Upgrade to Max

[Sidera]

Add an option that upgrades to your maximum level - costs ALL the resources and ALL the time (possibly even costs MORE because you're getting a bonus of shape/size), but gets you a building that fits the slot you have available.

 

[samidodamage]

As you flesh out your ideas to get them in the necessary form for going to a poll and then to be forwarded to the devs, you might want to review this post that is below the 'Ideas & Suggestions Guide' post. Both posts in that thread were made when we were given a path to the devs for suggestions/ideas for the first time this past March:
https://us.forum.elvenar.com/index.php?threads/ideas-and-suggestion-forum-guide.22171/post-170980

 

[Sidera]

Thank you. I have reviewed it, and this suggestion is NOT on their 'won't do' list, and meets the requirements listed. Were you thinking this needs more information?

 

[Chriger]

Rotating Buildings - For starters, this ability will take away from the essence of the game. Can you imagine how easy the game will become if we can simply rotate the buildings' like puzzle pieces to fit as we wish? Additionally, design-wise, it is not possible making this a definite No.

To me, the suggestion falls under this "won't do" list. Essentially it'd take away all the planning/coordination needed to move/rotate buildings when upgrading a building from scratch.

 

[samidodamage]

Agree with @Chriger that this is similar to the Rotating Bldgs situation in that it removes the core 'tetris-like' component that is intended to be a major part of the game.

 

[Risen Malchiah]

I don't view this as a "rotating building" situation. Instead, I'd view this as a nice feature that would mostly benefit players in sentient-goods chapters. Leveling up a new factory all the way to 24 is tedious, mostly because it has to be done in 24 segments of varying durations. If players are willing to tie up a builder for 200+ hours for it to level all in one stretch (perhaps without the benefit of the visited builder bonus), and if they have all the necessary resources & population to meet all the requirements, I think this could be quite useful.

The only downside I see is that this might take a lot of work to code into the game for something that primarily benefits more advanced players who have the space, resources and use for such a feature.

 

[samidodamage]

@Risen Malchiah
Your post provided the extra information I needed to understand the original suggestion, thanks!
The issue I had with the OP's suggestion is this portion:

but gets you a building that fits the slot you have available.

My brain got stuck there and I didn't process exactly how it would work.
@Sidera
My apologies.

 

[Steelhail]

Leveling up a new factory all the way to 24 is tedious, mostly because it has to be done in 24 segments of varying durations... If players are willing to tie up a builder for 200+ hours for it to level all in one stretch (perhaps without the benefit of the visited builder bonus), and if they have all the necessary resources & population to meet all the requirements, I think this could be quite useful.

The only downside I see is that this might take a lot of work to code into the game for something that primarily benefits more advanced players who have the space, resources and use for such a feature.

An additional coding challenge might be that you often would need to use supply/gold instants to raise a building to its max (e.g., even at full main hall, I couldn't raise my level 33 armory directly to a level 37 armory). I'm wondering how instants could be factored in (pay them up front? Wait in a queue? You can only build up to what resources are already directly in the town hall?).

To be honest, even though I'd find this a really nice way to avoid the frustration of changing sizes and building times, designers might think you can already get to your goal by using a combination of 1.timer instants, 2.teleport building out of the way to make room for the changing building sizes, and 3.supply/gold instants. They might see the current frustration as part of the challenge or as added incentive to play the spire (to get the instants and teleportation spell).

 

[michmarc]

Specifically, the fact that buildings change size as you go up ever few levels. If I wanted to grow a new (elven) L31 residence (4x4), it isn't enough to find a 4x4 space for it because I have to deal with the 5x3 size that residences are between L24-27. Other buildings undergo even more extreme gyrations.

Since space management and dealing with odd and ever changing building shapes is one of the core elements of the game, I can't even see them letting you bypass this. [Maybe, maybe an option to do multiple upgrades where every new level is the same size: So given a L23 4x3 residence, you could upgrade directly to L27 (placing it into a 5x3 hole during upgrade). When it's done, do another upgrade to L31 (in a 4x4 spot). But the build times are long enough that I don't see a lot of value in batching four 18h upgrades into a single 72h upgrade. And how often do you really build an entirely new building? Not that often in the grand scheme of things.]

 

[Yogi Dave]

Hmmmm, I'd have to pass on this one. While frustrating, growing a building through the twist and turns moving from level one to your current level is one of the core tenants of the game. It takes space management which requires planning. I've done this many times over the years. Yes, this would make it easier in limited cases, but don't think it will as useful as you think, especially if it only takes the building to the max. It also will probably add a good bit of complications to the code. So, is it worth the devs efforts to implement this feature? Putting that aside, here are a couple of basic problems.

• So many upgrades require coins and supplies. You would need more than your MH could hold to upgrade a level one building to the maximum level. It probably can only help if only a few levels are left. So you would have to upgrade it many times through those twist and turns you wish to avoid. If you change your idea to just jump to a specific level, that means a more complex selection method than the new one already required to be added for this idea. And you may end up having to stop at one of those awkward shapes anyway.
• If decay type goods are needed, you might have to accumulate more than is possible due to your decay rate. That also limits when it could be used.
• How many times a year do you realistically think a person would use this? I think it is small, maybe once, twice or none given the first two problems I've listed. If it's not used often, then the dev's effort would need to be very low to justify implementing it.
• What if you started the big build and decided to end it? Would it stop where that amount of time would put it or go back to the level when started? I guess it has to go all the way back because of shape changes. Would you get all the goods, coin, hammers, etc. back? If there are sentient goods, mana, or seeds involved, would they suffer a decay? If you get them all back, you could start a big build that will take days, collect more of the decay goods during that time and cancel that build getting those goods back without decay. That'd be an exploit on goods decay. So, decay has to be figured in. What happens if you upgraded an AW that affects decay during that time? If it uses the decay rate when you cancel, there is again an exploit, although it's very small and with a short window of time.

I think there are too many obstacles to overcome with this idea for something that will not be used very often, especially since it circumvents one of the core challenges of this game. Some of the issues I've mentioned need to be addressed before a poll could be started. Which leads to, would the code effort be worth the benefit? I don't think it could be justified as progressing the game in a meaningful way for most players.

 

[Evening Star Selene]

I agree with the listed problems by Yogi Dave. I know there is no way as a small player that I could store enough supplies, besides the fact that I might as well use those to upgrade in little chunks. Basically, the amount of time it would take to hoard those resources would have been better spent just slowly building up the factories. Unless you spent actual money, which seems to me to be a rather unfair advantage, as some us simply don't wish to be spending money on a game. I personally enjoy seeing each new upgrade too, how the building gradually appears more refined.

 

[Yogi Dave]

@Sidera Welcome to the forum. It's always good to see new people adding to the forum, to work toward making the game better. There's a lot to be learned from many people here and a good bit of fun too.