Difference between revisions of "Researching for dummies"

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=Note on outdatedness=
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=Starting Strategies=
Since this guide was written before passive research, it is no longer as effective. The general principles still apply, with the easiest substitution being to explore with the turns that would have been used for researching. Beware though, this will put you farther from the council protection level at 1500 acres, and more forts will be required to prevent a very early and frustrating death.
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You have a couple of options to choose from when you create your mage...
 +
* Rushing for land with relative simple units available in the beginning of the game (not discussed here; only advisable if the reset has just begun)
 +
* Gelding for off-color spells, heroes etc. (not discussed here; only advisable if the reset has just begun)
 +
* Researching as quick as possible (YEAH! discussed here!)
  
=Researching right after reincarnating your mage=
+
Whereas some people employ subtle variances and optimizations, this guide presents a simple and straight-forward method of completely researching quickly.
You have a couple of choices to make the first day, on how to spend your first
 
[[turns|turn cycles]]:
 
* Rushing for land with relative simple units available in the beginning of the game (not discussed here)
 
* Gelding for off-color spells, heroes etc. (not discussed here)
 
* Just researching as quick as possible (YEAH! discussed here!)
 
  
If you to do the latter, you can still do it in several ways. This post presents a straightforward simple way, and some alternatives.
+
No matter how you decide to start off, make sure that you keep enough [[forts]] to stay alive!
  
<i>note</i>: This post is not intended to present the very best, quickest, most optimal researching strategies. Even if you start a mage when the gameround on your server is a couple of days to weeks old, the stuff from this page can work fine too.
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=Research-Only Start: Key Points=
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* build workshop early to save turns constructing other buildings!
 +
* exploit [[Protection#Apprentice_protection|Apprentice]] and [[Protection#Council_protection|Council]] Protection status to your benefit: don't spend more than 120 turns on the first run and don't move if you are attacked into Council Protection; leave protection when YOU are ready for it
 +
* it's often advisable that you not keep an army as keeping an army is often a waste of land and resources (extra towns, farms, nodes are required)
 +
* you can't get [[luck]] for the first few hundred turns (the exact amount is unknown by the author), so there is no point in wasting your clicks early on
  
=First, Second and Third run=
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=Research-Only Turn Schedule=
(print this and stick it to your monitor)  
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===First Run (120 turns)===
* don't keep an army: you are not gonna waste time defending, just research.
+
:Use the first 120 [[turns]] in the following manner:
* you are going to use the council protection feature to your benefit
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:* disband all the troops you get initially
* <b>don't spend more than 120 turns on the first run</b>: you want to stay in protection as long as possible, and leave protection when YOU are ready for it... not 'by accident'.
+
:* explore a few [[turns]] - build workshops one turn by one turn (build a few farms if you need to)
* Depending on your server, you will have accumulated 120 turns 10 hours (Blitz) / 20 hours (Guild) / 30 hours (App) after official server-opening.
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:* explore a bit more - build some workshops, towns, farms, and a few guilds (to get passive research going)
 +
:* if your [[population]] is within 5-10% of its maximum value, build extra farms and towns
 +
:* keep food production (from farms) and residential space (mainly from towns) in balance
  
==simple focus on research==
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:If you don't grasp the above: go read [[Groentje Players Manual|Players Manual]] sections [[Groentje Players Manual Ch4|INTERIOR]] and [[Groentje Players Manual Ch5|MAGIC]] , then read this again!
===First run===
 
* use the first 120 [[turns]] doing stuff like this
 
* disband all the troops you get initially
 
* explore a few [[turns]] - build some farms and towns -
 
* explore a bit more - build workshops one turn by one turn
 
* explore a bit more - build some workshops more
 
* watch your [[geld]] income using status report, watch your population growth
 
* if your [[population]] is close to max: build farms and towns for 2-3 turns.
 
* keep food production (from farms) and residential space (mainly from towns) in balance
 
  
If you don't grasp the above: go read [[Groentje Players Manual|Players Manual]] sections [[Groentje Players Manual Ch4|INTERIOR]] and [[Groentje Players Manual Ch5|MAGIC]] , then read this again!
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:On non-Lightning servers, by performing the steps above, you should be able to build to:
 +
:* 800 land
 +
:* around 400 workshops
 +
:* about 320 land in farms-plus-towns
 +
:* remaining small amount of guilds, forts, barracks, nodes, etc.
 +
:* Not too many guilds yet - we'll build those in the 2nd run
  
Doing the above stuff in small steps, in 120 turns, you should be able to build to:
+
:On Lightning, the exploration rate is increased drastically, and although you want to follow a similar process, you should have much more land by now and won't be able to properly exploit Council Protection once you exceed 1600 land.
* 800 land
 
* around 400 workshops
 
* about 350 land in farms-plus-towns
 
* remaining small amount of forts, barracks, nodes etc.
 
* No guilds yet - we'll build those in the 2nd run.
 
* if you have turns left: great - explore a bit already in advance for 2nd run, but don't build that land yet.
 
  
===Second run===
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===Second Run===
* explore to 1550-1600 land
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:On all servers other than Lightning, after saving up max turns...
* build to 8 forts (and add 2 forts for every 100 land above 1600 land)
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:* explore/build to 1500-1600 land, 40-50 turns at a time
* then build guilds on the remaining land
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:** keep 10-14 forts
* build ~100 turns at one time, and check your status report inbetween
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:** build guilds on new land
* Notice that your income drops as maintaining guilds cost geld.
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:** check your status report every 40-50 turns to make sure your geld storage and production is acceptable (don't geld crash!)
  
* You will have about 150 [[turns]] left:
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:At 100-150 SL, you may want to force your research path to research blue spells until you get concentration (which you'll need extra nodes to upkeep.)
* start researching advanced and simple spells  
 
  
Watch the [[geld]] in between... if you have a (too) negative budget (see below)
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:On non-Lightning servers, you will probably want to stay at 1500-1600 for the duration of research in order to take advantage of [[Protection|Council Protection]].
  
===Third and following runs===
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===Third Run and Beyond===
  
For a couple of days:  
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:Until you are nearly done (within 50 turns) with research, continue researching.  You may want to actively research by spending turns on the research page, or you can let passive research do its job and keep doing the explore/build routine, maintaining watch over your geld storage and income.
* just stick to the basics presented below
 
* when you are nearly finished researching, you need to prepare for leaving research mode and start 'the real game', warring opponents.
 
  
* Council protection will work for the first 2000 turns
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:Refer to the [[Spell Level]] page to ascertain when you are nearly finished with research.  (See [[#Exiting_Research|Exiting Research]].)
  
Your status report shows your spell level.
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=Financing your Research=
 
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* don't keep an army (see [[#Basics_of_troopless_defense|basics of troopless defense]]), so that won't cost you [[geld]]
A fully researched mage will have this spell level:
 
 
 
<table>
 
<tr><td></td><td>With Ultimates</td><td>Without Ultimates</td>
 
</tr>
 
<tr><td>Speciality (color)</td><td>Guild and Blitz</td><td>Apprentice </td>
 
</tr>
 
<tr><td>Ascendancy (white)</td> <td> 421 </td> <td> 421 </td>
 
</tr>
 
</tr>
 
<tr><td>Verdancy (green)</td> <td> 428 </td> <td> 428 </td>
 
</tr>
 
</tr>
 
<tr><td>Eradication (red)</td> <td> 456 </td> <td> 456 </td>
 
</tr>
 
</tr>
 
<tr><td>Nether (black)</td> <td> 470 </td> <td> 470 </td>
 
</tr>
 
</tr>
 
<tr><td>Phantasm (blue)</td> <td> 589 </td> <td> 589 </td>
 
</tr>
 
</table>
 
 
 
=Basics of financing your research=
 
* don't keep an army (see [[#Basics_of_troopless_defense|basics of troopless defense]]), so that won't cost you [[geld]].
 
 
* If you keep an army: make it disbandable m.p. eaters. Disband it when you are spending big amounts of turns doing the research.
 
* If you keep an army: make it disbandable m.p. eaters. Disband it when you are spending big amounts of turns doing the research.
 
* watch your [[geld]] stock (make notes) to see how fast it is dropping. Perhaps at some point you need more [[geld]]... someway.  
 
* watch your [[geld]] stock (make notes) to see how fast it is dropping. Perhaps at some point you need more [[geld]]... someway.  
 
* you could sell some items
 
* you could sell some items
* you could reduce your upkeep costs: a bit more farms and towns... and a little more guilds and workshops: use destroy to free ~ 100 land, build it up
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* increase your geld income by building more towns/farms (check your status report to make sure that Food Production & Residential Space are balanced)
* remember you need to have [[population|people]] living in the towns and eating from the farms before they give you geld.
+
* use the geld/tax feature if you need gold in a hurry
* you can [[geld#Gelding|geld]] for a few [[turns]] (e.g. to allow your [[population|pop]] to grow into new farms and towns). [[Geld#Gelding|Gelding]] doubles the income (but you can't research and geld in the same turn unfortunately!)
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* spells that increase your [[geld]] income usually are not worth the their [[mana|m.p.]] upkeep/turn investment/node-landuse during research phase
* spells that increase your [[geld]] income usually are not worth the their [[mana|m.p.]] upkeep/turn investment/node-landuse during research phase - unless you are researching on 3k land.
 
  
=Basics of troopless defense=
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=Basics of Troopless Defense=
 
* as long as you are not attacked: spend every turn researching  
 
* as long as you are not attacked: spend every turn researching  
 
* when you are attacked and are 'in council protection "P"' : DON'T MOVE ANYMORE: You'll lose council protection by moving 1 turn (or by not spending turns for 48 hours, see [[Groentje_Players_Manual_Ch6#Protection|Players Manual, section on Protection]].
 
* when you are attacked and are 'in council protection "P"' : DON'T MOVE ANYMORE: You'll lose council protection by moving 1 turn (or by not spending turns for 48 hours, see [[Groentje_Players_Manual_Ch6#Protection|Players Manual, section on Protection]].
* wait without moving until you have accumulated ~200 new [[turns]]  
+
* if you are in Council Protection, wait without moving until you have accumulated max [[turns]]
* be on the watch if you are not hit online: if it happens: check yourself on the ranklist: if you are in "P" - don't move anymore just wait for turns  
+
* be on the watch for an incoming attack; if you are attacked, check yourself on the rank list: if you are in "P", don't move anymore just wait for turns  
* you'll need to rebuild a fort or two occasionally.
+
* rebuild your forts when necessary
 
 
=Basics of speeding up Research=
 
  
 +
=Speeding Up Research=
 
See also [[Groentje_Players_Manual_Ch5|section on MAGIC in players manual]]
 
See also [[Groentje_Players_Manual_Ch5|section on MAGIC in players manual]]
 
* more guilds = faster research
 
* more guilds = faster research
* at some point you may want to cast Concentration, to reduce the number of turns used to research a spell.
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* Use Concentration to reduce the number of turns used to research a spell
* It depends on what colour you are when it is benefitial. Green+Red: cast once after spelllevel is ~200, Blues cast every 100 spell level, white+black inbetween.  When you are about ready for Concentration:
+
** the effectiveness of Concentration depends on what colour you are: Green/Red: cast after spell level is ~200, Blues cast & re-apply every 100 spell level, white/black cast & re-apply every 150 turns
* build a few nodes, then spend more turns researching (and let the nodes fill),
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** to re-apply concentration, acquire another level in the Skill [[Grand Enchanter]] (this saves turns and mana)
* cast Concentration (it may fail if you are not a blue mage and unlucky)
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* acquire a "Sage" hero
 
+
* investing geld in donations to gods, CAN give you concentration level 777, and that will speed up research for a brief while (research a big spell in one turn!)
  
* veterans dream of researching with the help of a Sage hero... competition for the few available sages early in the game is tough though.
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=Exiting Research=
 +
When you are within 50 turns of finishing research, you should destroy down to 500-800 guilds and prepare to upkeep an army (e.g. build nodes, farms, and towns for summoning, enchantments, and recruitment) and have your first attack run. By the time you're starting to climb, your mage will have passively researched your last spell.
  
* investing geld in donations to gods, CAN give you concentration level 777, and that will speed up research for a brief while (research a big spell in one turn!)
 
  
=Basics for exiting research mode (nearly finished!)=
 
You should start to prepare to upkeep an army
 
(e.g. get nodes for m.p. for summoning and a first enchantment, get some barracks). There are mages that finish research very fast - but they need an extra day to switch from research to grabbing... and then they lose the time they won earlier.
 
  
You can try to start grabbing when you are NEARLY researched (e.g. last ultimate to go), you can start generating a basic army (with enchantment that gives troops, and/or with setting a slow recruit (low number of barracks).
 
Be sure you have the geld for this. If not: try pilllaging at the start of the 200 turns in which you will finish researching, and summon an army with your last 20 turns!
 
  
=Alternative strategies=
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=Alternative Strategies=
 
==Geld start, switching to research==
 
==Geld start, switching to research==
 
This is an alternative way, aiming to get less land and workshops at turn 120, but more geld in stock saving you from worries. Skip it if you did the above.
 
This is an alternative way, aiming to get less land and workshops at turn 120, but more geld in stock saving you from worries. Skip it if you did the above.
Line 130: Line 89:
 
===First run===
 
===First run===
 
* try a gelding start (on 550-ish land, [[Geld Optimizer Applet]]), for the first 120 turns.  
 
* try a gelding start (on 550-ish land, [[Geld Optimizer Applet]]), for the first 120 turns.  
* don't bid on anything, just sit and wait for 200 turns (max turns) before you move out of Apprentice Status and enter the battle zone.
+
* don't bid on anything, just sit and wait for max turns before you move out of Apprentice Status and enter the battle zone.
  
 
===Second run===
 
===Second run===
Line 140: Line 99:
 
* start researching advanced and simple spells until 0 turns.  
 
* start researching advanced and simple spells until 0 turns.  
  
===third run===
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===Third Run and Beyond===
* with 200 new turns  
+
* with max turns  
 
* destroy A PART of your Farms, Towns and 100 workshops (in 1 and the same turn) and build the remainder with guilds.  
 
* destroy A PART of your Farms, Towns and 100 workshops (in 1 and the same turn) and build the remainder with guilds.  
 
* you will have enough geld from the first gelding day to keep researching.  
 
* you will have enough geld from the first gelding day to keep researching.  
  
===thereafter===
 
as above
 
 
----
 
----
  

Latest revision as of 22:09, 6 July 2016

Starting Strategies

You have a couple of options to choose from when you create your mage...

  • Rushing for land with relative simple units available in the beginning of the game (not discussed here; only advisable if the reset has just begun)
  • Gelding for off-color spells, heroes etc. (not discussed here; only advisable if the reset has just begun)
  • Researching as quick as possible (YEAH! discussed here!)

Whereas some people employ subtle variances and optimizations, this guide presents a simple and straight-forward method of completely researching quickly.

No matter how you decide to start off, make sure that you keep enough forts to stay alive!

Research-Only Start: Key Points

  • build workshop early to save turns constructing other buildings!
  • exploit Apprentice and Council Protection status to your benefit: don't spend more than 120 turns on the first run and don't move if you are attacked into Council Protection; leave protection when YOU are ready for it
  • it's often advisable that you not keep an army as keeping an army is often a waste of land and resources (extra towns, farms, nodes are required)
  • you can't get luck for the first few hundred turns (the exact amount is unknown by the author), so there is no point in wasting your clicks early on

Research-Only Turn Schedule

First Run (120 turns)

Use the first 120 turns in the following manner:
  • disband all the troops you get initially
  • explore a few turns - build workshops one turn by one turn (build a few farms if you need to)
  • explore a bit more - build some workshops, towns, farms, and a few guilds (to get passive research going)
  • if your population is within 5-10% of its maximum value, build extra farms and towns
  • keep food production (from farms) and residential space (mainly from towns) in balance
If you don't grasp the above: go read Players Manual sections INTERIOR and MAGIC , then read this again!
On non-Lightning servers, by performing the steps above, you should be able to build to:
  • 800 land
  • around 400 workshops
  • about 320 land in farms-plus-towns
  • remaining small amount of guilds, forts, barracks, nodes, etc.
  • Not too many guilds yet - we'll build those in the 2nd run
On Lightning, the exploration rate is increased drastically, and although you want to follow a similar process, you should have much more land by now and won't be able to properly exploit Council Protection once you exceed 1600 land.

Second Run

On all servers other than Lightning, after saving up max turns...
  • explore/build to 1500-1600 land, 40-50 turns at a time
    • keep 10-14 forts
    • build guilds on new land
    • check your status report every 40-50 turns to make sure your geld storage and production is acceptable (don't geld crash!)
At 100-150 SL, you may want to force your research path to research blue spells until you get concentration (which you'll need extra nodes to upkeep.)
On non-Lightning servers, you will probably want to stay at 1500-1600 for the duration of research in order to take advantage of Council Protection.

Third Run and Beyond

Until you are nearly done (within 50 turns) with research, continue researching. You may want to actively research by spending turns on the research page, or you can let passive research do its job and keep doing the explore/build routine, maintaining watch over your geld storage and income.
Refer to the Spell Level page to ascertain when you are nearly finished with research. (See Exiting Research.)

Financing your Research

  • don't keep an army (see basics of troopless defense), so that won't cost you geld
  • If you keep an army: make it disbandable m.p. eaters. Disband it when you are spending big amounts of turns doing the research.
  • watch your geld stock (make notes) to see how fast it is dropping. Perhaps at some point you need more geld... someway.
  • you could sell some items
  • increase your geld income by building more towns/farms (check your status report to make sure that Food Production & Residential Space are balanced)
  • use the geld/tax feature if you need gold in a hurry
  • spells that increase your geld income usually are not worth the their m.p. upkeep/turn investment/node-landuse during research phase

Basics of Troopless Defense

  • as long as you are not attacked: spend every turn researching
  • when you are attacked and are 'in council protection "P"' : DON'T MOVE ANYMORE: You'll lose council protection by moving 1 turn (or by not spending turns for 48 hours, see Players Manual, section on Protection.
  • if you are in Council Protection, wait without moving until you have accumulated max turns
  • be on the watch for an incoming attack; if you are attacked, check yourself on the rank list: if you are in "P", don't move anymore just wait for turns
  • rebuild your forts when necessary

Speeding Up Research

See also section on MAGIC in players manual

  • more guilds = faster research
  • Use Concentration to reduce the number of turns used to research a spell
    • the effectiveness of Concentration depends on what colour you are: Green/Red: cast after spell level is ~200, Blues cast & re-apply every 100 spell level, white/black cast & re-apply every 150 turns
    • to re-apply concentration, acquire another level in the Skill Grand Enchanter (this saves turns and mana)
  • acquire a "Sage" hero
  • investing geld in donations to gods, CAN give you concentration level 777, and that will speed up research for a brief while (research a big spell in one turn!)

Exiting Research

When you are within 50 turns of finishing research, you should destroy down to 500-800 guilds and prepare to upkeep an army (e.g. build nodes, farms, and towns for summoning, enchantments, and recruitment) and have your first attack run. By the time you're starting to climb, your mage will have passively researched your last spell.



Alternative Strategies

Geld start, switching to research

This is an alternative way, aiming to get less land and workshops at turn 120, but more geld in stock saving you from worries. Skip it if you did the above.

First run

  • try a gelding start (on 550-ish land, Geld Optimizer Applet), for the first 120 turns.
  • don't bid on anything, just sit and wait for max turns before you move out of Apprentice Status and enter the battle zone.

Second run

  • do 50 turns more gelding (to 170 turns)
  • then explore to about 1550 land
  • then build workshops 1 turn by 1 turn to about 399
  • build to 8 forts
  • then build guilds on the remaining land
  • start researching advanced and simple spells until 0 turns.

Third Run and Beyond

  • with max turns
  • destroy A PART of your Farms, Towns and 100 workshops (in 1 and the same turn) and build the remainder with guilds.
  • you will have enough geld from the first gelding day to keep researching.

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