Citadel Upgrades are Backwards

from Demigod Forums

It occurred to me when describing how Citadel Upgrades worked to a friend of mine, that the real, true, problem with most of the upgrades, and why they are only gotten as a money sink, is because for the most part they are, well, backwards.

 

Consider the one example of upgrades that is NOT backwards: New Creeps. Each upgrade you pay for is (basically) noticeably stronger than the last. Priests greatly increase the power of a wave.  Angels a bit more, and Cats and Giants are both huge additions. Shelling out 6k gold for Giants feels about right.


But what about the rest? Giants are the strongest upgrade to creep waves, and are the last to be bought, but for everything else, the FIRST upgrade is almost always the best one!

  • Tower Health: Each point in this grants the same Percentage bonus to health and regeneration... but each time you get it, that value is for more money, and is compared against a higher pre-upgrade amount.
  • Tower Damage: Like Health, the damage scales by a percent, and is compared to the base damage of the tower, meaning the first point is the most effective.
  • Gold: Everyone knows the first is awesome, and the second two are pretty bad.
  • Experience: Not only are they small, but getting them later in the game means having less time for them to accrue, and the percentage doesn't increase fast enough.
  • Grunt Strength/Defense: These are probably the most commonly bought non-wave upgrades because, of course, they make your giants better. Since they effect the only good upgrade path, it makes sense that they are sometimes bought.  Afterall, Giants is 6k, and 10% better giants is only about 1k.

Lastly, buying upgrades from the citadel should have a noticeable map changing effect.  It does this for upgrades to the creep line... but not anything else. Towers never get that much stronger, DG's never ressurrect really fast, or gain huge amounts of experience.  It isn't like you can ignore the creep wave upgrades, and get tower defense instead, and just hold back the opposing creeps with your new stronger towers.

demigod
4,596 views 7 replies
Reply #1 from Demigod Forums Top

I think the exp up is underrated.. As for towers, normal should be high.

Reply #2 from Demigod Forums Top

This is an interesting point that actually has some valid points.

Galactic Civilizations IV
Reply #3 from Demigod Forums Top

Consider, if Giants cost 1800, and Catapults cost 3600.. would people get Angels for 4800, or Priests for 6000? Heck no. Yet that is how the cost benefit analysis for most upgrades scales (Though obviously 1800 giants is retarded strong).

Reply #4 from Demigod Forums Top

I think EXP ugprades are okay as they are now, getting the first two of those is really good, if you also hold the exp flag at the same time you will be 2-3 levels ahead soon enough.

As for the other upgrades, I agree that they need to be improved, since all upgrades on towers give you the same health/damage boost, they should also cost the same instead of getting more expensive with each upgrade. Same for currency, 3 ugprades, 1800gold each, +4gold each.

Reply #5 from Demigod Forums Top

yeh the tower upgrades need to be improved. The cost is just too expensive after the first one. Lower the cost and all should be fine.

exp upgrade is fine as it is. this upgrade shouldnt be a deciding factor of a game.

Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top

Personally, I just think the prices alone are the biggest issue.  I don't mind having diminishing returns or smaller increments on the upgrades but it shouldn't diminish to the point where you're paying between 3 and 4 times the price of the first upgrade for half the payoff.

Reply #7 from Demigod Forums Top

Quoting Schobbo, reply 4
I think EXP ugprades are okay as they are now, getting the first two of those is really good, if you also hold the exp flag at the same time you will be 2-3 levels ahead soon enough.
End of Schobbo's quote

 

That isn't true, on two fronts.  First, you cannot assume that you have the exp flag as well in determining if the citadel upgrade, as it is an outside variable.  Secondly, because each level costs more experience than the last, getting 20% more experience doesn't mean you have 20% more levels.