I think I might've developed an obsession with the land expansion from Splinterlands. So here comes another post about it.
In all fairness, this will be a completely new game mode for Splinterlands, that will add what I believe is a much-needed variation to the game. Thus, my "obsession" has a little bit of support.
Plus, land will be one of my yearly goals next year. I'd really love to have some things to focus on, even before the gameplay that can grow my land value or its rewards. There will be some things, I'm sure.
I wrote a post two days ago saying when you claim your plots matters.
I still stand by those words, but in the meantime, I discovered that splinter bonuses are not related to the type of terrain, but to the territory.
Although territories are color-coded, the fact they are 7 and not 6 may have put me on the wrong track at first. Since neutral cards don't form a splinter.
But they have associated a territory where they perform best, just like every other splinter. At least that's how I interpret the color codes.
So, looking at the two images, what would the associations be?
| Territory | Splinter |
|---|---|
| Pristine Northwest | Life |
| Broken Lands | Earth |
| Land of Prosperity | Neutral |
| Central Fire | Dragon |
| Wild Northeast | Water |
| Great Lowlands | Fire |
| Shimmering Coasts | Death |
Knowing what splinter performs best doesn't stop the questions though.
We know from previous information there will be 1 summoner and a number of monsters that can be staked on a building to improve its productivity.
Is the selection of summoners and monsters independent or constrained, like in the combat modes? My assumption here is it will be independent, meaning you could have a water summoner and monsters from any splinter or neutral. And the productivity boost may be calculated based on the number of cards from the splinter that has a boost in that territory.
I'm still wondering why people prefer the center. It's true if distance will be a factor in transportation costs, holding the center will be the most advantageous. And transportation hasn't even been designed yet, so maybe they're trying to take the best decision if distances will matter. Matt said a couple of times location shouldn't matter, but you can't promise that when you haven't even thought about how transportation will be added to the game.
Now, the center is Dragon. I wonder how many people will lock up Dragon cards on the land buildings, summoners in particular. Otherwise, there may be some useless Dragon cards that can be used.
It is also important how many cards are expected to be staked on land. It probably will depend on how each person decides to use the land, but if cards are staked only on production buildings, and you also need silos and other types of buildings, only a portion of your plots will need cards. Same for totems?
But even if only 5% of your plots need cards to boost productivity - if you have more than a few plots - that means a huge requirement for cards, particularly summoners.
I have a tract. I don't have 5 max-level beta summoners available. I barely have one that I don't use in combat. So, what will I do if that 5% I pulled out of my ass is true? Stop using other beta summoners in battles? Probably. Use newer summoners too?
Card staking on land buildings will have a major impact on the game economy. Let's not forget Tower Defense will have card staking too.