Now that it's 3 months after compiling this guide, I thought that I would share what modifications I've made to how I've implemented it in my own city.
I'm currently in CA, and am working toward leveling my Arc to 80. The last two things I need to do before I start this project is to get my CF to 10 and get partners to help level in a 4-way swap group with support from other level 80 Arcs. I plan to follow
@amiar's
Preset Style Arc Swap Group Guide in doing so, which is one of the best descriptions I've found of how to do this. This is a clear deviation from CR's original guide, but I'm sold on the benefits of a big arc for expanding one's city and FP production.
@doardeproba's
post in HQS cant join's forum is also a good source for info on setting up a swap group.
To get to this point, I have built up to getting 120 FP's daily on paper and built what I think are a good set of GBs to help me start this project. I currently have in my city:
- 102 clockmakers
- Royal Ship
- Level 2 Cherry blossom set
- Level 7 Grand Bridge
- 17 SOKs, an Obelisk, and a SSW
- Level 2 PoH
- 2 Rogue hideouts and a Champions Retreat.
Some of these items deviate from CR's advice, such as the Cherry Blossom Set, but it produces more FPs per tile than SOKs, are MUCH more efficient than the equivalent RQs I'd get from clockmakers in the same space, and they've only been plundered 2x since I laid them down. That's worth it to me to take that risk for 7 FPs per day. Also, some things are down like the PoH because I need to fill the space efficiently and it makes sense to me--better to have a PoH in a 3x3 space producing FPs and coins daily than having an odd clockmaker producing nothing but supplies and 3 empty tiles next to it.
As to GBs, I have:
- Arc, level 10
- CF, level 9
- SMB, level 10
- HS, level 6
- IT, level 6
- LOA, level 6
- RAH, level 5
- TOR, level 3
For a lot of the choices that went into this, I also followed
@doardeproba's
advice. I chose not to build Zeus or CDM yet because I make enough goods through RQs to negotiate through GE, I don't fight PVP except for event quests and daily challenges, I don't GVG, and putting so many FPs into a CDM would slow down progress toward building a level 80 Arc tremendously. I don't plan on building Atomium or FOD in my city because the cost in space and FPs doesn't seem worth it for an enthusiastic population--the benefit isn't that great when you do the math on it. I also chose to build the RAH in addition to LOA because losing 6 clockmakers is worth the additional UBQs I can do with those supplies. And I built the TOR because it increases the chances of scoring FPs when doing GE every week. One regret I have is that I leveled up IT when I still had military buildings in my city and needed the population, but now that I've removed them and built the Royal Ship and a lot of SOKs, I have about 3000 people too many and it's hard to keep my population enthusiastic--I am on the fence about leveling up my HS again to get them enthusiastic at this point in CA. It would help with doing a few more more UBQs every day and give me another FP daily, but at 380 FPs for the next level I don't know if it's worth it.
My plan for my city is to first level my Arc to 80, as I wrote above. Then after that I plan to lay down all the victory expansions because getting medals should be easy, lay down Alcatraz/CDM/COA/Zeus, and level every GB to 10. Even with a level 10 IT, I will still have an enthusiastic population with HS and Alcatraz at 10, and will hopefully be able to fight through GE instead of negotiating.
If you use City Planner at
foemanager.com, you can view my work on designing my cities:
My city as it currently is: JBBOPTZ30P
Goal for end of CA: PDFT2YSGBE
Improved goal for end of CA: 7MOU1HZQGT
One last thing I wonder--after all this is done and I have this big city with big GBs in it, what comes next? I have questions like:
- Deviating away from CR's guide and building a level 80 Arc changes things significantly. Many people who have done so say they can do so more "Spend FP" quests than I can do "Produce Turret Clocks" at this point, so is there even a point to doing the "Produce X" RQs anymore?
- What about Ages? Do I work up to FE and maybe sell goods for FPs while stratosphering my CF, combat GBs, or FP producing GBs?
- Do I fight GVG to gain ranking points and for the novelty of it?
- What other GBs do I build? CC, AO, Kraken, or TA?
I'm not sure, and it sounds a little boring at that point, TBH, but then again I'm enjoying doing little more than collecting from 102 clockmakers and aborting through countless RQs to do so. I'm sure that it will be better than I expect having the city I'm working toward.