Long Absence from Utopia...Please Help

It has been 6 years since I played utopia and I started up again less than 2 days ago with an Elf/Mystic. As I SHOULD have remembered, the kd I landed in needs attackers...not more T/M's. First of all I feel like a total noob and hardly know where to start as a T/M...what I excelled at all those years ago, much less attacker.

So first of all I ask that you treat me like a complete noob and really spell it out specifically for me (ie...step 1 do this, step 2 do this, etc.). I have re-read the guide, many times, and familiarized myself with the buildings, spells, ops, etc. and have read many of the strats ppl have posted here and in temple. I am still lost on many things that I probably shouldn't be. I'm hoping that a kind soul here will spell it out in a way that makes the proverbial light bulb go off. =P

I am already about ankle-deep in what I think is a T/M strat with just over a day left in protection. Armouries are about to come in and I'm just going to worry about boosting my dpa as high as I can until I get a better grip on why I should do the things people suggest that I do before going attacker. Any and all advice is greatly appreciated.

bleh!
no offense, but elf doesnt make the best T/M, but anyways

i would say something along the lines of:
15% homes
10% farms
25% guilds
20% towers
20% TD's
10% forts

its extremely basic, but am sure you can tweak it a bit to give better results
get 3-4 raw tpa, and similar wpa, then train up to ~60-62% and rest goes into defense =)

Delete and Go De/ Mystic or Elf/Warrior - War Hero.

Just delete - your age is going to suck as elf/mystic.

Theres about a month left of this age. No need to delete, unless you hate your kd.

Ive never run TM, but i think _greenies strat looks pretty ok.

Imho, might as well stay and try it out.

Though the elf mystic biggest limitation is the rune-hogging MS spell, not to mention all the other spells.

Some quick comments about the current state of the game :

The absence of a super thief or super mage. Some can argue that T/Ms are obsolete.

Planned size distribution is important

Gauge province effectiveness by NW density

Certain ops are de facto in war, and doing other ops are frowned upon.

Start out with a T/M strat. Pump wizzies, do an elite pump, and chuck in some science. Switch to an attacker strat. Not to hard to do with elves if you go for an elite based army.

for an elf t/m i would recommend something like this


1. Homes: 100 (10%)
2. Farms: 70 (7%)
3. Banks: 100 (10%)
4. Forts: 200 (20%)
5. Guilds: 200 (20%)
6. Towers: 150 (15%)
7. Thieves' Dens: 180 (18%)

the above is for war strat. when not in war, u can lower thief den to about 10%, tower to 1% and fort to 10% and put them into guilds and banks.

when u first start, keep about 54% draft and 3 raw tpa. keep science at accelerated or intense. if ur income cannot keep up just keep stealing from inactives. then, after u have built up ur science and honor u can slowly raise the draft until 60% and tpa to about 4.5.

try to stay at least 10% above ur average acres (15% if u can).

the reason is elf t/m have naturally weak defense, u really do need 20% forts during war plus stay above average acre to prevent urself from getting massacured or chained down (a t/m that doesnt get hit is strong, but a chained down t/m is useless). early on u will still be breakable, because less science and honor means u cant keep as high draft. with 54% draft and 3 raw tpa u should have somewhere around 75dpa. its not gonna be completely safe but u cant afford to push it up higher without good science and honor. later on after u reach viscount or above with ~10% pop sci, u'll be able to have approx 90~95dpa with 4~5 raw tpa at 60% draft, which is pretty decent

oh and one last thing, i do not advise u to cast meteor showers on people until u have a good enough wpa (approx 5 wpa. 4wpa if u r warring ghettos). leave the meteor to DE/mystics and u stick with fireball. otherwise the failure rate will be too high and its not worth it. better to take advantage of ur 30% stronger fireball, which is the single biggest advantage of elf t/m over gnomes and DE.

as for 15% towers, its enough to cast fireballs (and occasional self spell and cb if needed) if u have approximately 40% mage sci or higher. if u dont have it thats fine, but i do not recommend u going 20~25% tower. its better if u can steal runes or ask ur teammates to aid u

Homes have been improved to having 8 extra pop plus birth rate. 12.5% homes will give you 1 extra population per acre.
Forts have the equivalent modifier as training grounds.
Net worth efficiency is much more important than just net worth per acre. You can run a high nw/a province and be totally inept. Possible for the reverse as well.
T/Ms have limited ability to affect wars though spells and ops have increased in power somewhat. This has led to going Hybrid rather than attacker (now often called heavy attacker) both for protection and to op others.
Given elve's inferior military space efficiency and the T/M resistant spells of CS and RM, elves have a hard time going hybrid and make better heavy attackers.

Hope that helps a little. There have been a great many changes over the years. To really explain every thing would take a good sized pamphlet at least.