Ancient wonders chapters 16 and up

[Mykan]

My prep for 16 is getting BTG, ETC, Vortex and Simia all to lvl 16, then start in on the tech tree. Yes, I'm primarily a fighting city, but don't find the slog through chapters fun at all.

So, adding the Vortex (for the increased Sentient production, not the portal storage boost) is just part of that 'every little bit helps' outlook. At some point, it could also help conserve seeds for Sentient production if I can get by with fewer factories. Since I'm not there yet, I don't know that for sure.

If your only looking at vortex for sentient and your city has a combat focus, have you considered Pyramid of Purification? With enough armories it will produce a significant amount of sentient goods and potentially save on seeds (if you drop some factories due to increased production). I found as I levelled mine I could drop the second sentient factory, stop MM spells. Dropping the extra factories saved me a huge amount of seeds, it is what helped me get through ch17 as the switching between seeds and unurium was killing me. Saving in seeds let me focus more on unurium due to less need for seeds.

I am at the point now I could teleport all my sentient factories out (have a S2 & S3 floating around, for quests or laziness). Around a similar time I dropped my vortex as it just was not providing anything useful. Ch 20 is the first time I am wondering if it may yet be beneficial due to how the chapter is structured (see free-spirit's comment above). I have an exceptional amount of PP instants and untapped PP buildings so I don't foresee an issue with it for me in this chapter. Who knows if they make this more of a standard approach though...

 

[Henroo]

With enough armories it will produce a significant amount of sentient goods

How many armories do you have? I've got 4. I also have 2 maxed out Witch Huts, which are a significant amount of my orc production. And Witch Hut does not trigger Pyramid to make sentient goods since orcs are not considered the primary production item for WH. This was the deciding factor in me not using Pyramid. I'd have probably tried it if it worked with my Huts.

 

[defiantoneks]

generally speaking, i tend to approach from all angles. so if it helps with troops OR goods I take it. If it's something that focuses on supplies, gold, or neighborly help, I skip it. Golden Abyss may be the lone exception b/c of the significant pop boost.

edit: yes it does take a little longer to level things up due to the number of buildings to choose from, but i feel like i have a "network" of support.

 

[Mykan]

How many armories do you have?

18 from chapter 19, I like the long build time for troops and better benefit from brown bear when I remember to use it. I don't use a lot of evolving buildings as I find they don't work for my style. I can always teleport in/out an armory for a factory at will or vice versa to suit what challenges the game throws at me.

 

[Darielle]

How many armories do you have? I've got 4. I also have 2 maxed out Witch Huts, which are a significant amount of my orc production. And Witch Hut does not trigger Pyramid to make sentient goods since orcs are not considered the primary production item for WH. This was the deciding factor in me not using Pyramid. I'd have probably tried it if it worked with my Huts.

I have five maxed armories and one maxed witch hut, but I don't think I could live without my Pyramid. It gives more treants per square of space than the witch hut gives frogs per square (at level 17, where I'm at). The extra sentient goods I get, not only from armories but from my orc nests, are enough (in total) to eliminate one factory, so I actually save space, when comparing the footprint of the PoP and a factory, and I'm getting all these treants for nothing. Win win.

 

[Henroo]

18 from chapter 19

Wow, I can't imagine 18 armories! Your city build must be way different than mine. I certainly would feel much different about Pyramid if I had 18 armories making orcs instead of the 4 I have...

 

[defiantoneks]

Wow, I can't imagine 18 armories! Your city build must be way different than mine. I certainly would feel much different about Pyramid if I had 18 armories making orcs instead of the 4 I have...

right? i think the most i had was 6 or 8, way way back in the day when they were teeny tiny. been operating with 3 now for a while.

 

[Yogi Dave]

Yes, 6 rounds is easy then, but with zero cooldown I can reuse the 5 day booster buildings for 2 tourneys and 2 spires

A zero cooldown time can also help with fighting that prov since the arena doesn't change round to round in a prov. If you are on the browser, you can peek at the arena in round 1 and use that info to set your troops for all the rounds. Such as, if you are behind a hedge, you can put frogs in every round since they can shoot over the hedge. If not using the browser, it can also help you not make the same mistake in that prov again. If you put in a bunch of HM and they get slaughtered, it may suggest you need to use a different troop type or, it might suggest to just skip that prov and move onto the next one.

 

[Yogi Dave]

Wow, I can't imagine 18 armories! Your city build must be way different than mine. I certainly would feel much different about Pyramid if I had 18 armories making orcs instead of the 4 I have...

I have 12 ch 20 armories and I almost ran out of orcs in that chapter. Well, I started with 5 million and ended with 2.

... have you considered Pyramid of Purification?

I used to have that AW but ditched it. Now I wonder if it would be worth putting back. I don't have a seed or unur problem since the Sunset Towers and Vallorian Seal Tower are level 30. It'd be nice to be able to remove the S goods factories making room for a bigger ch 21 village whenever it comes out.

 

[Mykan]

Wow, I can't imagine 18 armories! Your city build must be way different than mine. I certainly would feel much different about Pyramid if I had 18 armories making orcs instead of the 4 I have...

Sure is, I use very few evolving buildings. I don't find them that useful for me but am aware of people using them to replace other buildings. I prefer the other buildings and not having the evolves or the hassle to get all of the artifacts and RR's. The orc production is handy as well. My design has changed so many times over the years, as the game evolves the approach I take evolves. Only the tourny change stuffed me as I don't want to delete years of work, without a teleport option for wonders it limits options to try different approaches.

Most wonders can fit within a strategy/approach, really only 1 wonder I struggle to see how it fits any approach.

 

[Silver Lady]

Most wonders can fit within a strategy/approach, really only 1 wonder I struggle to see how it fits any approach.

Ok, inquiring minds want to know; which 1 wonder doesn’t fit?

 

[Mykan]

Ok, inquiring minds want to know; which 1 wonder doesn’t fit?

hardest one to find, Enars embassy. Scout based wonders are generally debated by players but broken shards as a reward has been questioned from the beginning and that was without other buildings offering broken shards. Scout times were also shorter when devs felt 24hrs max was reasonable, since then for later towns scout times are over 3 days with minimal scouting (can be closer to a week for some).

Add to this it is a huge wonder, interestingly I did see a person with only 3 wonders and the highest was a level 29 enars, guessing someone found a way to use it.

 

[Alram]

Enars is a must have if one is building for beauty.

 

[Yogi Dave]

Enars is a must have if one is building for beauty.

I agree ...

Add to this it is a huge wonder, interestingly I did see a person with only 3 wonders and the highest was a level 29 enars, guessing someone found a way to use it.

... but taking it to a high level doesn't help the beauty. I've only used it to create broken shards.

 

[Yogi Dave]

I've taken @Mykan's advice about the Pyramid of Purification and put it back in my city. It's only level 4 at the moment which means I get 45 sentient, S, goods per 100 orcs collected. Within a week it will be upgraded to produce 60 per 100. When it gets to level 30, it will give 2 S goods for every orc collected. It's my new fav AW to upgrade. I'll probably also make a few more armories since I'll have more room in the city. Chapter 20 really ate through my orcs, dropping them from 5 million to 2 million. I like the Orc Strategist for combat. (DIE Mist Walker, DIE!) and each one cost an orc, so Training grounds use them a lot, especially when I feed the brown bears.

At the moment, my level 34 S2 factory produces 8k per hr. using 3 hr. builds Of course, I can't do 8 3h builds a day, so less than that are really produced. That's with a level 31 ETC and spelled. Without the ETC or spell, it'd be a bit over 3k per hr. With my 12 level 45 armories running 12h builds (I get to sleep all night), I get 1 and 1/2 K S goods per hr. at level 4. When the PoP reaches level 30, I'll get 7k per hr. Since I'm collecting orcs anyway, this is great and reduces the amount of seeds needed! Thanks, Mykan for the advice.

 

[Henroo]

@Yogi Dave In your calculations for the output of your S2 factory, you did not say if you have either Time Warp or Vortex of Storage giving a bonus to sentient production. Do you have either and if so, do the numbers include them?

 

[Yogi Dave]

I have a level 31 timewrap and no VoS. The values used in my calculations came from my city, so weren't just abstract values.

BTW, my PoP is now level 6 and it's in our net0 program for level 7.

 

[Alram]

Does a fully upgraded Scouts Tavern reduce scouting time by 65% or am I reading the description wrong?