The Fiery Talons Ancient Wonder Club has a new member! And not only that, she is one of our alliance's newest members as well! So for the week of 8/27 through 9/2 we will be welcoming Alivianus by donating KPs to her Tome of Secrets.
So if you are an AWC member, please donate at least 5 Knowledge Points to her Tome of Secrets Ancient Wonder! And even if you are not an AWC member, help her out and donate some anyway!
If you have any questions about what the Ancient Wonder Club (AWC) is, or if you would like to join, or change which Ancient Wonder (AW) we work on, send Lanthum an in-game message.
Scouting on the World Map
I wanted to share a tip today about scouting on the world map. Numerous times I have read on different forums and groups where players are complaining about being "stuck" once they get near the Orcs chapter. It always has to do with the fact that the player feels like they can't ever fight and win encounters, and negotiating encounters now cost Orcs. But the person isn't far enough in the research tree to produce Orcs yet.
Without a doubt, almost everyone of them have made the same mistake - they have scouted too far from their city too quickly.
How does that matter, you ask. Well, to understand the issue, one must understand the interconnectedness of scouting, squad sizes, negotiating costs, and catering costs in tournaments.
So let me try and start at the beginning to unravel a giant ball of twine.
The basis of this problem is that squad size not only affects how many troops you have available per squad, it affects the size of armies you face in both the world map encounters and during tournaments, as well as the negotiation costs during tournaments.
Squad Size Upgrades in the research tree increase the size of each of the 5 squads that you fight with, allowing you to have bigger armies, and effectively fight against bigger foes. That's a good thing, right? Well, that depends.
The farther you go from your city, the larger the size of armies you will come across in the encounters while scouting. That means if you choose to fight in those encounters instead of negotiating them, you will certainly need a bigger army. So the farther you are from home, to effectively fight in the encounters, you will need to do most, if not all, of the Squad Size Upgrades in your research tree.
But, during tournaments, the squad size of your enemy and the Catering costs are based on your squad size. So, if you are diligently doing every Squad Size Upgrade you come across, your squad size will be bigger, but therefore, so will your enemy. And your catering costs during tournaments will cost more. Ouch!
It is important to understand that not all of the Squad Size Upgrades in the research tree are required. If you look at your research tree, you will see that some of them are "dead ends", and not required to advance to a new tech. Others, however, are required.
"Ok, so I understand that doing all of the Squad Size Upgrades not only gives me a bigger army but increases my tournament costs. How does that matter to scouting." Good question. When Elvenar first started, it was common practice to keep your scouts going 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Once you get out far enough, it's not uncommon for it to take days to scout one province. So better to scout out quickly, and keep 'em going! Right?
Not really any more. The game has changed, and InnoGames has made it clear they don't want players scouting out too far. And to "enforce" this, they now require Orcs as part of the negotiating costs once your army gets around 1250+. Even if you are not yet in Orcs, or if you can't produce them yet.
So the farther you scout, the bigger the armies you face, and therefore the bigger the army you need. But if you are not far enough in the research tree to have a big enough army, it only leaves negotiating encounters to unlock them. Which becomes VERY expensive if you are really far out. Leaving you very little resources to do anything but negotiate encounters, instead of participating in tournaments or trading.
And if you research all of your Squad Size Upgrades to have a bigger army to scout farther out, your Catering costs during tournaments will be much higher. Meaning you will have to fight more during tournaments, using up more of your armies, and leaving less for fighting in scouted provinces.
Basically:
Scouting far away = larger army needed or higher negotiating costs
Larger squads = easier fights = higher catering costs in tournaments
So how do you fix it? First, by deciding how you want to approach encounters while scouting, and tournaments. Do you want to mostly fight during encounters, and cater during tournaments? Or do you want to fight during tournaments and negotiate during encounters? Second, by striking a balance in how you approach the game. InnoGames has openly stated the best approach to scouting is to only scout enough provinces to unlock the next chapter. A few extra shouldn't hurt, but anymore than that, and you will be out of balance and eventually find yourself "stuck". Unable to effectively fight, and completely unable to negotiate.
How to apply this tip to your game:
Without a doubt, almost everyone of them have made the same mistake - they have scouted too far from their city too quickly.
How does that matter, you ask. Well, to understand the issue, one must understand the interconnectedness of scouting, squad sizes, negotiating costs, and catering costs in tournaments.
So let me try and start at the beginning to unravel a giant ball of twine.
The basis of this problem is that squad size not only affects how many troops you have available per squad, it affects the size of armies you face in both the world map encounters and during tournaments, as well as the negotiation costs during tournaments.
Squad Size Upgrades in the research tree increase the size of each of the 5 squads that you fight with, allowing you to have bigger armies, and effectively fight against bigger foes. That's a good thing, right? Well, that depends.
The farther you go from your city, the larger the size of armies you will come across in the encounters while scouting. That means if you choose to fight in those encounters instead of negotiating them, you will certainly need a bigger army. So the farther you are from home, to effectively fight in the encounters, you will need to do most, if not all, of the Squad Size Upgrades in your research tree.
But, during tournaments, the squad size of your enemy and the Catering costs are based on your squad size. So, if you are diligently doing every Squad Size Upgrade you come across, your squad size will be bigger, but therefore, so will your enemy. And your catering costs during tournaments will cost more. Ouch!
It is important to understand that not all of the Squad Size Upgrades in the research tree are required. If you look at your research tree, you will see that some of them are "dead ends", and not required to advance to a new tech. Others, however, are required.
"Ok, so I understand that doing all of the Squad Size Upgrades not only gives me a bigger army but increases my tournament costs. How does that matter to scouting." Good question. When Elvenar first started, it was common practice to keep your scouts going 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Once you get out far enough, it's not uncommon for it to take days to scout one province. So better to scout out quickly, and keep 'em going! Right?
Not really any more. The game has changed, and InnoGames has made it clear they don't want players scouting out too far. And to "enforce" this, they now require Orcs as part of the negotiating costs once your army gets around 1250+. Even if you are not yet in Orcs, or if you can't produce them yet.
So the farther you scout, the bigger the armies you face, and therefore the bigger the army you need. But if you are not far enough in the research tree to have a big enough army, it only leaves negotiating encounters to unlock them. Which becomes VERY expensive if you are really far out. Leaving you very little resources to do anything but negotiate encounters, instead of participating in tournaments or trading.
And if you research all of your Squad Size Upgrades to have a bigger army to scout farther out, your Catering costs during tournaments will be much higher. Meaning you will have to fight more during tournaments, using up more of your armies, and leaving less for fighting in scouted provinces.
Basically:
Scouting far away = larger army needed or higher negotiating costs
Larger squads = easier fights = higher catering costs in tournaments
So how do you fix it? First, by deciding how you want to approach encounters while scouting, and tournaments. Do you want to mostly fight during encounters, and cater during tournaments? Or do you want to fight during tournaments and negotiate during encounters? Second, by striking a balance in how you approach the game. InnoGames has openly stated the best approach to scouting is to only scout enough provinces to unlock the next chapter. A few extra shouldn't hurt, but anymore than that, and you will be out of balance and eventually find yourself "stuck". Unable to effectively fight, and completely unable to negotiate.
How to apply this tip to your game:
- Only scout enough provinces to unlock the next chapter's chest. Don't scout out much farther than that, otherwise you will get stuck
- Use a different approach for encounters and tournaments. Choose one of the two and fight the majority of that type, and negotiate/cater the majority of the other
- Once you've decided your approach to world map encounters and to tournaments, only research the Squad Size Upgrades you need. If you decide you don't need one now, you can always invest the KPs in it now and unlock it later when you feel you need it. Just be careful higher you go, some upgrades will require chapter specific ingredients. So be sure you've stored up enough before you leave that chapter
AWC Member List
As of 8/20/2018, we have a new member to add to our Ancient Wonder Club - Alivianus. She has one AW for now - a Tome of Secrets. So our Ancient Wonder Club member rotation list looks like this:
sheeplady4558 – Tome of Secrets
TxBrewer - Golden Abyss
Jeff600 - Needles of the Tempest
maepl75 – Crystal Lighthouse
Lanthum – Endless Excavation
Oberyn Martell – Mountain Halls
Alivianus - Tome of Secrets
Karthor - Endless Excavation
kayjay77 – Golden Abyss
If you would like to join, or would like to change your AWC, please send Lanthum an in-game message.
sheeplady4558 – Tome of Secrets
TxBrewer - Golden Abyss
Jeff600 - Needles of the Tempest
maepl75 – Crystal Lighthouse
Lanthum – Endless Excavation
Oberyn Martell – Mountain Halls
Alivianus - Tome of Secrets
Karthor - Endless Excavation
kayjay77 – Golden Abyss
If you would like to join, or would like to change your AWC, please send Lanthum an in-game message.
AWC Rotation for 8/20 - 8/26
This week, from 8/20/2018 through 8/26/2018, the Fiery Talons Ancient Wonder Club (AWC) will be helping out Oberyn Martell. She has chosen for us to work on her Mountain Halls.
This is the first time our AWC has worked on the Mountain Halls. This Ancient Wonder (AW) gives a cool rock cliff decoration in the form of a Dwarf face with rails under it! But the cool decoration isn't it's main purpose. The Mountain Halls gives you a boost in the amount of goods you produce, and gives bonus population based on your total working population. You can see your working population by hovering over your available population in the top HUD. It's a very beneficial Ancient Wonder, especially at higher building levels!
This link has a good description of the Ancient Wonder.
So let's help Oberyn Martell build her Mountain Halls Ancient Wonder, and you could possibly get a rune for yours!
This is the first time our AWC has worked on the Mountain Halls. This Ancient Wonder (AW) gives a cool rock cliff decoration in the form of a Dwarf face with rails under it! But the cool decoration isn't it's main purpose. The Mountain Halls gives you a boost in the amount of goods you produce, and gives bonus population based on your total working population. You can see your working population by hovering over your available population in the top HUD. It's a very beneficial Ancient Wonder, especially at higher building levels!
This link has a good description of the Ancient Wonder.
So let's help Oberyn Martell build her Mountain Halls Ancient Wonder, and you could possibly get a rune for yours!
AWC Rotation for 8/13 - 8/19
Up for this week, 8/13 through 8/19, the Fiery Talons Ancient Wonder Club will be helping Lanthum with his Ancient Wonder the Endless Excavation.
If you are an AWC member, please donate at least 5 KP's to Lanthum's AW this week. And feel free to donate more if you can afford it. Even if you are not an AWC member, helping out your fellowship mate helps you out in the long run - as it gives rewards and will benefit you in stronger members and a stronger FS!
Help Lanthum build his Endless Excavation up!
If you are an AWC member, please donate at least 5 KP's to Lanthum's AW this week. And feel free to donate more if you can afford it. Even if you are not an AWC member, helping out your fellowship mate helps you out in the long run - as it gives rewards and will benefit you in stronger members and a stronger FS!
Help Lanthum build his Endless Excavation up!
AWC Rotation for 8/6 - 8/12
For the week of 8/6 through 8/12 we will be helping out maepl75, working on her Crystal Lighthouse.
The Crystal Lighthouse is an Elven Ancient Wonder that gives you a reward of some random boosted goods every time you open a Neighborly Help Chest, as well as increasing the amount of time that neighborly help affects your cultural buildings. Along with the actual Ancient Wonder, it also gives your city one of the cool-looking cliff buildings in the background.
The Crystal Lighthouse uses the same rune as the Human Ancient Wonder called the Great Bell Spire. So if you donate to the Crystal Lighthouse as a human and if you get a rune as a reward, you will be able to use it on the Great Bell Spire.
Let's help maepl75 this week build up her Crystal Lighthouse!
The Crystal Lighthouse is an Elven Ancient Wonder that gives you a reward of some random boosted goods every time you open a Neighborly Help Chest, as well as increasing the amount of time that neighborly help affects your cultural buildings. Along with the actual Ancient Wonder, it also gives your city one of the cool-looking cliff buildings in the background.
The Crystal Lighthouse uses the same rune as the Human Ancient Wonder called the Great Bell Spire. So if you donate to the Crystal Lighthouse as a human and if you get a rune as a reward, you will be able to use it on the Great Bell Spire.
Let's help maepl75 this week build up her Crystal Lighthouse!
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