One thing I mentioned somewhere, not sure if in this thread or another, I think they were running out of ideas for event buildings, the stats, power creep. There wasn't much more they could give (or wanted to give may be a better way to say it) so it is possible, they decided to promote defending stats in event buildings and use GE5 as the carrot (L3 FS especially, even RED likes this building as a standalone). Now they have lots of room to play. This is a pure guess and is not meant to justify the switch for GE5. BUT, they have to make the new event buildings obtainable via normal event play, not have us micromanage an event. Event buildings making golden level fragments doesn't bother me. Do well in an event, get those 30-60 fragment grand prizes, for example, to help reduce time to get Gold, I can deal with too. Now, like everyone, of course I want the Gold level ASAP, like right after the event.
Honey just posted about Kracken/Virgo as I was writing the above so I will share another guess of mine. I think they also looked at GBs and are making some just sitting there now actually have some use. SBC would be specifically for GE5, Virgo can apply to RED battles, although it doesn't have that many charges. Virgo is definitely a GE5 helper in later stages of the level. Deal Castle? yea sure but I am still not sold on the size versus the need so I will keep this one on the shelf. Kracken gains more value too, taking out that 1 unit in wave 1 is a goods saver. It can make the difference on that encounter you are borderline to beat. Beat it, save goods. NOW, if they change it? wow, that would be cruel, would move portraits to #3 on the hate list, still keeping diamond heist #1 (this one hard to beat), and make that possible nerf a strong #2.
One thing I am telling guildmates, if you do GE5, get your baseline, how far can you attack and what will the goods cost be to nego more.
Here is my goods cheat sheet, it is based on having to do 19 resources per encounter. I am finding that I am doing it for less, want to say 10% based on a looksy (looksies are not 100% accurate, need a few more weeks). Also, E5/9/13, I spend the goods for -1 resource. In theory it should be a tad easier but it all depends, I have had to spend 10D on it, was not happy but it does help most of the time.
| Encounter | good cost | X19 | A- cum cost | B- fight then nego | Fort cost |
1 | 10 | 190 | 190 | 11628 | 30 |
2 | 16 | 304 | 494 | 11438 | 50 |
3 | 20 | 380 | 874 | 11134 | 60 |
4 | 40 | 760 | 1634 | 10754 | 150 |
5 | 20 | 380 | 2014 | 9994 | 60 |
6 | 27 | 513 | 2527 | 9614 | 80 |
7 | 31 | 589 | 3116 | 9101 | 90 |
8 | 53 | 1007 | 4123 | 8512 | 190 |
9 | 30 | 570 | 4693 | 7505 | 90 |
10 | 38 | 722 | 5415 | 6935 | 110 |
11 | 42 | 798 | 6213 | 6213 | 120 |
12 | 65 | 1235 | 7448 | 5415 | 240 |
13 | 40 | 760 | 8208 | 4180 | 110 |
14 | 49 | 931 | 9139 | 3420 | 140 |
15 | 53 | 1007 | 10146 | 2489 | 150 |
16 | 78 | 1482 | 11628 | 1482 | 280 |
A=the cumulative cost as if you negotiated the whole thing
B=battle first then nego the rest.... lets say you battle thru E5, then negotiate the rest, that number 9614 would be the high spot cost to negotiate the rest, so cumulative with a spin but I think a better number to look at
The table does not take into account doing -1 resource on E5/9/13 but you do save.
I am also leading the negotiations on my first attempt with my current era goods. I am finding I spend less previous era so not 50% each. I need more time with this one to see how it plays out. I do this because my CF makes current era so replacement is easier versus getting previous era. BUT, those fortifications can ask for mostly previous era goods, like that nasty siege camp wanting 2999 of a low treasury good, even worse, 3 slots on an important province.
Now, I have taken the approach to get myself to win E8,12 (E16, forget it for now, need the others before it first) because those have goods spikes. I have used the Great warrior temple, A/D and Infiltration temple, that cost and winning the battle is cheaper than negotiating those spikes.
Another thing about negotiating,
1) if you get 3 green on your first attempt, that isn't so good, it can be a diamond trap because you only have 2 spaces left to evaluate 5 completely unknown resources which uses at least 2 more attempts. Caution here, I may do it to see if I get 2 yellows, then I can complete. I may NOT do it on E12/16, the goods spike.
2) if you get 2 green 1 yellow, similar to 3 green, but now you have 3 open spaces to evaluate unknown resources, better odds but I think still less than 50%, may be worth an attempt or two
If you get lucky and win those 2 by trying, please don't go out and buy a lottery ticket, the two are not related...LOLOL
It is funny, I used to nego a lot just because I liked it. I completely forgot about the "3 green punt" rule I had and it caught me the first week, spent 30D bcs I was stubborn (lol) and mad at myself bcs I remembered after the 20D spent. Since then, I spend about 10-20 D per week and I nego E12 to 16. I am lower age, ME and CA but I have previous era goods so I can add defending A/D over time, taking it encounter by encounter, one step at a time.
I wanted to include the table above to help quantify the cost. AND, AND, assume every 2 negos = 10 diamonds, never forget it, but I think it is a high estimate, I am seeing less (right now, I could have bad weeks in the future).
