Question Scouting Issues

[Cheryn]

I have contacted support about this problem, but I'm simply not satisfied with the answer I got, so I'll try here. In my newest, tiny city that I started back in February, I ran into an issue where before I unlocked the new chapter chests (the ones that tell you how many provinces you have/how many you need and then turns into advanced scouts after the chest is opened) I was running short by a good bit when I would get to the next chapter (whatever the requirement was, it was a LOT more than I anticipated!) This had happened to me going into EVERY chapter but not nearly as bad as this last time going into chapter 5. Most of the provinces were NOT easy(green) or very easy(blue), they were mediums(yellow) and hards(orange) and also very hards(red). I did all the easy ones first then began tackeling the medium ones. The big problem was that I did not have the troops needed to fight any of these difficult provinces after the greens were gone. I still tried to fight the medium ones but most I had to cater(bribe) to complete. Once the mediums were gone, I was catering all 8 points per province. A single province would wipe out my T1 goods and it would take a couple days to build the goods back up, IF someone took my trades in a timely manner. Keep in mind that I'm only one chapter away from Dwarves yet my T1 goods never have a bigger balance than say 5000 of any one item. Typically I am working with 0-1000 of any or all T1 goods. I can't play spire (I got spire in chapter 3 before they changed it to a chapter 5 requirement.) I'm struggling in tournament because my tents are increasing with the provinces and I do try to fight where I can. I am also struggling with my upgrades because I don't have the goods or the space to do them efficiently or even in a normal game play way. Basically I have spent the last 2 months or more in chapter 4 which should have taken, what...about a week? I did finally get the chest open and am in the process of completing advanced scouts for Chapter 5. I looked ahead to see how many provinces I will need for Dwarves. It's 75 and I have 50. The provinces left to be scouted are ALL reds(very hard) and they are all 6s. I'm not sure how or why this is the case, it doesn't seem like it should be; I would expect to see more level 5 provinces there. I guess that means I'm in for another 2 or 3 months of trying to complete the chapter 5 research and unlocking it, doing all my upgrades without any goods stocked up, and trying to complete the 25 provinces and paying dearly through the nose in lieu of what should be simple battles. Support told me that I have over scouted, which I have only scouted what the game required of me. I know better than to over scout. I have completed the rings/levels on the map in order; all 1s, then 2s, then 3s etc. I have not scouted more than I need to unlock a new chapter except maybe by one or two provinces and I don't complete those couple overages until I need them. It's not like I've gone crazy scouting to get province expansions, I'm struggling for space, not rolling in it. What I'm wondering is if some components of the game were changed (when they moved spire to chapter 5) maybe even province requirements adjusted, but they failed to adjust how the game plays out if you were one of the people who got the spire in chapter 3. Could there be a bug here? It cannot be possible to overscout AND have the game tell you you haven't scouted enough and need more, could it? HA! What am I saying, of course it's possible they'd do something like that. The question is, Did They?? I am very close to shutting this little city down. Can anyone help with answers that make sense???

 

[Sir Derf]

Which world?

 

[m4rt1n]

How many provinces have you completed, as to me it also sounds like big over scouting, that means scouting far more provinces than the requirements to unlock the next chapter, maybe you are short on something else?

 

[m4rt1n]

@Cheryn am I to assume the problem is on Felndral EN3 as I see two growing cities on Arendyll EN1 and Winyandor EN2 plus other cities on other servers DE,CZ,HU and US?

 

[Silly Bubbles]

I'm not sure which version of research you got (there are multiple versions out there at this moment) so it's hard to exactly know what is happening. I do have a small city that I started couple of months ago and none of the provinces difficulty dropped bellow easy but they're doable through catering. The only thing I can come up with is that you haven't completed Squad Size Upgrades. Every time you complete one, the cost of catering of not yet scouted provinces decreases. It doesn't happen when the scouting has already completed, the cost of catering is fixed for scouted by not completed provinces. The fighting difficulty still drops even for scouted provinces because your squad size increases while the enemy squad size remains the same. I'd try to finish all your Squad Size Upgrades research and then see how it goes. You can at least try to fight if the catering costs are too much. Another option is to increase your production by either building more boosted manufacturies or focusing on tournament or crafting to increase the number of your boosted relics that increase your production too.

Edit: Typos and minor adjustments.

 

[Cheryn]

Martin: The city I'm refering to is indeed on the USA server, Harandar (us8 I believe). I have noticed strange occurances in regular game play there, more than I've ever seen, or even heard of, on the International servers. A recent example would be that tournament began 2 hours early yesterday in US Harandar (the only world I'm in there) and will conclude 2 hours early on Saturday. I didn't receive any notice of this change, nor did my teammates seem to be aware of it. It was quite a surprise to everyone. As for over scouting- yes, I also thought that was my problem at first. However, when I looked ahead expecting to find that I would not need to complete any or only a couple new provinces for the next chapter, I was very startled to find that I was going to need comsiderably more than just one or two provinces.

In my largest city, I did fall into the over scouting trap by trying to acquire additional expansions too quickly. I was indeed punished by the game for this overstep and it took at least an entire chapter, maybe two, before the unscouted provinces returned to easy and medium again. I do think I was pretty cautious not to step into that type of trouble again. Additionally, given the many events that have been ongoing, I have trouble believing that they would generate a quest to scout or complete a province if I had indeed over scouted already. WAIT...What am I saying? Of course this game would do something like that. It loves to taunt you. At any rate, I sincerely don't believe that it's my over scouting. If I have completed all squad size upgrades (and all other research) for chapters 1-4 (Silly Bubbles referred to this) and unlocking the chest for chapter 5 says 76/100, (76 being in red and 100 being white) it means I need 24 more provinces completed before the chest will unlock so that I can put KPs into advanced scouts research. If I had over scouted already, this would read something more like 120/100. I would not have to complete more provinces because I already have more than I need. This is my primary defense to over scouting that I might not recall having done, but accidentally did complete.

The single odd thing I do notice is that if you look at the province overview and the scoutable provinces tab, I have exactly 4 provinces remaining that are level 5 and they are all yellow difficulty (medium). All other provinces listed in the scoutable tab are level 6 and red (Very Hard). If you look at the incomplete tab you can see I have exactly 4 provinces that have been scouted but the encounters have not yet been fought or catered. They are level 5. I know the numbers indicate a certain level of provinces compiled in a ring around your own city. I may be wrong, but I believe them to be somewhat chapter related. So, if I am entering chapter 5, all provinces should be numbered with a 4 or 5 or 6 OR... (if I had any) they might be numbered with a 3, but those would most likely be green or blue (easy and very easy). I have none of those. I have not a single orange province (hard) either. The 4 that have been scouted but are incomplete are not color coded on that tab, but when I go to the province on the map I can see they are all medium (yellow). After completing those 4 and the 4 remaining unscouted yellow provinces, I will still be required to complete another 16 provinces before I can move into chapter 6. As I have said, all the remaining provinces are all level 6 and very hard (red). This should not be the case. I should also have easy, medium and hard to pick from yet I do not. I would think I'd see some level 7s showing up and would expect them to be Red (very hard), if I had any, but I do not.

I did not encounter these problems in my other cities, except when i DID over scout in my first city. Over scouting was absolutely undeniable and confirmed by the fact that I had overages of provinces going into the next chapter as indicated on the chest of the very first research for that next chapter. e.g. 120/100. It is then my conclusion that something is amiss here. Perhaps it is the wrong version of research I have, perhaps the error occured because I was granted access to the spire in chapter 3, just before the developers moved it to chapter 5 and I consequently have a version of research that doesn't work for my actual game status. I don't know, I'm not a developer, but I do know something has to be wrong.

 

[C-Nymph]

Could there be a bug here? It cannot be possible to overscout AND have the game tell you you haven't scouted enough and need more, could it? HA! What am I saying, of course it's possible they'd do something like that. The question is, Did They?? I am very close to shutting this little city down. Can anyone help with answers that make sense???

I keep running into the same situation with one of my smaller cities as well (mind you, this 'smaller' city is in chapter 16 currently) which is always short on scouted provinces when it reaches the next chapter. The big difference with you seems that the provinces I have to scout there are blue or green, not deep red. But I do recall seeing more orange and red provinces in the earlier chapters, which seems odd, since it seems more logical for things to become harder when you progress in the game, not easier

It is indeed impossible to be told you have overscouted yet have the game require you to keep scouting to continue, especially as it doesn't tell you to scout x-number of new provinces, but tells you how many provinces total you have to have scouted to be able to continue. That's a big difference. Maybe @Herodite can shine some light on this issue? Since she's also a senior game moderator on Support, and she's awesome on the forum too .

Especially with this in mind:

It is then my conclusion that something is amiss here. Perhaps it is the wrong version of research I have, perhaps the error occured because I was granted access to the spire in chapter 3, just before the developers moved it to chapter 5 and I consequently have a version of research that doesn't work for my actual game status. I don't know, I'm not a developer, but I do know something has to be wrong.

In the mean time, a suggestion I would have right now is to work on upgrading some AWs that will help you in the battles (Martial Monastery/The Sanctuary and Needles specifically for you, since those should be available at your current chapter progression level at the beginning of chapter 5). I seem to be unable to find your city on ElvenStats in order to take a closer look to see if I can give more detailed tips, because the only Cheryn I see on US8 is in chapter 4 right now, so I assume that's not the city you are referring to?

Good luck anyway, hope your issue gets solved!

 

[Jake65]

Following out of interest.
I've got 502/520 provinces required to open chapter 18 yet I've only just opened chapter 17. I'm that far ahead with scouted provinces but still have 53 green provinces available for scouting.
It does seem out of kilter to be coming up against red provinces if you haven't exceeded the minimum requirements to progress through the chapters.

 

[MinervaOz]

I looked ahead to see how many provinces I will need for Dwarves. It's 75 and I have 50.

The number of required provinces seems to have been reduced in the new tech tree (well, your version of it). In the old one, 75 were needed to get into Chapter 5 and 100 to get into Dwarves.

You said you hadn't completed Advanced Scouts for Ch 6 yet - that should make the difficulty level fall. Also, if the tech tree hasn't been changed, there are two squad size upgrades at the beginning of Ch 6. I suggest waiting to see what happens when you've completed all of those.

I've got 502/520 provinces required to open chapter 18 yet I've only just opened chapter 17. I'm that far ahead with scouted provinces but still have 53 green provinces available for scouting.

Mid Chapter 19 with all squad size upgrades completed, ring 17 is all green. Ring 18 is orange.

 

[C-Nymph]

Scout progression might be interesting to look at indeed. Here is the scouting progress for my cities:

City 1, halfway chapter 20, overscouted (because that wasn't an issue back in the day), scouted 662 provinces.
Total 74 scoutable provinces:
- 45 x 18th ring -> easy green (so difficulty 2/5)
- 29 x 19th ring -> hard orange (4/5)
Total 51 scouted but incomplete provinces:
- 23 x 17th ring -> easy green (2/5) (annoying detail: browser doesn't show difficulty of incomplete provinces in the overview, had to login on app to be able to tell )
- 28 x 18th ring -> 9 easy green (2/5), 19 medium yellow (3/5)

Also just noticed a huge discrepancy between scoutable provinces on browser and app. On browser I can select a total of 74 provinces to scout (45 green, 29 orange), on app I see only 21 provinces available to scout (20 green, 1 orange). That is sooooo weird!

City 2, 2/3rd into chapter 19, a little overscouted, 625/600 provinces needed for chap 20
Total 72 scoutable provinces:
- 37 x 17th ring -> easy green (2/5)
- 35 x 18th ring -> hard orange (4/5)
(only 50 total available to scout on app though, 37 green, 13 orange)
Total 23 incomplete provinces:
- 23 x 17th ring -> easy green (2/5)

City 3, 1/4th into chapter 16, scouted 441/480 provinces needed for chap 17
Total 61 scoutable:
- 32 x 14th ring -> very easy blue (1/5)
- 29 x 15th ring -> very easy blue (1/5)
(but only 53 available to scout on app, all blue)
Total 7 incomplete:
- 7 x 14th ring -> very easy blue (1/5)

 

[Silly Bubbles]

I think it all depends how often we play and how are cities are setup. In my main cities, I've always overscouted to get expansions as quickly as I could but I knew I can handle it. I was completing the provinces as quickly as I was scouting them and I was collecting my production five times a day. For someone, who plays less than that it would not be possible.
The problem is when we keep scouting ahead without completing them. It makes the provinces easier when we scout them after Squad Size upgrades and advanced scouts. We should not scout ahead when we can't complete already scouted provinces.

 

[dennise]

I am having a similar problem. In my city in EN2 Winyandor I have just started chapter 6 and all my provinces are hard. They were the same through chapter 5 . I have scouted 90/100 provinces needed to open the chest so I have 10 hard provinces to scout before I can start the research. In my city in EN1 Arendyll on the other hand all my provinces are easy in chapter 11 even though I have already scouted enough provinces to open the chest in chapter 12. I have only done 1 research in this chapter so I will be overscouted for chapter 13 by the time I finish it.

How does Inno decide on the difficulty of scouting? Is there a formula or is it RNG again?

 

[Silly Bubbles]

I am having a similar problem. In my city in EN2 Winyandor I have just started chapter 6 and all my provinces are hard. They were the same through chapter 5 . I have scouted 90/100 provinces needed to open the chest so I have 10 hard provinces to scout before I can start the research. In my city in EN1 Arendyll on the other hand all my provinces are easy in chapter 11 even though I have already scouted enough provinces to open the chest in chapter 12. I have only done 1 research in this chapter so I will be overscouted for chapter 13 by the time I finish it.

How does Inno decide on the difficulty of scouting? Is there a formula or is it RNG again?

The difficulty depends on the province distance from your city. The further away, the higher catering costs and the higher enemy squad size. Here's some tips how to make it easier:

Every time you complete Squad Size Upgrade, the cost of catering of not yet scouted provinces decreases. It doesn't happen when the scouting has already completed, the cost of catering is fixed for scouted by not completed provinces. The fighting difficulty still drops even for scouted provinces because your squad size increases while the enemy squad size remains the same. I'd try to finish all your Squad Size Upgrades research and then see how it goes. You can at least try to fight if the catering costs are too much. Another option is to increase your production by either building more boosted manufacturies or focusing on tournament or crafting to increase the number of your boosted relics that increase your production too.

It makes the provinces easier when we scout them after Squad Size upgrades and advanced scouts. We should not scout ahead when we can't complete already scouted provinces.

 

[dennise]

@Silly Bubbles I don't think that is relevant in my case as the easy provinces are further away from my city than the hard provinces. I never fight so I only complete Squad Size Upgrades that aren't dead ends. The provinces I have scouted are mostly completed. I have reached Advanced scouts in Winyandor but I still have about 8 hard provinces to scout before I can open it.

 

[Silly Bubbles]

@Silly Bubbles I don't think that is relevant in my case as the easy provinces are further away from my city than the hard provinces. I never fight so I only complete Squad Size Upgrades that aren't dead ends. The provinces I have scouted are mostly completed. I have reached Advanced scouts in Winyandor but I still have about 8 hard provinces to scout before I can open it.

It is possible that provinces further away are easier because you scouted them after completing research that makes them easier. The difficulty is set once the province is scouted so any scouting done before the research will retain it's difficulty and won't become easier after completing relevant research. Also, if you don't do Squad Size Upgrades then yes, it will be harder. The choice is yours.