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    Your Elvenar Team

Spire Difficulty

Does anyone have a precise science for all the things that determine Spire difficulty? Obviously I'd like Spire to be as easy as possible. I've heard even the AW levels can make it harder so I know there's a lot of variables.
 

MaidenFair

Chef - Head Philologist
Does anyone have a precise science for all the things that determine Spire difficulty? Obviously I'd like Spire to be as easy as possible. I've heard even the AW levels can make it harder so I know there's a lot of variables.
Short answer: no, no one knows precisely.

Short-ish answer: after collating huge amounts of data, a player a few years ago came up with the discovery that the factors which affected Spire and tournament difficulty were number of expansions placed (premium have slightly less effect than regular), relic boost percentage (tops out at 700%), number of technologies researched in the tech tree (optional researches have no effect), and number of wonder levels. Obviously, of those, the only one you can "undo" is number of wonder levels.

Long answer: this is the math on which the above conclusions are based. Most of the factors are variables, meaning they differ depending on how your other numbers stack up, and can't be quantified in a neat package. Some players think that the formula must have been tweaked ever so slightly since MinMax Gamer did his analysis in 2020, because things are marginally cheaper for them now than his model suggests they should be. Personally, it still seems accurate for my numbers, last I checked.
 

crackie

Chef, Scroll-Keeper, Buddy's #1 Fan
Does anyone have a precise science for all the things that determine Spire difficulty? Obviously I'd like Spire to be as easy as possible. I've heard even the AW levels can make it harder so I know there's a lot of variables.
Most people’s relic boost is maxed so that one is usually not talked about. Wonder levels do increase it, but of all the variables involved, it does affect it the least. Or should I say, it takes a lot of wonders to jump. As long as you are mindful of which ones you build and don’t build them all, you’ll probably be alright. Wonder variable also affects those people doing a significant amount of tourney. They feel it a lot more than casual players not really hitting the higher provinces.
 

Henroo

Oh Wise One
Most people’s relic boost is maxed so that one is usually not talked about. .
Back when the tournaments only gave 1 kind of relic, there actually was a little used, experimental strategy a few players used to exploit this. Essentially, they never did the 3 tournaments that gave their boosted relics. And if they got those relics some other way, they would use them to upgrade Ancient wonders. Basically they deliberately held their relic boost as low as possible.
I never tried it myself, but from what I heard it worked best for combat players. Apparently with little relic boost the tournament and spire were absurdly cheap in terms of the number of troops needed. It is all a moot point and part of Elvenar history now: since they changed tournaments so that the tournament encounters now give a variety of relics this strategy is now impossible.
 
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