Influences

1. Overview

There are nine Influence sectors in the game world: Economy, Research, Espionage, Architecture, Ground Army, Air Forces, Reconnaissance, Allies and Politics. Heroes battle for control in each of those sectors.

Relative power in each influence sector is translated into an influence level, which starts from zero (meaning no influence) to 10 (maximum influence). The higher your influence level in a sector, the more powerful you are in that sector. Higher influence levels offer better bonuses, such as reduced construction times or research costs.

In order to reach an influence level you must gather a number of influence points, as shown in the table below.

Level12345678910
Points2.0002.0004.0008.00016.00032.00064.000128.000256.000512.000


The table shows the influence points needed to reach a level from the previous one. For example, to increase your influence from level 1 to level 2 you need 2,000 influence points. When you reach level 2, you will have a total of 4,000 influence points in that sector.

In every Influence sector you can perform the following generic actions:

* Expand: This action tries to expand your influence rating. It works best up to Level 5. From then on you level up faster if you attack other governors.

* Attack: With this action you attack the influence of another player. Works well at any level.

* Special: Some influences have special actions. For example, using the Allies influence, you can get instant reinforcements.

The first steps in a new sector should always be done by "Expanding" in that sector while at the same time you have some other influence(s) supporting this action.

2. Influence Actions

Energy: Depending on the level of your Politics influence, you have a maximum amount of energy that you can spent to execute influence actions. Furthermore you regenerate energy at a rate relevant with the level of your Politics influence and your Diplomacy Skill.

Whenever you execute an action (Expand or Attack) then the cost of energy required for that action, equals the sum of levels of all influences involved in that action.

For example: if you expand your level 2 Politics and you use a level 4 Economy and a level 3 Research as supporters then the cost for that action is 2+4+3=9 points.

Note: Special actions do not consume energy.

Expand: With this action you effectively pull the necessary strings to expand in this sector. Keep in mind that the more support you have the more points you earn. Note that Economy and Research can also be raised by using their special actions, so you can raise them in the beginning with relative ease.

Attack: Whenever you issue an attack, you generate a rumor that can be intercepted by players with high Reconnaissance influence. There is a 50% + (Defender Reconnaissance Bonus) - (Attacker Reconnaissance Bonus) chance that such a rumor will be generated.

An attack is resolved by comparing the total influence points of the attacker and the defender, with the higher total winning the battle.

After the winner has been determined, the system calculates the amount of points gained and lost by the two sides.

* The maximum amount of points gained or lost during an attack is one-fifth of the attacker's or defender's points (whichever is lower).

* In order for any points to be gained, the main attack and defense influences must match; for example, Reconnaissance must attack Reconnaissance, regardless of support (if any).

* The defending influence cannot be reduced to less than 16,000 points (Level 4).

* If the highest level of the attacking influences (counting both main and any support**) is equal to or less than the level of the target influence, the attacker gets full points.

* If the highest level of the attacking influences (counting both main and any support**) is 1 higher than the level of the target influence, the attacker gets half points.

* If the highest level of the attacking influences (counting both main and any support**) is 2 higher (or more) than the level of the target influence, the attacker gets zero points.

* Supporting Influences never gain or lose points. For example, an attack is made by Politics while having the support of Economy: Economy will be unaffected.

Note**: We take the highest influence level from the attacker side and we use this Level as the basis for the calculations.

Example:
1) Attacker is using a Level 5 influence with a support of a Level 6 and a Level 7. We count this attack as if it was a Level 7 Influence.
2) Attacker is using a Level 4 influence with a support of a Level 10. We count this attack as if it was a Level 10 Influence.
3) Attacker is using a Level 10 influence with a support of a Level 4. We count this attack as if it was a Level 10 Influence.

Support: With this action you order an influence to support the action of another. By doing so, the power of your final action is higher. When two or more influences are involved in the same action, then their power is calculated by adding up all their points.

For example, say you have 50,000 Economy points and 40,000 Reconnaissance points. Economy attacks with Reconnaissance support (or vice versa): The attack has a power of 90,000 points.

Special: Some Influences have one or more special actions that can be performed. If an influence does not have such a button, then it does not have any special actions.

Level Restrictions: Direct influence attacks ( Attacks that are not attached to a bounty ) have no Player Level Restrictions.

3. Quick Start Guide

A good strategy to start growing your influences is the following:

1. Use the Economy special action and invest enough resources from your HQ to increase its level to at least 4.

2. Expand Politics using Economy for support. Keep expanding Politics with Economy as support, until Politics reaches level 4.

3. Expand Economy and Politics by supporting each other up to level 5.

You can use Influence Medals to regain energy for influence actions.