Great Buildings: How to donate properly and get donations yourself?

[DeletedUser109836]

Heya guys!

Even though I have been playing Forge of Empires for a few months now, I'm still quite a newbie.
I have two questions about Great Buildings:

1. To what Great Buildings should you donate?
As of now, I've simply donated to Great Buildings I'd like to have of a few of my server's (Houndsmoor) best players. Sure, it yielded results - I've been able to accumulate medals and blueprints, and, thanks to the help of the player Addonexus, was even able to build "Space Needle". The problem: Very often, I get trumped by other players when the GB is close to being finished. Which results in me having spent more Forge Points than I should have for the specific reward. Due to my city still being rather, well, crap, I only have about ~15 extra Forge Points a day (8SoK's, 2Football Fields, 1Luau, +1 from Guild) and only very few Forge Point packages in my inventory. Thus, I can't really donate Forge Points in "bulks" like more advanced players do - I can only try to get to the higher reward spots by starting early and donating daily. Is there a better way of spending Forge Points on GBs? Or shouldn't I even try to get good reward spots on very advanced players' GBs?

2. How do I get people to donate towards my Great Buildings?
From what I can see, a lot of people are doing the same as me - Simply donating their Forge Points to the Great Buildings of very advanced players. Which is understandable, of course, since the rewards are really good. But: How can I attract people to spend Forge Points on my Great Buildings without having to spend my own FPs on them (Since I want to use those to spend on other players' Great Buildings)? As of now, the levelling of my own Great Buildings is simply really really slow. The guild I'm in also does not seem to be very active, but I can't try to get into a really active one since they are all pretty much reserved to advanced players.

So, yeah, here are my main two questions about Great Buildings. Any replies are appreciated.

Thank you very much!

 

[DeletedUser7719]

1) I hate to tell you this, but that Space Needle probably wasn't worth it. Any static GBs (GBs that only produce coins, supplies, happiness, population, or medals) are mainly not worth it in the long run unless you get a really good deal out of it in an early age (how much FP did you donate to get the GB?), so a GB like the Gaea Statue could be worth it if you spent less than 500FP to get all the BPs/goods and if you're maybe behind the Progressive Era. Even then, there should be some GBs I would prioritize first: https://forum.en.forgeofempires.com...ings-to-start-with-and-why.26047/#post-140905
(You may want to read the rest of the thread and guides linked there if you want a further analysis)
That list is pretty old, but the only changes I would make now would be if you're into GvG, definitely prioritize Alcatraz, and I would add the Arc as #8 on the list, or give it the most priority if you're going to be donating to GBs freely.

2) There are 6 methods of leveling GBs. Five of them are mentioned in a video of this guide: https://forum.en.forgeofempires.com/index.php?threads/morbidejs-guides.31701/
The 6th method is offering goods to obtain FPs in your Great Buildings (and you should be asking for goods for the FP you donate if you're planning to donate more than 100 in a GB). This method is mainly useful once you hit the Progressive Era as players love to use this method to obtain an Alcatraz or Chateau. If you're not in the Progressive Era, then I would advise to find a player to swap with daily.

 

[Vesiger]

The best way to get a profit in investment of Forge Points is not to donate to the most advanced players, but to find those players in your neighbourhood who are putting all their FP into their own Great Buildings - probably the lower-ranking ones. Then you can end up in a situation where the owner of the GB eventually puts in, say 287 FP while you have put in only 3 at an early stage...

To get other people to invest in your Great Buildings, you probably need to arrange a FP swap (or join a guild that runs a swap thread).
Remember, you get rewards for donating FP to your friends' GBs, and they get rewards for donating to yours - so it's better if you give all your FP to one building of theirs and they give all theirs to one building of yours than if you each put the same number of FP into your own GB.

 

[DeletedUser109836]

Thanks for your answers.

@SFM-ByeOrDie
I already have Alexandria and Zeus too, actually. Why exactly are those "static" GBs bad, though? Thanks to the Space Needle I managed to sell most of my other happiness buildings (Had to build lots of Monuments and other crap before to keep those 120% up), and the amount of gold basically amounts to a free Forge Point a day? To get all the blueprints I spend a little less than 500Forge Points (Whereas I already spent 350+ FPs for 3 Arc BPs only...)
I also planned to get Cape Carneval, Gaea, Rain Forest and The Habitat next. Are those bad ideas too?
What exactly is so crucial about St. Marks, for example? I get that Goods are always useful, but what's the benefit of a Gold boost in comparison to a flat gold amount? Right now I think that my Space Needle would give me more gold than the collected gold + boost (I chose to stay in Iron Age for a while, so I only have cottages)
Aachen is like a bad Space Needle + Zeus, right?
I guess I can see why Castel del Monte is useful. I'm not that much of a PvP fighter though, so wouldn't Cape carneval be better for FPs?
Royal Albert Hall: I actually never had any supply problems. Right now I have 630k of supplies and I use about 0 supplies daily. (+ I already have Alexandria)
Alcatraz: Yeah, that one seems nice.
Still, what exactly would make me advance quicker by prioritizing the 8 ones on your list more than the few I mentioned above? I don't want to come across as stubborn, just curious.

The problem about exchanging Goods for FPs: Well, I don't really have any goods. Maybe 1k Iron Age Goods in total, and a few hundred bronze age goods. Nothing else... Forge Point exchange seems nice (Although slow), but how am I going to find a player that also wants to participate? If I'm shooting for a "more advanced" Great Building, chances are that the player having it is already quite advanced, which will make him less likely to agree :/

@Vesiger
I actually tried to find such people (In my friendlist, guild, and neighbourhood), and didn't find anybody. Not a single person. And I clicked through *all* of them.
I guess your right, I'll need to find a guild with FP swaps.


Thanks!


PS: God this blueprint trading is so annoying. I can have only 4 unique blueprints of a GB, trade about 10 of them, and still only have 4 unique ones... While also having dozens of Colosseum blueprints even though I'm not building that one...

 

[DeletedUser7719]

I already have Alexandria and Zeus too, actually. Why exactly are those "static" GBs bad, though? Thanks to the Space Needle I managed to sell most of my other happiness buildings (Had to build lots of Monuments and other crap before to keep those 120% up), and the amount of gold basically amounts to a free Forge Point a day? To get all the blueprints I spend a little less than 500Forge Points (Whereas I already spent 350+ FPs for 3 Arc BPs only...)

As I said earlier, static GBs are more useful in an earlier age. If you were in the Modern Era however, a Space Needle would need to be a level 6 I think just to produce the same happiness as buildings in its own age. Less than 500FP actually isn't bad for what you got (if you could get the same deal for the Lotus Temple though... )

I also planned to get Cape Carneval, Gaea, Rain Forest and The Habitat next. Are those bad ideas too?

This really matters on your playing style. If you don't mind at all staying in the age you're in, go for it. The list I gave was assuming you wanted to progress through the tech tree while picking up GBs (and I didn't have trading FPs for goods in mind). Sure you can spend another 2K+ FP to get all those GBs, but you'd progress through a couple of eras with those as well (2 in the last few eras, maybe 4-7 if you're in the Iron Age though). Also note you need to also spend some time leveling up those GBs to keep them useful in the later eras.

What exactly is so crucial about St. Marks, for example? I get that Goods are always useful, but what's the benefit of a Gold boost in comparison to a flat gold amount? Right now I think that my Space Needle would give me more gold than the collected gold + boost (I chose to stay in Iron Age for a while, so I only have cottages)

The fact that you have a Space Needle in the Iron Age is a different story. You won't need it for awhile in that case. However, once you get past the PostModern Era, you may start seeing a shortage of coins, especially if you start investing in population GBs.

Aachen is like a bad Space Needle + Zeus, right?

If you're planning to fight through the map or GvG, your goal is to get Zeus, Aachen, and Castel del Monte to level 10 (not immediately, but if you struggling through sectors, focus on them then). Some people may have a fully leveled Zeus and need more power, so that's when you get/depend on Aachen and Castel del Monte.

I guess I can see why Castel del Monte is useful. I'm not that much of a PvP fighter though, so wouldn't Cape carneval be better for FPs?

Yes, all FP-producing GBs are useful in their own way. Actually, maybe you should prioritize Cape first if you want to continue obtaining more GBs.

Still, what exactly would make me advance quicker by prioritizing the 8 ones on your list more than the few I mentioned above? I don't want to come across as stubborn, just curious.

The ages of the GBs. When you're in the Iron Age, you are mainly picking up earlier blueprints from aiding (as your neighborhood should consist of mainly players around your era), rewards (random blueprint rewards only give BPs from GBs of your age and below), and you have Bronze and Iron Age goods., so this means that you already have a headstart on getting the Lighthouse or Zeus without investing any FPs yet. When you reach the Early Middle Ages, the same situation occurs for the Cathedral of Aachen. I did not factor in trading FPs for goods for higher-level GBs because there are a lot of factors in order to get BPs and goods for the cheapest prices.

The problem about exchanging Goods for FPs: Well, I don't really have any goods. Maybe 1k Iron Age Goods in total, and a few hundred bronze age goods. Nothing else... Forge Point exchange seems nice (Although slow), but how am I going to find a player that also wants to participate? If I'm shooting for a "more advanced" Great Building, chances are that the player having it is already quite advanced, which will make him less likely to agree :/

This is another reason of getting earlier GBs, neighbors are more interested in donating to these since they have the goods to build it (and likely already have a few blueprints from aiding/rewards). Also, as I said at the end of my post, trading goods for FPs is only useful in the Progressive Era and above as you could advertise it on chat to get investors pretty easily and it isn't hard to mass produce it either.

Finally, I want to just mention that this is mainly my opinion, and may not be the best way (maybe FPs for goods for a lot of top-age GBs are faster), but I hope I do have enough reasoning for it to be a very viable option.

 

[DeletedUser100832]

addonexus isn't really value for money (or for fp)

you want to find some obscure player who levels his own gb's and donate to him. I am also in h'moor, so send me a message and I can make some suggestions.

PS: if you want goods, shop around for guilds which would help lower-ranked players with goods

PPS: space needle is a waste of space, if you need happiness build alcatraz. Generally, if you want to fight you build zeus, aachen, del monte and alcatraz first up. If you want to farm, you are after st marks, lighthouse, royal albert hall, the arc and chateau frontenac. Not a great fan of fp-producing gb's myself, only built cape a few weeks ago (and I played since late 2013).