Increase starting vault size

[Pipinghot]

I just thought of a fifth possible method to help with this issue.

5) Change the price of vault expansions so that they all cost the same amount of EP per slot.

Under the cost structure designed by Microsoft vault expansions have the following costs.
4 slots, 150 EP = 37.5 EP per slot
8 slots, 250 EP = 31.25 EP per slot
16 slots, 400 EP = 25 EP per slot
24 slots, 550 EP = 22.9 EP per slot
48 slots, 1000 EP = 20.83 EP per slot

That structure makes sense when you're building a for-profit game, you want to create incentives for people to spend money on EP. But in a free game all it does is punish new players by making them choose between buying a few slots now, or saving up and buying the more cost effective slots later.

So, rather than changing the default slot count, or giving extra EP for new players/accounts, maybe it would be better/easier to adjust the costs of the expansions so that they all have the same cost per slot. Any one of those numbers above could be used as the base price, but I'm going to suggest using a price based on the current cost for 48 slots, either 20.5 or 21.0, both of which give even numbers when multiplied by the various slot sizes.

4 slots * 20.5 = 82 EP or 4 slots * 21 = 84 EP
8 slots * 20.5 = 164 EP or 8 slots * 21 = 168 EP
16 slots * 20.5 = 328 EP or 16 slots * 21 = 336 EP
24 slots * 20.5 = 492 EP or 24 slots * 21 = 504 EP
48 slots * 20.5 = 984 EP or 48 slots * 21 = 1008 EP

 

[Couldn'tCareLess]

I do think that while the 24slot vault does come to be limiting, it's not hard to reach 1000 EP pre40 if you're getting crete and/or sparta placement (or play through the ambrosia questline, the median quests), and using storage space on your civs and not storing up blueprints and plans you're going to use anyway really helps in minimizing what space you need. I'm not sure if reducing the prices drastically would be the answer either (beyond maybe standardizing prices so that one/all the earlier amounts are as cost-effective as the 48 for 1000). I'd be more inclined to recommend giving players an extra starting storage building on the non-premium civs over any other vault and storage changes.

100% Agreed

 

[Ardeshir]

Yeah, I'd come to a similar conclusion earlier PipingHot! Setting 20, 20.5 or 21EP as the standard rate for the cost of a slot (as per the cost for 48/1000), and applying the rates to the current earlier options would remove the need for people to save up and by in bulk, and like you mentioned, that original cost scaling was designed to encourage bulk EP purchases with real money.

 

[Plk_Lesiak]

I hope no one gets bothered by my necroposting, but this was also one of my early impressions: having vault this limited serves little purpose when the in-game currency isn't purchasable. I noticed that getting EP is easier the longer you play, but I'd rather spend them on some fun consumables or buildings, rather than something as basic as shared storage. 48 slots would be enough for most uses and people could still spend EP for extra convenience, but without dealing with annoying limitations early on.

I understand keeping EP limited and enough things to purchase with it to encourage regular play, but the quality-of-life features should be as attainable as possible, with vanity stuff and things offering direct gameplay advantages staying more pricey. It's best to remove/limit all barriers that stand in the way of the game being approachable and fun early on and small shared storage is in that category from my point of view.

 

[Ardeshir]

Making vault slots cost 20 or 21 EP each (easiest method to add to the game is probably just discounting the current format), would be the way to go. Holding out for 1000EP to minmax the purchase takes a long time for new players. If the 4-slot bundle costed 80EP instead of 150, they wouldn't feel any pressure to save for the higher amounts.

Increasing the base vault slots or starting storage space would have a bigger portion of their impact fall on the value of storage buildings, rather than simply making 4 vault slot upgrades as worthwhile as 48. Fixing this properly would result in a bigger portion of EP in the game being spent on storage, despite individual slots being cheaper, as people feel incentivised to "only spend another 80-85", rather than holding onto 1000 for dear life to put toward a legendary purchaseable.

 

[Pipinghot]

Fixing this properly would result in a bigger portion of EP in the game being spent on storage, despite individual slots being cheaper

Agreed. With all slots having the same cost, every player would feel free to customize the size of their vault to fit their personal needs.