How do members progress without advancing their age?

[Emberguard]

They'd become efficient at GBG autobattling when you want to fill your city with atk a/d% buildings at one of the top ages. Since you aim to max atk%, your expansion slots are maxed, more atk% certainly always helps. That's when you bring out the tree

If you don’t find auto battle worth doing now you’re not going to suddenly start doing it in the top ages for GBG. Top ages all the units move faster then rogues so you have to manually fight a lot more

 

[DevaCat]

So he is going to wait until one of the top ages, after placing all expansions and filling the space with atk a/d% buildings, to finally place/Max Ygg? To autobattle GBG? Oh heck yeah, what a strategy, sign me up! Not.

 

[SpinDrifter]

I wait till I have enough goods, fps and strength to advance several eras at once to the next ideal era to camp.

Would you care to provide some examples and the why of good eras in which to camp ?

 

[Reese7990]

Would you care to provide some examples and the why of good eras in which to camp ?

"Camping" is a contreversal topic here in the forums and likely in your servers. There are some who swear by it, others that look at it like its cheating, and others who say that you are missing out on key parts of the game.

So lets first discuss good reasons to camp, verses not good reasons to camp. Then we will talk a little on how long one should camp and when its time to move on.

Good reasons to "camp":

1. As discussed earlier in the thread, if you blindly follow the questlines it will quickly advance you to move eras in a pace that doesnt let your city develope the infastructure you will need to be successful at 1. GE 2. Events 3. Extras like Gbg or Gvg 4. Sucess on the campaign map.

2. As a young player staying in Iron Age a bit to get an understanding of the game, its strategies and what kind of player you want to become, is a great idea. Rushing forward with no plan, building gbs because they look cool, but not really understanding their benifits can quickly get you stuck in an unseccesful city with no room to grow, struggling to finish GE or events which are both essential to your cities growth.

3. Events. Being able to complete events and gain not only the main event building, but also grabbing those fantastic daily prizes as they come available, will catapult your city growth. "Camping" allows you to get comfortable with your city production, use of troops, and an opportunity to grow your key Gbs so that completing events is not only possible, but even fun.

4. GB development. With each succesful Event, GE and other extras you find your city flourishing. Your no longer struggling with goods, coins and supplies as you have placed special event buildings. GE prizes, and if you found a good guild, maybe even Statues of Honor. Your fp production keeps going up allowing you to participate more in swap threads to get your Gbs to higher levels. Which for young players lvl 10 is your ultimate goal, for now.

If you are dedicated to the game and find a good guild this might take you 3 to 4 months.

Reasons not to camp:

1. Just to be the biggest guy on the block. There are players who have stayed in Eras for years. Imo a double digit millions city in Iron Age is way overstaying and pointless.

2. To bully players who can do very little to stop you since you have been playing for years and them weeks.

3. To brag about how grear and untouchable your iron age city is.

So when to move on?....

When your comfortably zipping through GE and events. When you really start to struggle to find space to put key buildings.

The campaign map is a great measuring stick of your future sucess. If you find that you are several eras aheas on the map and still easily defeating units 2 or 3 eras ahead of you, you are in a good spot to move. If you are struggling to defear troops of your own era or even the next, you probably are not yet ready to advance. Work a few more levels of your attack/defense buildings.

I personally did not leave Iron Age till I had my "Trinity": Zeus, Cdm, and CoA all to lvl 10. I was also fortunate enough because of finding a great guild to have already placed a Traz. Although it took me a long time to get a rogue hideout.

Since this post is so long. Ill do another on the suggested Eras to camp and why.

 

[Reese7990]

If you stay long enough in any era you will end up being sucessful in that era. That said there are eras that are just more advantageous then others. Mostly based on 1. The fighting units available. 2. The amount of expansions available. 3. The quality of its reoccurring quests.

This list is subjective to ones playing style and comfortability. But in general these are the suggested eras to camp.

1. Iron Age. my previous post describes why.
2. HmA. Ema amd Lma both have fighting units that leave a lot to be desired. HmA has great fighting units and a good amount of expansions.
3. Colonial. Quite a few expansions. Nice Reoccurring quests, good fighting units.
4. Modern Era. Again same reasons as above.
5. Future. Gaining access to hovertanks is a game changer. This era also has Arc goods, the most sought after goods in the game.

After future its really all equal. Finding your comfort zone. Sentinels in SaaM are another game changing fighting unit.

Hope that helps.

 

[DevaCat]

A couple of good posts. Subjective, of course, as its up to what a player's trying to do. A lot of the older guide advice led people to get through EMA fast and camp in HMA for a time, then get through LMA fast and camp in Colonial for a time before continuing on.

The reason for the push to HMA is that the Alchemist is a supply building with a smaller footprint than anything to that point since the Blacksmith back in Bronze. This makes it a good Age to do recurring quests and to work on GBs. And I agree that the fighting units are much better than those of previous Ages.

Personally I disagree with the old guides about skipping or blowing through LMA mainly because this is the first age to have 2 quest givers for RQs which, in combination with a CF, can quite significantly increase rewards over what's possible in HMA with its single quest giver. It's also a good age to continue leveling your GBs and to use the added space to maybe add some you've had an eye on.

Myself, I like fighting with the LMA pots and kettles, far more than anything earlier. The Great Sword Warrior light unit has great movement, can get across the map quickly to take out enemy artillery and can chase down mounted and ranged units. The Imperial Guard heavy unit is durable and can take and deal a lot of damage. And the LMA fast unit is the first to have enough durability to be of any use imo. I'm having fun with them, but if you want to play with firearms then you're going to want to move on up lol.

Colonial has in the past been recommended for a stay because the small footprint Clockmakers lend themselves to doing lots of RQs, and the extra real estate gives you space to build various GBs you might not have been able to do to that point. Others have mentioned that Colonial goods are really the first to be worth anything, although GBG needs might be modifying that thinking now.

I can't speak to the higher ages/eras from personal experience. I can share that when thinking about moving up, I want to have on hand all the resources I need to quickly move through Tech to get the supply building I need for RQs and to obtain all the militaries I will need. I mean same-day fast. I want enough store building, one up and Reno kits on hand to handle the transition. And I want to have consistently been among the top 5 in the old neighborhoods for some time while getting the other stuff ready. That's just a goal and yardstick to gauge my city's relative strength-- I don't want to age-jump to become plunder bait at the bottom of a new neighborhood in a new age. Of course, in one of my younger cities I just could not stand Bronze Age for one minute longer so I just jumped! It's all good.

 

[Plain Red Justice]

I was attracted to

Oh heck yeah, what a strategy, sign me up! Not.

You can have ur pride, we will have our FPs

 

[Nicholas002]

I was attracted to

You can have ur pride, we will have our FPs

“We”?

since everyone else in this conversation disagrees with you, who is “we”?

you and the frog in your pocket?

 

[DevaCat]

Lol, you know what they say about feeding them. But I swear, he's gotta be related to Pachoo Lee. Makes about as much sense.

 

[Plain Red Justice]

"Infinitely" is a lot. The efficiency of the Ygg is independent of whether you negotiate or fight, since efficiency is defined by the amount of rewards per tile.

It isn't independent. It's infinitely less useful than its counterpart settlement because it provides 30 less self-made goods everyday (10950 goods in 365 days). Self-made goods is actually a much needed utility/FP making tool compared to siphoning up your guild's and neighbor's reserves because of pretending that a 3x3 lategame building would help you in any possible way, when not even level 10 GBs could do its job. It's infinite since it has zero uses, unless you're into a funny hobby of bullying people everyday to plunder their 100 coins

I would also dispute the claim that negotiation is more efficient in lower ages, since building up battle GBs like Zeus and CoA is relatively easy.

I agree with you. Zeus and the like is indeed one of the easiest GBs to level but before you even go there, can you provide a reason, a single (1) reason why raising it beyond the bare minimum is necessary? Since I already provided the reason why Nego'ing provides the most benefits to a newbie or a lower age player and I've seen nothing in this thread that proves otherwise, other than a few ad hominems and you certainly seem to be a decent player. Can you enlighten me with ur knowledge?

 

[Graviton]

It isn't independent. It's infinitely less useful than its counterpart settlement because it provides 30 less self-made goods everyday (10950 goods in 365 days).

"Infinitely" again. I don't think that means what you think it means. It certainly doesn't mean 30 more goods over a 12-month period. And, again, we're not talking just goods but the entire output of the building. See my next reply.

Self-made goods is actually a much needed utility/FP making tool compared to siphoning up your guild's and neighbor's reserves because of pretending that a 3x3 lategame building would help you in any possible way, when not even level 10 GBs could do its job.

Not really sure what all of that means, especially about siphoning guild and neighbor reserves, but at the heart of it I think is the issue here: the definition of value (what you are conflating with efficiency) is subjective; it depends on your play style. A building that produces goods is worth more to you than a building that grants slightly fewer goods but also provides a combat boost. Obviously, others value the latter more than the former because their play style is different than yours. None of that has anything to do with efficiency (stuff per tile) of total production.

You want slightly more goods and you don't want to fight. Okay, good for you if that's fun.

It's infinite since it has zero uses, unless you're into a funny hobby of bullying people everyday to plunder their 100 coins

Oh, you're one of those. There's another word (bully) that I don't think means what you think it means.

 

[Plain Red Justice]

"Infinitely" again. I don't think that means what you think it means. It certainly doesn't mean 30 more goods over a 12-month period.

Oh, it actually does. I'm talking long term here and idk if you're good in gathering low era goods but 10k additional goods in lower eras where it's the most valuable (people rush through the ages, barely anyone makes goods in IA/EMA, issue with low spaces resulting in poor goods output, barely anyone in the lower ages has a Chateau, people like you that unironically recommends lower age campers to work on an autobattle building in ages with the lowest spaces etc.) is nothing to just ignore. I've even seen ridiculous prices in global chat where they're buying 900 ebonies for 2k FP and even if that's almost twice the price of a Space Carrier, I can accept the price for some reason. I myself is currently inside a trade route where they regularly buy IAs from me for an expensive price, altho it's nothing near 2k FP

And, again, we're not talking just goods but the entire output of the building. the issue here: the definition of value (what you are conflating with efficiency) is subjective; it depends on your play style. A building that produces goods is worth more to you than a building that grants slightly fewer goods but also provides a combat boost. Obviously, others value the latter more than the former because their play style is different than yours.

I'm not talking about preferences though since that's a waste of time to talk about. I'm talking objective value (a playstyle that provides the most FPs in the fastest way for lower era players and newbies alike) here. Ya say there's an output but where exactly would you use that 30%? Why is no one answering my simple question?

 

[Emberguard]

Oh, it actually does. I'm talking long term here and idk if you're good in gathering low era goods but 10k additional goods in lower eras

Long term getting the Shinto Temple and ignoring the Yggdrasil isn't going to help you unless events overtake both of them. As long as you're getting all the buildings then it's not a huge deal on what order as long as it suits your strategy.

I've even seen ridiculous prices in global chat where they're buying 900 ebonies for 2k FP

The biggest cause for that price inflation is guild treasury, not personal stock. There's actually far more BrA / IrA goods then you realise but it's usually the first thing given away as trading fodder because it's not worth anything.

If your argument for getting Shinto Temple (Japan) first is those prices for BrA/IrA goods then I'd argue get every new member that's in Bronze or Iron Age to skip straight to Egypt. Have new players that intend to camp stay in Iron Age long enough to have both the BathHouse and Statue of Honour fully upgraded before they leave Iron Age and then keep both those buildings in Iron Age indefinitely.

That way when you get new blood into the guild you don't have to worry about whether the player needs to age up between EMA - ColA for the guild treasury to cope. If you have 80 members with 110 treasury goods per 24 hrs that's 61,600 Iron Age treasury goods or 12,320 of each Iron Age good every week into the treasury. You'd then be able to put down Siege Camps to reduce the cost to new players in GBG

 

[Plain Red Justice]

If your argument for getting Shinto Temple (Japan) first is those prices for BrA/IrA goods then I'd argue get every new member that's in Bronze or Iron Age to skip straight to Egypt. Have new players that intend to camp stay in Iron Age long enough to have both the BathHouse and Statue of Honour fully upgraded before they leave Iron Age and then keep both those buildings in Iron Age indefinitely.

Woah woah hol up, I'm not talking on a guild leader's perspective and I'm certainly not sadistic enough to force new guys to camp IA till they accumulate enough frags for an SoH 8 and... a Bathhouse (what the) even if I'm a guild leader lol you really are a funny one huh?

I'm leaning more into a personal benefit type of playstyle. When you're like a newbie and you want to earn some ez FPs in GBG or if you're a real trader, look for buyers to gain more income than just dumping em in GBG. That's it. Why go through all those mental gymnastics just to trick lower age people into building a Ygg?

 

[Graviton]

Oh, it actually does. I'm talking long term here ...

Actually you're talking all over the place, but for the most part you've been talking about low-age players and you've been bad-mouthing the concept of camping, so by your own terms you're talking short-term.

... and idk if you're good in gathering low era goods but 10k additional goods in lower eras where it's the most valuable ... is nothing to just ignore. I've even seen ridiculous prices in global chat where they're buying 900 ebonies for 2k FP and even if that's almost twice the price of a Space Carrier, I can accept the price for some reason. I myself is currently inside a trade route where they regularly buy IAs from me for an expensive price, altho it's nothing near 2k FP

If you want to be a trader, that's fine. Most players don't, that's the point. That's your play style. Good on you. That's not for everybody, or even most bodies. You should come to terms with the fact that not everybody is going to agree with your perspective.

I'm not talking about preferences though since that's a waste of time to talk about. I'm talking objective value ...

No, you're not. You're talking about a particular play style that suits you but doesn't suit a lot of players. Talking about preferences is a large part of the purpose of this forum, not trying to convince everybody else that your way is the only way. That is a waste of time.

 

[Emberguard]

I'm certainly not sadistic enough to force new guys to camp IA till they accumulate enough frags for an SoH 8 and... a Bathhouse (what the) even if I'm a guild leader lol you really are a funny one huh?

You'll notice I said IF they were intending to camp. If they were never going to camp then they don't need to aim for those things. But if they were already going to camp then it'd benefit the guild to set up themselves in a position to be able to continue taking in new players by having the campers include Iron Age SoH and / or Bathhouse. And then keep those buildings in those ages.

I'm leaning more into a personal benefit type of playstyle. When you're like a newbie and you want to earn some ez FPs in GBG or if you're a real trader

The personal benefit playstyle would benefit the most from what I suggested. If you don't have the treasury goods to build Siege Camps whenever a Iron Age player joins then no one including that player will be able to farm FPs efficiently from GBG. It's not sadistic to ask this of those who were already wanting to stay in that age. It enables them and the rest of the guild to thrive

 

[Plain Red Justice]

Actually you're talking all over the place, but for the most part you've been talking about low-age players and you've been bad-mouthing the concept of camping

Idk how exactly me providing reasons why getting more personal goods via a maxed level settlement on lower ages being better than a Ygg for optimized progress is going all over the place and bad mouthing camping when what I'm essentially doing is camping but okay you're always free to believe what your comprehension allows you to believe

No you're not

Don't worry, I am. Since I'm talking about efficiency (so when I bring out the word efficiency, I would obviously be objective) at the very start of my AO strat post. I certainly got deviated from that since banging our heads repeatedly with "it doesn't work" "it does work" "it's not cheap" "*provides reasons why it's cheaper and faster* it's cheap" "it's not cheap I swear" is very unproductive. So I moved on to a more productive discussion since someone conveniently mentioned the Yggdrasil. Proving that this building is completely unnecessary in the lower ages is a huge step towards making my AO strat worth considering (with an added bonus of providing reasons of not building this noobtrap at all even if you have other lower age strategies), thus leading to more FP at the fastest F2P rate, becoming more efficient.

 

[DevaCat]

Idk how exactly me providing reasons why getting more personal goods via a maxed level settlement on lower ages being better than a Ygg for optimized progress is going all over the place and bad mouthing camping when what I'm essentially doing is camping but okay you're always free to believe what your comprehension allows you to believe

Don't worry, I am. Since I'm talking about efficiency (so when I bring out the word efficiency, I would obviously be objective) at the very start of my AO strat post. I certainly got deviated from that since banging our heads repeatedly with "it doesn't work" "it does work" "it's not cheap" "*provides reasons why it's cheaper and faster* it's cheap" "it's not cheap I swear" is very unproductive. So I moved on to a more productive discussion since someone conveniently mentioned the Yggdrasil. Proving that this building is completely unnecessary in the lower ages is a huge step towards making my AO strat worth considering (with an added bonus of providing reasons of not building this noobtrap at all even if you have other lower age strategies), thus leading to more FP at the fastest F2P rate, becoming more efficient.

You have proven nothing. You have provided opinions about Ygg and AO which I consider ridiculous -- also an opinion.

 

[RazorbackPirate]

If you're a fighter, you need the fully upgraded Y tree. Full stop.

 

[Reese7990]

Idk how exactly me providing reasons why getting more personal goods via a maxed level settlement on lower ages being better than a Ygg for optimized progress is going all over the place and bad mouthing camping when what I'm essentially doing is camping but okay you're always free to believe what your comprehension allows you to believe

Don't worry, I am. Since I'm talking about efficiency (so when I bring out the word efficiency, I would obviously be objective) at the very start of my AO strat post. I certainly got deviated from that since banging our heads repeatedly with "it doesn't work" "it does work" "it's not cheap" "*provides reasons why it's cheaper and faster* it's cheap" "it's not cheap I swear" is very unproductive. So I moved on to a more productive discussion since someone conveniently mentioned the Yggdrasil. Proving that this building is completely unnecessary in the lower ages is a huge step towards making my AO strat worth considering (with an added bonus of providing reasons of not building this noobtrap at all even if you have other lower age strategies), thus leading to more FP at the fastest F2P rate, becoming more efficient.

You have not concretely been able to establish that your AO method works. Where as we can guarantee that working your Zeus, CoA and Cdm to lvl 10 works. Working the Viking settlement to get your yggdrasil to lvl 9 also works, and costs the player nothing other than time, and maybe a little frustration over the tedious slog of the settlemennts. But in general new players have a lot of down time in the game, so why not spend that time doing the settlement, earning Fps, goods and other goodies along the way.

Your claim of the AO first method, has a lot of holes in it.

Just alone the amount of time and effort spent chasing the AO prints then gaining enough fps to buy the goods, and saving up enough goods to have to be able to trade for the goods, would be far better spent developing your city.

Id be willing to lay down a challenge. Pick a world where neither of us have contacts. Pick a date, and I would be glad to go toe to toe with your method. First player to sucessfully complete 10 GE 4s without buying any diamonds, can have bragging rights to their method. But you must follow your method. Your goal has to be getting the AO leveling it lvl 5 and using that to suceed in GE.