Inactive Topic Special Building

[DeletedUser]

Aaaah didn't think of the Oracle.

BOOM, major flaw in this idea.

Nice discovery Horus.

Unless the Oracle issue is solved, the prospects of this idea are very bleak.

 

[DeletedUser]

but how much would the improvement be

Open to suggestions, or the devs could figure it out. Plus say 8 research points.

As for the oracle; so instead of just telling you that you were spied upon, it now gives you a report of the units of the city spying on you? Hmm... that might also be over-powered, but it is subjective. Technically I could avoid you getting a report by removing my units for a few seconds just before the spy hits, which could be argued is an unavoidable abuse.

You only get the report about 1 out of 5* times. And since the oracle is psychic, the report tells you out of the city troops that belong to that city, plus any support there, unlike a normal spy.

*open to suggestions on this one

 

[DeletedUser]

Actually I've thought of an upgrade for the Oracle.

If you discover a spy, the silver that they sent is not subtracted from your cave if you have a lvl 2 Oracle.

 

[DeletedUser]

You only get the report about 1 out of 5* times. And since the oracle is psychic, the report tells you out of the city troops that belong to that city, plus any support there, unlike a normal spy.

*open to suggestions on this one

Making it 20% still has the flaw I listed of me shifting units before the spy hits, and this would be problematic anyway for cave drainers even if you made it a 10% chance.

Actually I've thought of an upgrade for the Oracle.

If you discover a spy, the silver that they sent is not subtracted from your cave if you have a lvl 2 Oracle.

If you have a million silver in a cave, and another player tried to spy on you for 500k silver, that is a lot to waste for nothing. lol

Neither of these counter-suggestions seem to sit well, they take away one extreme by adding another.

 

[DeletedUser]

Making it 20% still has the flaw I listed of me shifting units before the spy hits

Didn't I say that the oracle would see all unis that the city possessed?

and this would be problematic anyway for cave drainers even if you made it a 10% chance.

Don't know, don't know...

 

[DeletedUser]

Didn't I say that the oracle would see all unis that the city possessed?

That is vague language, this can mean units present, or units built, but I take your point. I could work around that by sending silver to an empty city and routing my spies to your cities there, effectively rendering a second level void.

Don't know, don't know...

Imagine having your inbox spammed with Oracle reports about the enemy city... then another counter-suggestion would need to be passed regulating the number of reports you receive, similar to those idea threads that advocate limiting the number of support reports a player receives when under attack.

 

[DeletedUser]

On the oracle, how about you only lose 70% of the silver used from your cave

 

[DeletedUser]

Maybe the oracle can accelerate the speed of a spy sent from your city?

Say 10% faster. This would add a more offensive value to the oracle and make it more versatile.

I understand there is already a research in academy for it but this could be added on top of it so with both lvl 2 oracle and the research, you could accelerate your spy by a total of 20%.

 

[DeletedUser]

Both the above ideas combined would be balanced for a level 2 oracle, there is also a Cryptography research which has a similar effect in practice to what DetroitLeprechaun suggested, but they can be stacked as well.

 

[DeletedUser]

Maybe the oracle can accelerate the speed of a spy sent from your city?

Say 10% faster.

i say not worth it. The oracle is already an often discouraged building, and I wouldn't like it to become even less useful, so perhaps a 40 percent boost?

 

[DeletedUser]

i say not worth it. The oracle is already an often discouraged building, and I wouldn't like it to become even less useful, so perhaps a 40 percent boost?

How does it become less useful if you add the acceleration?

And 40% is a bit too high in my opinion.

 

[DeletedUser]

Yes, 40% would be too much, technically a player could get a maximum of 50% with both a level 2 oracle and Cryptography, which is enough.

The 10% acceleration gives the oracle a dual-purpose, instead of only being defensive, it has offensive perks as well.

 

[DeletedUser]

How does it become less useful if you add the acceleration?

Because the competition just got a boost (the second level of tower sounds nice) and every guide I've read says "never research espionage". I'm giving up 30 free pop I could be using for the army, so I want this to be a strong boost.

 

[DeletedUser]

Because the competition just got a boost (the second level of tower sounds nice) and every guide I've read says "never research espionage". I'm giving up 30 free pop I could be using for the army, so I want this to be a strong boost.

Yes, never research it, because it is a waste of research points. If acceleration of a spies movement is added as a secondary function to a level 2 oracle, then how is this even comparable? You're giving up 30 pop to handicap an enemies ability to spy on you considerably, and gain more movement from your spy.

 

[DeletedUser30838]

here are some visual aids for you:

 

[DeletedUser30838]

Making it 20% still has the flaw I listed of me shifting units before the spy hits, and this would be problematic anyway for cave drainers even if you made it a 10% chance.



If you have a million silver in a cave, and another player tried to spy on you for 500k silver, that is a lot to waste for nothing. lol

Neither of these counter-suggestions seem to sit well, they take away one extreme by adding another.

Maybe it could use the effect of wisdom when your being attacked, you click on your oracle, and it spies on the troops, no matter if they casted a spell or not. thus, not having to waster favor and use it instead for the city protection spell

 

[DeletedUser20429]

Maybe it could use the effect of wisdom when your being attacked, you click on your oracle, and it spies on the troops, no matter if they casted a spell or not. thus, not having to waster favor and use it instead for the city protection spell

There would have to be a cool down though. Other wise that would make it WAY too powerful.

 

[DeletedUser]

Quite surprisingly, I find myself agreeing with luke connell. I should add that the cool-down, if it is a timer, should be based on world speed. Maybe have it only be useable once every 8 hours for speed 1. This still seems a bit iffy though, I can't exactly put the rights words on why it is though.

You could have the 10% spy speed cut, 30% silver reduction, and one wisdom every 8 hours in the same building without being too overpowered... well more so than say a tower with a 15-20% defense increase.

 

[DeletedUser20429]

Can I ask why you find it surprising? lol. Don't answer that. I'll see if I can figure out a way to make it close to equal or just slightly more powerful than the tower or divine statue. I'll run some calculations on the percentages of increase and how this affects troops and other things.

Also instead of a world speed timer why not have a universal timer. It would be easier to implement into the current system. However I do understand the logic behind what your saying. I suppose if it were universal it might make it less balanced on some worlds. I'll sleep on it and see what I come up with.

PS Horus I'll PM you about some more stuff to add to this idea.

 

[DeletedUser]

Can I ask why you find it surprising? lol. Don't answer that. I'll see if I can figure out a way to make it close to equal or just slightly more powerful than the tower or divine statue. I'll run some calculations on the percentages of increase and how this affects troops and other things.

The divine statue, as it presently stands, needs an overhaul as I have done some basic calculations and found it isn't worth the 60 pop consumption. I'll keep that idea for another thread.

Also instead of a world speed timer why not have a universal timer. It would be easier to implement into the current system. However I do understand the logic behind what your saying. I suppose if it were universal it might make it less balanced on some worlds. I'll sleep on it and see what I come up with.

It is a fine line here, but conquest is world-speed based, when revolt isn't, but the former conquer system would benefit more from this being speed based than otherwise. At speed 3, the amount of time it takes for a CS to capture a city would be 8 hours, so the times start overlapping and the Oracle becomes less effective. Revolt has more or less the same issue when you weigh it up. Upon second thoughts, I think speed 1 timings should be 12 hours, speed 2 then by extension will be 6 hours, speed 3 is 4 hours, etc... that would be more balanced.

PS Horus I'll PM you about some more stuff to add to this idea.

Looking forward to it.