Caravans

[firedancer]

I noticed that the Caravans became cute little cars in Industrial Age.

So I was wondering... are they gonna be transformed into BMWs, Ferraris and Toyotas in later Ages?

 

[sjb]

The return on upgrading these, the farms, and roads are disproportionate. A big upgrade fee that takes days and returns a small increase of about 200 per hour.

Do the increases get better as you progress?

 

[somuchdust]

the increases do not.. i have 7 level 10s and 1 level 12, its a waste.. you'll never make what you put in back imo.

 

[Aussie guy]

Oil is getting more important in the game. Perhaps electricity will be introduced? That makes gold production from caravans less important. I would rather try to upgrade buildings and defences and just raid for the gold than go through the long upgrades for an extra 200 gold per hour. With my approach, camels will probably still be crawling around my base in the Space Age.

 

[dbukalski]

I keep 2 workers free to farm grapes, animals, metal and upgrade walls. I was able to upgrade to lvl6 caravans somce thats just 12 hrs upgrade time. Start it right before bed then by time done with morning routine and start work their done. Gonna be harder to keep going as the time gets longer.

 

[sjb]

I keep 2 workers free to farm grapes, animals, metal and upgrade walls. I was able to upgrade to lvl6 caravans somce thats just 12 hrs upgrade time. Start it right before bed then by time done with morning routine and start work their done. Gonna be harder to keep going as the time gets longer.

The problem is this.

To upgrade my level 9 camel costs 240,000. It boosts my production by 200 per hour. it would therefore take 1,200 hours to break even (that's 50 days). If you add in the 1,228 I would lose per hour during the upgrade time of 2 days, it sets me back another 58,944.

That means after I get my investment back after the 50 days, I'm still out of pocket by almost 60k.

Someone needs to give an abacus to the monkey who programmed that one...

 

[Redgar]

They'll buff them for sure.

 

[dbukalski]

The problem is this. To upgrade my level 9 camel costs 240,000. It boosts my production by 200 per hour. it would therefore take 1,200 hours to break even (that's 50 days). If you add in the 1,228 I would lose per hour during the upgrade time of 2 days, it sets me back another 58,944. That means after I get my investment back after the 50 days, I'm still out of pocket by almost 60k. Someone needs to give an abacus to the monkey who programmed that one...

Its even worse than that. 240k to upgrade. 58k of lost production. No one really gets perfect production from caravans they get raided. I think 80% production is fair so 46k of lost caravan production. 240 + 46 is 286k lost. 200 extra production at 80% from raid losses is 160 gold /hr gained. So it takes 1787.6 hrs or 75 days to recover. I can handle that i played eve online that game progress was measured in years. But the lost worker time combined with lost gold puts caravans just ahead of farms as dead last in line for upgrading. 2 days of 2 workers lost time isnt a terribly big deal. But theres much more important...and more interesting things that need upgraded first. And 2 workers x 2 days x 8 caravans + 8 farms that need upgraded and now ur talking a lot of time better spent elsewhere. Whats max level....lvl10 farms and caravans? Ur really setting ur offense defense back a lot upgrading to max

 

[dbukalski]

The gold loss and 72 days to recover is nothing. 1 or 2 battles. But the worker time is much more valuable

 

[MadFury]

At some point I expect them to turn into full blown 18 wheel supply trucks. I'm not sure though what they'll make them look like in the space age.

 

[DestroyerArcher]

Its even worse than that. 240k to upgrade. 58k of lost production. No one really gets perfect production from caravans they get raided. I think 80% production is fair so 46k of lost caravan production. 240 + 46 is 286k lost. 200 extra production at 80% from raid losses is 160 gold /hr gained. So it takes 1787.6 hrs or 75 days to recover. I can handle that i played eve online that game progress was measured in years. But the lost worker time combined with lost gold puts caravans just ahead of farms as dead last in line for upgrading. 2 days of 2 workers lost time isnt a terribly big deal. But theres much more important...and more interesting things that need upgraded first. And 2 workers x 2 days x 8 caravans + 8 farms that need upgraded and now ur talking a lot of time better spent elsewhere. Whats max level....lvl10 farms and caravans? Ur really setting ur offense defense back a lot upgrading to max

Actually, I think the current max in industrial is level 14? Enlightenment age caps at level 12, gunpowder caps at level 11. And the time it takes keeps on climbing...4 days, 700k food for level 12...

 

[Krustyy]

ok bro I hope so too haha

 

[David Pasquinel]

I think that this imbalance is intentional. That's why they dont even adress this matter. They actually want that the bigger source of income is raiding, so you must grind like hell or speed things up getting the most hacked ingame currency I've seem on mobile gaming: crowns.

To the player side, this design is a gamebreaker, because it takes the "to win money you must lose money" motto to a whole new level of "must lose" and just removes from players who do not play like meth-heads a viable option of gameplay aside from "grind or pay".

 

[dbukalski]

These games arent farmville. The turtle up and farm strategy doesnt exist anywhere in the genre. This is a war game. And nothing but hard, constant grinding will progress u. Its time to let go of the economy fetish. And as long as close app works its time to let go of the defense hobby. Offense all the way. And u can compensate for ur defense losses by driving forward on offense.

 

[David Pasquinel]

This is a war game. And nothing but hard, constant grinding will progress u. Its time to let go of the economy fetish. And as long as close app works its time to let go of the defense hobby. Offense all the way. And u can compensate for ur defense losses by driving forward on offense.

I think that reminding what this game niche is all about is really not needed. We all know that those games are about grinding, but the majority of them are not UNFAIR on the upgrades cost-benefit ratio to people who do not want to open wide their wallets and/or play that game called "life outside the phone/tablet screen".

 

[dbukalski]

I think that reminding what this game niche is all about is really not needed. We all know that those games are about grinding, but the majority of them are not UNFAIR on the upgrades cost-benefit ratio to people who do not want to open wide their wallets and/or play that game called "life outside the phone/tablet screen".

Coc, age of sparta, castle clash, siegefall, command and conquer, dominations. Ive played all of them to high levels. #3ish in the world in most of them at some point includint dominations. Their all the same. Economy doesnt even scratch the surface of the resources needed to progress. Raid, grinding is the only way forward. Every one of those games has a stalled out point for casuals. All the casuals complain to lower the threshold for continuing forward. They all want more farmville options. They all claim other games are not so grindy. They quit and move on to the next new release in the genre. The highest levels in every game caters to the money spenders and hardcore players. If ur casual thats fine but accept that ull be mid tier and stop trying to lower the treshhold for maxing out because ur wasting ur time it wont happe

 

[dbukalski]

Casuals are funny thinking they have a better life than hard players. Most of the problem casuals have progressing isnt time spent playing video games. Its how they play video games. If i had a way to bet money and collect my winnings. Id be willing to bet every poster on this forum plays video games 4+ hrs a day. What makes casuals fail to progress is their short attention span. They get bored easy. They play several games at once. Which is fine. But stop diluding urself that u have an awesome life compared to the loser hardcore players. Casuals will flitter around from game to game where upgrading is faster. They make stupid decisions about how to progress in the game. From upgrading economy and defense. To how they approach battles. Nation choices etc etc. The silly newb casuals claim their "enjoying" the game the way they want. But then they cant help but complain non stop about how hard the battles are, how slow their progressing, how this or that needs nerfed. Doesnt sound like enjoying to me. Sounds more like ignorance. Rather than actually enjoying the game for its strengths and making the right decisions so u can progress smoothly.

 

[dbukalski]

Plenty of people manage to have wife kids job and happy life. And play games for many hours a day. But with focus rather than ADD

 

[Brown Bear]

I'm very much a "casual gamer" whenever I play civilization, I turn down the settings so games are shorter. I like this type of game because I don't have to play for hours straight, and in sessions. I just happen to have a lot more patience than others.

 

[David Pasquinel]

Well, we had hit a nerve here... Dont inflate yourself, dude (and do not derail the thread while at it). Nobody even touched the debate about who have the awesomest life outside the game, casuals vs hardcore or competence on conducting the strategies on the game. Just keep it to yourself.

I think that everyone agree that the upgrade prices on farms and caravans for what they improve are unfair, and that the fact that the economy is REALLY slow without spending hours ingame or real dough. If you take offense on what I say, go berserk somewhere else.