Confused About Culture

[Darielle]

I noticed that on Elven Gems, it says that after you upgrade everything (except tier 3) at the end of Orcs, you should sell all your culture only buildings. They said that culture won't really matter after Orcs, except to gain extra supplies, and that it's better to have the extra room. However, when I look at the upgrade requirements for fully upgraded tier one and two manufactories, I notice that I will still need culture to upgrade them further, after I research the upgrades in Wood Elves. So why sell culture buildings if I'll still need culture for upgrades in Wood Elves? Or am I reading it wrong?

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[Gath Of Baal]

During the orc chapter after you have made whatever upgrades that are available then it is possible to sell all your culture buildings to make room for more rally points and mushroom farms to quicken your progress through the chapter because in the next chapter you will start to need mana and you will end up having to build Weeping Willows or place event prizes that provide both mana production along with culture

So yes, you will always need culture, there is just a short window that you wont near the end of the orc chapter because of the introduction of a new game mechanic mana in the next chapter

 

[DeletedUser23063]

During the orc chapter after you have made whatever upgrades that are available then it is possible to sell all your culture buildings to make room for more rally points and mushroom farms to quicken your progress through the chapter because in the next chapter you will start to need mana and you will end up having to build Weeping Willows or place event prizes that provide both mana production along with culture

So yes, you will always need culture, there is just a short window that you wont near the end of the orc chapter because of the introduction of a new game mechanic mana in the next chapter

I'm on the beginning of Wood Elves and trying to get enough mana to upgrade main hall. Should I concentrate on only Willows and other Mana producing culture buildings and sell my other buildings which produce mainly pop and culture?

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

I'm on the beginning of Wood Elves and trying to get enough mana to upgrade main hall. Should I concentrate on only Willows and other Mana producing culture buildings and sell my other buildings which produce mainly pop and culture?

Check all your event buildings that are currently giving you tier 3 goods, if you have any. Most of those will switch to giving mana instead of the goods if you use royal restorations to upgrade them to chapter 9. So if you have enough RRs from winning them in the tournament chests, and you have some chapter 8 buildings that are of this type, click on the upgrade tab and see what it shows. You may be able to upgrade and get mana right at the beginning of the chapter, instead of waiting til you can research and build mana buildings.

As for pop/culture buildings, I try to only keep the ones where the pop is equal or higher than the culture. Those are usually better than residences. But the ones that have a lot of culture and low pop are just not worth the space they take up. The ones from the Air Traders event that just ended are a good example of that. I did not even bother trying to win any of the pop/culture airships.

 

[Gath Of Baal]

I'm on the beginning of Wood Elves and trying to get enough mana to upgrade main hall. Should I concentrate on only Willows and other Mana producing culture buildings and sell my other buildings which produce mainly pop and culture?

If I remember right I had started off with around 12-14 Weeping Willows but that takes up a huge amount of space. I got lucky because there was an event going at the time and Mana Huts were one of the daily prizes and i went all out on them and won like 12 and replaced most of the Weeping Willows, so i cant say for sure the exact number you will need to not get tech locked waiting on mana, but i would try to fit as many as possible. Replace all your culture only buildings with them.

As for getting rid of your culture/pop buildings that would depend on how much you are dependent on them. Once you upgrade your houses if you have enough pop I would sell them if they are not current for the chapter you are in. When you unlock Woodelf Habitats they provide all 3 culture, pop and mana but they are big too

 

[Darielle]

During the orc chapter after you have made whatever upgrades that are available then it is possible to sell all your culture buildings to make room for more rally points and mushroom farms to quicken your progress through the chapter because in the next chapter you will start to need mana and you will end up having to build Weeping Willows or place event prizes that provide both mana production along with culture

So yes, you will always need culture, there is just a short window that you wont near the end of the orc chapter because of the introduction of a new game mechanic mana in the next chapter

Ah, I see. Thanks!

 

[Darielle]

Check all your event buildings that are currently giving you tier 3 goods, if you have any. Most of those will switch to giving mana instead of the goods if you use royal restorations to upgrade them to chapter 9. So if you have enough RRs from winning them in the tournament chests, and you have some chapter 8 buildings that are of this type, click on the upgrade tab and see what it shows. You may be able to upgrade and get mana right at the beginning of the chapter, instead of waiting til you can research and build mana buildings.

As for pop/culture buildings, I try to only keep the ones where the pop is equal or higher than the culture. Those are usually better than residences. But the ones that have a lot of culture and low pop are just not worth the space they take up. The ones from the Air Traders event that just ended are a good example of that. I did not even bother trying to win any of the pop/culture airships.

That sounds like a great idea. Now that I'm in a fellowship that has 10 chest push tourneys, I might be able to do that.

Btw, does anyone know if the Festival Merchant is a good mana building? I've got 5 hours to decide whether to snag it in the MA ... but since I'm still in Orcs I'd have to upgrade it when I get to Woodelves. Is it worth it?

 

[samidodamage]

Btw, does anyone know if the Festival Merchant is a good mana building?

It's the same mana production as Burning Pools and better mana/square than Weeping Willows, so I'd say yes. Willows have better culture, though. A strategy to consider: Pre-Woodelves, I kept guest race bldgs as temp storage for coins/supplies between chapters, selling them off as I needed the space for the next guest race buildings and used the extra coins/supplies to build the new ones. In Woodelves, as soon as I unlocked Willows, I sold off the guest race buildings and used the extra coins/supplies to put in as many Willows as I could. Then, as I needed the space for Woodelves settlement buildings, sold off the Willows using those coins/supplies to build the new guest race buildings. I still needed to keep as many Willows as possible outside of the settlement area, but it gave a good jump start to mana. I continued to do that between chapters with whatever the best regular mana producer was (arcane libraries are better than willows; torch fountains are better than libraries, etc). That sort of changed around Halflings with the introduction of seeds and also due to building the Dragon Abbey AW that provides 'mana on demand' at the end of S&D.

 

[Darielle]

It's the same mana production as Burning Pools and better mana/square than Weeping Willows, so I'd say yes. Willows have better culture, though. A strategy to consider: Pre-Woodelves, I kept guest race bldgs as temp storage for coins/supplies between chapters, selling them off as I needed the space for the next guest race buildings and used the extra coins/supplies to build the new ones. In Woodelves, as soon as I unlocked Willows, I sold off the guest race buildings and used the extra coins/supplies to put in as many Willows as I could. Then, as I needed the space for Woodelves settlement buildings, sold off the Willows using those coins/supplies to build the new guest race buildings. I still needed to keep as many Willows as possible outside of the settlement area, but it gave a good jump start to mana. I continued to do that between chapters with whatever the best regular mana producer was (arcane libraries are better than willows; torch fountains are better than libraries, etc). That sort of changed around Halflings with the introduction of seeds and also due to building the Dragon Abbey AW that provides 'mana on demand' at the end of S&D.

Thank you for the tips, Sami.

 

[SoulsSilhouette]

I think the strategy with the guest races will dictate what you delete and what you keep. I don't race through the chapters, so I keep my culture builds that exist in my city. On Khel, my big city, I don't build culture buildings from the building menu. I use the event builds. I only build when it's needed to satisfy a quest and then I delete it. I carry a lot of culture, so I never have to worry about that as I upgrade. I don't carry a lot of residences either because I like the pop builds from the events.

This is all a matter of HOW you choose to play. The gems site is great as a guide, but it isn't set in stone. I always read up on the upcoming chapter there, but in the end, I take what fits with my style of play.