Upgrading homes... pointless?

[DeletedUser]

I'm new to the game so maybe there's some benefit down the road that I'm unaware of, but has anyone else noticed the lack of usefulness of upgrading your houses? You lose both coins and production by upgrading. Did anyone do the math before making this plan in the game play??

My houses are currently at levels 2-3. Those at lvl 3 I was just about to start leveling up to 4 when I realized these take more room. Okay... so houses at level 3 allows for 4 houses per expansion plot, which will produce 890 coins and house 40 elves each = 3560 coins & 160 population per expansion plot.
At level 4 you need more space so you can only fit 2 houses on an expansion plot and they produce 1700 coins & house 68 elves each = 3400 coins & 132 population per expansion plot.

So "upgrading" makes you LOSE 160 coins & 28 population per plot? Um... what??

Does anyone just stop then at level 3 to keep the higher pay off?

 

[DeletedUser828]

No....you gain population with each upgrade. If you Click the Upgrade Tab it tells you everything it takes to upgrade, on housing population is not one of them.
If you choose to stay at level three, you will bring your city to a standstill. You will not be able to upgrade your other buildings which take population to build and to upgrade. Basically you will be wasting your time playing a game that you are resistant to grow. By Upgrading, you earn more than what you are calculating in losing. But it's your game play it how you like.

 

[DeletedUser511]

Of course it isnt pointless. I havnt found a building that upgrading was pointless yet.

 

[Deleted User - 107391]

I'm new to the game ...

Does anyone just stop then at level 3 to keep the higher pay off?

As noted by others, it is necessary. Always upgrade your houses as far as they can go. Then upgrade your workshops as far as they can go. These provide your basic resources of money, labor, and supplies. Both the money and the labor come from your populations, which is accommodated by the houses.

How new are you? If you're *really* new, I suggest you build 12 houses and 6 workshops, then max your town as far as you can go with those.

Make sure you are collecting coins from your neighbors on your map. This will help with the money.

Join a Fellowship. Other members should be able to help guide you.

 

[DeletedUser]

I am really new, only a few weeks in. And if it is needed I will upgrade then, but no one has addressed the mathematical fact that you LOSE population and coins, not gain it, but upgrading.

No....you gain population with each upgrade. If you Click the Upgrade Tab it tells you everything it takes to upgrade, on housing population is not one of them.
If you choose to stay at level three, you will bring your city to a standstill. You will not be able to upgrade your other buildings which take population to build and to upgrade. Basically you will be wasting your time playing a game that you are resistant to grow. By Upgrading, you earn more than what you are calculating in losing. But it's your game play it how you like.

Yes, I know it tells you you get higher population, but since it takes up more room, by the math, you actually LOSE, not gain.

PS - slightly off topic, but I see this as a pattern in this game. It's like with goods: If you choose the higher times, which seem to produce more goods, but do the math, you actually gain substantially more goods if you keep choosing the lowest amount of time possible (5 minutes) because 5/60 = 30 rounds of production * 8 goods = 240 goods per hour, but the actual 'hour' choice for production only produces 74 goods (this is at lvl 3).

(MissAnthropy merged three adjacent posts.)

 

[DeletedUser68]

The shorter cycle times yield more goods per minute because you have to fiddle with them more. You can't simply multiply to get the differences between cycle times, because you're not going to hit the mark every time; in fact you may be off running an errand, cooking dinner, at work, or something else that's equally inconvenient.

Regarding upgrades, you pretty much don't have any choice because otherwise you won't be able to generate enough Workers, Supplies, Culture, Goods, nor Troops in the amount of space that's available. The same reasoning applies in the smelly world, which is why villages don't have skyscrapers.

 

[Deleted User - 107391]

I am really new, only a few weeks in. And if it is needed I will upgrade then, but no one has addressed the mathematical fact that you LOSE population and coins, not gain it, but upgrading.
...
you actually gain substantially more goods if you keep choosing the lowest amount of time possible ...

The max level is 15. Every few levels, buildings will take more room. It's part of the challenge to make it all work. Just upgrade. And then upgrade again. Keep them at max as much as you can.

As for production times -- yes, you are rewarded for minding it closely rather than just letting it run.

 

[DeletedUser1029]

Hi Mazzy.

There are at least two good answers that no one has provided yet.
1. Sure, your math is right for level 3 versus level 4. But once you reach level 4, you can upgrade to level 7 or 8 (depending on if you are elves or humans) without going up in size again. The highest level of the size will be more efficient than the highest level of the smaller size.
2. Per expansion plot is not quite the best measure of units. My guess is you can really fit 2.5 per expansion plot versus 2 per expansion plot. Then when you put two expansion plots next to each other, you fit 5 versus 6. The benefits of 5 higher level buildings outweigh 6 lower level buildings.
3. Eventually you will need more population than what your buildings have. Expansions will come more slowly and making room for a residence to get two units larger will be easier than placing a new residence. This goes back to answer 1, I guess.

 

[DeletedUser1063]

The shorter cycle times yield more goods per minute because you have to fiddle with them more. You can't simply multiply to get the differences between cycle times, because you're not going to hit the mark every time; in fact you may be off running an errand, cooking dinner, at work, or something else that's equally inconvenient.

Regarding upgrades, you pretty much don't have any choice because otherwise you won't be able to generate enough Workers, Supplies, Culture, Goods, nor Troops in the amount of space that's available. The same reasoning applies in the smelly world, which is why villages don't have skyscrapers.

Ok, I have adequate space available for a house to upgrade level 7 to 8, but when I go to the upgrade page, and all items required are available, it only gives me a research button, not an upgrade button. There should be a hover msg that would explain why I can't do this upgrade. Or can someone tell me what's the hitch here?

 

[DeletedUser61]

You have to reach the related box in the tech tree.

 

[Serra]

Well, that's great...but what is the appropriate box in the tech tree? There are no guidelines to tell you which branch to pursue so you just keep throwing things in...what IS the box to allow this? I'm at this same point and TOTALLY frustrated!

 

[DeletedUser594]

Well, that's great...but what is the appropriate box in the tech tree? There are no guidelines to tell you which branch to pursue so you just keep throwing things in...what IS the box to allow this? I'm at this same point and TOTALLY frustrated!

You have to pursue all the branches eventually, except little offshoots for city expansions which are optional. You do get an option of which branches you want to go down first but for a very limited distance before you are forced to open the rest of the branches in your particuar stage. The techs all have titles which tell you what they relate to such as "superior residences" which allows housing upgrades at a higher level, or squad size upgrade which increases troop size.
The research tree will light up available paths and shadow those that aren't accessible yet. Here's a pic with a yellow and blue path. You can see how far I can go into yellow before needing to go back ad unlock the blue to continue. Also if you scroll over the icon you will get a short descriptor of what unlocking the tech provides.

 

[Serra]

Thanks! I see now how far I have to go before I can upgrade my residences. So I'll just build more small ones and upgrade those to try to get to the population I need. Appreciate your help!! Good luck with the game.

 

[Deleted User - 107391]

... I see now how far I have to go before I can upgrade my residences. So I'll just build more small ones and upgrade those to try to get to the population I need. ...

You can do up to about 20 houses at this stage of your game, before deciding whether you're going to have a residence-heavy city or whether you're going to spend diamonds on culture that gives you people. I personally advise slow growth, making sure you don't use up all of your expansion space. Whatever number you decide to stop at, keep about half that number of workshops. Then build and upgrade factories only as you have the population and supplies to do so.

Don't neglect your quests. Click through daily to see how many you can achieve. Don't neglect neighbor help for your fellowship and your map neighbors.