Another Suggestion (in General)

Okay, I was thinking about when I train. Say I hire another minion and train, but didn't come with much exp so that minion's stats aren't high compared to other minions trained exp. Say I also have 10k untrained exp and each other minion, but I want to have my new minion to have more exp to train. So how about say if I have no untrained exp on one minion and the rest 10k untrained exp, why not then when fighting and gaining rewards all exp goes to that new minion that has no untrained exp, which would again go out between minions again when all minions have exact untrained exp?

This was suggested in a slightly different form before, I think...

IIRC, the general consensus was "The timing of minion hiring is essential to strategy"

Besides, I wouldn't want all four of my Minions to have exact same XP....

Say I have a tank and a enchanter, My enchanter has AMF and GA, though that minion is helping alot already and don't really need to be pumped anymore, well atleast for awhile. So I always could stop training on that enchanter for abit and get more on my tank. See what I mean?

1) There is never enough AMF =P
2) this has been brought up many times. Don't see it happening. Check past threads for reasons.

I've said this before, over a long enough time-line 'essential timing' does not exist and there is absolutely no good time to buy your minions other then now or never. You can't expect this argument to hold just because it's essential flaw was not discovered long ago.

Sure vestax "over a long enough time" it evens out but we have to fight in the mean time before we get there. With items adding a % to stats it is even better to put off buying minions for as long as possible for many strategies.
Depending on what you are going for the only reason not to do this is the high cost of buying later on. How long do you think it would take for my team to even out were I to buy another minion now? Perhaps not even during the life of CB".
Imagine if I were to change this 1 minion to all AS hire another for GA and switch to an IF, look at the huge benefit I could get from 1 corn. Alternatively I could hire another enchanter and turn my main into a tank which could compete with ToA tanks without needing a ToA of its own.

I agree with vestax. Figure out your final strategy and go ahead and hire all needed minions first.

Well if indeed you can plan that far ahead (possibly not a good idea in a game such as this) I still say that certain strategies will be enhanced if you stagger the buying rather than get all the minions at the same time.

In my view the timing of hiring is in fact a vital strategy element.

I did not stagger the buying of my first three minions RubberDuck, and according to Jon, anyone who did exactly the same as I did with as much consistency could be where I am today, no matter when they started. In fact they could go so much further since I have yet to complete my first four months here at CB2. So, even if your staggering argument were to be true, it is not necessary in order for someone to be on the first page of the overall CB2 score rankings.

And if you doubt this could be done without a New User Bonus, then I'll remind you that I did not use USD, CB1, currency or items from any other game, Fire Familiars, Fire Ball, or any other strat or idea guaranteed to make you 'overpowered' or advance quickly. I also had no contact with my mentor, no freebies, no advice till one month in, I have yet to win a contest (but put on two of my own), and my IF was paid in CB2$, which I only earned from fighting and was level 20 when I bought it.

Any of the numerous tricks out there could be done to surpass me if you feel that I am somehow exceptional. On top of that I can note a lot of wasted time such as a week gap when I started and a couple of weeks (the equivalent of more then a month for old players) of trying to get a SMToE w/ CoC to work. In some respects I wish I had bought my forth minion much sooner then when I did.

By the way thanks again for what you said about my strat RubberDuck, I hope I didn't ruin it since then and I'm doing what I can to make it tidy again. Mine might be good but your's is great.

How could timing not be essential?

Yes, it evens out eventually but if you are going to use a tank based strategy it's usually important to keep as few minions as possible for a long time. If we're talking about short term, it'll even out fairly quickly but the longer you wait before hiring minions the longer it will take to even out. Realistically most people will not play for more than a year or two, at least not with the same main character and that does put an end to the theory that it'll all even out. If for example you only have one minion then at 1mil PR hire more, you can be fairly sure that for as long as you need be concerned, your tank will always be much bigger than the rest of your minions. Ok, let's not make such an extreme example, how about 500k PR? Ok, that's 500k PR on 1 minion, now you have the equivellent to three more 165k minions. It takes a long time to get from 165k to 500k for one minion, but when that one minion is only getting 1/4 of total exp, it will take four times longer and at the same time that tank is getting bigger and bigger, again, you can be almost certain that you wont see the other minions catch up to it.

Yes, for certain strategies such as your own Vestax, this is not so important, but for most tank based strategies and a very select few of the mage strategies, it is very important and this change would seriously hurt this side to the game's strategy.

Oh, I don't care about the idea Darth Llama has, I think it's a rather silly fix to what he thinks is a problem, sorry Llama. If you really wanted to you could turn my argument on it's head and use it to go against his idea by saying it will all even out so why bother with such a feature. By the same token the opposing argument could be used in support of Darth Llama's suggestion. By saying that when you hire the xp lag will have such a nasty effect on the equality of your minions that new players will almost always go too far before they realize they have made a mistake given the rate of their NUB these days. As it stands for me 1 weeks time lost is almost like losing 2 weeks time as a 'vet'. Pretty soon losing a week or two while your still basking in the glow of your new player's bonus will be like losing months at a time.

Quite honestly I just don't want people to resorting to such a short answer such as, "knowing when to hire is a part of strategy", that you forget the real implications of the argument itself.

Granted people just might not play long enough so that a new minion bought at 500k PR will get to only a 1% difference between itself and the older minion, but nevertheless it doubles far faster then the older minion, the ratio between the two does close, and most of all your rewards become split. In exchange for a quick burst of power, you have decided to sacrifice the growth of that huge tank of yours and that will still be the case no matter how long you old out. This tactic used to burst through that "glass ceiling" is only for short term gain. If there is any reason why it won't hurt you in the long run, it is not because you held out as long as you did, but rather because everyone else around you also hired new minions and so the growth of their tank is as bad as yours.

If your just winging it then that's just fine, but if your going to make believe that you have some sort of master plan and that knowing when to hire is a part of your strategy, well then you better think again. I say if your final goal is 3 minions then just hire 3 minions.

Everything that Vestax has mentioned is almost exactly what I believe here at CB, but there is another point I would like to make. The idea that "knowing when to hire is a part of strategy" is a CB1 concept. Most new minions are hired to supplement the larger, older minion. CB2's ED crushing DM will make a small set of secondary minions almost totally worthless.

And don't give me that paper-rock-scissors mumbo jumbo, because this is clearly different.