Test of Towers
(Principle Of Towers)Towers are built at a Medium Construction Site, which requires the Project Management Level 2 skill.
IMPORTANT NOTE about Towers: MAKE SURE AUTOGUILD IS OFF BEFORE BUILDING TOWERS. If you have the autoguilding option enabled ("When I build, automatically grant ownership to my primary guild"), you will not receive credit for the tower. This is not considered a bug by Teppy, so you'll lose whatever land you would have claimed, and the materials spent on the tower(s) built, if you aren't careful (I lost three towers this way before I figured out what was going on). MAKE SURE AUTOGUILD IS OFF BEFORE BUILDING TOWERS.
The Hour of Towers occurs about once every three Egyptian days (i.e. about once per day in real time). The schedule for the next three Hours may be viewed in the in-game calendar (click yourself, then Utility, and then Calendar to view). The Hour lasts for one Egyptian hour (i.e. about 20 minutes real time).
During the Hour of Towers, participants may build towers. Participants are free to build as many towers during the Hour as they can afford. A tower must be built at least 1000 feet (or 64 coordinates) from any other tower. (It's possible to circumvent this, but the second tower will score no points.)
All Towers crumble at the end of the Hour. It is possible to circumvent this by building a small construction site dedicated to the tower, but not adding the last of the materials until the Hour ends. Towers built this way will vanish at the end of the next Hour, and will not count towards either.
There are several different types of Tower. Only one type may be built during each Hour of Towers. The type will be listed on the schedule available from the calendar. Towers may only be built by people who have signed up for the test, and may only be built during an Hour of Towers.
A Tower, like any other building, may be given to another player via the "Ownership" menu.
Towers are built at a Medium Construction Site, which requires the Project Management Level 2 skill. (Note that the option to construct a tower will not appear until an Hour of Towers has begun. In addition, you must be an Initiate of Architecture and level 11 in order to start the Test of Towers.)
A tower cannot be salvaged during the Hour.
Important note about small construction sites:
The person who loads the last thing into a construction site receives credit for constructing the new building. Normally this doesn’t matter for most buildings because the owner of the building is still the person who started the construction site. However, for Obelisks & Funerary Temples this makes a huge difference. Make sure you are the last person to load anything into a test's construction site.
Scoring
As towers are built, each tower will "control" all the land that is closer to it than to any other tower. A single uncontested tower would control 100% of Egypt. (The amount of land controlled is based on Voronoi diagrams quantized with quadtrees. See the images here 1 and the Java applet here Tower Applet for a visual representation of how this works.)
At the end of the Hour of Towers, the percentage of Egypt controlled by each tower will be calculated. Credit for a tower is based on ownership at the end of the Hour. The contestants with the top 14 total percentages for that hour will have that percent added to their cumulative score. Contestants not in the top 14 will receive only 1/7 of their percentage for that hour -- generally a negligible amount.
A player passes the test when their cumulative score from all Hours reaches 100%. Your current score may be viewed from your Tests menu.
Construction Costs
Solid Land (unlocked)
 | 1000 Bricks 1 Clay Lamp 7 Medium Quartz 10 Cut Stone 20 White Sand Medium Construction Site: 2 Canvas 8 Rope |
Rich Soil (unlocked)
 | 1000 Bricks 1 Clay Lamp 7 Medium Topaz 20 Onions 20 Carrots 20 Cabbage 20 Leeks 20 Garlic 50 Saltpeter Medium Construction Site: 2 Canvas 8 Rope |
Hand of Man (unlocked)
 | 1000 Bricks 1 Clay Lamp 7 Medium Ruby 100 Ash 250 Firebricks 50 Charcoal 4 Iron Bars Medium Construction Site: 2 Canvas 8 Rope |
Living Land (unlocked)
 | 1000 Wood! 1 Clay Lamp 7 Medium Emerald 70 Dates 280 Honey Medium Construction Site: 2 Canvas 8 Rope |
New Life (unlocked)
 | 1000 Bricks 1 Clay Lamp 7 Medium Sapphire 7 Eggs 1 Onion Seeds 1 Carrot Seeds 1 Cabbage Seeds 1 Leek Seeds 1 Garlic Seeds Medium Construction Site: 2 Canvas 8 Rope |
Night Tower (unlocked)
 | 1000 Bricks 1 Clay Lamp 7 Medium Diamond 70 Slate 2 Night Granite 3 Peasant Foot Mushrooms 3 Toad Skin Mushrooms 3 Sand Spore Mushrooms 3 Earth Light Mushrooms 3 Eye of Osiris Mushrooms 3 Bleeding Hand Mushrooms 3 Dung Rot Mushrooms Medium Construction Site: 2 Canvas and 8 Rope |
Racing Mind (unlocked)
 | 1000 Bricks 1 Clay Lamp 1 Lens Amethyst for the Beacon (see Cuttable Gems and Gem Cutting) 100 Papyrus Paper 1 Nut's Essence 3 quicksilver Medium Construction Site: 2 Canvas and 8 Rope |
Monumental Towers
As a reward, once you've passed, you can build monumental towers. They look the same as the standard towers, but they don't disappear. You may only build one monumental tower of each type. After building, you can reposition them once.
Rich Soil (after you get 100%)
7000 Bricks7 Clay Lamp
28 Medium Topaz
140 Onions
140 Carrots
140 Cabbage
140 Leeks
140 Garlic
350 Saltpeter
Medium Construction Site:
2 Canvas
8 Rope
Solid Land (after you get 110%)
7000 Bricks7 Clay Lamp
49 Medium Quartz
140 White Sand
70 Cut Stone
Medium Construction Site:
2 Canvas
8 Rope
Hand of Man (after you get 140%)
7000 Bricks7 Clay Lamp
28 Medium Ruby
700 Ash
1750 Firebricks
350 Charcoal
28 Iron Bars
Medium Construction Site:
2 Canvas
8 Rope
Living Land Tower (after you get 200%)
7000 Wood!7 Clay Lamp
49 Medium Emerald
490 Dates
1960 Honey
Medium Construction Site:
2 Canvas
8 Rope
Racing Mind Tower (after you get 300%)
7000 Bricks7 Clay Lamp
7 Lens Amethyst
700 Papyrus Paper
7 Nut's Essence
21 quicksilver
Medium Construction Site:
2 Canvas
8 Rope
Night Tower (after you get 700%)
1000 Bricks7 Clay Lamp
49 Medium Diamond
490 Slate
14 Night Granite
21 Peasant Foot Mushrooms
21 Toad Skin Mushrooms
21 Sand Spore Mushrooms
21 Earth Light Mushrooms
21 Eye of Osiris Mushrooms
21 Bleeding Hand Mushrooms
21 Dung Rot Mushrooms
Medium Construction Site:
2 Canvas and 8 Rope
New Life Tower (after you get 500%)
7000 Bricks7 Clay Lamp
49 Medium Sapphire
49 Eggs
7 Onion Seeds
7 Carrot Seeds
7 Cabbage Seeds
7 Leek Seeds
7 Garlic Seeds
Medium Construction Site:
2 Canvas
8 Rope
- Tale 1 Data
| Tower | Points Needed |
| Rich Soil | 100% |
| Solid Land | 110% |
| Hand of Man | 140% |
| Living Land | 200% |
| Racing Mind | 300% |
| New Life | 500% |
| Night | 700% |
