Moving Up from GA to EA - University Rearch Approach

bugalho

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Hi everyone,

I have been playing the game ofr almost a year now - it will be one year on February - and I am currently in GA almost maxed out. I have all building and rearch in library done, and what I am missing now are some researches in the University. I have been researching in the University for almost 2 month and a half, so I already have some research level done. This is what I have at the moment:
- Montezuma:
-- All 35 researches done (the ones available in GA for Uni level 2)
- Leonardo da Vinci:
-- Mortars damage completed and researching now last level of Mortars HP
- Catherine:
-- Halberdier damage completed and researching now level 9 of Halberdier HP
- King Sejong:
-- Tower damage completed and researching now level 9 of Tower HP
- Sultan Saladin:
-- Tower Blessing completed and rearching now level 5 of Fortification Blessing
- Suleiman:
-- Mortar damage completed and researching now level 5 of Mortar HP
- Amelia:
-- None, once there is no research available in GA for this leader
- Hiawatha:
-- All completed
- Mansa Musa:
-- All completed

As you may have already realised, I am a maxer, and I intended to upgrade to EA, only after completeing all researches. But after 2 month and a half, and with still some researches to do, I have nothing to do in meanwhile, and I have all the resources full with nowhere to spend them. I am thinking of upgrade to EA, and keep some workers in the uni until all level 2 upgrades in the uni are finished, and in the meantime I still have some upgrades to do at my base, so I can keep enjoying the game and not be waiting 4/5/6/7 days do hit the next research, and just doing wars to help my alliance - because I also have the command post full.

I would like to ask your opinion on this, and what is your approach regarding the uni researches?

Thanks to you all in advance. :)
 

melheor

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I started playing this game in 2015, when university did not yet exist. I too had a similar play style to yours, maxing out everything in current age before advancing to the next one. This strategy served me well early on, deterring others from attacking me. When the university was added to the game about a year later, it was a nice way to get some extra upgrades. However, it was obvious to every player who played the game before it that it was simply a time-sink developers added to avoid losing players who were already maxed. With the later leaders (like Hiawatha, Moctezuma, etc.) it become less obvious because their researches offered better time-to-price ratios. My advice to you is to ignore the university unless you have idle villagers. There are things worth researching in it, but when you have no other buildings to upgrade, you're better off going to next age.
 

bugalho

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Thank for the reply and for you opinion melheor. I think I will do just like you say, because if I stuck with the university I will keep on at least 4-5 more months just to max it out...

What I am thinking on doind:
- Upgrade to the EA
- Keep at least one reserach always ongoing, so that the uni keeps on going

Of course with this apporach the upgrades of my building will suffer, because I will have at least 3/4 less workers for the upgrades, but I will keep thing going on the uni, so that I don't fall on this setuation again.

I ran into similar issue with the library in the Medieval Age, but here the time it takes to rearch is nowhere near those on the uni...

I understand that the developers want to keep the users busy with something, but I think those time are too much for most of the leaders.

Would also like to hear other opinions from other users, on how they approach the uni research. Do you keep on going and just do something when there is a chance - like discount events or works on idle? Do you dedicate some time frame for uni research?
 

SiuYin

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I suggest that you should rush to Industrial and then max everything

1. IA got 2 more workers (if you never buy starter pack)
2. You have 6 generals to upgrade, it will keep your blacksmith busy for a long time
3. IA got a lot of oil item, you will always found you something to do
4. IA provide you discount time for university research
 

bugalho

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That is an interesting view. As you can see from my initial post, I am by no means a rusher, but you have some valid point there.

My concern with that approach is that I will become an easy target for raiders, won't I? Wouldn't it be better at least upgrade my offensive units - the ones I use most only - and the defenses, and then upgrade to indutrial and max it out?

Following this approach, I would upgrade only:
- Musketeer, Hussar (I am French), Cannon, Supply Train
- Sabotage and Protect
- No upgrades for general, coalitions, and factory troops
- Do the library researches - they seem pretty good in EA, at least the Leadership and Standing Army
- Upgrade the barracks
- Upgrade the Temple for training blessing
- Upgrade the mills and markets, and build the refinery and oil wells
- Upgrade all defensive buildings
- No walls upgrade (leave them at level 9)

I consider this the minimum until enter the IA, to not be an easy target for other to raid me over and over again.

Do you agree with this approach? Or would you do it defferently?

Oh and as a note, I have bought the 2 starter packs, but not the estate.

Thanks again.
 

Themistocles

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Well first of all congratulations on maxing. It definitely takes patience but it's worth it, in my opinion, to enjoy the unique challenges that each age has to offer, take the time to learn the fundamentals of attacking, avoid the many dislocations and 'unbalancedness' that comes from rushing, and to feel the power of what a truly balanced game feels like.

Even for the most committed maxer however, the University is exceptional. A fair case can probably be made also in regards to generals and walls, but most particularly Uni because the time requirements simply do not line up with an orderly progression through the game. As you found, your progress will stall if you try to max the Uni too early. That isn't good, either; you want to keep learning and advancing, not stagnating.

The approach that I prefer is to view the Uni as a mostly linear path until end game. Start early and work on one leader at a time. The exception is that the Uni can do a good job keeping additional citizens busy at the end of an age while you do some finishing work like clearing forests and upgrading your town center.

By starting early and working on one leader at a time, you neither miss out on the benefits of Uni researches as you advance nor lose your primary focus on building upgrades, which among other things gives you the benefit of improved deterrence on defense.

The question then is, what path do you follow? My suggestion (if you were starting from the beginning) is to do Musa's citizen reductions for Hiawatha, then do Hiawatha, then finish Musa, then as many of Moctezuma as you care about, then Sejong, then Leonardo, finally get going on Saladin and the others. Along the way you are getting gradually buffed in one way or another. Skip the Revolution capstone if you don't care about switching nations and skip whatever else you can that doesn't add value to your strategy or play style. This is not an exclusive approach - if you see something that really appeals to you (for me currently, it's mortar troop DPS under Suleiman) then by all means grab it. You have to decide if delaying the gain in efficiency from one leader's capstone is justified by the benefit of doing a particular research of a different leader sooner. Sometimes it may be, other times not. There is no "one right answer".

As far as the Estate goes, for me getting it made it much easier to commit 2-3 citizens to University on an ongoing basis without feeling that I was delaying my building upgrades. But even if you don't get the Estate, there are Uni researches that have high value and I would suggest doing Uni at least somewhat regularly—"when the spirit moves you", as it were—if not in an ongoing fashion. But those are just my own feelings on the subject.
 
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Master Contrail Program

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I agree with Siu Yin for the most part. Go to Industrial Age as soon as it's reasonable. After maxing your EA offense and most key defenses. The oil game starts in enlightenment but it's a miserable experience nowadays as most of the player base is well beyond it. So nickel and diming your way to certain oil upgrades, particularly generals, is beyond tedious.

Industrial Age is a good place to park because you'll get a sense of the late game, with tanks and planes, without having to deal with the late game monsters in Atomic, plus oil becomes much easier to collect when you can get it rrom three age ranges instead of one.

My third account is in gunpowder age and I've been following your formula. Maxing everything, including the first two levels of uni. Now that my armory, walls and library are done it's a very dull experience. I sit at max resources for days on end waiting for lengthy uni chapters to finish. It annoys me seeing tons of loot go to waste as I hunt only for NTG'S. But it's my third account so I don't really have to waste much time with it. If it were my only one I'd have gone stir crazy ages ago.
 

SiuYin

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As you are French, you should upgrade temple first,
and then upgrade barrack and some troops(Calvary / Shooter / Cannon/ supply )
researched Standing Army

You will take about one month in EA and after that, go to IA.
 
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Manifesto

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If it's taken you a year to get here with your approach, it might take you another year just to get to max IA, but that's your choice.
The game gets more 'long winded' at EA onwards and the times, especially in IA, are going to shock you. You'll no longer have the luxury of doing Uni as intensely as you have been because your workers will be taking so long with building upgrades. This is not meant to deter you, just 'prepare' you.
Having said that, IA is where the game really becomes the great game that it is. You might want to, as others have said, get to EA, spend a reasonable amount of time there and get to IA as soon as reasonably possible.
You might have to change the way you play the game, get out of 3rd gear into 5th gear, but you'll be better off.
 

bugalho

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Hi guys,

Thanks for all the feedback. They have really made up my mind into going forward to the EA. I will think still I will spend there some time, but also based on your feedback I think I will not fully max it out, but instead rush to the IA as soon as bare minimum is done for - I am thinking on following the above list, I think I will be good with it.

I am very eager to reach to those new levels, specially to the EA, because as most of you say, the real game starts there, with all the oil elements of the game, including the planes and the tanks.

As for the uni, I will keep always a ledaer in research, as Themistocles suggested, the one that fits my style most at the time. In my opinion it is a fair trade-off between keep progressing in the game, and keep uni researching. The uni requirements are indeed too high, and I have already read somewhere in this forum, it is an end game element. Once the requirement for most leaders are already too high, like resources and time it takes each research, it would nice if Nexon remove the workers element from the uni. But once they designed the concept this way, I think will see no change in this requirement. At most, another leader research to reduce the worker requirement, but we already have two leader for this, and a capstone, so I think it is unlikely to see other change here.

My town center will be upgrading to EA starting today. Can't wait for the next week to be in the age. :D
 

melheor

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If you do rush to IA (which wouldn't be a bad idea), make sure at the very minimum your offenses are maxed beforehand. With weak defenses, you'll simply get attacked more and lose more resources early on (although even this may be less of a case now since most of the sharks moved on to AA). But with weak offenses, it will be very hard for you to defeat the players in new age to begin with. You don't have to max out every troop, just the ones you use in your army composition.
 

bugalho

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Yes, although I may rush to IA, by no mean I will go with at least have the minimum upgraded in EA. I will only max out EA, if I am enjoying the game there, so lets see how it goes. I enjoyed the GA, and I max it out much faster than the Medieval, because at the time I didn't know how to play the game and did almost no loot - I only depended on the resources from the caravans and farms, and the WW. I know ii will be diferent from now on, but as I am looking forward for it. 7 days to go. :)
 

Master Contrail Program

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Fair warning: Your first few weeks in EA will be rough. The technology gap between your late GP offense and defenses and the late-Industrial people who can now attack you is probably the largest in the game, at least in terms of simulated years. I think the gap between early-global and late-atomic is worse now but you won't have to deal with it as much by the time you get there.

Though your dedication to uni and maxing means you'll likely weather the storm better than most. In a few weeks you'll be fine, try to get your temple finished quickly so you can fire up those training blessings. Good luck.
 

bugalho

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Thanks for the warning @MCP. I have thought on this too. However, at leat for the defensive mortars, I have researched already the damage and HP on Leonardo, which will help a lot erly in EA - at least I hope. But you are right, I may face some extensive raiding on the next few weeks. To try minimiza that, I will only buid my oil depot later, because for most upgrades now, I won't need any oil - though it wouldnt harm to have it early for start getting some oil on my raids too, for later upgrades.

As for the training blessing, it is one of my top priorities at the moment. I think it will be the first thing to upgrade as soon as I get into the EA. :D

Thanks for the advice. ;)
 

Persia

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If it's taken you a year to get here with your approach, it might take you another year just to get to max IA, but that's your choice.
The game gets more 'long winded' at EA onwards and the times, especially in IA, are going to shock you. You'll no longer have the luxury of doing Uni as intensely as you have been because your workers will be taking so long with building upgrades. This is not meant to deter you, just 'prepare' you.
Having said that, IA is where the game really becomes the great game that it is. You might want to, as others have said, get to EA, spend a reasonable amount of time there and get to IA as soon as reasonably possible.
You might have to change the way you play the game, get out of 3rd gear into 5th gear, but you'll be better off.
I'm not OP, but I have a similar scenario, albeit in EA right now. I'm wondering if it's worth entering IA right now, let me outline my case. I'm doing uni research for the most part right now, combined with forest clearing (I have 2 forests active right now, then 1 more to do before the cost exceeds the amount of gold that I can store), and I have 3 Engineering technologies in the Library to do (once this citadels level 5 research is done). My walls are mostly level 7, with a sizeable amount of level 6s mixed in, and a few level 9s. Do I stay in EA for a bit and keep upgrading walls but disregard the Uni, since I'll basically have nothing else to use cits on?

I'm level 137, Koreans, and right now I have 41/60 on Moctezuma (it was my plan to max out him before going to IA), and trying to do H. Singijeon Damage with Sejong. Should I just max out Singijeon damage so that I can pound the Enlightenment bases I encounter at low medals even quicker? I'm at low medals right now, 400-500, but I climb very rapidly to get significant gold/food rewards, army bounties since I'm F2P, etc., and not do any of the other Uni leaders? Hiawatha and Mansa Musa are both finished.

I don't ever see someone at this level still be Enlightenment. Likewise, I have literally every building maxed out (Even stuff like the anchorage); is it worth just finishing my library upgrades, building all the traps (by then, I'll have all of my forests possible cleared), and then going to IA?

My plan once I reach Industrial is to build the house (since I can easily amass 6mil gold while the upgrade to IA is active), start on the armory, then upgrade 1 barracks at a time but also raid compusively to always have 2 armory upgrades active. Should I adjust my strategy, or is that alright? When might be a good time to go to Industrial?
 

Manifesto

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I think you're more than ready to go to Industrial. :)
Your library and Uni researches can continue while your town centre is upgrading.
Many people have said mostly the same thing about prioritising IA upgrades:
Barracks/Armory
Temple (Training blessing)
Uni/Library (anything that helps your offense)
Defenses/walls at your leisure/discretion.

Don't forget an important aspect: your base design. If it's looks like too much trouble, it probably will be. ;)
Having good defensive buildings will help. I had good defenses from Gunpowder/EA and now that I'm 2 months in IA I haven't been bombarded with attacks. I'm lucky if I get a full 5star attack every few days. You sound like you might deter a lot of people as well.
 
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Master Contrail Program

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I would suggest armory, barracks, library, then temple. Your troop counts go from 95 to 125(15 barracks/15 Standing Armies)in EA. Suffice to say a near 30% jump in troop space is huge and should be among your highest priorities.
 

Master Contrail Program

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I was level 145 on my main before moving to industrial. Of course it was a different story 18ish months ago as far as distribution of players and resources. Hell, I managed to get al my oil buildings and troops done as well as generals to 20, 16 and 14, which would take forever today.

Personally I would get my walls/gates to 9 and all the archer uni research done before moving up, none of which is too difficult. I have it done in GP afterall. Beyond that EA seems a waste of time these days.
 
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