Thanks to everyone from earlier in this thread for all your help. I just finished my first ascension, after more than a year of playing, and the strategies outlined really did help speed up the levels I was working on.

I'm considering whether to sacrifice my Rare hospital boost to make a Leg Alloy Values ... then I can build it up again.

I'm thinking that the final useful artifacts once you are "almost finished the game" (gotten all the useful Adv's but not yet leveled up your Artifacts to their 'final' levels and are no longer actively playing levels quickly to maximize AP [b/c you no longer need any] and are just casually playing, mostly just digging):

- Legendary Alloy Values
- Legendary Time Warp
- Legendary Triple Strike (fantastic for casual, dig-centric playing)
- Epic Mercenary Discount
- Epic Army Cache Boost
- Epic Supercharged Army Camp
- Rare Speedy Crafters (to get the few Techs that Markets can't buy)
(only if you're doing speed runs, otherwise don't need this, sacrifice it to get some of your other artifacts
- Rare Army Camp Boost (good to use with SAC & Clan requests, which is also good for casual, dig-centric playing)
- Rare Cache Boost
- Rare Hospital Boost
- Rare Hospital Discount
- Rare Item Values
- Rare Ore Values
- Rare Tech Discount
- Rare Territory Money Boost
- Rare Bonus Money Boost
- Rare Money Cache Boost
- Rare Resource Cache Boost

All other artifacts are 'extras' and not necessarily, probably more effort than they're worth swapping in/out. Obviously any artifacts you upgrade above these levels is also good, but I'd recommend upgrading them in the order they're displayed here for optimal play.

And then finally "finishing the game" (have all useful Adv's, all useful Artifacts sufficiently upgraded) with these artifacts:
- Insane Alloy Values
- Legendary Time Warp
- Legendary Triple Strike (fantastic for casual, passive, dig-centric playing)
- Legendary Mercenary Discount
- Legendary Army Cache Boost
- Legendary Supercharged Army Camp
- 1 of
Legendary Cache Boost
Legendary Hospital Boost
(b/c you only need these when capturing, and you should in general have SAC & TW in use all the time, tying up 2 slots, leaving only 2 free slots, where 1 should be filled with Leg Army Cache Boost & the other filled with whichever one of these you keep; if a 5th slot is added, then keep both of these, or reacquire the one you sacrificed)
- Rare Speedy Crafters (to get the few Techs that Markets can't buy)
(only if you're doing speed runs, otherwise don't need this, sacrifice it to get some of your other artifacts to Legendary)

I'm only including 1 Insane artifact so you can get the achievement, and b/c Insane artifacts just take too long to get, so going beyond 1 doesn't make sense, and it isn't really necessary either.

Note: No longer can you upgrade Market Visibility above 7. Even when you could, there is no need to upgrade it above 7 because no level has more than 7 markets.

Is it just me, or are markets suddenly unable to provide the necessary money for mercs..?

You mean you're doing repeat levels and since the last update, markets give less profit?

Or some change even after the last update?

You mean you're doing repeat levels and since the last update, markets give less profit?

Or some change even after the last update?

The first one. Specifically, sengoku and hardened siege of feldmere.

I beat hardened siege of feldmere in 11 hours last time (which included sleep time) and this time around, the profit generated in markets wasn't nearly enough to wrap up the level (couldn't afford the mercs from at least 2 camps).

It's possible it's just my impression but it somehow feels odd.

Anyone else experienced this?

Was going to ask Functor, Xeno, Parsifal, but I think you guys are all running previous map versions, so likely not the version that berna is experiencing this on.

still on 5.14

@krinid Yes, I’m on 5.15 and I can confirm that I have barely enough drafts for Afro-Eurasia Gargantuan, and insufficient drafts for both Triskelion and United States. In all three levels did I run out of money required to buy the mercs (I left behind more than 600B armies there per level!!) and so I did have to use a few powers to clear them quickly. I’m doing Europe Huge now and I hope the level is still clearable using our strategy (otherwise it’ll be very hard to ascend and move through the phases sufficiently quickly!)
All other levels up to and including China can be easily cleared as per usual, as a phase 3 player I could get away with upgrading hospitals no more than twice, and still deplete my mercs and clear the level quickly before running out of drafts

Edited 11/19/2021 23:49:19

@Parsifal I really enjoyed reading your guide, it was very helpful to get me started when I was still in phases 1 and 2, thanks a lot! Despite the market strategy I’d still argue the guide isn’t useless because the advancements and even the capturing of territories still has a strategy to it…
Having said that, the market nerf from the 5.15 update doesn’t come as a surprise to me and tbh, it was only a matter of time before the markets were gonna be nerfed. If everyone were clearing levels as quickly as they were in 5.14 it makes the game almost pointless in a matter of months, so eventually sth has to make the game harder so we adapt our strategy to such changes… as such I have no complaints at all with the update :)
One thing I would say esp on the last 4 levels is to be very careful as to how many times you’re upgrading hospitals (and which hospitals to upgrade!) and to think carefully whether or not (or how quickly) you will run out of money afterwards. I’d still expect a phase 4 player to be able to get away with clearing the level rapidly without upgrading hospitals more than once, esp after they’ve maxed the better hospitals advancement.

Edited 11/19/2021 23:48:00

Update: Just completed Europe Huge on 5.15 in 15h, without using any powers (could’ve been a bit faster depending on the timing of my crafts for specified techs). Ran out of money to buy mercs at first, but the resource and money caches were sufficient for me to deplete all mercs except the Kirovsky merc camp (barely touched it). Got away with upgrading all hospitals twice (except for one, where the second upgrade cost W160+B, so I passed that up). Overall, really happy with the level :)

Just completed back to back runs on Hardend Far Land to check differences on 5.14 vs 5.15.

For reference, I have maxed out all useful AP advancements. Relevant Artifacts include Legendary Alloy Values, Epic Hospital Boost, Epic Merc Discount, Rare Army Cache Boost.

- Markets increased from 4 to 5.
- My profit from the first market was relatively similar in both 5.14 & 5.15. Didn't track it exactly. Overall I had plenty of money to work with, especially since a new market was added.
- Mercs accounted for 39.4% of the armies required to complete the level for both 5.14 & 5.15.
- Merc cost increased, but I still had way more than I needed to buy all of the Mercs. With the tech tree maxed and no artifact equipped, here are the 7 most expensive merc camps:
5.14 (5.03, 6.28, 6.81, 11, 15, 16, 17)
5.15 (6.86, 7.67, 9.90, 11, 16, 16, 19)
- Hospitals improved slightly from 34.3% to 35.0% of Armies required to finish the level.
- Hospital upgrade costs are mostly unchanged.
- Caches improved from 19.9 to 20.9% of required armies. My run on 5.14 was much cleaner since I was more familiar with it. I definitely used more army caches before getting the 50% tech boost on 5.15 for that boost.

TL;DR - Market profitability appears about the same, mercs are a bit more expensive but not enough to change gameplay from a late stage 4 perspective.

Edited 11/20/2021 21:24:06