UPGRADING BUILDING AND WONDERS
Torynn (talk) 18:22, December 5, 2012 (UTC)
Each building purchased from the Buildings inventory tab, or wonders unlocked via quests in the wonder tab, begin as Level 1 and are upgradeable to Level 5. Increasing the level means huge gains in reputation, which means you’ll be able to open new scenes/chapters sooner. Upgrading your buildings/wonders can ONLY be accomplished with the help of your neighbours.
The Following are the most commonly asked questions about upgrading in Gardens of Time (GoT). Read the Quick Summary for a brief synopsis on upgrading.
First Step
While in normal viewing mode, tap on a building/wonder and instead of a crown showing the reputation of that item, you’ll see the item identified as Level (x), Tap to Upgrade. Or, while in Edit mode, tap the building/wonder so you see your options to Inventory item, switch position of item, or sell item….here you’ll also see on the right a green up arrow to indicate Level up item. Tapping to upgrade will show you how many supplies you need to upgrade this item to the next level.
Upgrading Buildings:
Upgrading buildings requires the purchase of WHITE prints (with silver or gold), and 5 other materials Level 2: 1 whiteprint, 1 of each material Level 3: 2 whiteprints, 2 of each material Level 4: 3 whiteprints, 3 of each material Level 5: 4 whiteprints, 4 of each material
White Prints:
Size matters: *H&TJ* tells us that the number of whiteprints required changes depending on how big the building is. For example if the building you want to upgrade takes up 2 squares (like the monastery) or 4 squares (like the Greek and Egyptian temples or vineyards) need varying amounts of whiteprints, see table below:
# of Whiteprints Required:
Thanks to *H&TJ*, X3mom & SingedKitty
| Upgrade Level |
Item=1 square |
Item=2 squares | Item=4 squares | Item=9 squares |
| 2 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 9 |
| 3 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 18 |
| 4 | 3 | 6 | 12 | 27 |
| 5 | 4 | 8 | 16 | 36 |
Materials Required:
Forum member Laurelise tells us that all buildings need granite, screws, iron, and nails throughout the upgrading process. The first material changes for each level, and what that material is varies based on building size.
One square buildings need (granite, screws, iron, & nails.....plus):
Level2: Wood
Level3: Sandstone
Level4: Gears
Level5: Marble
Two square buildings need:
Level2: Sandstone
Level3: Gears
Level4: Marble
Level5: Glass
Four square buildings need:
Level2: Marble
Level3: Glass
Level4: Wood
Level5: Sandstone
Nine square buildings need (TY Steph):
Level2: Glass
Level3: Wood
Level4: Sandstone
Level5: Gears
Upgrading Wonders:
Upgrading wonders requires the purchase of BLUE prints (with silver or gold), and 5 other materials.
Level 2: 1 blueprint, 1 of each material
Level 3: 2 blueprints, 2 of each material
Level 4: 3 blueprints, 3 of each material
Level 5: 4 blueprints, 4 of each material
Wonder material requirements stay the same throughout the upgrading process, and always require wood, sandstone, gears, marble, and glass.
The following information is experimental:
Blouske, from the forums , tells us that upgrading from Lvl 1-->5 yields the following reputation gains:
Silver buildings yield +1150Rep/square
(Exception: Aquarium - Lvl1 1180, Lvl5 6820, Upgrade 1-->5 +1410Rep/square)
Gold buildings yield +1410Rep/square
How do I upgrade?
Important: You can only request materials once/24 hours
The only way to get materials to upgrade your stuff is to use the blue Ask Friends button. This will launch the Request Materials screen, on the left you’ll see the item you had just selected to ask friends to get for you (glass, wood, sandstone, gears, marble, granite, screws, iron, nails), on the right will be your list of neighbours. Tap to select neighbours you wish to ask to send you materials, you can select multiple people at one time. When you’re done selecting, send your request via the green Request button on the bottom right of the screen.
This will send a mail to all your selected neighbours asking them to accept your material request. Once your neighbours accepts your material request, the material will show up in your upgrade inventory of materials the next time you Tap to Upgrade. Accepting a Material Request does not cause the acceptor to lose the nails/screws/wood etc from their own inventory, rather it is gifted freely back to the requestor.
All material requests that you send show up in your neighbours mail box in the bottom left quadrant, their material requests show up in your mailbox. See "Requesting Materals Cap" below.
Which materials go with what building?
When beginning the process of upgrading it is important to note that all materials are kept in a “central pool”. ie. if I’m looking to upgrade the Tuileries right wing to level 2, I see I require 1 each of: wood, granite, screw, iron, nail. Lets say a few of my material requests have been answered and I have the following: 1/1 wood 1/1 granite 0/1 screw 0/1 iron 1/1 nail Then, I click to view the Great Wall Tower to Level 2 and I see: 1/1 wood 1/1 granite 0/1 screw 0/1 iron 1/1 nail You don’t have 2 wood, you only have one and the game is showing you that you can apply this one piece of wood to either item, but not both. As soon as you upgrade your tuileries, the great wall tower would show Zero materials accumulated.
How often can I request?
Currently material requests can be made once/24 hours….there is no server reset, it’s 24 hours from the last time that you requested.
How many requests can I send out?
Requests are currently capped at approximately 40 per day, but for some it is only 30/day, and rarely lower.
Important! Only send requests to people you know are active (ie. those who gift you or request materials from you). You can only send so many requests in a 24 hour period, and if you send them to inactive players, there is no one at the other end to "accept them". This may require you to keep a pen and paper list, as there is no friend management tools in the game so inactive players you added cannot be removed.
How many materials can you accumulate?
As of January 9th/13 you can now store 50 of each material, vs. the old storage limit of 10. Dingy1, from the forums, provided the following information:
After much testing, this is the new storage limit (note your results may differ since not all gardens are created equal by PD):
- You can store 50 building materials (Glass, Wood, Sandstone, Gears, Marble, Granite, Screws, Iron, Nails
- You can store 50 time crystal building materials (this doesn't include TCs)
- I suspect the same 50 limit will apply for decoration and artifact materials.
You can request 40 (or your daily limit) of a single item and potentially received all 40 if you have 10 or less currently stored
Note: This doesn't apply to Time Crystals, most of us are only able to request and receive 10 TCs per day and haven't reached a storage limit yet (currently up to 366)
For a short time I was able to store approximately 75 of each building material. However, once I used some of these materials I was unable to store more than 50. I believe PD failed to set a limit for a short time allowing me to acheive those results.
How to discover the maximum number of Building Materials Requests you can send/day.
by *H&TJ*
Like many of the “rules” in the GoT Mobile app, this one remains unspecified by Playdom. Through much testing, the Active Fools have determined that the daily cap for requesting materials is currently set at 40 (although this changes constantly and is not the same for all players). How to “test” what your daily maximum limit is for requesting materials: -Ensure that MORE than 24 hours have lapsed since your last material request; -Send out 45 requests, paying particular attention to the last 15 names. -Force close the app: exit gardens of time by clicking your home button once then double click the home button to bring up all your currently opened programs. Press and HOLD the Gardens of Time icon until it jiggles and a red minus bar appears in the top left corner, press the minus bar to CLOSE the app. -Now relaunch Gardens of Time and go back into your request materials screen. The requests that have NOT gone through will appear back on your list, so if you requested to 45 friends, and 5 appear back on the list you know your daily cap for requesting is 40. Recheck this periodically, because it does randomly change, with no notice from Playdom.
"Upgrading" Quests
When completing a request to upgrade 3 buildings to level 2, etc., ensure you are upgrading buildings, and not wonders as wonders do not count as a building towards this quest completion.
Should I spend Gold to Upgrade?
No. It’s expensive and unnecessary. Following the procedures outlined in the Tips for Requesting will ensure that you can upgrade a building/wonder from level 1 to 5 every few days. Spending gold to upgrade is just a tax on impatience.
Which should I upgrade first, building or wonder?
It doesn't matter which you upgrade first what matters is that you upgrade the building or wonder with the biggest "footprint" first. You get the most bang for your buck if you upgrade the wonders/buildings that are 9 squares (purchased for gold buildings like the victoria terminus are 9 squares), and except for the cost of the extra blue/white prints, they take a smiler amount of materials to upgrade as a one square building. Upgrade the biggest footprint items even if you don’t particularly like them; they can stay in your inventory until you need to gain reputation to open the next scene.
Example math: Say I go to upgrade a Tuileries to level 5, at the very end, for a one square building i'll have used 50 materials (wood nails etc) to gain 1610 reputation for ONE square.
For that exact amount of materials (just have to buy more white/blue prints) I could have upgraded a 9 square building with a reputation PER SQUARE of approximately 1500 (this changes by building/wonder)
50 materials can buy you:
- 1x1 square Tuileries for 1610 reputation; OR
- 1x9 squares of 13,000+ reputation (ie.1500 per square X 9)!
Note: those at higher levels are not bothering to upgrade their new wonders due to the exorbiant cost of blueprints (60k each).
Buying Buildings with GOLD
This is the most "practical" use of your gold because purchased buildings come with high-end reputation, and they can be upgraded. The biggest footprint gold buildings, like the Pyramids of Giza and the Victoria Terminus, are nine squares in size.
Please be aware, Kath1 warns that the Amphitheatre CANNOT be upgraded at this current time; nor can the "Great Wall Guards".
Best Reputation/square Buildings/Wonders
For a newcomer to the game, just getting your first wonder upgraded to levl 5 provides ample reputation towards opening the next chapter. Progressing in the game, however, finds reputation harder and harder to come by. As it becomes increasingly difficult to open new chapters strategic thinking in building acquisition and upgrading becomes more important. Check out this spreadsheet by iGoT Game forum member BJ Garden, which discusses which silver-purchase and gold-purchase buildings return the best rep/square investment for those at max chapter release.