Hi everyone,
I have been reading this thread for a while and finally made a forum account because I like the tournament changes and can't bear all this whining anymore.
I'm assuming that the formula from MinMaxGame is correct
R = 0.3994 × (1+B) × (1.0045)^T × (1+0.003A) × (E - 0.34P - 4.5)
I think the structure of this formula is perfectly fine. The exponential factor gives the basic per square value of your city. This term needs to be exponential because the rest of the game runs on an exponential scale as well. You can see this easily by looking at the way eventbuildings level with chapter. You will find that they scale exponentially with a base of around 1,008 per research or maybe 1,01 per optional research. (I'm too lazy to calculate more that a few examples, but I'm sure MinMaxGamer could easily verify this number.) If non-event buildings were only on a logarithmic scale then any endgamer should have celebrated the maytree or the wise golem for the gold and supplies they give. Since that did not happen, I assume that the rest of the game is also on this exponential scale and anyone claiming otherwise simply failed to do the math.
I also support the way expansions are considered. If you have twice as much space you can produce twices as many goods for catering. And of course the space you have needs to be multiplied with the per square value of that space. Addition would be ridiculous for this purpose. I sincerely doubt that placing premium expansions really hurts anyone.
And no, I don't see a problem with a multiplicative consideration of Antient Wonders either. Their bonus is almost always a percentage of some base stat. Therefore they give an multiplicative bonus to your city. I do, however, agree with the rest of you that the factor 0,003 per wonderlevel (= 9% per lv. 30 wonder) is to high for many wonders. I think the sunset towers are a good example, because they make calculations easy. All they give is seeds and therefore can't be more valuable as seeds are on the whole. And I sincerely doubt that anyone uses 9% of his entire city for seeds.
I know that many players manage just fine with only the trader, but some might go as high as 1,5% of their city. This gives an upper limit of
0,0005 (= 1,5/ 3000) as a factor for a single wonderlevel before the lv. 30 sunset towers will certainly become harmfull to the spire/tournament.
I also acknowledge that wonders are currently counted twice, once with the multiplicative bonus they give and once with the space they take up themselve. But this fact hits small player much harder than the endgamers and should encourage you to grow. But still, maybe it would be fair to subtract 0,8*(#wonders) from the expansions. (0,8 expansions should be the average size of an antient wonder.)
So while some constants might need recalibration, the formula on the whole looks fine. If anyone disagrees, I suggest you try to constructively explain why, instead of getting into pagelong arguments about how stupid the producers are.