Now that the game has been going a while and early players are reaching possibly Lvl 10, I am wondering whether the Game Devs have got the balance of the game quite right - the capability of acquiring gold being the primary question.

While in protection I found I constantly grappled with whether to spend gold on upgrading buildings to get stronger or to spend it on very high numbers of defence units, sacrificing research, science and higher levels of sophisticated weaponry. I split it as evenly as I could reaching level 4 in all buildings, farms and production, town hall etc., except for warehouses, which I left at Lvl 3. I traded as much as I could in the market to increase gold stocks and did well. I also searched for the Quests which paid gold, but still found I could not possibly in the time given, reach the required levels in unit training, building upgrades, sciences and research where I felt I could protect myself from a player in the higher levels.

Basically, I consider that now the disparity in levels between players is widening as the game progresses,( i.e. we have players coming out of protection while others are already up around Lvl 9 or 10), that it is not possible for a player coming out of protection, given the time frames involved, to defend his city from being plundered by these higher level players. It is basically becoming a "walk over" for them.

My point is that perhaps the time in protection is proving too short now and as the early starters get even higher up through the levels this is going to become even more apparent. The cities coming out of protection will have no chance at all, for example, against a level 10 player. To have the necessary resources to fuel my growth I had to sacrifice certain things which, albeit are important to protect the city's future, e.g. warehouses. I could not fit all of my resources inside the warehouse, so made myself a great target for plundering. Conversely, had I not ramped up production, I could not have built everything to optimum levels in an endeavour to make my city stronger. For example, could sacrifice production to have everything warehoused then the trade off would be less resources, fewer upgrades and lower unit numbers. However, pushing research and weaponry higher means you have to sacrifice unit numbers too.

So the burning question remains, would it be better to have massive unit numbers at a lower level of research and weaponry with fewer upgrades but all safely warehoused - overall a generally weaker position. Even if you spend a fortune on 'speed ups', the gold will still run out, which constantly shackles the rate of growth necessary to reach this level of defence in the time given. I think this time limit needs to be reviewed, to be honest.

I raise this question because I chose to push research and weaponry ahead, sacrificing unit numbers and warehousing - fewer archery towers, fewer units, but at a higher level with more sophisiticated weaponry, etc. As it turned out I was plundered well and good by a Level 9 player within the first hour out of protection. Although casualties were not too devastating, that is of little comfort to me now, for I now have very low reserves of resources and gold and so am struggling to recover, being even further away from defending myself against a possible subsequent high level player attack. If I were attacked again now, it would be 'requiem' for my city. I believe I balanced things pretty well, but that the time frame in protection is simply insufficient to enable a city to capably build adequate defences against higher level players in the time given - no matter how wisely you spend your gold and resources.

I consdier that either the protection time needs to be longer, or the acquisition of gold while in protection could be more readily available, but only while in protection. No good making it available at an equal rate to players already out of protection. that would simply create the same problem.