Heart of the Mountain



The Heart of the Mountain, also shortened to HotM, was implemented with the Lord of the Mountain patch on the 4. August 2011.

The basics
Every mountain possesses a HotM at the 10th dungeon place. The HotM is a normal dungeon with 4 entrances, a bigger amount of vault tiles than the normal dungeon and additional 500% storage room. It can be occupied like other normal dungeons, if it has not been claimed yet. Claiming the HotM crowns a player to be the Lord of the Mountain which enables them to tax loyal players in the mountain as well as giving them the ability to level up the upgrades for the mountain. A free HotM can be claimed like a normal dungeon after the Lord of the Mountain-Research has been obtained.

Loyalty and the tax system
The Lord of the Mountain, also shortened to LotM, is able to tax dungeons from players which are loyal to him in the claimed mountain.

The tax rate is set up by the LotM and it can fluctuate between 0% and 30%. When loyal players pick up their resources they get automatically taxed. The taxes are stored in the silver chest in the HotM until the LotM picks the chest up. Only picked up resources are taxed, traded or raided resources don't get taxed.

Being loyal to the LotM allows players to benefit from the upgrades from the HotM. Loyalty can be declared immediately, the withdrawing on the other hand takes 24 hours. Loyal players can be marked as an enemy from the LotM. They don't have to pay anymore taxes but they can't benefit from the HotM upgrades, and they can't declare loyalty as long as they are still marked. Players loyal within the same mountain can't attack each other.

The Mountain Upgrades
Every HotM has between 1 and 5 different upgrades which it can offer to the mountain inhabitants. The upgrades can be divided, accordingly to their leveling costs, into 3 classes. Upgrades have different random maximum levels, between 5 and 40. The upgrades start at the level 0 with no benefits for the inhabitants and can be leveled up only by the LotM. Upgrades are instantaneous, however further upgrades are delayed until the Upgrade Lockout timer completes. Every player can look at the Mountain Upgrades by only looking into a mountain, no scouting is needed. If the HotM is conquered by another player 50% of the upgrades level will be lost and will have to be leveled again. On giving up the HotM all upgraded levels will be lost.

The three cost classes are Common, Uncommon, and Rare. Uncommon upgrades cost twice as much as the Common upgrades, while the Rare upgrades cost five times as much. After the fifth upgrade level, the Heart of the Mountain gains additional cost requirements. Further cost requirements are added after the 10th, 20th, and 30th levels as shown in the chart below.