Forge of Empires

[Xev]

If they had this when I had a computer at work that I came back to often.... this game would definitely appeal to me. It's one of those city builder games that has some stick figure combat in it. Everything is on a timer as far as building or healing or producing things goes.

There is a lot of harvesting in FoE and you have a limited amount of control (that increa$e$ under certain circumstances) over how often the harvesting occurs. Now matter what your increa$e I don't imagine you could ever build Rome in a day unless you were some kinda FoE genius.

Here's how I see me doing it.. Just get my estimated time away from the PC (gotta get coffee... someone needs wants something.... gotta pee...) and that's how to set production times...

Meanwhile, my lil toons gradually build things up and each day things get bigger and sleeker. And more people sit at my tavern! And I sit at theirs! That fits in real well with one or more of those estimated time away from PC reasons too. RP!

One major thing FoE has over (Elvenar) another game I'm playing from the same company (For Some Reason!) is that I can go into a builder/sandbox mode. That means, I can erase everything I've built and start from scratch with all my roads and buildings in storage to place wherever I want. Like when my new tech buildings are a different size and/or territory size increases and it's time to optimize space, or, it just feels like time to switch this structure with that. The changes don't become permanent until placing every single thing that was there to begin with, And, after hitting the I Really Want To Replace My Old Layout button. When in sandbox mode everything keeps chugging away like I left it until I hit the save button in the sandbox. Very handy when your city is built on grid paper with the sizes of things constantly changing and nearly everything has to be connected to a road that's connected to the Main Hall.

Found this game as an advertisement when playing.. Windows Solitaire. Figured it had to be safe and at least partly well done, right!? So why not... just had to click a button to play anything that wasn't the game I didn't want to play (if you get that!).

They've got a totally browser with nothing to install version and a mobile app version... The app version msgs when it's time to harvest or the tavern is full..

Now doesn't that sound like an at-work game if you can be near your PC often....? If they woulda had this back when the coffee was free and the Internet flowedeth. Oh man. I'd still be there.

I've played this game enough and had enough fun with it already that I figured it was time to make a post so there it is! *curtsy*

[Xev]

I'm still playing this. My tavern is maxed and things are moving along. Fun game to play on the side.

[Xev]

Wow 4 months and I still play this daily.. Usually just enough to keep things rolling, but still. I didn't think a 'simple little browser game' would still be on my Favorites bar after a month or two at most but I'm still not MMO'ing regularly and Forge is still more entertaining than Windows solitaire.

Forge just got done with their 10th anniversary event. There's another event in 2 weeks, which, seems about average. They have a lot of Events and Events bring special and rare structures to use. The buildings give DR as you progress through the ages but many are well above average when you get them, and, they cannn be updated to the current Age you're in if you have a rare building upgrade consumable you're willing to use to do so.

The first new expansion to come out since I started playing is out (Jupiter Moon). I'm probably a good year or so away from getting far enough to see it which is fine by me. Not in any kind of hurry to progress and I can't help but progress if I keep things rolling along, so, I'll get there eventually if I keep playing.

I'd still recommend this one and I don't look down my nose on it like I did when I first started playing it as a quant little browser game/solitaire alternative that newbs who haven't yet discovered real games play. Still can't see myself calling Forge home, but, I can see how someone could and it's been a solid game to play on the side.

[Xev]

I've been stopped off in the Progressive Era for awhile, now.

One of the first new things I ran into in the Progressive Era was 2 lane streets. They're needed for some of the new structures. I don't even want to give up the space on my 'gridpaper' to make 1 lane streets. Another, was, too much of a shortage of production goods to progress without being bottlenecked while waiting for goods.

So, I decided to stop Era progression for the first time since I started playing and stock up on goods before entering the next Era.

Well, what to do with the Forge Points that start stacking up in the meanwhile... Can't waste those and the ones that come every hour only stack up to a quantity of 10.. So, why not finally put up a Great Building. Been collecting blueprints for them ever since starting the game. Why not finally use a few.

Once a Great Building goes up I have a place to sink my Forge Points while building up supplies and other resources for the next Era.

The 1,000's of Forge points that go into these buildings will raise their effects. For example a Great Building that gives 3% attack/defense bonus goes up to 6% on the next level, then 9%, and etc. The bonus goes up fast at first and then it takes increasingly more Forge Points to level up a Great Building.

Great Buildings only go up to level 10 by default (which takes 1,000s of Forge Points) but I've seem them well over level 100. For each level beyond level 10 a Great Building requires a full set of blueprints. To build a Great Building at all, I have to have a full set of blueprints. In the course of getting to the Progressive Era and doing things that gain me blueprints (buffing neighbors, doing quests..) I already had stacks of blueprints to put to use.

By donating my precious Forge Points to other people's Great Buildings while using some basic math skills.... I get the chance to get even more back than I gave... that go into Inventory (a seemingly infinity pool so far).. instead of the puny 10-limit pool where my hourly Forge Points go. This is what incentivizes everyone to help everyone and it's pretty effective. It also gives me a way to stockpile Forge Points in inventory to go along with the other resources I need to progress through the next Era.

By playing the Great Building mini-game while I produce and trade for the goods I need to progress through the next Era I should be able to complete the entire next Era minutes after I start it - instead of weeks or months.

Then, I upgrade my entire city with the latest Era structures while also going back to the Great Building mini-game to stock up for the next Era.

Rinse. Repeat.

No bottlenecks during Era progression. No waiting (weeks or months) to discover new technology while fighting against new tech with the old tech from the last era, and, I can produce goods and cash with the latest tech right away as I stockpile up for the next Era. I'm never broke (seems to be the opposite) and I'm always at my peak or waiting for the latest buildings of my Era to complete.