nagging at the back of my mind, and am curious if being balanced can work effectively longer term, or if I really do need to "pick a direction?" If it will work, is their anything (buildings or otherwise) that I should be focused on moving forward?

 

[Agent327]

There are no fighters that have passed on Alcatraz, so what does that tell you?

There is no need to pick a direction. Just make sure you can do what you want to do. Take GE for instance. Does it matter if you do it fighting, negotiating, or both? No ofcourse not. What matters that if you want to do it, you are able to do so.

 

[emmagirl2]

Since I started this game a few months ago, I always hear that you need to pick between being a fighter or a farmer, and from the beginning I have always preferred the idea of being good at both.
Thus far it's working out fairly well, have settled down in HMA for a bit to work on my city and GB's, after I had gotten a bit ahead of myself initially with leveling up too fast. Was finally able to find a guild that I liked, with enough active members that help out with each others GB's, while not being to demanding in their requirements. In a relatively short amount of time I've been able to get my SoZ, LoA, and CoA all up to level 5, and will be looking to plant CdM soon. Am in the process of my first special event, and the buildings from that have allowed me to bulldoze a lot of old houses while increasing my population, and has given me a nice boost in FP's and production

Since I don't fight a LOT, I was thinking of passing on Alcatraz when the time comes, and concentrating on GB's like the Arch, Chateau, Inno, etc.

Although it's going well thus far, I still have the whole "be a fighter or farmer" mantra nagging at the back of my mind, and am curious if being balanced can work effectively longer term, or if I really do need to "pick a direction?" If it will work, is their anything (buildings or otherwise) that I should be focused on moving forward?

i am a fighter

 

[Nicholas002]

I agree 100%. The "pick one or the other" school of thought has always bothered me.
why not be good at both?

In my playstyle, I try to maximize both.

with ~100/100% A/D boost, traz+rogues, for fighting, I can easily fight through GE 3 into 4, and fight enough GBG.

with CF, some RQs, and SBs, and buying high era goods to trade down, I have accrued several thousand goods of each type, BA through PE.
you know that quote that "the rich don't work for their money, their money works for them"?
well I try to apply that to goods. I always have hundreds of unfair trades in the market, of all possible combinations (ex: 40 brick for 50 glass, or 40 brass for 40 paper)
every day, 30-50 such trades get taken, which means just in the market, I am making lots of goods every day.

with these goods, I can easily play the "goods game" when I need to, to finish GE, or get some more GBG encounters.

rather than deciding to be a fighter or a farmer, I have found that playing both styles can be easier, and a lot more fun!

 

[-Chen-]

There is no need to pick a direction. Just make sure you can do what you want to do. Take GE for instance. Does it matter if you do it fighting, negotiating, or both? No ofcourse not. What matters that if you want to do it, you are able to do so.

Fair enough.
Like I said, a lot of people make it sound like you'll eventually hit a point where you stagnate unless you fully commit to one style or the other, so I wanted to hear from some people who I could reasonably trust to know for sure.

 

[-Chen-]

i am a fighter

Okay.
Thanks for the thoughtful reply.

 

[Agent327]

Fair enough.
Like I said, a lot of people make it sound like you'll eventually hit a point where you stagnate unless you fully commit to one style or the other, so I wanted to hear from some people who I could reasonably trust to know for sure.

You don't stagnate, cause if you know what you are doing you can easily adapt. It is very much possible to do both if you want to, but with every choice you make, you need to do it right. You determine your own balance.

 

[-Chen-]

I agree 100%. The "pick one or the other" school of thought has always bothered me.
why not be good at both?

In my playstyle, I try to maximize both.

with ~100/100% A/D boost, traz+rogues, for fighting, I can easily fight through GE 3 into 4, and fight enough GBG.

with CF, some RQs, and SBs, and buying high era goods to trade down, I have accrued several thousand goods of each type, BA through PE.
you know that quote that "the rich don't work for their money, their money works for them"?
well I try to apply that to goods. I always have hundreds of unfair trades in the market, of all possible combinations (ex: 40 brick for 50 glass, or 40 brass for 40 paper)
every day, 30-50 such trades get taken, which means just in the market, I am making lots of goods every day.

with these goods, I can easily play the "goods game" when I need to, to finish GE, or get some more GBG encounters.

rather than deciding to be a fighter or a farmer, I have found that playing both styles can be easier, and a lot more fun!

Yea, I've noticed some lopsided trades when I am perusing the market, kinda chuckle and wonder who would accept them, but I'm not surprised to hear that many do, either from not paying attention, or just needing whatever it is bad enough to not care.

 

[Falconwing]

I had to be a fighting farmer when I started, especially for GE (which every player needs to get good at for too many reasons to list). I'd fight as far as I reasonably could, then negotiate. I eventually got good/powerful enough to do all of it with combat alone, but I still produce a ton of Goods, which comes in handy in GbG when I can no longer fight and have to nego to take a prime spot. (62 is my highest ATT for combat, 77 for negotiations, but I HATE to nego, rather drag my balls across sandpaper) The extra Goods also come in handy to donate to the Guild so we can afford more Buildings in GbG. I think fighting is the more popular one. I can blow through the 64 levels of GE far faster than I can nego them and even though nego is two points in GbG, no one is speed dropping a space by nego, that's all super fast autobattling.

 

[DeletedUser31499]

I’m in FE now but have played what I consider a balanced game from the start. You need to both be able to fight and produce enough goods, product, and coins so progress in the game is never hampered by lack of.

 

[RazorbackPirate]

I'm in CA, am a fighter and have yet to build Alcatraz. When I was able, I chose to build HC instead. I'm also a balanced player, I have 14k of each current age good, and 32k of each previous age good. I fight until I start taking Rogue losses, Then negotiate beyond that. I know many folks go much further with attrition than I do in GBG, but I'm happy with what I do. Many days, especially in Diamond league reward farming rounds, I lose interest in GBG long before I exhaust my capabilities.

I like being a balance player, and plan to stay that way. I'm sure I'll build Traz at some point, but have yet to see the need. Even without it, I've got 300+ unattached Rogues, a number that continues to grow, despite the occasional loss.

 

[Emberguard]

Being balanced at both works the best because it gives you the most options. Negotiating only gets insanely expensive. You can technically do it but it'll be quite slow if that's your only option. Fighting on its own will only get you so far prior to hyper lvl'ing your GBs before you have to switch to negotiation. Doing both will get you the furthest in the game because they each cover the others weakest area.

 

[Agent327]

Being balanced at both works the best because it gives you the most options. Negotiating only gets insanely expensive. You can technically do it but it'll be quite slow if that's your only option. Fighting on its own will only get you so far prior to hyper lvl'ing your GBs before you have to switch to negotiation. Doing both will get you the furthest in the game because they each cover the others weakest area.

Don't agree 100% with you. I set out as a fighter. Can do everything fighting, don't need to negotiate, but if I have to I can. While I focussed on fighting and never bothered about negotiating, cause I do not like it at all, it came along with the fighting. Almost every special building I put down for it's fighting boost, also produces goods. Right now I produce 498 goods a day without having any goods buildings. So you can set out as one of the two and still keep the balance because of the special buildings. The difference between the two fades the farther you come and the longer you play.

 

[-Chen-]

Much appreciation to all the people who took the time to post. They definitely took away any lingering doubts about my choice of approach.

Now I just need to figure out whether I want to keep the extra hippodrome I got from the training rewards around in case I ever need the population with matching happiness boost, or unload it for the pittance the AD gives you for it. Probably answered my own question this time, just by typing it out

 

[RazorbackPirate]

Much appreciation to all the people who took the time to post. They definitely took away any lingering doubts about my choice of approach.

Now I just need to figure out whether I want to keep the extra hippodrome I got from the training rewards around in case I ever need the population with matching happiness boost, or unload it for the pittance the AD gives you for it. Probably answered my own question this time, just by typing it out

Not sure specifically what your situation with the Hippodromes are concerned, but remember that Tracks connected in between both halves of the Hippodrome double their output. For instance, the Track that gives the FP will add a FP to the Carceres collection as well as the Sphendome collection.

 

[Farfle the smelly]

Much appreciation to all the people who took the time to post. They definitely took away any lingering doubts about my choice of approach.

Now I just need to figure out whether I want to keep the extra hippodrome I got from the training rewards around in case I ever need the population with matching happiness boost, or unload it for the pittance the AD gives you for it. Probably answered my own question this time, just by typing it out

I’m in the same boat. I have a maxed out hippo and then just won two more. I’ll probably sell it if I ever Age up because frankly it takes up a tooooon of space. I would need something that generated medals in a big way just to compensate for the space I’d lose. Not worth it, there are other smaller GBs that do more.

 

[-Chen-]

Not sure specifically what your situation with the Hippodromes are concerned, but remember that Tracks connected in between both halves of the Hippodrome double their output. For instance, the Track that gives the FP will add a FP to the Carceres collection as well as the Sphendome collection.

Oh yea, I know, I admittedly have occasional moments where I don't look closely enough at stuff, but I wouldn't miss something like that.

I have a fully leveled up Sphendome and Carceres, with 5 Leukoi tracks, 2 Venetoi and 2 Rousioi tracks. When I did my blitz this morning for the Leukoi tracks I also picked up another Carceres and Sphendome, which I was going to just sell to the AD, but they only get 1800 coins each. I'm figuring to just hold on to them instead and have the 1000+ population and happiness in my back pocket in case I ever need it.

 

[-Chen-]

Not worth it, there are other smaller GBs that do more.

Curious as to what those GB's are, and how far you have to level them up to get that kind of production, as well as the 1000+ population and happiness?
I know there is Inno and Habitat for population, but I'm not sure how far off they'll be, and the Hippodrome (even at level 1) is definitely better than the houses I'll have access to for the foreseeable future.

 

[BruteForceAttack]

Since I started this game a few months ago, I always hear that you need to pick between being a fighter or a farmer, and from the beginning I have always preferred the idea of being good at both.
Thus far it's working out fairly well, have settled down in HMA for a bit to work on my city and GB's, after I had gotten a bit ahead of myself initially with leveling up too fast. Was finally able to find a guild that I liked, with enough active members that help out with each others GB's, while not being to demanding in their requirements. In a relatively short amount of time I've been able to get my SoZ, LoA, and CoA all up to level 5, and will be looking to plant CdM soon. Am in the process of my first special event, and the buildings from that have allowed me to bulldoze a lot of old houses while increasing my population, and has given me a nice boost in FP's and production

Since I don't fight a LOT, I was thinking of passing on Alcatraz when the time comes, and concentrating on GB's like the Arch, Chateau, Inno, etc.

Although it's going well thus far, I still have the whole "be a fighter or farmer" mantra nagging at the back of my mind, and am curious if being balanced can work effectively longer term, or if I really do need to "pick a direction?" If it will work, is their anything (buildings or otherwise) that I should be focused on moving forward?

In the beginning you kind of have to pick your path, because there is only limited number of FPs. An very advanced player doesn't have to worry about this, because they can just do both without putting much effort.

A lot of it also depends on your guild, e.g if your guild gives you many opportunities to farm GbG, you should for sure look into fighting, because that is a lot easier to gain rewards than spending goods.

if you are a true fighter you can you get into top guilds who do a lot of gbg, on the other hand if you negotiate a lot just from gbg perspective you will thrive for a while but eventually will run out of previous age goods. Even if we let go gbg, just doing ge/c-map will burn you out of goods sooner or later.... So yeah i'm saying fighting is the way to go.

 

[Farfle the smelly]

Curious as to what those GB's are, and how far you have to level them up to get that kind of production, as well as the 1000+ population and happiness?
I know there is Inno and Habitat for population, but I'm not sure how far off they'll be, and the Hippodrome (even at level 1) is definitely better than the houses I'll have access to for the foreseeable future.

I don’t actually know, but there’s GOTTA be something.....right? Mine takes up 20x4 squares and the total FP output is, I think 12 when motivated (which is a whole other topic!). There has to be something that makes either more (in that size) or less but with a smaller footprint. I hope. If you know of anything, I’m open to suggestions.

Edited to add: your and my priorities appear to differ though. I’m not worried about population and happiness, just FPs (for the moment in my game’s current livelihood). So I am definitely not a good source for replacement ideas. Sorry. /-: