To advance or not?

[DeletedUser25815]

I am trying to figure out the optimal speed to advance through the Ages.

What I mean is what objectives should be met before advancing to the next Age?

For example, I have been advancing as fast as the tech tree lets me and it feels too fast. I have not started any Great Buildings and my city space is cramped. On the story board single player map, I am finding myself facing provinces that are defended by troops that are a full age ahead of me.

All of this feels like it is telling me to slow down and get other objectives completed before that next advancement.

So...

What do folks recommend having completed before advancement beyond Bronze Age? Iron Age? I have already blown through the Bronze Age/Iron Age advancement and I am sitting on the cusp of EMA. Not so sure I should do that at this point.

 

[DeletedUser10415]

By "cusp" do you mean you are not yet EMA? If not, you need to sit and soak in Iron Age for a while. Not only does the continent map get harder the further you go, but your neighbors change the more advanced your tech. Great Buildings are pretty important in this game considering the huge advantages they can give you. In addition to contributing to other players GBs and hopefully scoring top slots so you get Blueprints out of them when they level, motivating or polishing buildings of an age offer a chance of getting a blue print for a GB of that age, so it's good to have neighbors who have buildings like that, for the GBs you want. If you get into an Iron Age/EMA/HMA 'hood, your only ways to get BPs for Babel or Zeus will be top contribution slots on other players' Babels or Zeus', or the 'random rewards that you get from some quests, as there will be few Bronze Age buildings to polivate.

Alternatively, you could start anew in another world, and not leave Bronze Age until you've got full sets of BPs for Zeus and Babel. Here's a mostly finished Guide on that process:
https://forum.us.forgeofempires.com...o-great-buildings-in-less-than-a-month.13426/

Not leave Iron Age until you've got a full set of Lighthouse Blueprints. Not leave EMA until you've got full sets of Cathedral of Aachen BPs, and I like Hagia Sophia too. etc. etc. Also, Goods are needed from your present age for the tech tree 3 ages on. Babel and the Lighthouse both produce goods of your age, with only a 4x4 footprint each, making them very efficient.

Forge of Empires is a marathon - Not a 50 yard dash, which I think you're picking up on now. There are sprinters, but these are the whales who are willing and able to spend thousands of dollars to buy their way through with the diamond game currency. For the rest of us, it's grind grind grind.

 

[DeletedUser25815]

Cusp, as in not yet advanced. Still Iron Age but with all three of the next techs researched except for one more FP. Figured I would do as much as I could before pulling that trigger.

Looks like I need to start sending my FP toward Great Buildings. My Guild is pretty diverse in level so I am seeing a wide range of blueprints coming in.

You mention the Lighthouse. What about other Bronze / Iron age buildings? Any in particular not worth doing or should I just enjoy this level while I get them all. I can definitely sit here and become a warlord working on victory expansions.

 

[DeletedUser10415]

I mentioned both Bronze Age GBs. Zeus and and the Tower of Babel. Zeus is little bigger than a house (2x3) and gives +3% to both attack and defense of your attacking army per level. Tower of Babel is 4x4 and provides population and random goods of your age, increasing amounts per level. Some don't consider Babel vital. I consider any GB that produces goods, including goods I'm not boosted in, that cannot be plundered...vital.

Skip the Iron Age Colosseum. It's huge. The medals aren't great on it, and there are better happiness GBs down the line, like Hagia Sophia from EMA, which produces forge points as well.

 

[DeletedUser]

Thorn, if you don't want to be raped and plundered by majority of your hood every day, then you should stall and obtain some defensive items before progressing. Game is a marathon and not a sprint. There is no "winning" either.

 

[DeletedUser10415]

Alternatively, if you're the one doing the plundering, you don't need any goods buildings until maybe CA. With a full list of 140 friends (80 you can invite, and 60 invitations you can accept), and a good sized guild, your supplies and coin will be well motivated, so no plundering going on there. But you do want to be motivating/polishing buildings of the age you want GBs from too.

 

[DeletedUser25991]

I have finished researching all the Bronze Age Technologies.
I do not want to move on into the Iron Age yet.
Can I apply Forge Points, as they accumulate, to Iron Age Technologies, without completing any of them, and stay in the Bronze Age?
Or, will I automatically be moved into the Iron Age as soon as I begin applying Forge Points to Iron Age technologies?

 

[DeletedUser10415]

you can fill the first ones up. as long as you choose "unlock later" when you do, you'll be fine. the instant you unlock an iron age tech though, then you're iron age.

 

[DeletedUser13452]

Take your time and enjoy the game by the hour. There's no point in rushing through it all, only to find yourself stalled out in a couple weeks because your unable to compete on the c-map or don't have the goods to complete the techs to continue advancing. Hang out, work on getting GBs, and enjoy the game.
I agree wholeheartedly with Glarg on the GBs of choice.

 

[DeletedUser25815]

I mentioned both Bronze Age GBs. Zeus and and the Tower of Babel. Zeus is little bigger than a house (2x3) and gives +3% to both attack and defense of your attacking army per level. Tower of Babel is 4x4 and provides population and random goods of your age, increasing amounts per level. Some don't consider Babel vital. I consider any GB that produces goods, including goods I'm not boosted in, that cannot be plundered...vital.

Skip the Iron Age Colosseum. It's huge. The medals aren't great on it, and there are better happiness GBs down the line, like Hagia Sophia from EMA, which produces forge points as well.

OK. Thanks.

I am working on the BP for Zeus now by providing FP to the folks that are upgrading him. Will have to look around to see who is working on Tower of Babel. It sounds useful. Can you point me at a listing of GBs by Age and what they do? Someone must have that somewhere.

 

[DeletedUser25815]

Thorn, if you don't want to be raped and plundered by majority of your hood every day, then you should stall and obtain some defensive items before progressing. Game is a marathon and not a sprint. There is no "winning" either.

Right now, I am the one doing the plundering. I have one each of the military buildings for BA and IA. I keep my defense filled with IA units and I am using the BA units to get plunder/medals. About 2/3 of my 'hood can be plundered with BA units. For the rest I either use my IA units or have mutual aid in place. One or two exceptions but with the IA defensive army it is not really a problem.

I do need to get the military buffs in place though, it looks like. I hope to get an expansion or two off of the BA and IA PvP contest towers.

 

[Ylisaveta]

OK. Thanks.

Can you point me at a listing of GBs by Age and what they do? Someone must have that somewhere.

On the main page of the forum, there is a "Guides" section, under that it has a little button that says "Best Guides." Click it, and the 5th or 6th listing is the Great Building Encyclopedia.

 

[Czari]

I agree with all the posters who are encouraging patience and a bit slower rate of leveling. When I began my first city I advanced too quickly and hit a wall in EMA - not enough goods for the tech tree nor Continent Map, etc. A kind guildmate advised what the posts above state ie. slow down and build up x amount of goods per age before moving to the next age. He based his calculations on adding up what goods were needed to advance through the tech tree of a given era. I built the two GBs of each age before advancing and now I camp out in eras longer and generally have the two GBs of the next era built before advancing. That frees up a lot of goods to trade while concentrating on leveling GBs, helping others level theirs, participating in the various FP swap threads, helping guildmates get GBs "out of the sticks," etc.

Almost without exception, new players who join our guild ask for advice and are offered much of what has been said in this thread. The ones who rush through the tech tree anyway get frustrated and are either constantly posting on the message board that they need xyz item NOW or quit the game.

 

[DeletedUser25832]

In the Forums under Guides is a wonderful listing of Goods required for the Tech Trees. Find the post "Goods Buildings and Tech Tree Requirements." Go all the way to the end, wish they would have split that post up, it's a pain having to scroll down all the time. But at the bottom is a wonderful graph that shows what Goods are required for just the Tech Trees. It does not add in what you will need if you "buy" sectors, nor what is used to build Great Buildings. But it is a great tool for knowing how many goods you will need in the future. I never leave an Age till I have that bare minimum of goods. Then when I do move up in an Age, I can use that space from the old Goods Buildings to put down the new ones.

Another great reason not to move up in Age is your neighborhood. Stay with people in the same age as you are as long as possible. This helps gain blueprints from your Age. Each Age has two buildings. If you move up to a new age, gaining the blueprints for a past age is rather difficult. You either have to ensure you are top dog in others buildings for the chests or you spend diamonds. I prefer to sit in an Age till I have the Goods, the blueprints and the Gold and Supplies.

 

[DeletedUser25815]

Thank you all for the kind advice.

I am hanging at the end of the Tech tree for IA and have pushed the Continent map to the point where I am facing units from EMA. The new Goods deposit is for a building I can't build yet and the PvP Tower is for EMA. I have no incentive to continue on the Continent until I upgrade tech and that needs to wait.

I am gathering BP for the four GB that I need for BA and IA. Aiding and putting FP on the GB I need seems like the right path.

Finally, I am ticking off my neighbors by doing my best to be #1 in the BA and IA PvP contests. Gotta get those medals for expansions. I see a population problem (not enough) coming at me in EMA so I need as much real estate as I can get for lots of housing. Either that, or buy a bunch of Diamonds so I can build fancy houses. That just feels like cheating.

 

[DeletedUser13838]

The incentives to continue on the continent map ahead of your progress in the tech tree is additional expansions and the chance at quests giving you military units from the next age. You can use those units to improve your defense or even gain points in the EMA tower despite only being in IA.

 

[DeletedUser8152]

I feel like I should put out that there are valid reasons to advance too. The best I know are:
- You get better goods from your GBs and quests, and you can start producing higher age goods. If you have enough iron age goods in stock, it is nice to start collecting EMA goods.
- Many events offer prizes tied to age (like the Foeberge shops) so aging up can get you a better prize.
- Eventually you'll need new military tech to keep advancing on the continent map.
- With new troops, you can help your guild in the higher age on GvG.

 

[DeletedUser10415]

I feel like I should put out that there are valid reasons to advance too.

Of course there are valid reasons to advance, but this situation doesn't call for advancement. Iron age and no GBs yet. The possibility of losing BA neighbors if advancing into EMA, which also runs the risk of reduced BA goods buildings to plunder. Probably not a whole lot of BA goods stored up for the tech tree. Sure - you can trade down for them, but only if your guildmates have them to trade. This situation calls for putting the brakes on. You don't want the OP to end up with a city like this do you?

 

[DeletedUser8152]

Of course there are valid reasons to advance, but this situation doesn't call for advancement. Iron age and no GBs yet. The possibility of losing BA neighbors if advancing into EMA, which also runs the risk of reduced BA goods buildings to plunder. Probably not a whole lot of BA goods stored up for the tech tree. Sure - you can trade down for them, but only if your guildmates have them to trade. This situation calls for putting the brakes on. You don't want the OP to end up with a city like this do you?

No argument there. I just didn't want a random reader to feel that you should just stay in iron age as long as you can stand it.

 

[DeletedUser25815]

I appreciate that there are valid reasons to advance. The challenge was the game quests push advancement at a pace that seems to be optimal for putting the player in a position that requires Diamonds to recover. As an experienced "Freemium" player, I expected that. The key is identifying that threshold and being prepared to deal with it.

What made me stop and look twice at advancing was the impending population crunch in EMA if I did not spend diamonds to research housing tech. Not having enough diamonds to just do it, this was going to require me to spend $$$. At that point, a good question to ask becomes "Is the game enough fun to justify $$$ ?"

Since my project management background insists that I always set thinks up such that $$$ is an independent variable (given a set amount of $$$, we get results from the dependent variables), my approach is to identify the cost of continuing play in a fashion I enjoy.

The immediate answer is to hold cost at $0 and see if it is still "fun". Then look at what some $$$ will do for the game experience.

Right now, in IA, I will work toward those GB and the stash of goods, supplies and gold needed for completing the tree for EMA. While doing that I will see how hard it is to get 200 medals for that second expansion square....