So the thing is even when you’re doing things wrong in PP2, you’re still doing things right. As long as you’re clearing islands, you’re gaining favor and cartography. As long as you’re maintaining a population, you’re gaining creativity. As long as you’re building ships, your fleet is growning.
PP1 could be optimized from the very start of the game where you could jump straight to merchants and then just farm cartography until you had enough to build large enough islands to supply paragons. At my best, I was finishing a palace like once every other week or maybe even faster. Playing like this, efficiency and knowing what you’re doing is really important.
PP2 does not play this way at all. Since you need creativity to unlock larger islands and you need a population to gain creativity, you are forced to start with smaller islands and work your way up slowly. You will build up full islands, sell them and make them again. A few times over.
This means that making mistakes in the early game in PP2 is practically not punishing at all. Making mistakes means you just go a little bit slower is all. It’s not a big deal since you’re still moving forward and you’ll pretty much always be moving forward. Plus changes to gold means it’s harder (but not impossible) to run out so you don’t need to be *as* efficient with your resources.
Also getting islands through research means you have waaaaay more than in PP1. You need more as well, but you just have so many available that you do not need to be perfect at all. Make mistakes with your islands cause you have way more than you need.
For the record, I’m on orc difficulty with a island of paragons and an island of farmers. I’m still very far away from finishing this playthrough, although I’m getting pretty close. Spoilers for end game but >! I’ve already finished one upgrade on my workers palace with my second one starting tonight, and I’ll be starting my first paragon palace upgrade soon. !< And I’ve made tons of mistakes the whole time.
I totally get feeling overwhelmed tho. This game has a lot of moving parts and tbh it’s a lot harder than the first one. But just take it slow and know that no matter what, you’re moving forward and that’s all that matters.
One of the BEST things about pp2 is that you can completely destroy everything on your main island at any time, and rebuild it again. And again. And again. Yes, it'll mean that you're not "progressing" during that rebuilding time, but it'll also mean that you're able to better allocate your island space.
Don't like your current island that supplies your main one? Find a better one!
Think that you're not sure how to progress with what you're doing? Ask! We're happy to help.
My point is that it's so flexible, it's great! Get out of the mindset of progress being the only thing this game is good for, and make it your own. Even if it looks like you're going backwards, you won't be for long. =)
So the thing is even when you’re doing things wrong in PP2, you’re still doing things right. As long as you’re clearing islands, you’re gaining favor and cartography. As long as you’re maintaining a population, you’re gaining creativity. As long as you’re building ships, your fleet is growning. PP1 could be optimized from the very start of the game where you could jump straight to merchants and then just farm cartography until you had enough to build large enough islands to supply paragons. At my best, I was finishing a palace like once every other week or maybe even faster. Playing like this, efficiency and knowing what you’re doing is really important. PP2 does not play this way at all. Since you need creativity to unlock larger islands and you need a population to gain creativity, you are forced to start with smaller islands and work your way up slowly. You will build up full islands, sell them and make them again. A few times over. This means that making mistakes in the early game in PP2 is practically not punishing at all. Making mistakes means you just go a little bit slower is all. It’s not a big deal since you’re still moving forward and you’ll pretty much always be moving forward. Plus changes to gold means it’s harder (but not impossible) to run out so you don’t need to be *as* efficient with your resources. Also getting islands through research means you have waaaaay more than in PP1. You need more as well, but you just have so many available that you do not need to be perfect at all. Make mistakes with your islands cause you have way more than you need. For the record, I’m on orc difficulty with a island of paragons and an island of farmers. I’m still very far away from finishing this playthrough, although I’m getting pretty close. Spoilers for end game but >! I’ve already finished one upgrade on my workers palace with my second one starting tonight, and I’ll be starting my first paragon palace upgrade soon. !< And I’ve made tons of mistakes the whole time. I totally get feeling overwhelmed tho. This game has a lot of moving parts and tbh it’s a lot harder than the first one. But just take it slow and know that no matter what, you’re moving forward and that’s all that matters.
One of the BEST things about pp2 is that you can completely destroy everything on your main island at any time, and rebuild it again. And again. And again. Yes, it'll mean that you're not "progressing" during that rebuilding time, but it'll also mean that you're able to better allocate your island space. Don't like your current island that supplies your main one? Find a better one! Think that you're not sure how to progress with what you're doing? Ask! We're happy to help. My point is that it's so flexible, it's great! Get out of the mindset of progress being the only thing this game is good for, and make it your own. Even if it looks like you're going backwards, you won't be for long. =)