"Very Hard" Warning

[DeletedUser9307]

That's all I have left on my world map. All provinces to be scouted that are left are all marked "very hard" and comes with a warning that I'm not ready for that level.

Seriously? (not a sarcastic rhetorical question.) Do I have to spend the next few weeks working on an AW to buff up my troops? I've got max level upgrades on training grounds. I have 6 max level armories. I've seen the top level players' kingdom's and they sometimes only have 2 armories. I seem to be overstaffed then so that can't be my problem. Is it building up new AWs or higher level AWs? That takes KPs and now I can't get them unless I buy them or win them in a side "shell" game (Edrasil's nuts, for example, and that needs diamonds for the amount I'd need to win the 25 KPs). Buying them with coin or goods, the costs escalates quickly.

My troop sizes are (for example): Treants = 363; Archers = 2183; etc.

Is there a certain level of troop size that would make that "warning" stop? Is the "warning" just a caution? Are they winnable with my present troops?. What kind of level of troops would make those provinces winnable?

I just don't want to waste a lot of my resources trying to win these "very hard" provinces if I'm not ready. If someone could point me in the right direction and save me a bunch of time experimenting or going down the wrong path - it would be appreciated. Thank you!

LadyGoGo

 

[mucksterme]

You know armories only help with training right?
The more and higher level armories you have, the more units you can train at once.
But they do not affect the size or ability of your squads in a fight.
To increase your fighting ability you need to do the squad researches on the tech tree.
Also there are AWs that will buff abilities and unit health.
For example, the Needle of Tempest will increase damage dealt by Light Ranged Units.
And the Martial Monastery will increase the health of all units.

It is possible that you are very over scouted. The only way to fix that is to not scout any more provinces until you advance farther.

hth

 

[tincture]

Researching the Advanced Scouts tech to get into a new chapter decreases the Enemy Squad Sizes on the World Map (and negotiation costs). Squad Size Upgrade techs change the difficulty as well, but doing the optional Squad Size Upgrades will make fighting in Tournaments more difficult, so you may want to look into whether doing them is right for you.
You can search for "Goldilocks Zone" on the forum to find more info on over scouting and you may find other useful info from that.
Also, the top ranked player doesn't necessarily have a city that is built for fighting on the world map. Ranking Points are not really a measure of how efficient a city is, it's really just a show of how much population and culture is being used by that city. Looking at the top ranked Tournament Players might be a better place to get ideas for a Military based city.

 

[Ashrem]

Looking at the top ranked Tournament Players might be a better place to get ideas for a Military based city.

And even then, they could just be heavy goods producers and paying to negotiate a lot of provinces, but in general, Tournament rank is a better indicator

 

[CanDaMan]

I'm leaning toward 'Too Far Out'. Look at the starting point on the next level of the tree. I started Woodelves with 190 even.

 

[DeletedUser3507]

LOL all mine are "Very Hard" @ 410 provinces
Besides I don't fight I bribe...(cater is bribe)

 

[CanDaMan]

I just started Woodelves, all I have is easy and very easy.

 

[mucksterme]

I'm in Orcs
I have enough provinces to open Sorcs and Dragons
I had two 'easy' provs for the quest and have lots of mediums.
Some of you are doing something wrong.

 

[CanDaMan]

Thanks, I think I will stick with my very easy battles! I finished a Provence recently, I think I lost 50 troops! If you are in Orcs, and have enough to open S+D, you are way too far out! When you hit Woodelves, supplies become a priority, and troops require supplies. If you cater, the goods costs must be out-of-this-world!

 

[Mykan]

The very hard warning looks at your squad size compared to the enemy predominately. Some people can win in this area and some can't. The game is designed that you can't win when outnumbered 2:1 so if your squad size is outnumbered by that amount then don't even bother.

Here is a loose idea of the difficulty of the provinces and how they relate to tournaments. So your provinces are equivalent to round 5 or 6 tournaments or harder depending on squad size.

As you learn techs for squad size that warning may decrease in time. The advanced scout tech will have an impact on any un-scouted provinces, once scouted the enemy size and cater costs are set.

AW's and event buildings can help you with combat but at some point you will reach a limit of your ability and bonuses. At which point you either wait or start to negotiate. The game is designed to try to keep players of a certain era within a certain range of provinces so the devs can balance various aspects of the game. The chest at the end of the chapter is the minimum range and there is no fixed max, just clues.

Tournaments were designed as a combat outlet for those who need to wait on provincial scouting or just switch to negotiating provinces and combat becomes irrelevant. If your before chapter 8 though be careful switching to negotiate only as there is a hard cap in ring 11 that will block your progress.

 

[DeletedUser5800]

Slightly related note, my little elf city has just hit chapter 2 and has only Very Hard, which at that point actually is very hard and I haven't over scouted at all. I guess it was always that way but not so obvious and RED!
If I hadn't scored 3x tier 3 merchants and regretfully started posting cross down trades I would be stuck for 2 months.
The question keeps coming up as to why there are so many abandoned chapter 2 and 3 cities, a good bet is this wacked out early unbalanced nonsense. Compare that to D&S where I am way over scouted and just ran out of easy and have like 100 mediums.

Spoiler

 

[Arayla]

Slightly related note, my little elf city has just hit chapter 2 and has only Very Hard, which at that point actually is very hard and I haven't over scouted at all.

My little city on Sinya had the exact same problem. It was so frustrating because I kept up with the techs, finished only the provinces necessary to enter Chapter 2, and then quickly had only Very Hard without having scouted enough provinces to enter Chapter 3. If I hadn't known through my other cities that it would get better, I might have easily given up.

 

[Mykan]

I have an era 3 town facing the same issue, should be better by the end of the chapter (I hope). Several players have known about this since the battle changes and have raised this numerous times. One can only hope that with evidence like your picture that it becomes obvious to those who can effect change.

You could send a support ticket asking if you missed a tech and if it was intended to be so hard.

 

[DeletedUser5800]

and if it was intended to be so hard.

I might not even mind it being that way if it stayed balanced all the way through but the ring design interacting with that system just makes it get easier the whole time... it seems really backwards and I bet most people would mind it being that way all the way through.

I think it really probably is an intended early break into 3 categories once initial interest has been peaked:
1. People that would never spend $$ and quit. (Why would they care?)
2. People that spend their way through and develop a habit. (Yay!)
3. People that grind through without spending. (Maybe they will spend later, maybe not, but once again no reason to care.)

It's not the plan I would pick but I'm fairly certain they did indeed pick it and didn't accident into it.

 

[Mykan]

I don't believe they intended it. They have followed a number of player advice to improve things. They even gave extra free troops but I don't think they get how hard it is for a normal player. One of the CM's mentioned doing fights with a single squad and winning but most people can't do that.

I think the complexity of the system and the backlash they got from a major overhaul last time that it is easier to ignore it than fix it. They will have stats of players quitting in those chapters pre and post change and will know if it is higher or not. If it is not or marginal I would not expect much to change.

 

[DeletedUser5521]

It took me until I was in Dwarves in my Beta city to get to where I saw lots of green and yellow provs, and I consistently stayed under what was required to open the next chapter. Maybe it is a marketing experiment? Maybe it is a psychology experiment? It's got to be some kind of experiment, because anyone who has ever taken a marketing strategy course has learned that it's by keeping the majority of your customers happy that you continue to make the most money. Little taunts and teases to get them to spend are the key...not frustrating them to the point of losing their business. I have been playing well over 2 years and I have seen so many people quit this game based on unfortunate decision that have been made, that could have so easily gone a different way. I know there are people out there who will say, "Yes, but this company still made $XXX amount of money over the last year..." and I'm glad, because it keeps me in my game. But for the most part, it's a pretty good game that, with better decision making and marketing strategy could make their player base happier, making them even richer. Kind of a win/win you would think, no?

 

[DeletedUser5800]

I know there are people out there who will say, "Yes, but this company still made $XXX amount of money over the last year..." and I'm glad, because it keeps me in my game

Indeed, but they certainly give off the impression that they are always trying scratch one last sandwich out of a nearly empty peanut butter jar... rather than spend a little time working towards refilling the jar!

 

[Deleted User - 1580260]

Similar situation in CH IV with 12 province to go for chap V and all scoutable provinces are very hard. I have two 'hard' ones im grinding thru but troop loses are 300 to 400 a win - to bribe takes about two days production (on the 'hard') ones. All my KP goes to the 'needles' AW. So choices are grind for months or find another game. I already swore off any diamond purchases due to the AW and nut cave shenanigans.

 

[Mykan]

Similar situation in CH IV with 12 province to go for chap V and all scoutable provinces are very hard. I have two 'hard' ones im grinding thru but troop loses are 300 to 400 a win - to bribe takes about two days production (on the 'hard') ones. All my KP goes to the 'needles' AW. So choices are grind for months or find another game. I already swore off any diamond purchases due to the AW and nut cave shenanigans.

Do you still have squad size techs to research?

 

[AtaguS]

Squad Size Upgrade techs change the difficulty as well, but doing the optional Squad Size Upgrades will make fighting in Tournaments more difficult, so you may want to look into whether doing them is right for you.

Good to know. I stopped researching squad size upgrades a while ago, so think I'm on the right side of this statement, for how I like to play. But I am just curious, how does researching squad size increases make tournies more difficult?