Just please note that I am not 100% of my research. Also there is a conclusion at the bottom for people that do not wish to read a wall of text.
This is for new players out there and people that are starting new
towns. Also note that this information is for people that do not plan on
using prestige.
When I first started playing Architects' Office was a mystery to me. I
didn't know what it was or how it really effected the game. I used to
ask around but many players either didn't know much about it or did not
wish to share the information. After I kept hearing some new people ask
about the benefits of the Architects' Office I decided to do some
research, so hopefully I can clear up any misconceptions about the
Architects' Office.
The two main issues I will be covering are the construction time
increase and the effectiveness in leveling up the Architects' Office.
First let me explain the construction time increase with pictures.
It
is confusing at first to understand what the time increase means, and I
really did not understand it all until now. So I'm really thankful that
I'm typing all of this out. On the Architects' Office description it says, "This
construction time increase only affects new building orders, not
existing ones." At first I still had no idea what it all meant. So while
I was leveling up my Architects' office I took some pictures.
Its
a little blurry and I'm sorry about that. This first picture shows my
level 4 Architects' Office with two Architects' Office upgrades being
built. As you can see here the total completion time for the level 6
upgrade (in building que) is at 22:53:22 game time. So I took this
picture to see if the 1.5% will be subtracted from the level 6 upgrade
that was in the building que. Basically taking off one minute from the
level 6 upgrade.
Instead
I noticed that it did not reduce the time by 1 minute. As you can see
in the picture below, you can see that the completion time stayed the
same. Then I noticed the bottom line of the description saying, "This construction time increase only affects new building orders, not existing ones."
By
the pictures you can see that the time reduction in each level is only
added to new building ques. So hopefully this will clear up any doubt on
how the construction time works.
Effectiveness of a Level 20 Architects' Office
Ok
now onto the good stuff. Lets see how effective a level 20 Architects'
Office will be. The first thing to do will be to see how long it will
take to level up an Architects' Office to level 20 from level 0. Just in case any numbers are off, I have rounded up, so over
all you should save more time then I have written down
But for this
I will not count in the demolish time since that will not matter in the
end. Once you built everything you need, you wont be building anything
so the demolish time wont matter much in the end. So the final total to
build up a level 0 Architects' Office to level 20 is 8 days, 20 hours,
25 minutes and 2 seconds. Just to make sure nothing was slipped up, I'll
just be using 9 days as a rough estimate of the time. That way we fully
know if the Architects' Office will be worth it.
So what I'll be
doing is counting up the minutes starting from a level 20 lumberyard
down to a level 10 lumberyard to see how much time you will save with a
level 20 Architects' Office. Then I'll do the same with a level 18 and a
level 14 Architects' Office to try and paint a better picture on the
time difference you save vs the days you spent leveling the Architects
Office. That way we can see when a level 20 Architects' Office will be most
effectively used.
Just to make it clear; I am using a level 20
lumberjack because lumberjack, quarry, clay pit, and iron mine all take the same amount
of time to level up. Since most other build times are longer, like
farmyard, I will not be including them.
Takes 9 days (8 days, 20 hours, 25 mins and 2 seconds) to reach level 20 Architects' Office to get -30 % time reduction.
Lumberyard | Original Time | Architect Bonus | Time | Time Saved | Total Time Saved |
---|
Level 20 | 61h 20m | -30 % | 42h 56m | 18h 24m | 18h 24m |
Level 19 | 49h 34m | -30 % | 34h 41m 48s | 14h 52m 12s | 33h 16m 12s |
Level 18 | 39h 30m | -30 % | 27h 39m | 11h 51m | 45h 7m 12 s |
Level 17 | 30h 46m | -30 % | 21h 32m 12s | 9h 13m 48s | 54h 21m |
Level 16 | 23h 40m | -30 % | 16h 34m | 7h 6m | 61h 27m |
Level 15 | 18h 10m | -30 % | 12h 43m | 5h 27m | 66h 54m |
Level 14 | 13h 20m | -30 % | 9h | 4h | 70h 54m |
Level 13 | 10h | -30 % | 7h | 3h | 73h 54m |
Level 12 | 7h | -30 % | 4h 54m | 2h 6m | 76h |
Level 11 | 5h 5m | -30 % | 3h 33m 30s | 1h 31m 30s | 77h 31m 30s |
Level 10 | 3h 34m | -30 % | 2h 29m 48s | 1h 4m 12s | 78h 35m 42s |
Takes 6 days (5days, 15 hours, 8 minuts and 50 seconds) to reach level 18 Architects' Office to get -27 % time reduction.
LumberYard | Original Time | Architect Bonus | Time | Time Saved | Total Time Saved |
---|
Level 20 | 61h 20m | - 27 % | 44h 46m 24s | 16h 33m 36s | 16h 33m 36s |
---|
Level 19 | 49h 34m | - 27 % | 36h 11m 2s | 13h 22m 58s | 29h 56m 34s |
---|
Level 18 | 39h 30m | - 27 % | 28h 50m 6s | 10h 39m 54s | 40h 36m 28s |
---|
Level 17 | 30h 46m | - 27 % | 22h 27m 35s | 8h 18m25s | 48h 54m 53s |
---|
Level 16 | 23h 40m | - 27 % | 17h 16m 36s | 6h 23m 24s | 55h 18m 17s |
---|
Level 15 | 18h 10m | - 27 % | 13h 15m 42s | 4h 54m 18s | 60h 12m 35s |
---|
Level 14 | 13h 20m | - 27 % | 9h 44m | 3h 36m | 63h 48m 35s |
---|
Level 13 | 10h | - 27 % | 7h 18m | 2h 42m | 66h 30m 35s |
---|
Level 12 | 7h | - 27 % | 5h 6m 36s | 1h 53m 24s | 68h 23m 59s |
---|
Level 11 | 5h 5m | - 27 % | 3h 42m 39s | 1h 22m 21s | 69h 46m 20s |
---|
Level 10 | 3h 34m | - 27 % | 2h 36m 14s | 57m 46s | 70h 44m 6s |
Takes 2days and 12 hours (2days, 2 hours, 4minuts, 8seconds) to reach level 14 Architects' Office to get -21 % time reduction.
LumberYard | Original Time | Architect Bonus | Time | Time Saved | Total Time Saved |
---|
Level 20 | 61h 20m | -21 % | 48h 27m 12s | 12h 52m 48s | 12h 52m 48s |
---|
Level 19 | 49h 34m | -21 % | 39h 9m 27s | 10h 24m 32s | 23h 17m 20s |
---|
Level 18 | 39h 30m | -21 % | 31h 12m 18s | 8h 17m 42s | 31h 35m 2s |
---|
Level 17 | 30h 46m | -21 % | 24h 18m 21s | 6h 27m 39s | 38h 2m 41s |
---|
Level 16 | 23h 40m | -21 % | 18h 41m 48s | 4h 58m 12s | 43h 53m |
---|
Level 15 | 18h 10m | -21 % | 14h 21m 6s | 3h 48m 54s | 46h 49m 47s |
---|
Level 14 | 13h 20m | -21 % | 10h 32m | 2h 48m | 49h 37m 47s |
---|
Level 13 | 10h | -21 % | 7h 54m | 2h 6m | 51h 43m 47s |
---|
Level 12 | 7h | -21 % | 5h 31m 48s | 1h 28m 12s | 53h 11m 59s |
---|
Level 11 | 5h 5m | -21 % | 4h 57s | 1h 4m 3s | 54h 16m 2s |
---|
Level 10 | 3h 34m | -21 % | 2h 49m 4s | 44m 56s | 55h 58s |
So what I did was, I took the Total Time Saved
from level 20 Architects' Office and subtracted it with the level 18
Architects' Office. Then I multiplied the number by 20 since most people
have 20 resource plots of clay, iron, stone, and wood or less. That
showed me the amount of hours I would save if I had a level 20
Architects' Office over a level 18.
I then had to find the level
that would save more then 3 days worth of time to make up for the added
time it would take to level up to level up a level 18 Architects' Office
to a level 20 Architects' Office. I also had to add in 9 extra days
over all since leveling up to a level 20 Architects' Office would eat up
9 days that could be spent leveling up the resource plots.
What I
got was that a level 20 Architects' Office becomes more effective if
you have level 17 resources plots or less and that it would save you
more time over all to get a level 20 Architects' Office since you will
most likely have other things you are building as well, like food.
I
also got lucky and found out that a level 19 Architects' Office is not
worth it to build, either is a level 15, 16 or 17. It could be effective
but not to an extreme. A level 18 Architects' Office is only effective
if you just have 20 resource plots of wood, stone, iron, clay at level
18. If you just have all your resources plots at level 19, then a level
14 Architects' Office will be worth it.
Conclusion
Since most do not like to read a block of text, I'll make it simple.
If
you are starting a new town or have your resource plots under level 17
or at level 17. Then I highly recommend a level 20 Architects' Office,
since you will be saving a lot of days in the end. It takes 51 days, 2
hours, and 40mins to level up 20 level nineteen resource plots to level
20.
So lets say your resources plots are all at level 15. If my
math is right, you save 55 days and 18 hours just by having a level 20
Architects' Office. That saves you an extra 5 days and 13 hours over a
level 18 Architects' Office with just 20 resources plots around level
15. But most of us have more then just resources plots to level so you
will save more time over the long run.
So with that said.
If
you are just starting a new town, or have under 6k pop, then a level 20 Architects' Office is for you. (That is if you do not prestige build.)
-Quackers
With help from Seizureman and Sisren.
Edit: The tables did not like me and the color would not work, but that's because I brought the table over from Illyriad mail.
Also since I've been asked, Architects' Office effects all buildings not just resource plots.
Edited by Quackers - 10 Feb 2012 at 20:23