We've had plenty of these threads in the past, but as we seem to have some developers actually listening now to some extent, I thought I'd bring this up again.
The dock is not useful for players of about industrial age and higher. It takes many workers and the rewards you get for investing many workers for many days is simply not worth it by any measure. For example "Rangoon" requires 4 workers for a 3-day expedition. What do you get for such investment? 2 diamonds and 3 trade good shipments. That's it. You can get those rewards from literally a single multiplayer battle! If you want a troop tactic, the worker and time requirement is even higher: 6 workers and 6 days for a plane. I don't think anyone can justify that investment unless you are a maxed player with nothing else to do. The value of such tactics has decreased now that you can only have a max of 4 at a time. You're much better off spending the worker time on other things and just waiting for the free troop tactics from events.
Furthermore, it's the only building in the game where upgrading it can be argued to make things worse. When you upgrade it, you no longer have access to the lower-level expeditions. Many players would still use the building if the shorter expeditions were still available. For example, sending 2 workers out for 12 hours while you sleep is an attractive option, but that's not available once you upgrade it. I'm sure BHG's stats clearly show the dock is rarely used when upgraded beyond about level 4.
So how do we fix it?
One solution is to simply cut the worker and time requirements dramatically. It should cap out at 4 workers and 2 days. Given the rewards and mechanics as currently implemented, I feel this cap is the longest many players would see value in it. Keep in mind that there is no upgrade to the dock in the Atomic age, so the current cap should be more like 1 day. The 2-day cap would be applied for the Space age. With a 1-day cap, this would fix a lot of things. Not only would players actually use the dock again, it can help combat the ridiculous pay-to-win mechanic introduced in the last year. Enabling players to get troop tactics at a reasonable worker/time cost, will let players have troops to populate their strongholds without paying real money. If these players choose to dedicate workers and time to the dock, they can potentially be competitive with players that spend a lot of money. The paying players will still have an advantage, as those troops are usually better, but at least having dock troops will give others something to work with.
The other option, as brought up many times on the forums, is to change the dock to cost only resources, not workers. In some variants, only a general is required for the expedition (no workers). Others have suggested that expeditions cost only gold/food. In this manner, the expedition return time can be longer (close to what it is now). This would be similar to the submarine from Boom Beach.
I can support either option, but it's clear something needs to be done. Again, the Dock is the only building where it can be a disadvantage to upgrade. No building should be like that. Let players have a reasonable option to obtain troop tactics to combat pay-to-win.
The dock is not useful for players of about industrial age and higher. It takes many workers and the rewards you get for investing many workers for many days is simply not worth it by any measure. For example "Rangoon" requires 4 workers for a 3-day expedition. What do you get for such investment? 2 diamonds and 3 trade good shipments. That's it. You can get those rewards from literally a single multiplayer battle! If you want a troop tactic, the worker and time requirement is even higher: 6 workers and 6 days for a plane. I don't think anyone can justify that investment unless you are a maxed player with nothing else to do. The value of such tactics has decreased now that you can only have a max of 4 at a time. You're much better off spending the worker time on other things and just waiting for the free troop tactics from events.
Furthermore, it's the only building in the game where upgrading it can be argued to make things worse. When you upgrade it, you no longer have access to the lower-level expeditions. Many players would still use the building if the shorter expeditions were still available. For example, sending 2 workers out for 12 hours while you sleep is an attractive option, but that's not available once you upgrade it. I'm sure BHG's stats clearly show the dock is rarely used when upgraded beyond about level 4.
So how do we fix it?
One solution is to simply cut the worker and time requirements dramatically. It should cap out at 4 workers and 2 days. Given the rewards and mechanics as currently implemented, I feel this cap is the longest many players would see value in it. Keep in mind that there is no upgrade to the dock in the Atomic age, so the current cap should be more like 1 day. The 2-day cap would be applied for the Space age. With a 1-day cap, this would fix a lot of things. Not only would players actually use the dock again, it can help combat the ridiculous pay-to-win mechanic introduced in the last year. Enabling players to get troop tactics at a reasonable worker/time cost, will let players have troops to populate their strongholds without paying real money. If these players choose to dedicate workers and time to the dock, they can potentially be competitive with players that spend a lot of money. The paying players will still have an advantage, as those troops are usually better, but at least having dock troops will give others something to work with.
The other option, as brought up many times on the forums, is to change the dock to cost only resources, not workers. In some variants, only a general is required for the expedition (no workers). Others have suggested that expeditions cost only gold/food. In this manner, the expedition return time can be longer (close to what it is now). This would be similar to the submarine from Boom Beach.
I can support either option, but it's clear something needs to be done. Again, the Dock is the only building where it can be a disadvantage to upgrade. No building should be like that. Let players have a reasonable option to obtain troop tactics to combat pay-to-win.
