Hi All,



First of all, must say that this is one of the most polished and well created game I have come across. Enjoying it immensely and would be playing it for ever it seems



Had just one gripe. And that relates to stockpiles. Somehow, it doesn't seem right to me, especially by the late game. I am playing on normal difficulty and few of the issues I found...

1. The price of a stockpile in the marketplace seems very minimal by the late game. By then, if properly played, the player has enough accumulated dust to just buy a few stockpiles easily from the marketplace.

2. This effects both the wonder victory and the science victory since if the player has enough dust, for wonder victory he can just buy those stockpiles and finish the wonder within very few turns. Similarly, the science victory is somewhat diluted.

3. In contrast, the creation of a stockpile through industry seems really time consuming effort and rarely worth it. It is normally much easier just to buy it from the marketplace since the price is so low.



Wanted to hear other members opinion on this. Somehow, I am not convinced currently that the price of the stockpiles in the marketplace is correct by late game. It somehow feels like cheating if I buy it and use it

No comments from anyone ...



This could mean one of the following things ...



1. Whatever I have said is completely off the mark and incorrect.

2. Not many understand or use stockpiles and thus have no opinion.

3. I have said whatever there is to say and no one has anything to add.

4. I am impatient

There are a whole bunch of threads discussing stockpiles, and their integration and interest in the wider production & economical aspects of the game:



http://forums.amplitude-studios.com/search.php?searchid=7270497

Until a few seconds, i thought stockpiles are completely useless

Now I found out, that there are techs, that upgrade the stock piles. And +875 seems to be pretty good value for the amount of dust.



But I think you can only use one per turn and city? So you can't really finish the wonder instantly. Still a nice boost though.

Frogsquadron wrote:
There are a whole bunch of threads discussing stockpiles, and their integration and interest in the wider production & economical aspects of the game:



http://forums.amplitude-studios.com/search.php?searchid=7270497

I did do a search but somehow none of the discussions handled the point I was trying to make i.e. it is far easier to just buy stockpiles from the market than actually produce them. This can only mean two things...



1. The market price is too low and is not reflective of the correct production cost.

OR

2. The production cost is too high and is not reflective of the correct price of a stockpile.



Normally, in case of buildings and units, it is much more economical to produce than to buy out. But in case of stockpiles, it is the opposite i.e. much more economical to buy than to produce. Why so? Am I missing something?



Thanks.

They might be good for low difficulty single player, but they´re not worth it. They depend on too many variables; and more importantly, on too many techs in a game that´s very tight tech-wise. Discounts nullify their usefulness because they´re more reliable.

Maximus86 wrote:


Normally, in case of buildings and units, it is much more economical to produce than to buy out. But in case of stockpiles, it is the opposite i.e. much more economical to buy than to produce. Why so? Am I missing something?

That´s only true for the very beginning of the game. After you get Scientific empire plan level 2 for 33% discount on buildings, a Mint (or any t1 building) costs about 70 dust (on fast speed, but the proportionality is good when adjusting game speed). You return that investment in less than 10 turns speaking strictly in terms of raw dust, and not considering all the opportunity you gained by having that building now and not at the end of your queue.



After you manage to get Economical empire plan level 2, everything is costing almost 50% less when buying out. One could argue that what´s unbalanced are these discounts, not stockpiles. You can still add Wild Walkers governors for another 24% discount on buildings or Roving Clans and Necrophages governors for another 24% discount on units.



None of this requires a specific tech. If you wish, you can still get the Slaves and Volunteers tech for another 25% discount on everything.

BPrado wrote:
They might be good for low difficulty single player, but they´re not worth it. They depend on too many variables; and more importantly, on too many techs in a game that´s very tight tech-wise. Discounts nullify their usefulness because they´re more reliable.







That´s only true for the very beginning of the game. After you get Scientific empire plan level 2 for 33% discount on buildings, a Mint (or any t1 building) costs about 70 dust (on fast speed, but the proportionality is good when adjusting game speed). You return that investment in less than 10 turns speaking strictly in terms of raw dust, and not considering all the opportunity you gained by having that building now and not at the end of your queue.



After you manage to get Economical empire plan level 2, everything is costing almost 50% less when buying out. One could argue that what´s unbalanced are these discounts, not stockpiles. You can still add Wild Walkers governors for another 24% discount on buildings or Roving Clans and Necrophages governors for another 24% discount on units.



None of this requires a specific tech. If you wish, you can still get the Slaves and Volunteers tech for another 25% discount on everything.

are you sure about scientific plan giving a dust discount? It says PRODUCTION cost reduction, so I would assume it's production reduction only.

When buying out things, you pay for their industry cost.

Industry stockpiles are plain and simple, AWESOME.



Just do not build them, instead buy them cheaply.



Think of this scenario:

1) Playing small faction that can not keep up in military

2) Just got to 4th era

3) Have researched both upgrades to stockpiles, so the single one gives +1600 Industry

4) Have Necrophage hero, that reduces cost of units by 25%, as well as empire plan that does additional 20% discount, for total of 45% discount for unit industry cost



Then:

5) Buy from the marketplace bunch of industry stockpiles for around 300-400 gold each.

6) Put them all to same city with unit cost discount and see how small faction becomes big military power, creating several 8-unit stacks from nothing in couple of turns.

7) Profit!

One more thing. Science stockpiles are awesome for the Cultist faction.



After upgrades and getting tech to get science stockpiles from razing, those stockpiles will pretty much keep up Cultist science running till the end of the game. +1600 science per turn is a lot. This usually triples science output of Cultist faction.

Just played another game. Researched two stockpile techs and bought 6 industry stockpiles (for around 2500 dust total), which I then converted to 3 full 8-unit stacks of level 5 troops.



Nice...