Is it possible to not fight?

[Greensquared]

I apologize if someone has asked this before. I tried to search the forum but my search terms are too common.

My question is this: Is it possible to play this game well without fighting? Could I delete most of my military buildings and AWs, replace them with more factories, and negotiate everything? I know I would need to keep the barracks for troop quests, and an armory or two for negotiating with orcs, but would it be possible otherwise? I know people who fight almost exclusively. Is it possible to flip it and negotiate almost exclusively? I find no joy in the fighting aspect.

 

[Swordkin]

I would say it is highly possible. i think most people cater their way through most encounters

 

[DeletedUser30612]

Yes, it’s possible…barracks once you have it you shouldn’t delete since you can never rebuild it. I just started a new account on live to go without barracks I’ll put down the training grounds and a couple armories for quests once I reach the research for it. Early game the barracks grows way to big.

 

[Zoof]

I apologize if someone has asked this before. I tried to search the forum but my search terms are too common.

My question is this: Is it possible to play this game well without fighting? Could I delete most of my military buildings and AWs, replace them with more factories, and negotiate everything? I know I would need to keep the barracks for troop quests, and an armory or two for negotiating with orcs, but would it be possible otherwise? I know people who fight almost exclusively. Is it possible to flip it and negotiate almost exclusively? I find no joy in the fighting aspect.

There's people who have experimented with a cater-only city and I've heard of some great successes here. At the moment, it is possible to skip out on building the barracks and any other military building by either declining the quest (if it's optional), and/or waiting until you've arrived in the next chapter proper (by completing the new chapter's first research, usually Advanced Scouts) to make the mandatory quests for the prior chapter declinable, then declining them. Doing that nets you more room, population, and culture to do things like cram more manufactories and workshops so you can cater harder.

It also helps to be in an established and supportive fellowship. Check out the highest ranked fellowships on your server and work your way down while reading through all their descriptions until you find one that meets your needs and goals, then look at their fellowship using ElvenStats to find out their activity level and other fun details, then shooting an in-game mail to their recruiting officer (if mentioned in the description) or their Archmage (fellowship rank indicating that they run the whole shebang) in addition to applying to their fellowship.

EDIT: As has mentioned before I was able to finish making the post, the barracks, along with a few select other buildings (Magic Academy, Main Hall, Builder's Hut, Trader) cannot be removed from your city once built. It's like an incurable disease for caterers: Once you catch the case of the barracks, it'll never go away. The only way is to never catch it in the first place. No, goggles masks will do nothing here

 

[Greensquared]

Thanks for all of the info. I am in Chapter 10, so my barracks is already pretty big. I don't mind keeping it and fighting the first couple of easy rounds. I know I'll need orcs to cater, so I'm thinking of keeping one armory for now with my orc nests. I can get rid of 3 armories, the training grounds and mercenary camp, plus AWs that are geared for troops. I figure that will give me decent space and population for more factories. I'm in an awesome FS that is supportive if this is the way I choose to go, so that's not a problem.

 

[Lelanya]

I have met many players who catered until sentient level era, and then learned how to fight. I would advise you to teleport armories rather than sell them, and think carefully before selling Training Grounds or Mercenary Camp.

Some folks do cater into endgame but they are often players.

 

[crackie]

I think a caveat should be added regarding how much Spire or Tourney one plans to do. That question will probably drive the answer and it will differ from player to player. For example if one chooses to do none of those, then there's only map provinces to contend with and you can do that more or less at your own pace with plenty of time to wait on enough goods to cater. If you're doing Spire/tourney, they're on weekly schedules. Are you doing 500pts in tourney? 5000pts? Only Gateway in Spire? Entire Spire? Then it becomes a ticking clock to make enough goods in time, and yes, things get trickier once you get futher along and need to juggle things like sentients because those require very high level factories to produce those goods, which also means a ton of population to support them. Real estate is of course, the most precious commodity in the game (unless you make Elvenar PR videos).

 

[Greensquared]

I think a caveat should be added regarding how much Spire or Tourney one plans to do. That question will probably drive the answer and it will differ from player to player. For example if one chooses to do none of those, then there's only map provinces to contend with and you can do that more or less at your own pace with plenty of time to wait on enough goods to cater. If you're doing Spire/tourney, they're on weekly schedules. Are you doing 500pts in tourney? 5000pts? Only Gateway in Spire? Entire Spire? Then it becomes a ticking clock to make enough goods in time, and yes, things get trickier once you get futher along and need to juggle things like sentients because those require very high level factories to produce those goods, which also means a ton of population to support them. Real estate is of course, the most precious commodity in the game (unless you make Elvenar PR videos).

I currently get to the lab in the spire, but only fight the first 5 or 6 people. I typically do around 2000-3000 in the tourney, and usually fight the first 10 provinces only. My goal is to complete the spire weekly, and at least maintain what I'm doing in the tournament. The biggest issue I can currently see is population, as you mentioned.

 

[Henroo]

Yes, it’s possible…barracks once you have it you shouldn’t delete since you can never rebuild it. I just started a new account on live to go without barracks I’ll put down the training grounds and a couple armories for quests once I reach the research for it. Early game the barracks grows way to big.

Unless they have changed things, it is impossible to delete the barracks once it is placed. There are some abandoned cities on the world map where the player sold off everything possible when they quit. But these ghost cities always have Main Hall, Barracks, Builder's Hut, Trader, and Magic Academy still in them even though everything else is gone. Those buildings are nuke proof!

 

[Greensquared]

Unless they have changed things, it is impossible to delete the barracks once it is placed. There are some abandoned cities on the world map where the player sold off everything possible when they quit. But these ghost cities always have Main Hall, Barracks, Builder's Hut, Trader, and Magic Academy still in them even though everything else is gone. Those buildings are nuke proof!

Yep, I did that once. lol. Had to rebuild from scratch.

 

[Iyapo1]

Is it possible to flip it and negotiate almost exclusively?

I cater almost exclusively and you are a chapter ahead of me but one issue to consider; Orcs. If you are going to dump armories you need several orcs nests to replace the production of one armory. The Echos of the Forgotten is a great orc producer if you have it.

 

[Myne]

I have a city where I cater exclusively.

 

[Greensquared]

I cater almost exclusively and you are a chapter ahead of me but one issue to consider; Orcs. If you are going to dump armories you need several orcs nests to replace the production of one armory. The Echos of the Forgotten is a great orc producer if you have it.

Good to know. Thanks!

 

[Greensquared]

I have a city where I cater exclusively.

What chapter are you in?

 

[Myne]

What chapter are you in?

Just entering 4

 

[Lemon Wren]

I was 100% positive I would cater only because I didn't want a hint of fighting and now here I am, climbing the Spire to the top weekly, and slowly but steadily shifting my city to fighting. And now my smaller cities are making the shift earlier while my newest baby city is being built from the get go with an eye on being a fighting city down the road.

It's just so much easier to fight in the spire once your troops are three stars because you can plan what you need (how many troops, how many boosts) as opposed to guessing at catering, which has an element of rng to it (and I say this as someone who is quite good at catering, since there's a certain level of likelihoods to it). Especially the lab portion of the spire with all the extra spirits you have to contend with every round. And, of course, by the time you've placed troop boosts for the spire, it makes tournies even easier because you can fight further, saving more goods for later rounds.

Anyway, I know this isn't what you asked, but as someone who was definitely in your shoes, this is what I experienced and how it turned out.

ETA: I auto fight every fight because I hate fighting and it's faster anyway.

 

[crackie]

And now my smaller cities are making the shift earlier while my newest baby city is being built from the get go with an eye on being a fighting city down the road.

In my second city, I catered exclusively in the beginning chapters as well, knowing I was actually building a fighting city. This was so I can save all my buff buildings and Pet Foods for when my city was ready to rock n roll on the pew pew front. I did the entire Spire and around 18 provinces to 6* and then converted to full fighting in Orcs. I had a ton of factories but at the same time, I wasn’t as hardcore about catering as others that skipped all the military buildings. Since I knew I would eventually be fighting, I want to be making troops as early as I can to train as many as I can. I also was simultaneously testing the theory to see if I can overcome early game troop production woes by pushing my Needles to lvl 30 right away. Turns out, the answer is no because the early armories are too wimpy to support it. You will just run out of room on armories. I had I think 8 fully upgraded fairy-level armories. A cater only city with 8 armories is not the norm. There are def ways to trim the fat if this were truly a cater only city. I think I prob could do 20 provinces to 6* and full Spire before I ran into sustainability trouble. So I think you can go pretty far catering, but I didn’t have the most efficient cater-only city and I also converted before Orcs and special resources like seeds, mana, and sentiments came into play. Yeah because it’s easier to just fight it by then versus having to juggle them all. (Also that was about when my Bulwark was leveled up enough for me to start storing armorymania away. With introduction of Runes for KPs, I’d be able to convert to fighting sooner now.)

 

[Alram]

Which chapter do catering cities tank in?

 

[Greensquared]

I was 100% positive I would cater only because I didn't want a hint of fighting and now here I am, climbing the Spire to the top weekly, and slowly but steadily shifting my city to fighting. And now my smaller cities are making the shift earlier while my newest baby city is being built from the get go with an eye on being a fighting city down the road.

It's just so much easier to fight in the spire once your troops are three stars because you can plan what you need (how many troops, how many boosts) as opposed to guessing at catering, which has an element of rng to it (and I say this as someone who is quite good at catering, since there's a certain level of likelihoods to it). Especially the lab portion of the spire with all the extra spirits you have to contend with every round. And, of course, by the time you've placed troop boosts for the spire, it makes tournies even easier because you can fight further, saving more goods for later rounds.

Anyway, I know this isn't what you asked, but as someone who was definitely in your shoes, this is what I experienced and how it turned out.

ETA: I auto fight every fight because I hate fighting and it's faster anyway.

Yep, not really what I asked, but I appreciate your experience. I am near the end of chapter 10 and have catered about 75% of everything, if not more. I am making a switch to about 90% catering. I know a little bit of fighting makes sense and that I'll have to add more factories and move a little slower to make it work. After dealing with fighting for this long, never having enough supplies or troops anyway, and taking up tons of space with military buildings and AWs, I just don't want to do it anymore.

 

[Yavimaya]

@Greensquared that's the amazing thing about this game, is that we can adjust it to whatever style we wish to play it as. I love it! So, on this forum I have actually seen people claim that they only cater... so I would say it is possible. Not sure what chapter they are all in or if that matters. I will say sometimes there might be a special quest or event quest where it wants you to fight but that would be optional I'm guessing?