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    Your Elvenar Team

Pros and Cons of Magic Residences

Gladiola

Well-Known Member
When magic residences went on sale recently, I was tempted to buy one. I haven't purchased diamonds yet, but for some reason the game was nice enough to give me 700 diamonds about a week after I started playing. I don't know why. I used most of them to upgrade my magic academy to level 4, but I have 300 left, 350 after the diamonds I won in the spire. So I was wondering, the next time the magic residences go on sale, is it a good use of diamonds to buy one? My fellowship has been getting 10 tournament chests a week, so I have 3 blueprints so far. I have also seen that Magic Residences can be won in the Spire. (So far all I win in the Spire is spell fragments and the occasional timer. The percentage can be 60% something else and 20% spell fragments, and I still get spell fragments. I guess I'm lucky that way?)

Other than needing blueprints to upgrade, are there any hidden negatives about Magic Residences that should make me cautious?
 

Enevhar Aldarion

Oh Wise One
Buying a Magic Residence in the early chapters is a big waste of diamonds, unless you are in a fellowship that gets 10 chests every week. If you do not get blueprints, a Magic Residence costs 300 diamonds per chapter to keep it upgraded, so the sooner you buy one, the more it costs you. Also, the cost to buy one goes up each chapter until chapter 8, where it stays the same cost until it goes up again in chapter 16. But for all that, looking at the actual costs, buying one before you are in chapter 6 will cost you more diamonds to keep it upgraded than waiting until chapter 6. In chapter 8, the cost becomes 1400 diamonds and stays that way for a long time. In chapter 6 it costs 750, plus two upgrades of 300 each, equals 1350 diamonds, or a slight savings. In chapter 5, it costs 690, plus 3 level-ups for another 900, or 1590 total, or a big loss of diamonds. In other words, if you don't get blueprints, wait until at least chapter 6 before buying one, to get the most out of your diamonds.
 

Crow Last Elf

Well-Known Member
As I was writing, @Enevhar Aldarion 's reply popped up and I agree. I would wait till fairies to purchase magic residences. Each higher chapter has taken me longer to complete, so the residence would a premium building whether you upgrade it or not for a longer time if you wait to purchase. Magic residences will be better than regular residences for at least 2 chapters, so if you advance chapters and haven't been able to upgrade all of your buildings and they are less beneficial than a regular magic building, make the decision then to sell it or store it. (I would always store it, my fairies magic residence is one of my nicest inventory items).

Magic buildings replace the production of approximately 2 regular buildings, iirc, but they do not give double ranking points.
 

Darielle

Chef, Scroll-Keeper, and Buddy Fan Club Member
Gladiola, I honestly believe differently than both of the above players. I think the fact that magic residences are SO CHEAP in the early chapters, they really are a great value, provided you are in a 10-chest fellowship and can get blueprints to keep them upgraded. It looks like you are, so if I were you, I would buy both magic residences and magic workshops whenever I could. I wish I would have bought them when they were one-fifth the price they are now. I have more blueprints than I know what to do with, but it's hard to spend a bunch of money on magic buildings in later chapters. You'll be sorry when they hit 1400 diamonds each. Wouldn't it be better to buy them in chapter 3 at 300 a piece (I think it's that; I'm not sure anymore) and just use one blueprint per chapter? If you get one every week, that seems cheap to me. No I wouldn't spend 300 diamonds to upgrade one chapter, but with blueprints every week, you don't have to.
 

Enevhar Aldarion

Oh Wise One
Gladiola, I honestly believe differently than both of the above players. I think the fact that magic residences are SO CHEAP in the early chapters, they really are a great value, provided you are in a 10-chest fellowship and can get blueprints to keep them upgraded. It looks like you are, so if I were you, I would buy both magic residences and magic workshops whenever I could. I wish I would have bought them when they were one-fifth the price they are now. I have more blueprints than I know what to do with, but it's hard to spend a bunch of money on magic buildings in later chapters. You'll be sorry when they hit 1400 diamonds each. Wouldn't it be better to buy them in chapter 3 at 300 a piece (I think it's that; I'm not sure anymore) and just use one blueprint per chapter? If you get one every week, that seems cheap to me. No I wouldn't spend 300 diamonds to upgrade one chapter, but with blueprints every week, you don't have to.

Which is why I started my post by saying if she gets blueprints with her fellowship, it is alright. But no blueprints, no buy that early. :)
 

Darielle

Chef, Scroll-Keeper, and Buddy Fan Club Member
Which is why I started my post by saying if she gets blueprints with her fellowship, it is alright. But no blueprints, no buy that early. :)
Since she said she's in a 10-chest fellowship, I just went by that. :) Thanks for clarifying.
 

crackie

Chef, Scroll-Keeper, Buddy's #1 Fan
There are so many places to get diamonds for free (spire, genie, random email rewards, goddess, MA chests) so I feel like upgrading magic buildings isn't that hard to manage. Those pesky royal restorations though! I've been cracking my blueprints to turn them into RRs, so I did the entire fleet of blue roof renovations (9) for the current chapter on diamonds alone, with plenty left to spare. If you do have a blueprint in the inventory though, it won't give you the option to to upgrade with diamonds. I was saving blueprints in case I wanted to craft a phoenix artifact and noticed. (But I would upgrade that Magic Academy to level 5 with your diamonds first!)
 

Enevhar Aldarion

Oh Wise One
I was saving blueprints in case I wanted to craft a phoenix artifact and noticed.

Hm, in any of the recipes that use two or three blueprints, if you have less than is required, it should let you pay the difference in diamonds. If it is not doing that, it should be reported to Support from the link in-game.
 

crackie

Chef, Scroll-Keeper, Buddy's #1 Fan
I meant trying to upgrade magic buildings with diamonds. If you have blueprints in your inventory, it doesn't give you the diamond option. It'll want to use the blueprint. Sorry, wasn't clear.
 

Yogi Dave

Well-Known Member
A couple of years back I did a spreadsheet comparing magic to non-magic buildings. It only goes through chapter 14, which was the last chapter at the time. Magic vs Non-Magic

Basically, for both humans and elves, a chapter 3 magic building produces less pop. and fewer coins. For elves at chapter 5 magic houses require a little less culture and begin to outperform regular ones in pop. and coins. For humans, the pop. is like for elves, but there is a large hit in coins to consider. By chapter 8, both races are about the same with 3 magic producing the same pop. and coins as 5 non-magic ones.

Workshops are a different story. They eventually become 5 magic being as good as 9 non-magic. Although not fully there, they become good for humans in chapter 3 and for elves in chapter 4. Each one requires more culture and pop than a non-magic one, but since they are produce 1.8 times the non-magic ones, there is a pop. savings.

IMHO, overall, the workshops are a better deal in the long run, but you will never need as many workshops than houses. For equivalent pop, a magic house saves the space of 1.66 houses. For equivalent supplies, a workshop saves 1.8 non-magic ones. Also the workshops save more culture than houses. Perhaps best of all, the workshop pop. cost for 5 vs 9 non-magic is almost 4 fewer non-magic houses, which means even more free space. However, that doesn't mean you will have fewer houses since you now have more space for more factories or a larger guest race village.

As mentioned by others, a 10+ FS gives a blueprint each week, but be sure to not over buy magic ones too early since you will be going through chapters faster than you will get enough blueprints to keep up with upgrades. One last advantage of magic vs non-magic. You can upgrade them as soon as you do the 1st tech in the next chapter. You don't have to wait until you reach the tech for the non-magic ones.
 

Darielle

Chef, Scroll-Keeper, and Buddy Fan Club Member
Basically, for both humans and elves, a chapter 3 magic building produces less pop. and fewer coins.

I'm a bit confused by that. A chapter three magic residence produces more pop and coins than a chapter 3 non magical residence. To what are you comparing the chapter three magic residence? Thanks.
 

CrazyWizard

Oh Wise One
When magic residences went on sale recently, I was tempted to buy one. I haven't purchased diamonds yet, but for some reason the game was nice enough to give me 700 diamonds about a week after I started playing. I don't know why. I used most of them to upgrade my magic academy to level 4, but I have 300 left, 350 after the diamonds I won in the spire. So I was wondering, the next time the magic residences go on sale, is it a good use of diamonds to buy one? My fellowship has been getting 10 tournament chests a week, so I have 3 blueprints so far. I have also seen that Magic Residences can be won in the Spire. (So far all I win in the Spire is spell fragments and the occasional timer. The percentage can be 60% something else and 20% spell fragments, and I still get spell fragments. I guess I'm lucky that way?)

Other than needing blueprints to upgrade, are there any hidden negatives about Magic Residences that should make me cautious?
Nope!

you need blueprints and that is it, premium residences and workshops are awesome.
 

Yogi Dave

Well-Known Member
I'm a bit confused by that. A chapter three magic residence produces more pop and coins than a chapter 3 non magical residence.
I used the values from the game's wiki for the house at the highest level available before getting the next tech (same with workshops). You don't get another housing tech until chapter 6 which leaves upgrades from level 8 to 15. The magic house gives 250 pop and 1044 coins per hour regardless of race. The level 8 value for elves is 170 pop and 714 coins per hour, which is indeed lower, but grows to 450 and 1500. For humans, it starts at 260 and 1088 and grows to 560 and 2083. However, the human house is 4x3 while the elf and magic one is 3x3, so the human advantage is not as large as it seems.
 

SuNaya Dark

Active Member
I just started Chapter 6. Should I invest in Magic Residences, or hold off until Chapter 7 (Fairies)?
(PS - I finally decided to buy Diamonds in Ch 5, but haven't invested any, feeling I would need them later on. Was I correct?)
 

Enevhar Aldarion

Oh Wise One
When looking at the costs for them, and the upgrade costs, on the Wiki, I don't think they are worth spending diamonds on until you ae in chapter 8. Right now, your best diamond investment is leveling up the Magic Academy, if yours is not already level 5.
 

Yogi Dave

Well-Known Member
Short answer is yes, they are now worth it, with reservations. But really work on getting magic workshops as they are a better bang for the buck. At least up to getting 5 of them. The drawback with getting magic buildings is needing blueprints or diamonds to upgrade them. Since you are in a low chapter, you will be passing through chapters fairly fast. If you have too many magic buildings, it will be expensive in diamonds, or blueprints to upgrade them immediately when moving to a new a chapter. That is part of the reason behind getting workshops. A magic one is worth 1.8 a normal one but only requires 1.26 a normal one's pop. and 1.15 cult in chapter 6. The pop. savings increases over the next couple of chapters to 1.17, so even more savings in pop. 5 magic workshops are the same as 9 normal ones but saving the pop. of 4 normal houses. So, saves the space of 4 workshops and 4 houses. Although, you will find you want the pop from those 4 houses. Of course, if you have 3 magic houses, they are worth 5 normal ones. The main consideration is being to upgrade them. Too many, and you are stuck if you don't have the diamonds or blueprints.

@Enevhar Aldarion is right about the Magic Academy. Also, a few premium plots of land may be worth it too as the 1st few are cheap. Although saying that people will bring up about how they increase the number of troops you bring to spire and tourney battles, which also means the goods to deal with them increases too. That's why I say a few, not a lot of them. It's nice to have more space. But then again, having magic buildings gives you back space too.
 

BrinDarby

Well-Known Member
Reader's Digest answer :

Win M.res & M.work in Spire, use BP to upgrade.
Use :diamond: for Land, upgrades to MA/Builders, and
the occasional splurge or emerg use.... but basically
use it for Land, after those upgrades.
 

Yogi Dave

Well-Known Member
Inno offers black Friday sales at a better discount than you get year round(very close)
It's around American Thanksgiving. Be patient, it usually comes as the last offer or almost the last one. So, don't despair. Just keep looking for the deal. Yeah, it may mean logging on a couple of times a day to see it.

Edit: I was informed in my FS that it's Cyber Monday, which is the Monday after Black Friday. Also, it seems to last longer than a day.
 
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