Yes farming raids on cities are EXREMELY valuable!
Hey Tury. Interesting post.........
I joined Grep for the first time right when Upsilon launched a few months ago. Total newb...,I also made a post like this. I wasn't satisfied with the answere because no one really new how the farming system was going to work.
So....as a newb, I was not prepared to buy premium until I was convinced that Grep was for me. Being extremely aggressive and competitive, I wanted to stay up there with the premium players until I opted to purchase premium myself.
For the record...premium is awesome and if you can do it. I recommend everyone to get it. It supports the site. I still have not done so but I am going to soon as I absolutely luv this game now.
So, I tried raiding abandoned cities right away and lost troops due to morale or a small wall. I would get 600 of each resource and lose 1 or two units in the raid. I was still ahead so I continued doing this for awhile. Then I got horsemen. They will not die when encountering morale or a low wall. I built 20 and raided all abandoned farms every session. Horses are fast and I could hit every city on an island while playing. I posted this in the Acropolis and got laughed at a bit and told I was crazy.
Next I built an army to accompany my horses and I consistently attacked the bigger cities that were not quite as active as me. Some fought back bit most didn't. Once I learned who would defend, I left the warriors alone and raided the wimps. Now I had a dozen 500 - 1000 point abandoned cities to feed on.
I now have 3 cities on Upsilon and this strategy has not only allowed me to grow faster than most, it keeps my building cues ALWAYS full. It is impossible to grow faster without premium. One of my islands gives me 15,000 of each resource per day!!!! They all gave up and let me farm them!
This will only work before the abandoned cities degrade and become a black flag. The more you farm an abandoned the longer it remains however. This has allowed me to consistently stay around top 70-80 in Upsilon without premium. I am about to take my 4th city and will jump me up to top 40. Not bad.....and it satisfies my competitive nature.
This has to be a focused determined strategy to make it work. Some islands also won't support a strategy like this either. To many fighters, or all black flags etc. When considering where to get your second city factor your potential city farms into your strategy.
For those who laughed and thought I was crazy.....sleep with one eye open. I am like an elephant, I have a long memory and I need a new city!!!!
Hope this helps. Just one of many strategies that works.
Cheers.
