Quote Originally Posted by KuhaN View Post
I don't think you got my point. Most kingdoms don't have any desire to come out top EOA.

Your argument only stands for kds playing for #1, which is about 5 kds in the entire server. Mid kingdoms don't need to run anything above sustained all round, especially with the addition of sci bonuses at eow. All you're doing is burning money when you can instead be trying to get wars faster, which is the reason why most kingdoms play this game. Not saying i agree with it, but it is what it is.
Protip: good sciences matter for all kingdoms, not just ones that want to grow.

Sciences make provinces stronger and more resilient, and sciences bought earlier in the age are more valuable than those bought later in the age. If you're never planning on any real growth, which most kingdoms aren't, you're much better served, over the course of an age, buying all your sciences as early as possible. The sooner you have those advantages, the more you get to use them, and all else equal, the kingdom with higher science has an advantage.

This is especially true when considering the new war win bonuses, which give you a huge boost in sciences. If you can take that advantage into a war with even preparations otherwise, you're much more likely to win than just going straight after a kingdom. Fighting when you have 20-50% more WPA and TPA, 5-10% more gains, with better econs? Too easy. The only downside in all this is that farming ghettos is now much more lucrative, which makes doing that over sci pumping a viable option