started a new city

[Henroo]

I had been considering the idea of starting a new city for awhile because I had never played the early chapters under the current tech tree. When the AW update hit, my first reaction was that I will never do it. But after further thought, I decided to try it. Mainly as an experiment. We are all pretty sure it will now be harder for new players to build and level AWs. How much harder? I understand the game very well, know in advance what it will take to build and level AWs, play daily, and I also have 3 chapter 21 cities on the same account winning diamonds weekly in the spire. As a test case for a brand new city, I am basically the best possible case. To put it bluntly: if *I* severely struggle to build and level AWs in a totally new city then it will be nearly impossible for a totally new, inexperienced player to do so. In addition to the AW question, I am curious how quickly I can advance through chapters. So I am also making a speed run.

I started my new city on the night of Jan 19th, so as of right now it is one week old. I hit chapter 3 about a day ago. Ch 1 took roughly 36 hours (I started at night. I think if I started in the morning I could have done it in a single day). Ch 2 took roughly 4 days. I already had 2 human cities and 1 elven city. So I chose elves for the new city. This will give me 2 of each. My new city is in Sinya Arda.

So far I have not been outrageous in my diamond spending for the new city. I did go ahead and buy 1* premium expansions. It was just so cheap compared to the ones in my big, established cities that I could not resist. And I bought a 3rd builder. But so far, that is it. If I see a sale for premium expansions I probably will splurge. But until then I'll be patient.

Perhaps my biggest strategic decision so far in the new city is to delay building the magic academy. You unlock it near the end of chapter 1. And the questline steers you toward building it. But honestly, I consider it useless until you have the tournament as a weekly source of relics. Without the tournament, you can't make CCs or other enchantments constantly in the MA. You will run out of relics. As far as crafting, that does not even unlock until ch 3. But crafting really does not become a very good option until you unlock the Spire in ch 5. If it were up to me, I would not build the Magic Academy until I had unlocked the spire in ch 5. Given all this and considering how big it is (5x5) it did not make much sense to plop down a huge building which occupies an entire expansion in my brand new baby city!

However, a new season has just started. And a new event is going to start fairly soon. It is very possible that these might force me to build the magic academy sooner than I would prefer. For example: if you get a quest that wants you to gain spell fragments you are dead in the water if you do not have the magic academy. I mean, a ch 5 player with the spire might be able to do the quest by winning frags in the spire. I won't be that far along when the event starts. So disenchanting will be my only possible option to do a spell fragment quest. And that requires you to have a magic academy.

That is about all for now. I do plan to post regular updates to this thread about how my new city is doing and how it is progressing if you want to follow along.

*edit: When I first wrote this I said I had purchased 2 premium expansions. I rechecked it and my next premium expansion only costs 750 diamonds. Which is the cost of premium expansion #2. Therefore, I was wrong. I only bought 1 premium expansion. I have changed the text to reflect this.

 

[Myne]

absolutely I will. I am interested in your opinion on that new tech tree. I am not a fan, but want to see what you think.

 

[iamthouth]

Will follow too. I have a Ch6 beta city. I had originally planned to hold back, level each wonder to max, before progressing. But with the wonder changes, I don't see how. I can't upgrade wonders without spell fragments, and I can't go far enough in spire beyond the first 4-8 chests. So I earn some spell fragments, but it would be a very long slog.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

I don't see you say it outright, but did you only make a new city on your current account or a brand-new account with a new city?

 

[Henroo]

I don't see you say it outright, but did you only make a new city on your current account or a brand-new account with a new city?

Current account. I do realize I could stay in the same world as my established cities if I started a new account. But a brand new account would involve too much logging in and logging out to switch cities. I would much rather have a new city in a different world and be able to switch from 1 city to the other without logging in or out.

 

[Henroo]

Something else I have noticed is that the hobby room and the ads seem to be much more useful to a low chapter city than to a high chapter city. In my chapter 21 cities, I rarely use it. Being at the end of the game, I really don't need any boost in resource production. In my new city, I am constantly using the hobby room to boost gold production. The ad that pops up around the edge of the city every 3 hours is also much more useful in my baby city. Especially when it gives goods: for low chapter cities the amount of goods you get for watching the ad is meaningful. Finally, I have discovered that there is an ad option in the tech tree. You watch a brief ad and you get a free knowledge point towards a technology. It appears you can do this 4 times in a 23 hour period.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

Current account. I do realize I could stay in the same world as my established cities if I started a new account. But a brand new account would involve too much logging in and logging out to switch cities. I would much rather have a new city in a different world and be able to switch from 1 city to the other without logging in or out.

I was not sure, since you talked about spending diamonds that an actual new account would not have, unless they spent money to buy them.

 

[Henroo]

I was not sure, since you talked about spending diamonds that an actual new account would not have, unless they spent money to buy them.

I think you get 100 diamonds when you start a new city. At least you used to. I forgot to check my diamond total before starting the new city, so I am not sure if this is still the case. I am also not sure if a completely brand new player would get this amount or if they would get more. Some of the early game quests give diamonds. I would say I have won a few hundred so far. However, you are correct that I used diamonds from my existing account. Without them, I could not have gotten a 3rd builder and 2 expansions without spending money.

 

[BrinDarby]

Someone never playing before won't have those
diamonds. A true test would be no diamond use
till that city earned some organically.... or is your
test to mirror a creditcard warrior who buys diamonds ??

 

[Henroo]

Someone never playing before won't have those
diamonds. A true test would be no diamond use
till that city earned some organically.... or is your
test to mirror a creditcard warrior who buys diamonds ??

I have not used that many. 1 premium expansion (450 diamonds) and 1 builder (500 diamonds). So 950 total. And a new player WOULD have some of them. You start the game with some diamonds. And some of the early quests now reward diamonds. I am relatively certain that by chapter 3 a new player would have won enough free diamonds to get either the builder or the expansion. I am not sure about both, I have not kept track exactly how many diamonds the quests are awarding.

 

[BrinDarby]

Yeah @Henroo , I'm not sure how much newbs actually get.
1 PE isn't so bad, but I do think they can afford the builder.
My cities ( none started after new tree came out, 3 were
force migrated to CH5 ) didn't really start spending diamonds
untill I got into the Spire and had earned some.

I will follow along just for your observations, but knowing so
many pitfalls, you will have a much easier time than a true Newb.
Anyone who has mult cities has gone thru this. Most won't know
to skip MA for a bit, and thats a chunk of land... lolol

I'll assume another goal you have is to be CH5 with cauldron,
before the next event starts, just for event task headaches.

 

[Henroo]

Another observation I have is that the season is benefiting my new city much more than my established cities. I have not placed a single building from the season in any of my established cities. But I have placed 2 in the new city. Voice of the Prophet is giving me some culture and population. But more importantly, it is making sorceress units for me before I have gotten to the tech advance for them. And the Wood Elf Ship is far better than any culture building I can make yet. It's 4x3 and gives 240 population and 480 culture. By comparison, the best culture building I can currently make is Spot of Whispering Trees. It's also 4x3, but gives no population and only 400 culture.

 

[BrinDarby]

And Seasons is soooo long, alot of speedy newbs can end
up getting everything in there CH5 and saving alot of RRs.
Alot are pop/culture and yes far better than you can build.

 

[Henroo]

I'll assume another goal you have is to be CH5 with cauldron,
before the next event starts, just for event task headaches.

The magic academy will help with some of the event quests. But I would say a more important goal is to get to the tournament tech advance in chapter 4. Without the tournament, I am going to be solely reliant on map provinces for any quest that wants me to do encounters. And also for any quest that wants me to gain relics. And the tournament can sometimes fulfill a quest that wants you to gain an enchantment. The varies based on exactly how the quest is worded. Sometimes the quest requires you to actually make the enchantment, but other times winning one is good enough.

 

[JackofShadows]

A new player would absolutely not have the diamonds to get both an expansion and a third builder unless they purchased some. I believe they start with 100 and get, perhaps, another 200 - 300 via early quests.

Interested to see how this plays out.

 

[Glandeh]

New cities using the same account do not get diamonds for at the start of the game. Pity, it would be a good way to get even with the devs (but all worlds would be flooded by new abandoned cities).
You get 50 diamonds if you complete the quests to get 10 residences and 5 workshops.

 

[Myne]

My small city is just entering chapter 11. This is going to be a slow slog. The need for seeds is going to be painful. I don't dare spend my precious RRs to upgrade the buildings that will produce seeds because I have a strong need to work on troop production which means I need my RRs for the wonders. Be warned.

 

[BrinDarby]

Another observation I have is that the season is benefiting my new city much more than my established cities. I have not placed a single building from the season in any of my established cities.

As a city progresses, more event bldgs are gained and since Seasons
offers alot of event bldgs, mainly pop/culture or culture only, that
are always better than built bldgs, culture wise. Established cities
have done a few events or many, and already have such bldgs if
thier city need'd them, so Seasons to them isn't as helpfull and alot
of ppl just load up on troop instants and bulk goods, or just save
the bldgs for frag material.

3 months for seasons also means max benefit to players moving
thru chapters quickly. It a player can resist, most of Seasons can be
CH5 min, even for that true newb. Minimal RRs need'd really.

 

[Henroo]

Advancement has slowed quite a bit this weekend. There is an event coming up and I realized I am still at least a week away from unlocking the tournament. Therefore, I quit doing map provinces Thursday. I am still scouting them, but I am leaving them unfinished. That way I will have a lot of open provinces ready to go when the event starts. They will be my only way to do quests which 1. want me to complete encounters or 2. want me to collect relics. Not doing any map provinces has severely slowed down the rate at which I can gain knowledge points and unlock tech advances.
But this pause might turn out to be a blessing in disguise. By not doing any catering the last 2 days, I have been able to focus all gold, supplies, and goods on doing building upgrades. I had been falling behind on these, but now I am nearly caught up. And by not doing any fighting the last 2 days, I have actually started to accumulate a small army. I think when the event starts on Monday and I resume doing provinces for quests, I'll be able to put on a burst of speed and start advancing quickly again.

 

[Honeybubbles]

I started my new city on the night of Jan 19th, so as of right now it is one week old. I hit chapter 3 about a day ago. Ch 1 took roughly 36 hours (I started at night. I think if I started in the morning I could have done it in a single day). Ch 2 took roughly 4 days. I already had 2 human cities and 1 elven city. So I chose elves for the new city. This will give me 2 of each. My new city is in Sinya Arda.

So far I have not been outrageous in my diamond spending for the new city. I did go ahead and buy 1* premium expansions. It was just so cheap compared to the ones in my big, established cities that I could not resist. And I bought a 3rd builder. But so far, that is it. If I see a sale for premium expansions I probably will splurge. But until then I'll be patient.

Oh my goddess! What courage!
And yes, infinite patience and/or a fat credit card will be needed on this adventure....hahahaha....