Research

[mrsr1980]

Don't you think it would be helpful to be able to dip in and bank some resources to help unlock some of the things in the research tab. So when you need 30000 2250 250 and 90 , it would be good if every now and again you could add to it like you do with the s. so if I've got 2500 and I'm not using them for anything, I could go in and bank them toward unlocking something. would make this game much more enjoyable for me. Sometimes I feel like I'm just dipping in and out and I get fed up for a few days. if I could do this I'd feel like I'm getting somewhere. anyway that's my 2p worth I'm just new so don't slate me yet please.

 

[Laurelin]

@mrsr1980

Firstly, welcome to the Forums - it's always great to see a new contributor here

Secondly, and far from slating your idea (let alone you yourself!), I think your suggestion is excellent: it's both sensible and workable; it's consistent with existing game mechanics and I doubt that it would need much developer work to implement it; I don't see how it could be 'unbalancing' or confer any advantage on the player which would disrupt the game in any way; it would (in my opinion) help to reduce the drop-out rate of new players, because they would find themselves progressing more quickly and at a more steady pace, without long intermittent waits to unlock Research due to lack of Goods/resources, as happens especially in the early game; for those who enjoy the immersive and story-based side of the game, it's Lore-friendly (after all, wouldn't researchers need various materials while studying, not only right at the end of their labours?); and - just for good measure - it's also an original idea, as far as I know. (I've been reading the English-language Forums for a couple of years now, and I myself [can't speak for others, of course] haven't seen this idea suggested before).

Although there's no guarantee that Elvenar's Powers That Be will 100% agree with you (or me), since one of the ways in which games like this make money is to slow players down in the hope that they will want to speed up various in-game elements by buying and spending in-game currency, I would strongly encourage you to post this idea in the 'Ideas and Suggestions' Forum (URL below), where it will have the best chance of being forwarded to the game's management team for consideration. Players' suggestions are sometimes implemented, whether in whole, in part, or even just 'in spirit', so it's far from a waste of your time.

https://en.forum.elvenar.com/index.php?forums/ideas-and-suggestions.22/

I hope you enjoy the game.

Cheers ~ Laurelin

 

[Pauly7]

I think it would be a useful addition to the game too. I'm not sure that the devs would go for it. The extra 'advantage' that it would give players would come in the later chapters where sentient goods are required to unlock researches. @mrsr1980 you may not be aware of sentient goods yet (aka tiers 4-6). These goods 'decay' overnight so the amount that you hold always reduces. I suspect that this change would represent a way for people to avoid sentient goods decay (up to a point) and so this may be the element Inno may not be keen for people to exploit. It may be possible to program it so that they still decay having been deposited in the research tree, but that could get a level more complicated.

That all being said I would still welcome the change. Where large amounts of coins and supplies are needed it would be useful to be able to lock them in at points where the Main Hall is full of them.

 

[mrsr1980]

@mrsr1980

Firstly, welcome to the Forums - it's always great to see a new contributor here

Secondly, and far from slating your idea (let alone you yourself!), I think your suggestion is excellent: it's both sensible and workable; it's consistent with existing game mechanics and I doubt that it would need much developer work to implement it; I don't see how it could be 'unbalancing' or confer any advantage on the player which would disrupt the game in any way; it would (in my opinion) help to reduce the drop-out rate of new players, because they would find themselves progressing more quickly and at a more steady pace, without long intermittent waits to unlock Research due to lack of Goods/resources, as happens especially in the early game; for those who enjoy the immersive and story-based side of the game, it's Lore-friendly (after all, wouldn't researchers need various materials while studying, not only right at the end of their labours?); and - just for good measure - it's also an original idea, as far as I know. (I've been reading the English-language Forums for a couple of years now, and I myself [can't speak for others, of course] haven't seen this idea suggested before).

Although there's no guarantee that Elvenar's Powers That Be will 100% agree with you (or me), since one of the ways in which games like this make money is to slow players down in the hope that they will want to speed up various in-game elements by buying and spending in-game currency, I would strongly encourage you to post this idea in the 'Ideas and Suggestions' Forum (URL below), where it will have the best chance of being forwarded to the game's management team for consideration. Players' suggestions are sometimes implemented, whether in whole, in part, or even just 'in spirit', so it's far from a waste of your time.

https://en.forum.elvenar.com/index.php?forums/ideas-and-suggestions.22/

I hope you enjoy the game.

Cheers ~ Laurelin

Thank you for your reply and support I realised after I posted that there was an "ideas and suggestions" forum so I did post again in there just to be safe hopefully someone hears and helps us out. I find myself quickly doing what needs done in this game then ducking out to play other games. That cant be the developers goal?
I do enjoy the game, just would like for there to be more I can do at this early stage ‍
Hope you're staying safe
Michelle x

 

[mrsr1980]

I think it would be a useful addition to the game too. I'm not sure that the devs would go for it. The extra 'advantage' that it would give players would come in the later chapters where sentient goods are required to unlock researches. @mrsr1980 you may not be aware of sentient goods yet (aka tiers 4-6). These goods 'decay' overnight so the amount that you hold always reduces. I suspect that this change would represent a way for people to avoid sentient goods decay (up to a point) and so this may be the element Inno may not be keen for people to exploit. It may be possible to program it so that they still decay having been deposited in the research tree, but that could get a level more complicated.

That all being said I would still welcome the change. Where large amounts of coins and supplies are needed it would be useful to be able to lock them in at points where the Main Hall is full of them.

Hiya, thanks very much for your reply, I'm completely novice not sure I like the sound of goods decaying overnight that might be enough to put me off playing later on. I'll see how it goes I've got 4 things in my research tab waiting to be unlocked but I need the resources to be able to do it. I refuse to spend cash on the game especially this early on when I'm not truly invested in it. I still dont feel like it's a game I wanna ask my friends to join ‍ I've not been playing it long enough to be addicted to it
Hope you're staying safe
Michelle x

 

[Timneh]

I think it is a very good idea though i doubt the devs will go for it because of the reason given by @Pauly7 above. It could be argued that once goods have been placed into the research they are gone and you can not get them back to use on anything else so they should not decay but i have also played this game long enough to know that the devs do not think like that. Still like the idea lot though.

 

[Laurelin]

@Pauly7 and @Timneh : Good point about the Sentient Goods (I'd forgotten about those - doh!), although perhaps a compromise as per Timneh's idea would work, and (?) would hopefully not be too hard to program - that is, allowing only a fixed percentage per day of one's Sentient Goods to be 'banked' in Research topics, after which that % would be considered 'spent/used' and therefore no longer subject to decay. This might work especially well in the newer Worlds where there are fewer late-gamers with mutually compatible Boosts, since I've heard that some players in those Worlds can find Sentient Goods difficult to trade.

Another point is that we'd all probably agree that the average World Map region is heavily balanced towards smaller and newer players rather than experienced late-game or end-game players such as yourselves, so perhaps it would be helpful for the devs to accept that, while being able to 'bank' Resources might give late-game players the advantage of avoiding some Sentient Goods decay, it would also very probably encourage the much larger percentage of early-mid-game players to persist and keep growing their Cities, rather than abandoning them in the earlier Chapters? I'm sure this is even more disappointing for the devs than it is for the rest of us. After all, sometimes one sacrifice can be outweighed by other gains... maybe it just takes a bit of a re-think and a change of perspective? Let's hope so, anyway, since I for one would love to be able to 'bank' Resources, rather than give them to the Highway Robber sorry, Wholesaler...!

@mrsr1980 Nice to meet you (as it were!), Michelle, and I'm glad that you've 'officially' posted your 'Resource Banking' suggestion Just for info, the game's development cycle, according to the Forum Moderators, is typically around six months (i.e. from the planning stage to the live release of content), so it can take a while for players' ideas to surface, if and when they are adopted. I do hope your suggestion is considered, though, even if it may take a little while.

It's true that Elvenar can be a slow game at first (well, and at some other points too, to be honest!), but on the other hand, the developers are always adding more in the way of additional, optional content, which tends to keep players busy while making progress through the main game Chapters and storyline. An example is the ongoing 'Gathering of the Phoenix Cults' Event (and these big Events, several per year, do get a lot easier as your City grows - they're not really intended for new players to fully complete), as well as other regularly occurring 'happenings' such as the weekly Tournaments*, the also-weekly Spire of Eternity (which will appear in the top-left coastal area of your City Map when you reach Chapter III), regular Fellowship Adventures (not sure if you've seen one yet?), and other 'extras'. Most of these are designed for group play, so if you're not already in a Fellowship, it's a good idea to join one - and of course there are other advantages, too, such as easy (and free!) Trading, reliable Neighbourly Help, supporting each other's Ancient Wonders with KP donations, and of course just chatting!

Anyway. No doubt you know a lot of this already, but still, I thought I'd mention that there's normally a fair bit going on in-game to keep us all occupied; in fact, sometimes it can seem difficult to find enough time to keep up with general City growth and Chapter progress as well as all of the extra one-off and/or regular 'optional' content* (well, for players like me, at least, with kids to chase around...!).

Again, all the best, and I hope you find the game more appealing as your City grows, and new and more diverse in-game content opens up to you.

Take care ~ Nell a.k.a. Laurelin

* NB : Tournaments aren't really 'optional', to be honest... well, not if you want to earn enough of some very much essential items such as Runes, Relics, and more.

 

[Hekata]

I wonder if a problem wouldn't be settlement goods. Each level of portal has a limit for every research good type. As you evolve through the tech tree you need more and more of those goods to unlock a tech and that forces you to upgrade your portal. If you could just deliver goods as you get them there would be no need to upgrade the portal and in some cases no need to build most of the settlement as you could just go through the chapter with PP if you have enough of them.

 

[Pauly7]

Another point is that we'd all probably agree that the average World Map region is heavily balanced towards smaller and newer players rather than experienced late-game or end-game players such as yourselves, so perhaps it would be helpful for the devs to accept that, while being able to 'bank' Resources might give late-game players the advantage of avoiding some Sentient Goods decay, it would also very probably encourage the much larger percentage of early-mid-game players to persist and keep growing their Cities, rather than abandoning them in the earlier Chapters?

Of course to solve all this they could just say that sentient goods are not bankable in open researches, but everything else is.

 

[Laurelin]

@Hekata : True enough that the Guest Race Chapters are all individually and differently Goods-balanced, and I agree that being able to bank Guest Race Goods wouldn't work at all, and would probably end up causing a lot of imbalance in those Chapters. That said, I've always seen Guest Race Goods, being temporary in nature, as something set apart from 'normal' and permanent Goods and other resources, even though it's true that Guest Race Goods are also required for Research. I can't speak for the OP, of course, but I had assumed that the suggestion was in respect only of 'normal' Goods, i.e. Tiers 1-6, as well as Coins and Supplies, which are a constant need for all players in all Chapters - and I still think that being able to contribute these resources more gradually in the Research Tree, rather than all at once, would make for faster and smoother gameplay, and wouldn't really interfere with the Guest Races or their specific Goods...?

@Pauly7 : Leaving Sentient Goods out would indeed be the simplest option (and I'm speaking here, of course, as the idiot who completely forgot about them, at first - my bad!). Also, and just by the by; on re-reading the part of my post which you've quoted, I'm not sure that it came across very well at all. What I said was meant as a compliment towards your enthusiasm and staying power as a veteran player, and I really hope I didn't manange to accidentally offend you, or other late/end-game players, by mentioning that most players don't seem to reach your level. As I say, I've always been impressed by the dedication it must take to reach the end of the game, but I was writing in a hurry, and if I did come across as being at all critical (or pro-early-game-biased?), I certainly didn't mean to!

All in all: I'm still in favour of this idea, and if Guest Races and Sentient Goods are simply left out of the picture, it still seems quite workable to me. Here's hoping.

 

[Pauly7]

@Pauly7 Also, and just by the by; on re-reading the part of my post which you've quoted, I'm not sure that it came across very well at all. What I said was meant as a compliment towards your enthusiasm and staying power as a veteran player, and I really hope I didn't manange to accidentally offend you, or other late/end-game players, by mentioning that most players don't seem to reach your level.

No no, not at all. It was me that probably came across wrong by using a quote. I just want to make the point about stopping sentient goods being bankable and I picked something to quote which fell in the same ballpark.

You are right, though, in the development that said let's only be able to bank coins, supplies and tiers 1-6 goods.

 

[RainbowElvira]

The problem with sentient goods (and Mana, Seeds) can be easily overcome with having them decay normally when banked.

The capped guest race goods are more of an issue. You need fully upgraded portals to have sufficient storage at the end of each chapter. This would be defeated by the proposal.

You could exclude capped or all guest race goods from banking, but coins and supplies are capped too, so you will run into trouble there too.

 

[DeletedUser5381]

Don't you think it would be helpful to be able to dip in and bank some resources to help unlock some of the things in the research tab. So when you need 30000 2250 250 and 90 , it would be good if every now and again you could add to it like you do with the s. so if I've got 2500 and I'm not using them for anything, I could go in and bank them toward unlocking something. would make this game much more enjoyable for me. Sometimes I feel like I'm just dipping in and out and I get fed up for a few days. if I could do this I'd feel like I'm getting somewhere. anyway that's my 2p worth I'm just new so don't slate me yet please.

I see what you are saying, but I think this upgrade is already here. By working on events like Gathering of the Phoenix we can collect the Coin rain tickets and Supply Windfall tickets to bank for a day when we are running short to pay for research, and there is no limit to the amount of goods you can have on hand. The real key to playing Elvenar, is to work on a team large enough to help you out when you are running short. I looked up your city in Arendyll, your team really needs larger teammates, to offer you trading partners. I'd offer both you and Hanski a home on my team, but I have 25 teammates already. Good Luck

 

[Gargon667]

I actually like the idea, but I think I would only implement it for the first 5 chapters. It could be a way to make small towns more interesting to play. Then it can go away as guest races start. This is the point when capped goods really become a bigger part of the game with guest race goods (later also the decaying goods) All those things would need to be rebalanced after such a change and it sounds like too much work for a rather small benefit past chapter 5. I mean there is a lot of things depending on those caps: like for example the gold price of research expansions (not actually in the research menu, but same thing I suppose) is used to force towns to upgrade their MH, it would be rather counterproductive to let towns fool around with not upgraded MHs, just because they pay the cost 100 gold at a time. It will benefit them to upgrade and if they do upgrade, they should not have a problem to pay the full price in one go. This is of course just one example, but I think it would not be too hard to find examples for other resources as well...