Great Buildings Prestige: Tiers, Blueprints, and the Refinery

Overview

Tiers, Blueprints, Refinery

Changes to Great Buildings

Prestige Tiers

Prestige Tiers replace endless leveling of Great Buildings (=GBs), instead offering distinct Tiers of progression. With every new Tier, you receive a new, different building effect that you can continue upgrading until you reach the maximum, while retaining bonuses from all previous Tiers. This way, you can get rewarded for every new milestone, expanding the impact of your Great Buildings and the resources you invest into them.

With the first release, we're introducing three Tiers: 

• Copper 
• Silver 
• Gold

Important! Only a limited number of Great Buildings receive all three new Tiers. GBs not updated in this release only receive the first, Copper Tier, meaning their first 200 levels will be reclassified as such. Progression for this group of GBs will stop at level 200 for the time being and can resume if new Tiers are added. These buildings will function largely as before, but now within the updated system. For the detailed breakdown of how Prestige Tiers will look like on different Great Buildings, please check Prestige Tiers and Changes to Existing Great Buildings.

The information in this article covers the mechanics of Prestige Tiers on Great Buildings that receive all three new Tiers. Let's start with the Tier distribution (see graph below). You reach a new Tier every 100 levels and can continue developing that Tier's effect for the next 200 levels. Thus, both Tiers are upgradable simultaneously, making every new level significantly more impactful than before.

Updated Interface

You can easily view information about Tiers by visiting a Great Building. In the Overview and Level Up tabs, Tiers are marked with a new festive ribbon and feature new corresponding color Blueprints (more on them later). In the Overview, these bonuses are marked with an extra frame around the value as well. Effects that do not have a frame belong to the Copper Tier. Additionally, this window does not feature bonuses that can no longer be evolved in order to avoid clutter. You can still view this information in another view described later in this article.


By clicking the symbol in the top left corner, you can also access an even more detailed view to satisfy your planning and organization needs. This window demonstrates when each and every bonus was acquired, as well as the number of unlocked vs. built levels.


Proceed to Blueprints to view details about required resources and Tier bonus effects. On higher Tiers, you will require both special Blueprints of the corresponding Tier and Goods to build new GB levels. New Tiers require a substantial amount of resources due to their high-level impact, so make sure to scroll down the list to view the requirements in full. In preparation for the feature release, we've also simplified this view for easier management. 


The screenshot above shows the Alcatraz with level 102 unlocked. Which means it will be considered a Silver Tier GB once this level is built, i.e. all required Forge Points have been successfully invested. Navigate between different Tiered Blueprints using the arrows on both sides of the grid to view your balance. The Blueprints' Tier is represented with a new frame of the corresponding color. As usual, from this window you can track the building's upgrade costs and unlock the next level. 

In addition to these windows, you will also see Silver and Gold Tier symbols featured all across the game in Great Buildings tooltips, rankings, and donation lists.

To upgrade within Silver and Gold Tiers, you will need new special Blueprints of the corresponding rarity: Silver for the Silver Tier and Gold for the Gold. Existing Blueprints are now considered Copper. 

Use this window for the handy overview and to acquire new Tiered Blueprints. From here, you can:

• Trade your extra Blueprints of the same Tier at the 2:1 rate.
• NEW: Access the Blueprint Refinery to invest Blueprints of the lower Tier, as well as Goods, to create higher-Tier Blueprints. 

There are more ways to get new Blueprints, so make sure to check the next section for the details. 

The Information tab now gives a full overview of your potential goals, showing you current and future Tiers. Much like with GBs in the past, you will only see the closest available bonus value. Remember: it is only a starting point, and the bonuses will grow over time as you move from one level and Tier to another. 


So, how do you upgrade your Tiered Great Buildings?

Tiered Blueprints and Refinery

To level your GBs in higher Tiers, you will need new Tiered Blueprints. The higher the level, the more full sets of the necessary rarity you will need to level up. As mentioned, the Prestige update also means all existing Blueprints are called Copper to correspond to the first Tier.

You can gain Copper Blueprints in all the usual ways, including:

• Forge Points donations to other GBs;
• Premium purchases;
• Various reward sources;
• Trade 2:1.

Higher Tier Blueprints (Silver and Gold) are currently available from:

• Forge Points donations to GBs of the corresponding Tier. For such a donation, you will always receive Blueprints of the Tier you donated to, plus all previous Tier Blueprints. For example, if you donate to a Gold Tier GB, you will receive Copper, Silver, and Gold Blueprints.
• The new Blueprint Refinery.
• Trade 2:1. Much like with Copper Blueprints, simply select two and press the Trade 2:1 button to receive a new random Blueprint of whatever Tier you traded in.
• Premium purchases.

The Refinery is a special feature that aims to help you use up your Copper Blueprints and kickstart leveling your GBs to/within higher Tiers. 

To access the Refinery, open the Great Building level-up menu and click the button next to the regular 2:1 Blueprint Exchange:

In the Refinery, you can exchange one set of Blueprints for a single random blueprint of the next higher Tier. Thus, you need a set of Copper Blueprints to get a random Silver one, and a set of Silver Blueprints to get a random Gold Blueprint. The refinement comes at an increasing resource cost. Prestige Tiers are designed to be a long-term impactful addition to your City, so they do require long-term planning and investment to match. For the same reason, you have a limited number of 5 refinements available per every 24 hours. 

This new window also allows you to easily switch between Great Buildings that have available Silver and Gold Blueprints. Simply click the drop-down list above to select a GB and manage its Blueprints without leaving the Refinery. Much like previously in the Inventory, you can only view Great Buildings this way if you have at least one Tiered Blueprint already available for it. 

We designed Prestige Tiers to be long-term goals for your Great Buildings' progression, especially in the endgame. The aforementioned limitations and the significant investment required to level up your Great Buildings within Tiers aim to reflect that. Much like high-level Great Buildings used to be a feature of a highly developed City, Prestige Tiers can now reflect a similar level of resource planning and strategy.

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• Prestige Tiers and Changes to Existing Great Buildings
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