EA - when to advance?

[Warlord1981]

I think it's all a matter of style. I understand sms actually respect the players who literally are military minded and have every defensive and offensive upgrade with no time wasted on economy. I do sometimes think that's the better way. Except that I have to say, upgrading everything, getting all the XP, and maxing out my base before moving on, it honestly seems to make things flow better.

Like, my strong economy does seem to carry me through tough dry spells of bad attacking. But I also noticed that I never really find myself in a low resource pinch. When I'm ready for the next building upgrade, or research, I usually have the resources needed, I can afford to use more tactics and "waste" more resources per battle because I earn resources quicker than a strictly military developed base.

 

[Singaboy]

I am in EA since 3 weeks. Upgrading armory, library, temple are a given. Now I am in the phase of upgrading all military buildings so that the army gets powerful. For defenses, one key building each to make sure you get the best defenders from forest and TC.
Then successively, defenses get upgraded while the library and armory work 24/7 on upgrades. I can see that the library will be the first building to be maxed out as there are only so many techs. I would think about moving to industrial age once the important upgrades in the armory are done and 80% of buildings upgraded. I don't bother much about farms and caravans (most still at level 8) as you get way more resources through attacks.

If you want to have a head start in the industrial age, I reckon it might be a good idea to research some key features in the uni as well. I am currently upgrading towers which lead to musketeer dps upgrades. I am planning to get 15% added dps, which makes them as powerful as rifles.

 

[Glacier]

Offense offense is all everybody wants for some reason. Must be the style or fashion idk. I see it like this: any building not upgraded is an easy target to go poof. Why make it easy for an attacker to kill your base? Treaties? Lol treaties are junk to a true raider because ya can't raid and keep those treaties. I cap everything, I raid and kill bases for loot. I harvest my capped economic buildings for large amounts of resourses. I don't get raided often cause, I cap!

OP wanted some advice so I am just putting my opinion out for them to review just like you offensive minded folk have done ;-]

 

[The Divine]

No matter what level you are and what buildings you have upgraded, just research cannon,healing,musk,crussair(?) and upgrade your barracks then rush to IA.You have no idea how much fun is in there.I myself have just rushed to IA and I dont regret it at all!

 

[The Divine]

Well,honestly my mortars,cannons,towers are at max gp level and one of garrisons and stables and temple are upgraded to max EA,so I didnt rush that much =D

 

[Kraitok]

Having thought it over (a lot), I think the extra cannon damage is just too juicy to pass on. I get some of the other university research benefits as well so i think for the month or so I stay in EA to get 5 levels of cannon damage I'll be well rewarded later. Who knows, could stay longer if I get stubborn for a particular bit of uni research.

 

[Augustus Maximus]

I wish I had waited longer to advance to the Industrial and Global Ages. I now find myself in the Global Age with mainly level 9 walls (a few level 10), and find it takes much longer to accumulate the gold necessary to upgrade them any further. While I can still find many bases with decent loot (200-500k food/gold), in the Enlightenment Age I was able to easily 5-star these bases with minimal losses (maybe a few ranged infantry) and move on to the next. Now, in the Global Age I am more likely to be faced with a 15 minute to 1 hour rebuild following each attack, and worse still if I lose planes or fail to destroy all defensive buildings (it takes about 1 1/2 hours to rebuild my 4 fighters, which I find necessary to have any chance of 5 starring any decent Global Age base).

I consider fully maxed offensive capabilities the bare minimum to possess before moving on, but the grass isn't always greener on the other side. Personally, I think I was accumulating resources faster in the Enlightenment Age. If someone did wish to build up level 12 or 13 walls, I think staying in the Enlightenment Age until your walls are maxed for that age (level 11, I think) is probably the way to go. Plus, your base would be less susceptible to plunder by Global Age players once you get into the Industrial Age.

 

[Augustus Maximus]

I wish I had waited longer to advance to the Industrial and Global Ages. I now find myself in the Global Age with mainly level 9 walls (a few level 10), and find it takes much longer to accumulate the gold necessary to upgrade them any further. While I can still find many bases with decent loot (200-500k food/gold), in the Enlightenment Age I was able to easily 5-star these bases with minimal losses (maybe a few ranged infantry) and move on to the next. Now, in the Global Age I am more likely to be faced with a 15 minute to 1 hour rebuild following each attack, and worse still if I lose planes or fail to destroy all defensive buildings (it takes about 1 1/2 hours to rebuild my 4 fighters, which I find necessary to have any chance of flattening any decent Global Age base).

I consider fully maxed offensive capabilities the bare minimum to possess before moving on, but the grass isn't always greener on the other side. Personally, I think I was accumulating resources faster in the Enlightenment Age. If someone did wish to build up level 12 or 13 walls, I think staying in the Enlightenment Age until your walls are maxed for that age (level 11, I think) is probably the way to go. Plus, your base would be less susceptible to plunder by Global Age players once you get into the Industrial Age.

 

[Glacier]

I was lvl 106 when I told my workers to upgrade my gunpowder town center. I'm now lvl 115 enlightenment;-]

 

[Glacier]

Lol, ok then

 

[Warlord1981]

Actually you said everything perfectly. You get 30 seconds to evaluate a base, if I see weak resource buildings and a decent amounts of available resources, I may take it because I could possibly turn a 1 or 2 star into a 3 or 4 star attack. The chance of gaining a national trade good and or , is sometimes enough for me. Weak buildings simply invite attackers.

 

[Glacier]

Thanx Warlord, there's more than one way to skin a cat, the path I choose isn't the most popular because of the shine of the news toys (troops). I dare to be different:-]

 

[Amy11]

Nice post Thanks for sharing this