Disparity of cost

[Ashes of Eden]

My friend and I started playing on the same day and our costs in coins and goods for the same buildings or upgrades are vastly different. Something that cost him 1400 coins might cost me 40,000 for the same thing. The expense to build and upgrade has become so high I can’t possibly keep up.
Why is it so different ?
What have I done wrong?

 

[Zoof]

My friend and I started playing on the same day and our costs in coins and goods for the same buildings or upgrades are vastly different. Something that cost him 1400 coins might cost me 40,000 for the same thing. The expense to build and upgrade has become so high I can’t possibly keep up.
Why is it so different ?
What have I done wrong?

The cost to upgrade buildings are fixed for each building type, level, and race, all of which are listed in great detail on the Elvenar Wiki. If there's a discrepancy, your friend is likely misidentifying things or possibly are playing a difference race than you.

EDIT: Your friend may have also discovered the wonders of quest cycling, which can give you such a reusable and massive boost in coins and supplies, to the point where were it not for event quests that specifically call for supplies to be produced (as opposed to collected), you could get away with not having any workshops at all.

EDIT2: At least, that was my experience about three months ago in my second city. The research tree (and possibly quests too) has greatly changed since then

EDIT3: It's also entirely possible that you're simply playing more than your friend is. Upgrading workshops gets stupidly expensive extremely quickly.

EDIT4: It's also possible that your friend might be confusing coins for supplies. Still. Abusing the heck out of quests should smooth things out, especially where supplies are concerned.

 

[Maeryn]

My friend and I started playing on the same day and our costs in coins and goods for the same buildings or upgrades are vastly different. Something that cost him 1400 coins might cost me 40,000 for the same thing. The expense to build and upgrade has become so high I can’t possibly keep up.
Why is it so different ?
What have I done wrong?

Nothing…your friend got the new tech tree where everything costs less and takes less time to build. Your on the old one it’ll take you a bit longer to grow than your friend. I glanced at your city on my alt spy on everyone’s city account and notice you and your friend are in the same fellowship with nobody else. I suggest going down to the Winyandor section of the forum asking for a fellowship willing to take both of you. Both of you will need the visits to help with the coin and supply crunch early game. You do have advantage over your friend being on the old tech tree you can cycle through quests to gain gold and supplies.

By the way, both of you will need to start placing expansions in the opposite direction than you have been. Elves grow width wise first not lengthwise,

 

[Kadhrin]

My friend and I started playing on the same day....

...your friend got the new tech tree.... You're on the old one....

Two people who started on the same day got different tech trees?

 

[Zoof]

Two people who started on the same day got different tech trees?

I just started a new city a couple hours ago and got the old tech tree, so I suppose the new tech tree is being given out at (seemingly) random.

Which makes sense if the devs are experimenting to see if the new tech tree is good for player retention.

 

[Darielle]

By the way, both of you will need to start placing expansions in the opposite direction than you have been. Elves grow width wise first not lengthwise,

Why do you have to grow in one direction first, as opposed to the other one? I can understand if you want to minimize roads, but there's a way to do that lengthwise, too. Is there another reason?

 

[Maeryn]

@Zoof the new tech tree is done by account not city.

 

[Zoof]

@Zoof the new tech tree is done by account not city.

Well then.
I feel a bit silly. Do I abandon the new city now?

 

[samidodamage]

@Zoof
I think it was stated somewhere by @helya that the new research tree is luck of the draw for new cities created, but I can't find it now. Since I tagged her, she should correct me if it's wrong.
@Darielle
I've always seen the growth direction for cities based on race; it does seem to change in some chapters (I can't remember how long it's been since it was a concern for me) as the buildings get larger and more similar in orientation between the races. For the full explanation on why that is, go to the Gems site and the city optimization section here. Scroll about halfway down the page and you'll see the discussion about the differences in the city layouts between the races.
Here's the two pics and captions underneath that discussion:

 

[Astram]

I am not Helya, but I can state that the "New Tech Tree" is totally random selection, Probably by the same RNG that gives out Petfood when you already have 100+ saved

 

[Darielle]

@Zoof
I think it was stated somewhere by @helya that the new research tree is luck of the draw for new cities created, but I can't find it now. Since I tagged her, she should correct me if it's wrong.
@Darielle
I've always seen the growth direction for cities based on race; it does seem to change in some chapters (I can't remember how long it's been since it was a concern for me) as the buildings get larger and more similar in orientation between the races. For the full explanation on why that is, go to the Gems site and the city optimization section here. Scroll about halfway down the page and you'll see the discussion about the differences in the city layouts between the races.
Here's the two pics and captions underneath that discussion:
View attachment 12992
View attachment 12993

Thanks!

 

[Ashes of Eden]

My friend and I started playing on the same day and our costs in coins and goods for the same buildings or upgrades are vastly different. Something that cost him 1400 coins might cost me 40,000 for the same thing. The expense to build and upgrade has become so high I can’t possibly keep up.
Why is it so different ?
What have I done wrong?

I have been playing since Monday, July 4th. I have no ancient wonders. My trader does not appear to have an upgrade option. My builder is at level 3 and will cost 1000 diamonds to upgrade. There is no coin option. My main hall is at level 5 and will cost 102k coins to upgrade. It cost my friend around 40k to go from 5 to 6, and it will cost him 51k to get level 7.
We are both in the second chapter of the tech tree and have vastly different tech. We were both successful FoE players for years. So it’s not like we are completely stupid. I’m clearly missing something. I’m asking for someone to please help me figure it out. We have both been scouring the forum and google to no avail.

 

[Zoof]

I have been playing since Monday, July 4th. I have no ancient wonders. My trader does not appear to have an upgrade option. My builder is at level 3 and will cost 1000 diamonds to upgrade. There is no coin option. My main hall is at level 5 and will cost 102k coins to upgrade. It cost my friend around 40k to go from 5 to 6, and it will cost him 51k to get level 7.
We are both in the second chapter of the tech tree and have vastly different tech. We were both successful FoE players for years. So it’s not like we are completely stupid. I’m clearly missing something. I’m asking for someone to please help me figure it out. We have both been scouring the forum and google to no avail.

That's because of a recent change to the game in which people are randomly being saddled with a new tech tree. I didn't know it affected other things, but more details and questions can be had in this thread, where it discusses those changes. In short, the new system is supposed to make the game "more easily accessible to new players", which makes me think is code for Easy Mode. I don't know how that'll pan out; I was unsuccessful in getting a city set up that way.

In short: If it feels like you're playing a different game from your friend, it's because you are, in fact, playing a different game. Thank the Random Number Gods for the experience. It all evens out after chapter 5 anyway.

EDIT: Or rather, your friend is playing a different game. What you're experiencing is what most other people who are no newer than a month or two experienced.

 

[Ashes of Eden]

Thank you all for your insight. This has been very helpful. I just need to hang in there. I’m no stranger to looping quests in other games. So I’ll get busy on that and also start shopping for a fellowship.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

Are you and your friend both playing Human cities or both playing Elf cities? If you are not playing the same race, then the sizes and costs of buildings will be different until you both reach chapter 6, and then things will start to be the same for both of you.

 

[Ashes of Eden]

Are you and your friend both playing Human cities or both playing Elf cities? If you are not playing the same race, then the sizes and costs of buildings will be different until you both reach chapter 6, and then things will start to be the same for both of you.

Both Elf

 

[Zoof]

Are you and your friend both playing Human cities or both playing Elf cities? If you are not playing the same race, then the sizes and costs of buildings will be different until you both reach chapter 6, and then things will start to be the same for both of you.

I did a quick check on the wiki for costs. There's no discernable difference in costs to main hall for at least the first few levels (at least in gold. pop/culture is something else). A quick check shows that that are differences in residences and workshops. The differences are minor, but they're there.

What is being described, however, are differences that are measured in order(s) of magnitude.

It's like trying to order a beer for you and your friend, but what your friend ended up getting is a bottle of 190 proof Everclear. Someone's getting wasted that night, and it ain't you. Whether or not that's a good thing is up for debate. Me? I'd be more upset over the difference in value rather than a maybe-trip-to-the-ER.

 

[Ashes of Eden]

I did a quick check on the wiki for costs. There's no discernable difference in costs to main hall for at least the first few levels (at least in gold. pop/culture is something else). A quick check shows that that are differences in residences and workshops. The differences are minor, but they're there.

What is being described, however, are differences that are measured in order(s) of magnitude.

It's like trying to order a beer for you and your friend, but what your friend ended up getting is a bottle of 190 proof Everclear. Someone's getting wasted that night, and it ain't you. Whether or not that's a good thing is up for debate. Me? I'd be more upset over the difference in value rather than a maybe-trip-to-the-ER.

EXACTLY! LOL
‍

 

[SuNaya Dark]

By the way, both of you will need to start placing expansions in the opposite direction than you have been. Elves grow width wise first not lengthwise,

Elven cities do what now? Grow Widthwise?
I've always been advised to grow outward in a SQUARE format. Which has worked well for me.
But I'm also only early into Chapter 3 on both of my cities, and now I'm biding my time, narrowing down, eliminating certain things and upgrading others until I specifically NEED certain things in later chapters (like more residences, etc. - when I finally have the ROOM for them.) I'm also concentrating on Event buildings and saving them in my Summons area. The FIRST time I played, I would Disenchant them, having no room. Found out the hard way that's not a good thing to do. Even if it's a year or more before I can successfully use them, it's better to have them in stock NOW than hoping I can get them again later...

 

[SuNaya Dark]

That's because of a recent change to the game in which people are randomly being saddled with a new tech tree. I didn't know it affected other things, but more details and questions can be had in this thread, where it discusses those changes. In short, the new system is supposed to make the game "more easily accessible to new players", which makes me think is code for Easy Mode. I don't know how that'll pan out; I was unsuccessful in getting a city set up that way.

A few people have suggested creating a new game using a different User Name and Email in order to try out the New tech tree version. I'm a very slow player, solo (for now), and have considered this, but I didn't want a 3rd city to eat up all my time (and I'd want a Human city for comparison reasons). So I'm staying with my current 2 cities in Khelonaar and Arendyll.