Merging cities

[MechaStorm]

well the farms should be increased if it happens but the wall should remain at 25.

[LazerusLong]

I like this idea.
If your being attacked and conquered is it the whole super city or do you retain 4 of the 5 merged when conquered. This makes a differance. If its the whole super city then all the defences and loyalty should be added together because they are attacking 5 citys. And the new super city icon should look like buckingham palace

[MagicPie]

I like all the ideas but the one about "kingdom".

I say once you make the super city ( it should be called a capital city) if it's captured by someone the get the whole super city. Not 1 out if the 5 used to make it.

[Fhorar]

I love this idea and have been following this thread quite a bit. Here's my $0.02 on how this should work.

Academy lvl 2 upgrade would be req'd by both the merging city and the city being merged with. Requirements for a lvl 2 academy should be every building needs to be maxed out (gives a reason to max cities out and makes it so it takes longer to do this). When you merge two cities it requires a scholar (or some new unit that unlocks with academy lvl 2) for the first merge 2 scholars (or new units) for a second merge (merging a city with a city that has already been merged once) and so on. When you merge two cities the wall and city hall remain the same level, and every other buildings' attributes are enhanced by a certain number below a separate city's number.

For example: City B is merging with City A - City B sends a scholar (or new unit) to City A. Once the scholar arrives, city A and B are locked (can't send support to or from either city, can't launch attacks, can't build troops, can't send or recieve resources, etc - both cities can still be attacked and conquered) and the merging process takes place for 24h (if either city is conquered during this period the merging process is cancelled and the scholar(s) is/are lost). Once the cities are merged, the farm space is increased by say 19,200 (can't remember the farm space left after maxing a city out), the warehouse capacity increases by 400k, the troop build times are decreased by X% (% based so that subsequent merges don't reduce build times to 0) resource production increases by 6400/hr (just like the warehouse - 80% of a single city's max building), hiding place value doubles, research values remain unchanged (but research times are reduced by X%).

This way you receive a great benefit of merging two cities but not getting 100% of the qualities of each city and you can merge as many as you want (although the cost to merge another city into a set of merged cities rises considerably for each one). And maybe a category can be added in the leader boards along the lines of largest city in the world.

[MechaStorm]

i dont think im reallt understanding what your saying in your first part. explain again pls

[Fhorar]

Basically what I'm saying is you merge City B with City A. Both cities require academy lvl 2. You'd send 1 scholar from City B to City A - once the scholar arrives, the cities begin merging and both are 'locked' (although they can still both be attacked/conquered and if either city is conquered, the merging stops and the scholar is lost). After the 24h merge period City B no longer exists and City A becomes a merged city (City AB, if you will). If you wanted to merge another city into City AB, you would have to send 2 scholars from City C to City AB and the merging process would start again.

I say scholars but you could always come up with a new unit that is unlocked with academy lvl 2 (maybe call it an Architect) and have it work the same way. You could have to make something like 'City Plans' for architects (vs scholarships for scholars).

[Fhorar]

The other point I was trying to convey was having to send more scholars (or Architects) to merge more cities into one. 1 Architect to merge A and B, two Architects to merge C into AB, 3 Architects to merge D into ABC, and so on.

[MechaStorm]

ahh... ok i understand now. would other people be able to see that you are merging your cities? i think that there should be a wait time for this if it did happen but 24hrs is too long imo. and the idea of it being locked doesnt seem that good to me. how are you suppoosed to defend it if its beiing conquered? besides sending tons of troops there beforehand?

[LadyDelicious]

I like the concept. I leave worlds when the maintenance gets too overwhelming.
However would be good if Playmesh would fix ALL the bugs we experience first. PLEASE

[therodman]

I really like this idea, I've had serious problems having too many cities in the past. I envision it like this. You have a primary city which links to a secondary city(maybe a little link bar on the map showing they are linked). The two must be adjacent. Once linked the secondary city becomes greyed out(or something) and is no longer accessible. Whatever building levels the secondary city had are transferred to the primary city though certain things don't transfer(like wall level). So the production, capacity, training time decrease, loyalty increase(maybe?) etc would all be benefits to merging. The maximum amount of cities you can merge together is 9. 1 primary and 8 secondary(assuming the primary is completely surrounded by cities you own). There should be some required building(like having a academy in both cities or maxed city hall) before you are allowed to merge.

I think that this would impact the game strategy as follows: It would encourage players to take groups of cities(instead of isolated ones). It would encourage players to level up cities all or nearly all the way before merging. It would also encourage players to take inactive or barbarian cities and spend time leveling them up. It would increase the risk of losing control of an area(the cities are more powerful but there are fewer of them). Like putting all of your eggs in one basket. Finally, it would greatly decrease the amount of time needed to manage a large number of cities.

I used to have over 100 cities but it took so long to manage them that my ipod would die before I could finish(I started with full battery). I ended up quitting valor because of it. I play again now in a new world(over a year later). This idea could've kept me playing the first time around.