No, it does not.

@Shin/functor
No, TW doesn't cool itself down. So Legendary TW gets 4 hrs time skip followed by 16 hrs cooldown time. Presumably the strat would be to use Merc before/after TW activation/cooldown and equip SC & CD during the cooldown to craft while time skipping. But I personally don't think 4 hrs of benefit is worth 16 hrs of slot kill.

@graemes
Perhaps there is some difference on level, certainly early levels which don't have crafters get 0 benefit from Speedy Crafters. Even within a level, SC gets you nothing for first 5-10% where you don't have a crafter. But more importantly what we (me+Master Jz, maybe others) are saying is that as you play more the artifacts (and advancements) that give benefit over time reduce in value provided b/c you spend less time on each level. So take your example of Insane ACB ... my first run on Africa was 16 days, so lots of time to get use of such a benefit. My 2nd playthrough was only 4 days, so far less time to earn armies over, so even with a highly upgrade artifact or IACP advancement, the benefit they provide will likely be lower than what it was on the 1st playthrough.

In comparison, the benefit from Artifacts & Adv's that provide benefit per action such as Cache Money/Resource/Armies, JS, Hospitals, Mercs, Crafting, Ore buffs, etc, will continue to offer high benefit. Take Cache Money for example. It's a Phase 1 Adv and an Artifact as well. Putting resources into upgrading these will give the same benefit on playthrough 1 as playthrough 2, b/c the # of money available on the map is the same, the caches are the same, whereas TMB & BMB are dependent on that 4 day vs 16 day clear time.

So upgrading ACB to Rare and maybe even Epic, is likely very useful for 1st playthrough, maybe even somewhat useful for part of 2nd playthrough (notably early in the levels and the first 1-10 levels), but there will come a time when it'll not be your best artifact, and more benefit will come from Merc Disc, Speedy Crafter, Craft Double, Hospital Boost, Cache Boosts, Item Values, etc.

I think of Time Warp at legendary as 1.25x play speed.

The strategies and AP distributions of players are different. But, I do not think these strategies would require 3 fixed artifacts in artifact slots. Usually, we can allocate one slot to Time Warp. In this sense, Time Warp can enhance any strategies players may employ.

I think Time Warp is the overall best legendary artifact for all players. But, note that it should not be the first legendary to get. We only upgrade it to legendary when we already have a good set of legendary artifacts.

(The epic Quadruple Strike could be better than legendary Time Warp. But, I only discuss the artifacts worth upgrading to legendary here.)

Edit:
@krinid
Can you name 3 legendary artifacts that need to occupy slots almost all the time and still better than Time Warp at legendary? If we cannot find 3 such artifacts, then there is a slot available for Time Warp.

Edited 8/6/2021 13:00:53

Keep in mind, that 1.25x play speed comes at the price of another useful artifact, so the effect is diminished.

@Z

I just updated the post above yours.

> Keep in mind, that 1.25x play speed comes at the price of another useful artifact, so the effect is diminished.

We only need to pay the price if we can have 3 other artifacts that need slots and better than 1.25x play speed. I can find two: Speedy Crafters, Craft Double. But, I cannot find a third.

I think of Time Warp at legendary as 1.25x play speed.

Can you name 3 legendary artifacts that need to occupy slots almost all the time and still better than Time Warp at legendary? If we cannot find 3 such artifacts, then there is a slot available for Time Warp.

Interesting way to think of it ... and I suppose that's an accurate summary of the aggregate benefit. 4x speed for 4 hrs, then regular speed for 12 hrs, 1 slot killed in cooldown for the entire 16 hrs.

So Legendary 35% Speedy Crafters for sure, and if we're talking Legendary level, 12% Insane Craft Double might be a candidate, and then that really only leaves ACB 160%, TMB 400%, BMB 160%. Since we're talking Legendary levels, I'll assume this is post 1st Ascension, so ACB has reduced value b/c level clear times are faster, so I'll eliminate it from scope. So TMB 400%, BMB 160% ... the question is does the value these provide from Territory & Bonus income exceed that of 25% faster playing time.

Not sure ... would need to further look into this. Maybe one of our computation experts like Z, Jz or Functor can compute this. 25% faster playing means 25% more crafting items, which is by far the highest money producer, so this might actually be viable. Pretty exciting if it is viable!

@Z, functor, Master Jz
Opinions on this? Or are there other passive Leg artifacts beyond ACB, TMB, BMB, SC, CD that should be considered to compete with Leg TW?

Edited 8/6/2021 13:39:45

@krinid: I meant stage of AP progression, not the specific level. There’s no confusion or disagreement here.

@functor: Another hidden cost to the Time Warp is that you can’t reinvest during the four hours. Not the end of the world but another reason why you won’t see a true 20% time savings.

Another hidden cost to the Time Warp is that you can’t reinvest during the four hours. Not the end of the world but another reason why you won’t see a true 20% time savings.

Not a huge deal - I often set things up to craft for 4-8 hrs at a time, so I can walk away, come back and have lots of $, or maybe just check in 4-5 hrs later for 2 secs just to reset idle time. Same thing would go for using TW. In fact, I do this already when I use a TW power, just it's more prep for 4 hrs vs 1. Part of the game.

The epic Quadruple Strike could be better than legendary Time Warp. But, I only discuss the artifacts worth upgrading to legendary here.

Agree, Quad Strike may have its purpose, as might Epic SAC (early level?) - but these are situational specific for a % of the level, and outside of that %, this discussion. Within the % of SAC/QS, even still TW _might_ have use ... save 4 hrs of cooldown time to free up for freeing up the slot again, and still using 1 of SC, TMB or BMB (probably BMB early level, SC mid to late level).

@krinid

Epic Tripe Strike and Quadruple Strike are better than legendary Time Warp, as long as we have access to large territories on which we can apply TS/QS.

The only other possible contender I have in mind is legendary Market Raid. But, I do not know how its effect is calculated.

@graemes

You are right that we cannot reinvest in the 4 hour period. But, this is an idle game, and it requires a lot of waiting. My strategy usually requires me to wait 10+ hours to take any actions at all.

Another hidden benefit of Time Warp is reducing the digging time. I think this benefit is enough to offset the hidden cost.

@graemes
My current favorite is Speedy Crafters, followed by Item Values. I'd probably upgrade Item Values first. It loses some value as I get faster, but not as quickly because I still get items from caches. I also really like Hospital Discount, Mercenary Discount, and Hospital Boost. I'm currently toying with the idea of going for the Time Warp first, in order to speed up digs.

@krinid
I have an epic Efficient Crafters. I occasionally leave it, Craft Double, and Speedy Crafters equipped overnight. While rare, I've had occasions were an uncommon Craft Double actually beats a legendary Bonus Money Boost.

Let us know how your TW experimentation goes. What level do you have TW at? The jury is still out . . .

I would have thought that epic CD would be enough to surpass Leg BMB consistently ... but I guess that's still only CD 12% vs BMB 160%. Also depends on whether you have Increased Bonus Money maxed out (I do), b/c if so BMB has less impact when applied. Also depends on how many crafters you have & what you're crafting. Assuming it's >10 crafters making E Bolts, over ~8hrs, that should give about 4-5 E Bolts = av 12-25B profit from CD. To get that same value from BMB, it would need to add 417K-868K/sec money income over the 8 hrs. Seems too high for BMB to take on.

Typically my Epic BMB near mid to end of level on a high level map adds 100-300K/sec (I forget tbh for the final 5-ish levels), so I suppose it is within scope of a Leg BMB. But Leg CD would be another story altogether.

My Rare CD outperforms my Epic BMB even towards early level.

I am currently early in China.

My Rare CD increases my Rivet production profit by ₩ 35.57 k/s (from ₩ 442.64 to ₩ 478.21 k/s) per Crafter. Yes, that is more than 6% because the second item does not have any extra materials consumed.

Meanwhile, my Epic BMB produces ₩ 68 k/s (bumping me from ₩ 107 to ₩ 175 k/s).

So, with 2 Crafters, Rare CD > Epic BMB… I have 5 Crafters.

Guess it's time to start upgrading my poor Craft Double . . .

Separate tangent . . . why are there no Advancements to reduce Active artifact cooldown time? That would a lot of them back into contention for being useful. Not even phase 4 touches the concept.

Edited 8/6/2021 19:31:57

It’s rather depressing. I’m still kicking myself for upgrading if ACB before discovering how great Crafting is. My current artifacts:

Legend: ACB
Epic: HB, BMB, SAC
Rare: SC, CD, MD, ISV, TMB
Uncommon: HD
And other fodder

I am full timing ACB, CD, SC. Though BMB and ACB could potentially be swapped late game.

Downgrade artifact needs to be a thing. I’d pay 50 coins for it.

Despite being stuck with Rares, they get the job done:



Edited 8/6/2021 19:42:27

Unless I'm misunderstanding you, sounds like we do the opposite. I start with ACB, TMB, BMB, then swap out for SC, and will likely add CD to it once I upgrade it enough. Putting in ACB late in the level doesn't make sense b/c by that time armies/sec pales massively in comparison to merc & draft income. Only thing I need late level is more money to buy mercs. ACB only gives me value early in the level when there is nothing to craft yet, and little to no mercs to draw down on yet.

I must have misunderstood you though ... surely you don't start the level with SC & CD ... when there are no crafters?

Edited 8/6/2021 19:45:20

I start ACB, TMB, BMB until my first Crafter.

Then I swap to ACB, BMB, SC.

Then, once I get a couple Crafters, I check the math.
Then ACB, CD, SC.

Late game, BMB can potentially replace ACB as I am trying to buy Mercs as quickly as possible.

I see. So Early game we're the same, but the switch to ACB, CD, SC ... why not BMB, SC, CD?

When I've done the math, I find that:

# of armies given by ACB < # of mercs that can be bought with money provided by BMB

And late game while it might be the case that because the final merc camps can be expensive that ACB provides enough to outweigh BMB, the # of armies provided by army camps in general (with or without ACB) is so insignificant that even if ACB is slightly higher returns than BMB (I'm not sure it does, but it's possible on some levels), it's not a factor anymore, it's really just crafting profit that finish the level at that point (so SC & CD). It would take days to weeks to earn enough armies to finish a level instead of hours relying on crafting.

I do the math as well. My BMB/ACB has cheaper Armies than my current Merc Camps per Army, so ACB tops for now. Again, I check the math regularly for when the balance tips in BMB favor.

ACB has the added advantage of larger Drafts without having to remember to toggle.

Remember, it’s Legendary ACB vs Epic BMB. If they were equal, it’d likely be in BMB favor at all times.

By late game, you have so many Bonuses, that BMB outweighs ACB in usefulness. But again, it’s close. Crafting dwarfs Bonuses so much, that the Draft boosting effect with one less toggle is nice.

It’s rather disgusting, honestly.

Edit: Just checked, and my BMB is outperforming ACB already. Equivalent of a 3.24 cost Merc Camp, when my current Merc Camps cost around 2.

Edited 8/6/2021 20:00:28

LOL, true that, tedious swapping to put ACB+DB in . . . I do the same, need them both for the max effect. And you're right, one less swap is significant. It's actually one of the reasons I tend to play on mobile now, b/c the swapping is faster than in browser.

I missed the Leg ACB vs Epic BMB factor - yea that could make the difference.