Well, remember my last payout ?
Since then, i've been going on hitting the lowest positions I was offered when I had quests about them.
Then I got my second surpise payout on August 18th : 518 Promachoi + 104 Thuerophoroi out of a level 48 position.
Then I decided to play more seriously this time.
I used that last payout as my new bank, and for two full weeks, I totally stopped to play Persians at all and built around 3,000 infantry units (Hoplites, Myrmidons and Spartan Hoplites), as without them I would have been condemned to sacrifice the troops I actually wanted to keep.
Then I Sent 1/3 of them, along with Promachoi, to the 3 topmost positions I was offered.
In my case, it was a level 62 (quest one), 61 and 60, in order.
I was intending to hit the level 60 without finishing it and conclude with another level,60 to get the payout without risking to underbank in case of a partial payout, but it was mostly defended with cavalry, so my bunch of infantry and phalanx, though representing only 80% of the Persian force, litterally busted them,
There I got lucky, as the big payout came immediately : 481 Agemas + 87 Mounted Peltasts, worth 12.3 millions, for only 6 millions invested in all since the previous payout.
I suppose I had actually been overbanking from the previous ones, as I has never had such a tremendous rate.
Anyway, now I have a 12.4 millions (with the resources that were part of the payout) bank to pay back, and honestly, it's still working as before, and I know lots of other people who are still getting great results as well.
So only one thing has changed from the original system : now you get partial payouts every time you fisnish a position.
The solution is then pretty obvious : DO NOT FINISH POSITIONS.
Build your bank from unfinished positions, then go on to overbank at least 30%.
The reason is, after you've paid the bank back, you should trigger the big payout any moment, but remember there have never been 100% chances to get it immediately. Sometimes it could take 2 or 3 trials before it dropped, and this has not changed.
However, what has changed is you'll get partial payouts for each failed trial, so if you don't overbank, the partials may decrease your bank down to under the sweet spot.
That's why you just have to overbank a lot, so you're sure to get your real payout byt finishing a few positions. To know where you are, just substract the partial payouts values from your bank, it's as simple as that. If you're using the spreadsheet, just type negative quantities.
Trust me, it works all the time.
I agree it can take longer than before, but it still works, and the partial payouts are still adding to your army anyway.
As far as my discussions with Plarium are getting, I've been confirmed they've been addressing complaints from lazy people whinning about not getting immediate results, and unfortunately, they were so many to complain they answerd with this new method.
There's no plan to get back for now, so please, adapt and try the method i'm suggesting. It works great for me and other players, so there's no reason why it wouldn't work great for you as well.
The real concern is for people hitting vey high levels. Hitting one or two additional positions may become impossible to achieve and results are too uncertain.
This is an almost unsoluble problem so far, as you obviously can't get additional bunches of the necessary 120 millions worth troops just to overbank for safety.
So more than ever, try not to raise your maximum level too fast, unless you're prepared to be producing troops for months before gambling.
What's your personal experience with PPs?
