To Bee or Not to Bee...

[crackie]

I've got a level 3 Blooming Traders Guild, but I'm never motivated to feed him more KPs. I originally built BTG because if there's no Spire going on, I make many trips to the wholesaler due to coin bar being full. My goods spending these days are pretty minimal though since I've switched to fighting the Lab. I don't have problems getting free trades from my FS to need to worry about Reduced Trade Fee. I understand in late chapters, there are some things you can't portal profit through and this is where a BTG would be helpful. However, I naturally chapter slowly and don't use portal profits anyway, except in Orcs for aesthetic reasons. There are points to be had for having a giant bee in my city for aesthetics as well and to save the bees or else everything dies and your city will turn into barren Orclands. So how big of a role does BTG play in late game or should I just sell it?

 

[SoggyShorts]

Sold my bee long ago, and I've always bought KP with coins. Excess supplies can be dumped by using timer boosts on barracks.
It's not a "bad" wonder, but I think you're correct that the KP to level it (and the penalty for AW levels) will be better spent on another wonder.

 

[Sir Squirrel]

I agree with Soggy. From the sounds of your post you think the same and are just worried it might come back and "sting" you later on, lol. I had it built in the lower chapters, (mostly for the trader fee and because it looks cool) upgraded it to 10 or so then sold it. Then rebuilt it again a month or two ago (to trade off my excess of scrolls) only to sell it again. It just is not worth it now with the AW's making the tourneys harder. If your a fighter you don't use a lot of goods and trading your coins for KP is a better use for them anyway IMO.

 

[Kekune]

On the flip side, I just built a bee for ch18. I never thought I needed one before, but the late-chapter grind is real. It's not so much that I'm in a hurry... but not having to struggle *quite* so hard to produce guest race goods will be nice. Plus, I'm scrolls-boosted so having cheaper wholesale access to crystal and silk is nice.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

Never get rid of your BTG if you plan on advancing through all the guest race chapters, especially chapter 12+. Before that, a good supply of portal profits can get you through, but that changes a lot in the late chapters. Now, if you plan on parking before then and never advancing, sure, it will have very limited use. Just like a lot of other AWs have little or no use to the hired killers who only play to destroy all those poor tournament and Spire enemies. lol

 

[crackie]

upgraded it to 10 or so then sold it.

@Sir Squirrel I enjoyed the “sting” pun, but grimaced at the thought of selling a wonder already at level 10!!! Eek! That's why I'm relying on you good forum people to prevent this from possibly happening...

On the flip side, I just built a bee for ch18. I never thought I needed one before, but the late-chapter grind is real. It's not so much that I'm in a hurry... but not having to struggle *quite* so hard to produce guest race goods will be nice. Plus, I'm scrolls-boosted so having cheaper wholesale access to crystal and silk is nice.

My other city is scroll boosted too and I think that would factor in considerably towards me keeping it. The city in question is crystal boosted though and I’m apparently surrounded by meth addicts so it’s not been hard getting regular goods. However, I’m not far along enough to know what my sentient/ascended goods situation will look like.

Well, so far that’s two compelling votes for the giant insect and two compelling votes against, and I am not closer to figuring out what I should do

 

[Dew Spinner]

@Sir Squirrel I enjoyed the “sting” pun, but grimaced at the thought of selling a wonder already at level 10!!! Eek! That's why I'm relying on you good forum people to prevent this from possibly happening...

My other city is scroll boosted too and I think that would factor in considerably towards me keeping it. The city in question is crystal boosted though and I’m apparently surrounded by meth addicts so it’s not been hard getting regular goods. However, I’m not far along enough to know what my sentient/ascended goods situation will look like.

Well, so far that’s two compelling votes for the giant insect and two compelling votes against, and I am not closer to figuring out what I should do

I think you need to decide whether or not you are going to "park" or keep going through the chapters before you make a decision about the Bee. From what I have read the Bee does not work on Ascended Goods.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

I think you need to decide whether or not you are going to "park" or keep going through the chapters before you make a decision about the Bee. From what I have read the Bee does not work on Ascended Goods.

The Bee does not work for any goods produced in factories. It helps with guest race goods production.

 

[Dew Spinner]

The Bee does not work for any goods produced in factories. It helps with guest race goods production.

I have read that it doesn't work on ascended goods at all in the Wholesaler. Is that true or not, because that would be a weighty issue in the decision to keep the Bee or not, if you decide to do higher chapters instead of Park your city at chapter15/beginning of chapter16..

 

[NightshadeCS]

Ascended goods are not guest race goods.

 

[Pheryll]

The bee does have a wholesaler effect that allows better goods exchanges. This effect does not work with merchants, and thus does not work for ascended goods. The guest race boost is a separate effect of the bee.

 

[Dew Spinner]

The bee does have a wholesaler effect that allows better goods exchanges. This effect does not work with merchants, and thus does not work for ascended goods. The guest race boost is a separate effect of the bee.

Yes, so you are losing half the benefit of the Bee but still taking the full penalty. That is why I said it would be a very important thing to consider when deciding whether to build it or not, depending if a player is going to continue through the chapters or Park.

 

[Kawhi is a Raptor]

i had mine at lvl 8 or 9 and turfed it then immediately rebuilt it but only kept it at lvl 1 for the 6% buff

 

[SoggyShorts]

i had mine at lvl 8 or 9 and turfed it then immediately rebuilt it but only kept it at lvl 1 for the 6% buff

This is another option too. At level 1 it already gives quite a bit of boost so you can use it for a bit and then trash it between chapters.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

I have read that it doesn't work on ascended goods at all in the Wholesaler. Is that true or not, because that would be a weighty issue in the decision to keep the Bee or not, if you decide to do higher chapters instead of Park your city at chapter15/beginning of chapter16..

There is no Wholesaler at all for Ascended goods. But a ton of chapter 18 research requires sentient goods.

 

[Darielle]

Strangely, I had one a few chapters ago and sold it, thinking it wasn't worth it. Now, In Amuni, I rebuilt it and have leveled it up. I have come to realize that I use the wholesaler far more than I used to, and the portal benefit helps me more now than it did before. I love my bee now and wouldn't think of parting with it.

I think it works great with Prosperity Towers and Golden Abyss. If you have both of them leveled up then you probably have an excess of coins/supplies and so the wholesaler is MUCH cheaper with a leveled up bee. (I think mine is at 12? something like that). If you don't have excess goods, you may not care as much. I do tend to cater about 1/3 to 1/2 the time, so perhaps that influences my need for goods, too, rather than just dumping those things into kp buys.

 

[Dew Spinner]

Strangely, I had one a few chapters ago and sold it, thinking it wasn't worth it. Now, In Amuni, I rebuilt it and have leveled it up. I have come to realize that I use the wholesaler far more than I used to, and the portal benefit helps me more now than it did before. I love my bee now and wouldn't think of parting with it.

I think it works great with Prosperity Towers and Golden Abyss. If you have both of them leveled up then you probably have an excess of coins/supplies and so the wholesaler is MUCH cheaper with a leveled up bee. (I think mine is at 12? something like that). If you don't have excess goods, you may not care as much. I do tend to cater about 1/3 to 1/2 the time, so perhaps that influences my need for goods, too, rather than just dumping those things into kp buys.

Also, there has been a significant change in game play since the new tournament changes. A lot of "older" players built all or most of the AWs and now advisable game play is not to do that, so the need for KP is Significantly less and it is easier to spend excess coins at the Wholesaler. I haul in MANY thousands of goods from the Wholesaler every week, I hit the Wholesaler, on average, 20 times a day and that covers most of my Upgrade costs, the handful of Spire negotiations I do, the handful of Tournament negotiations I do and almost totally negotiating World Map provinces. So for me the Bee is going to be Awesome, once I unlock it. And, as of now, I will be parking at chapter 15/beginning of chapter 16, so it won't lose half of it's benefit and still cost me the full penalty, but I still may decide to ditch it later on, only time will tell.

 

[Kekune]

Yes, so you are losing half the benefit of the Bee but still taking the full penalty.

You're not losing anything. It's still good for wholesale goods of other types. It doesn't apply to the new ascended goods, but they've got a whole different trading mechanic that, in a way, defeats the need for a wholesaler.

 

[Iyapo1]

@crackie
This wont help at all

I have a bee in both my scroll boosted cities and the farther it gets from level 12 the more I like it. I have not taken it through a guest race yet because I am sitting at the end of fairies leveling it. I imagine once I go through a chapter with the guest race boost I will probably build it in my crystal city just for the guest race benifit, it looks sweet! I think my highest one gives a 26% boost in guest race production...it will be at 39% when I go into orcs.

 

[Iyapo1]

And, as of now, I will be parking at chapter 15/beginning of chapter 16, so it won't lose half of it's benefit and still cost me the full penalty, but I still may decide to ditch it later on, only time will tell.

But if you park for a long time you loose the guest race benifit. It all comes down to game plan. I am not building a tourney killer so the negative impact of 30 extra wonder levels to tournament/spire is workable. But I am building a catering city so I will need all the seeds I can get my hands on. For me the benifits of extra wonder levels outweigh the drawbacks.