I was away for a while (right after the 3 Phoenixes event) up until just when the Owl one started. So i found some changes in the game. I was wondering what was up in the tournament, them asking for so many troops on rounds 15-20 already. I was never able to push past 24 provinces, 2 rounds from 12 to 24. And nothing has changed for me.
Now, of course it seems i missed out on major event giveaways that would help me push further or higher stars per province, namely the bears.
But the main thing is, I may not be able to farm KP as much, but this gets offset with my guild getting 14-15 chests. For me thats way better because we can farm a much better prize than KP, the RR's. Only plac.e to get them, and now we can get more of them. And this ties in with something-else i have found...
The coming of the spire changed a lot for my city, which is in constant need of supplies. I had to raise my workshops to much higher levels, as relying on quest-flipping just doesnt work anymore. This has led me to rethink things.
Ok so expansions, wonders and research affect us now, right? This means that real estate has become even more valuable than before. No wasting of space! Optimization is key. So the object now is to get rid of wonders to replace them by event buildings, and to get rid of houses and workshops to replace them by magic ones.
So farm spire, get diamonds, buy magic buildings, save space with which to maybe place an extra workshop or factory, or whatever resources you're scrambling most with. With rest of diamonds, complete events, maybe save a bunch of diamonds to get a 2nd prize if its worth it...
Expansions for diamonds only to be bought if your city can be managed easily with careless catering (if thats your thing) or if troops training can be done without a sweat. Then expand. Of course i'm already at the 6500 diamonds expansion, so i have a few already, but more right now isnt worth it, not unless all my houses/workshops are magic ones. 6500/1400 = almost 5 magic buildings for the price of a 5x5 grid. 5 magic buildings means i can delete 8 normal ones. 3 saved buildings x (about) 18 squares = 54 >= 25. So for now, saving space with magic buildings is more efficient than buying expansions.
Even if you cant evo them cuz your guild doesnt reach the famous blueprint chest doesnt matter. Your magic buildings are 2 chapters ahead of normal ones.. You can just replace them with more diamonds if need be. (teleport old ones, in case you do get a BP at one point)
Maybe thats their wish, to make the event buildings more powerful than the wonders? If thats so, mission accomplished.
Why have a tome level 11 when you can have an evoed level 10 event building giving 2KP, resources, population, culture, and supplies on top and which never affects the costs of running spire/tourney?
I think its a shame though... those level 10's are 9 "easy clicks" to evo (ya i know, you still have to complete event, but still), compared to months of work to get a wonder to 11, and years to 30
So, conclusion is, the new system forces us to adorn our towns with diamonds-bought buildings. With events you can get 1 for free, but with diamonds you can get another.
So have a system in which you farm diamonds slowly but surely, then spend wisely.