The Virtual Kingdom of Age 89 ~ in GMT battle array!

ASSAULT - Asian Division

Avian: war hero
Dark Elf: cleric
Dwarf: rogue
Human: war hero
Undead: raider

SPEARHEAD - Eastern European Division

Dwarf: tactician
Elf: mystic
Faery: rogue
Gnome: cleric
Orc: warrior

HQ - Western European Division

Avian: tactician
Dark Elf: heretic
Elf: heretic
Faery: heretic
Human: raider

SPEARHEAD - American Division

Dwarf: tactician
Elf: mystic
Faery: rogue
Gnome: cleric
Orc: warrior

ASSAULT - Australian Division

Avian: warrior
Dark Elf: mystic
Gnome: cleric
Human: war hero
Undead: raider

Welcome to age 89.

~ THE ELLIPTICAL WAVE ~

Hello. The elliptical wave is a perpetual Greenwich-Mean-Time based system I devised for busy players living in different time zones. The divisions are roughly broken into prime activity for players based around the world. My endeavor is to offer a system that yields some of the benefits of competitive kingdoms without players straining to make waves at inopportune work/sleep hours.

In addition to meeting player activity requirements, the division system truncates the common full kingdom wave strat. In this system provinces are primarily communicating and executing objectives between 5 players. This is meant to promote faster micro and garner healthy competition between divisions.

Some divisions are designated “assault” to indicate the common objective is to engage several enemy provinces at one time and prevent them from engaging our spearhead divisions. This is where we use nw zone as a rule, but there are always exceptions.

“Spearhead” divisions are designed to break enemy hard targets. They include Elf Mystic to break magical defenses, Faery Rogue to break stealth defenses, and Orc Warrior to break physical defenses. Internal support is provided by one Dwarf Tactician (supplying vital intel, build versatility and mini chaining) and a Gnome Cleric (providing support spells and mini chaining).

The “HQ” or headquarters division is designed to provide support to any and all divisions, either to achieve an objective or salvage a faulty mission. This division handles most of the leadership decisions and is equipped to engage enemies in various meter situations.

Each division included one council member.
1. Intel - compiling snatch news and prioritizing
2. Economics - what we can do and how much
3. Diplomacy - sales pitch meta
4. Elliptical Wave Navigator - air traffic control
5. Communications - clarifying objectives

X Chaining ~ a refresher

Cross chaining was a concept explained to me by the incomparable Crazy Pete. The premise is to optimize max gains chaining in acre distribution, ambush resistance and repeatability: chaining provinces remain in phalanx. It lends itself to fast execution and offers a template so repairs on the move are easily diagnosed.

The cross chaining kata, as it were, revolves around the highest max gain province hitting 1st and last in the chain session. The chain session follows highest to least max gains mirrored. For our example we’ll use a spearhead division mini chain to demonstrate. We will have our orc warrior strike for highest gains, followed by the dwarf tactician and tied together at the gnome cleric. The song goes something like this:

Orc Warrior ~ marches 1st, tap one
Dwarf Tactician ~ marches 2nd, tap one
Gnome Cleric ~ marches 3rd, tap one
Gnome cleric ~ marches 4th, tap two
Dwarf Tactician ~ marches 5th, tap two
Orc Warrior ~ marches 6th, tap two

This is a scenario where an enemy with considerable defense needed to be knocked out of the top control threat zone. Obviously the targeting could continue with trash hits from the elf and faery, or this particular enemy could be objectified as a new assault target. The amount of damage inflicted is variable, if we consider the HQ division might lend a hand with nightmare, night strikes and tornadoes to knock down guard stations etc. We could even instruct the HQ avian tac to go drunken master on the guy.

Divisional Overlap

Because the elliptical wave operates 24/7 with 5 divisions, we have prime activity every 4.8 hours. This means there might be some activity overlap.

Activity will vary, player to player. I for one have used relay tapping because I was capable of hyperactivity( the no life advantage ). I digress, but relay tapping is when you array your
marches in timed segments. I adapted the idea when I was slotted to play undead cleric and wanted to ape the speed of my favored avian tac without resorting to high % barracks. Undead cleric had the sustain and offensive might to distribute considerable harm. Relay taps were the genesis of elliptical waving.

Suffice to say, there should be a few players who enjoy higher activity. It’s with these players that divisional collaboration can take place and the ability to mimic full wave doctrine.
Remember that +/- attack times can turn a mini chain into a full chain, or a relay tapping assault province can drop one in at opportunity.

You should view the divisions as arms of the leviathan, not hardened spokes on a wheel.

Tool Box - War Spoil: don’t touch it & tell an adult

War spoils is one of the bad ooga-booga spells so many are afraid to use. Sure, maybe you shouldn’t toy with it, and sometimes examples from the pantheon of top players scare players of a lesser origin(was it worth losing a war to troll Godly?). Truth be told, I’ve used and, to my chagrin, had it successfully used against me by undead war heroes.

To point, the fear is an army coming home with no acres. I always augmented with multi-taps, so the army with no acres blended in.

Let’s talk about the tool and how to use it. Spearhead Division:

Dwarf: tactician
Elf: mystic
Faery: rogue
Gnome: cleric
Orc: warrior

Here we have a dwarf tac with 50% construction cost and war spoils.
We have a faery rogue with tree of gold.
We have a gnome cleric with support spells and renewable soldier production.
We have 2 assault divisions and 1 headquarters division to protect our interests.

The dwarf tac attacks using war spoils and casts love & peace.
The faery sends gold to the dwarf.
The dwarf builds at accelerated cost with builders boon.
The gnome send soldiers and casts support spells.
Let cool for 6 to 7 ticks and serve.

So the whole point of this is that war spoils, in the hands of a dwarf, can yield a marketable surge in kingdom production. Provided the kingdom practice some mild cow building etiquette and teamwork they can say they were part in building a pair of monoliths who’s shadow reached the horizon. Dwarves are hampered by their birth rate but gnomes are gifted. That sort of makes them brothers.

My advice is to treat War Spoils like a kingdom project. We have rituals to familiarize players with the team participation aspect. In this case, many hands make light work. Leadership can oversee it and recommend when to use it and how to solidify the defense around it.

In the broad picture, consider how much production down time there is in return and build time. Consider the difference a kingdom racial triad of dwarf tac core, faeries and gnomes could have. The reason we ponder the virtual kingdom is to clarify the mysteries of interplay. You take return time off a core of dwarf tacs and accelerate construction with BB with just 1 war spoil tap in 4. What are we looking at now?

Augment GS with mist.

We’re looking at buildings in full production before the enemies next wave.

dangit i forgot how support spells work these days :P

Quote:

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Originally Posted by RattleHead

dangit i forgot how support spells work these days :P

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Hey RattleHead!

Don’t fret. I almost had to eat my critique of human clerics because they were the only race with scientific insight. While faery might‘ve been able to cast SI as a cleric it would squander the faery stealth bonus. SI cast on elf mystics is more important than high rune consumption, so I was prepared to apologize to the community.

When Avenger finalized the age changes, SI was nixt off the list of support spells. I realize now that my critique was abrasive and I apologize for being narrow minded.

Overall, with dark elves and elves having great rune economies I think a kingdom build can stomach human rune consumption. Sometimes my ghetto independent mind gets in the way. In some kingdoms when I played cleric it was like pulling teeth to have runes sent so I could cast support. The silver lining is this type of deprivation forced me to always be vigilant about my tpa and my ability to grab runes when necessary.

To the onlooker I want them to know much of the virtual kingdom is based in personal experience. With the final changes the virtual kingdom would have 7 personalities represented 3 times and 1 personality represented 4. I chose 4 clerics, but not that easily.
Mystic and rogue are profoundly important, and tactician is a bit underrated. Some personalities are very race specific for optimum efficiency, like human raider.

Cleric sustain is important in an age where being fireballed by dark elves is a matter of their mana. Attackers won’t have anything to draft. I suppose wars will be shortened, which has some positive effect.

yes, at first i was thinking cleric can just cast any self-spell as support, and i figured 2 humans and 2 undead for FoK and GW blankets. oh, what a dream it was!

Assault1
Dark Elf Cleric
Human Heretic
Avian War Hero
Dwarf War Hero
Gnome Raider

Assault2
Dark Elf Cleric
Human Heretic
Avian War Hero
Dwarf War Hero
Gnome Raider

Spear1
Faery Rogue
Orc Warrior
Undead Tactician
Undead Tactician
Human Heretic

Spear2
Faery Rogue
Orc Warrior
Orc Warrior
Undead Tactician
Gnome Raider

HQ
Faery Rogue
Elf Mystic
Elf Mystic
Elf Mystic
Dark Elf Cleric


-I went with DE clerics across the board rather than putting DEs into an offensive casting role- this way they can focus on more military with their balanced elite.
-Stacking Avian speed, or Dwarf Mist+GS with War Hero +gains seemed like a no brainer for me
-Elf and Faery make it easy for me to put them in their 'natural' roles
-Humans science bonus seemed to make them the best fit for a hybrid setup, of my remaining races... Gnome would work but I prefer the Raider Econ books bonus, for leaning into their pop bonus
-After that the rest fall into place, I preferred Warrior on Orc simply because they have greater raw elite power than Undead... + CS seems like a bad joke with Orcs penalties

HQ

The HQ division of the age 89 version of the virtual kingdom is more concentrated than previous iterations. Sometimes things fall into poetic order, so it’s not me being the smartest guy in the room. When I set up the divisions I get the spearheads done first, assault next and wriggle things till HQ doesn’t lack oomph. I’m a little artsy so I attempt to get the divisions to appear balanced and look like a place a player would like to be.

So in Bob Ross fashion the happy accident was having all 3 heretics in the hands of Scandinavia. They’d probably prefer the mystics etc. but I think heretic fits their campaigning ways. The bonus is they get the elf for casting deterrent amnesia and fools gold, and faery to do whatever malarkey a plus 30% sabotage ability brings. For softer targets and sustained oppression they have the dark elf. Bonuses are the avian tac for rover duty and a human raider to carry out Ottoman Dynasty style retribution.

While the HQ division doesn’t have a cleric, every division HQ supports does. Additionally, HQ can break into segments to support 2, 3 or all 4 divisions at the same time. And the HQ can function as a division unto itself; say a hard assault division. Honestly I haven’t even researched what sloth does and haven’t begun to fathom the depths of what their teamwork can achieve. All I know is the heretic bonus and this divisions ability to reliably hit means lots of damage.

Edit for Reader: pay close attention to RattleHeads work ups; I’m as poor at game mechanics and math as you will encounter. My slop works, or worked for me, but I’m a general gamer with my years of experience based in achieving effects. RattleHead on the other hand is aware of the “why”.
The “why” is why I could never lead or computate a wave system mathematically. My play style makes me laugh because even under duress I’m adding war horses here, subtracting specialists there, pooping around with balancing taps. Slow as hell to because I hunt and peck. RattleHead knows stuff and I’m just a product of result.

The Orc Mystic

Playing off of my Edit for Reader notice above, I thought it important to relate where my head is. As one example, I ran a human cleric one age which was obscenely efficient; the build, not me. Anyways, I ran through a long war where the opponent tried to chain me on 3 or 4 occasions and I emerged like one of those pod machines in War of the Worlds each time. By wars end I was quite a bit bigger than my kingdom wanted. We were just a casual war kingdom. The problem is I can’t mentally put myself in a situation where I’m continuously holding back.

Instead of cutting acres, I decided the build was a trophy that I needed to shelve. I found a gem and that’s enough for me. I’ve had my glory, but it’d be too hard to control my competitive urges. So I looked through the race and personality charts and found the only two builds nobody chose was halfling warrior and orc mystic. Well, I’ve run a faery cleric and knew I’d run over people with a halfling warrior so I decided to run an orc mystic.

It’s funny because now I’ve got kingdom mates trying to talk me out of it like I’d be a liability, lol. Believe me; I don’t know my math but I know how to play. It was what I figured. An orc is an attacker is an attacker is an attacker. I don’t need a warrior crutch to beat people’s heads in. It’s a fine logistic and it belongs there. We’re talking about something else here. Can an orc be an effective spell caster? The answer is yeah,..sort of.

Everybody knows if your chained your going to make people pay, but I was still able to land the occasional LS on mystics at full size. And the chaining paradox is there. They have to massacre you, but you can crush someone in your range that has no acres coming. So even if the personality is marginal and the race is marginal, it’s an understanding of the melody of conflict that can result in reliable success. The confidence to run a build no one else will is half the battle. My way of learning is to embrace the challenge. I didn’t know, but I wasn’t afraid. I was motivated.

Why for me and not you? Because I’m 40 years in on gaming. It’s second nature. I’ll stop recommending guys to you like RattleHead when you’re there. ;)

great points, brother! my VKs are generally very 'inside the box'. :)

SLOTH

I looked it up and remember it now, but failed to make my “intuitive leap” roll.

Sloth seems like a marginal spell unless what?

Unless you cross swords with a top kingdom in homes pump. Maybe homes pump isn’t a thing for top kingdoms anymore, but it was nearly integral to whoring during my time. The logistics held that a top kingdom waved during homes pump could draft fast enough to win a war against sub top competition reliably.

Almost seems like a developer invite to take a bite out of the big apple. Sloth along with amnesia and fools gold sure could fold some knees. I recommend caution to you. I’d use it, if just to see the top kingdom counter strategy. No harm intended. My only goal is to learn, not divert a kingdom full of dedicated players from crown contention.

Um Dark Elves wont have an rune economy... if anything they are more negative runes (for self spells) or just end up stealing runes for it.

Now if the monarch decides they need to build towers, or just having a few to benefit from the Food/Rune sci then ok, but being they almost do not need towers makes it moot for them



If I were to do your battle array, ill prob have 4-5 Heretics in the HQ division, which the spearhead division (both of them) can likely benefit from.
And ill prob change the Undead HW to Undead Raiders (maybe flipping WH and Radiers tbh)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by RedPanda

Um Dark Elves wont have an rune economy... if anything they are more negative runes (for self spells) or just end up stealing runes for it.

Now if the monarch decides they need to build towers, or just having a few to benefit from the Food/Rune sci then ok, but being they almost do not need towers makes it moot for them



If I were to do your battle array, ill prob have 4-5 Heretics in the HQ division, which the spearhead division (both of them) can likely benefit from.
And ill prob change the Undead HW to Undead Raiders (maybe flipping WH and Radiers tbh)

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Raider is great for undead. In previous ages I made undead raiders. My reasons were along the lines of undead not having homes required a boost. I’m use to running a slipshod top homes pump. Unlike tops I basically let the homes dissolve through conflict and rebuild.

My reason for skipping them this time was that humans fit the role very well. The build is less rune sensitive than other human options, micro is strong and economically multifaceted.

I just noticed the devs reincorporated the undead prisoners to elites dynamic and this is a positive development, particular to raider. Undead also serve a superior roll plundering: I will consider your suggestion.

My choice of words concerning rune economy might be lacking, but I think we’re talking about the same thing. Theoretically, this kingdom shouldn’t run out of runes.

UPDATE: the RedPanda turbo boost is now incorporated in TVK. Kept one human raider in the HQ.

PS I’d like to add another point to praising RedPanda. I’m sure players have discovered; as I’m retired and sometimes the cool stuff takes time to sink in, that undead raider plunder bonus is bananas ergo.
Of the vulnerable races, undead will require a lot of aid. Being able to boost plunder gains allow undead to get deep in the black and makes accepting aid much easier for recovery.

Opinions Matter

They do. It’s a part of communicating and helps us understand other perspectives. And it’s not just a practice in defeating your ego; it might serve as a muse to solve a problem. You can apply nuance to a perspective and draw benefits with less liabilities.

While I’ve done virtual kingdom templates I get suggestions from players who have a passion for certain builds. I’m no mechanic and conclude anything can work, but I still have tendencies that may or may not be universally respected.

Dwarf rogue always seemed like putting a moon roof on a Toyota. In other words, I’m sure it’s the moon roof least likely to leak, but it’s not a feature I’d want. I’m kind of like, t-tops on a Trans Am were renown for leaking, but they look cool enough to live with the misery.
So it’s not a mechanical bias on my part, it’s my intuitive aesthetic sense of harmony.

I remember players requesting avian warrior, and I was like “oh, jeez,....ok.” But in game I took over a dwarf rogue and it was a pretty slick build by Maxin. I’m too much a guard station cleric berserker type to have concluded on Maxin’s brilliant honor whoring strat. I sure didn’t play his province as well as he did.
Now I never played avian warrior, but I did bump into a memorable one in a war several years ago. I was a dwarf cleric(imagine that) in Plaidovia
and I was attempting to break through the enemies top. I tried circumventing the warrior by attacking an avian tac who was apparently run by a less experienced player(dwarves are capable of acre gobble, building and out nw‘ing people). The warrior would have none of it and locked me out of the top the whole war. Fantastic use of the blended tools of avian and warrior.

Now it might seem I consider some player suggestions over others, but this isn’t how I do the virtual kingdom. For instance, RattleHeads virtual strat is a complete strat unto itself. So doctrine plays to the entire organism of a kingdom. Other provincial suggestions that jell with what I’m doing can be incorporated. The biggest doctrine I run in my virtual kingdom is the ability to engage larger enemies. I don’t build for arranged wars, which is a completely different order of life and emphasizes a different order of solutions. The kingdom I envision is one who goes to war based in vulturing meter play by larger opponents. I’m truly in my wheelhouse when countering monolithic colossi.

Zone

Zone is essentially max gains with wisdom. Individually I’ve used max gains in war to establish nw/acre buffer zones. Augmented by relay taps, I was able to stall chain attempts against my provinces in several wars.

To establish a zone, one has to be aware of their surroundings. The easiest way to explain this is how I established a relay tap zone in one war.

I received a number of hits from provinces above and below my nw. I used 2 generals on two different targets just below my nw range for traditional march. I used 2 generals to ambush two different targets just above my nw. The concept is to push the opponents below you out of nw max and to release the opponents above you out of nw max range while reducing their offense.

So what I was doing was collecting my acres from the opponents below me and in essence letting the opponents above my nw have those acres while reducing their offense. Since nw is still tied into acres, the larger opponents would range out and get fat where our t/ms could vulture. Many leaders misunderstand this symbiosis as these actions reduced big enemy offense, making them less a breakaway threat. Since my ambush armies were large for ambushes and returned home earlier than trad marches, I’d begin forming an offensive balance. At this point I’m doing 4 max gain relay trad marches against opponents below my nw and letting the larger opponents go since their range conflates poor gains. +/- to taste, or in my case, a level itinerary.

I always build. So when I have armies returning every 2.5 hours, not only does this reduce the amount of time I might lose troops to overpopulation but I’m building so I always have an influx of my zone strat vs raze. Once I’ve established a nw buffer the acres tend to self regulate, but I can run learn, massacre, raze or plunder on selected taps to bias my position. Thus, I prevent myself from getting fat while retaining an economy. Economy retention is important so the t/ms can more quickly establish unbreakability while I tend to the aid requirements of our chained.

Zone in the virtual kingdom is amplifying my behavior X5. You see, max gains can look exactly like a chain as each province pushes every opponent out of their max range. So let’s say my friend above my nw knocked the opponent into my max. Well damn it, that’s my enemies max range to, so I need to max that fella to get him out of mine. Wisdom enters the conversation when we need to help a kingdom mate move an enemy out of their max to curtail enemy chain/ops efficiency.

Max gains is all encompassing. Use your perception when doing max.

ASSAULT - Asian Division

Avian: war hero
Dark Elf: cleric
Dwarf: rogue
Human: war hero
Undead: raider

In this division we have quietly built a honor gains retention dam. If you perceive war hero honor retention to cleric troop retention and know the improvements to sabotage then smile because we understand each other. This is that reverse Plinko I’ve referred. The nice part is that the leakiest portion of this division causes plague.

I related my use of relay taps only to convey what a hyperactive is capable of. Most players simply won’t have the time to fully realize utopian capability. If you are a hyperactive then I urge you do so and that your leadership understands the strength of activity. We should never restrict the strengths individuals bring to the game. That’s why I spend some time in each virtual kingdom article to explain the use of rovers and campers and what race/personalities fit those strengths best.

Best Camper ~ dark elf: cleric

Reflect Magic is a camper staple. Fairly even offense/defense balanced elite is a camper stable. The ability to absorb hits at home is a camper staple. Cleric spells reinforce effective but shallow defenses.

Best Rover ~ avian: tactician

Avian tac is the apex hunter-killer. If you need help now the avian tac will be the emergency responder. They have low loss thief effect from accurate espionage and their speed allows them to use every type of march much more regularly than any other build. They are the faery of army versatility.

Not Warring, Not Whoring

~ “Gain-twist” refers to a form of barrel rifling where the twist rate gets tighter over the length of the barrel. For example, a gain twist barrel might start with 1:12″ twist and finish with 1:8″ twist. ~

Being familiar with musical instruments and firearms, it occurred to me I hadn’t paid attention to many developments after the polymer craze in handguns and rifle stocks. I was familiar with matching bullet mass to rifling twist and the compromises. In musical instruments, particularly guitars, there was the concept of compound radius. I was happy to find that progress indeed had taken place. I began my search for compound rifling twist rates and bumped into the “gain twist” solution.

To say these things are improvements is a bit non sequitur. The improvement is in the option or the opportunity. This is my position on kingdom strats. I’m familiar with proper war and whoring strats. I’m not the mathematician to demonstrate it, but I know the essential elements. To say I know is not to say expert. I’m always impressed with Persian of Divinity and his depths of defensive literacy. Clearly, an intelligent leader with experience and integrity will no doubt understand complexities not apparent to a journeyman like myself.

What I do know is ghettos and the prevailing mentality. I think if you look at the virtual kingdom racial and personality strat, and look at the way it’s intended to attack, an outsider might only see a ghetto. What you won’t see as an outsider is the truncated divisional wave system, optimized through racial and personality matching, emphasizing micro.

I’ve been in both proper war and whoring kingdoms, mainly to see how they work. I can’t stay in either, partly because I’m miserably slow in war, and because I don’t like hitting down or remaining in formation. That said, I’ve always enjoyed success despite my slowness. It’s a characteristic I always liked about Marvin Hagler: he was generally slower than most of his top opponents, but he prevailed 90%. There are a lot of boxers who are only dangerous when they’re faster. Very, very few are dominant and slower. That was an influence for me to get my attacks right and to make impacts no matter where I played.

And like this virtual kingdoms intended doctrine, I would fight any kingdom, any province of any size at any time. Not with anger, but with curiosity and a willingness to learn rather than cower. A lot of anger emanates from fear. We might feel a rush, but let’s not make it negative. What I’ve learned in warring, whoring and kingdom hopping is how to engage about any enemy and get traction. Gain twist polygon rifling is to the compound radius stainless steel fretted guitar neck is to what the virtual kingdom is in utopia. It’s a hybrid if your good and a ghetto if you’re bad :)

Assassinate Wizards & Massacre

A control lever in war I seldom see used until one side is clearly winning. Assassinate wizards is imperative vs hard to break enemies; we all know that. Oftentimes our rogues fall a bit silent when that unbreakability includes their stealth resistance. Thus, lack of communication is a greater threat than a province achieving unbreakability.

How do you combat unbreakability? I remind you that while we respect our enemies we are warring for the win. In this case the enemy core is a vast reservoir of zero sum resources as we are to them. When we can’t afford to spare taps to massacre enemies we should look to our rogues to assassinate wizards.

This kingdom like many will have an untapped potential based in mana and stealth. We find naive leaders command common provinces to fireball an enemy whilst squandering runes and blowing up their own wizards, compromising their precious defenses. Get those rogues working so the ratios are palatable. If you can’t break the enemy top then break the enemy bottom so they more readily yield resources.
This is particularly in the interest of faery rogues who boast the most prolific spell list yet don’t have the scientific backing to get them into play. I’m sure the intent of the build is to work against enemy tops, but enemy core control is reachable in the first day of war. What I haven’t said yet is the ability or inability of our rogues to break hardened enemies should be known before declare. If your not sure, do what is sure: dominate the enemy core in every facet of the game and turn them into a hapless fuel tank to combat the enemy top.

When I refer to divisions you’ll note I refer to objectives. Reaching objectives is critical in knowing where one stands in war. Getting close or having delays requires an evaluation of where and how we are losing the war. Brushing things off as longer than expected means you’re focus is off and reinforcing the need is being ignored. We can never fulfill all objectives, but we need to complete the qualitative objectives to realize victory.

Max gains doesn’t just encompass the mathematical quantity but the qualitative reliability of achievements.

There are Sun Tzu practitioners in utopia, but many are readers and not existentialists. This is best seen through my eyes as a practitioner of retal. I stopped randoming many ages ago and began to run my provinces on a chivalry basis. That is that I never attack first of my own volition. - Therefor, every enemy I’ve faced at random for several ages got to chose my province as a target based in their acquired knowledge of smart randoming. I would marvel at their utter efficiency. Most were higher in every category of offense, defense, tpa and sometimes even wpa.

Sun Tzu says you don’t attack your enemy in his strength. This like many sayings requires a bit of insight. You see, I never read Sun Tzu but I know you have. I’ve seen his popular quotes like commercials for “success”. I do attack strength because I realize what Sun Tzu really means. Despite the plethora of frontal logistics I faced I knew the ability to replenish those logistics was an iffy proposition. I would retaliate enemies that could counter 2-3 times more because I knew I could gas them. How could they resist making me pay for my foolishness and let the hostility meter stand in their way? Some could, but then I had the fuel tank. They would have to sit leaking gold and BE while I patiently cast explosions and greed.

Enemies saw my fat and relative inefficiency as weakness and cluelessness. And when I countered they really thought I was stupid. The thing is I’ve been in random exchanges with up to 5 kingdoms a day, gone straight into war and never had a hiccup. I’ve also been the recipient of enemy monarch messages asking me to stop. And I do stop because it was never about anger. It was the challenge of absorbing the hits from a clearly superior enemy and being victorious despite my compromising position.

If you’re wondering why I turned from Assassinate Wizards & Massacre to Sun Tzu it’s because the scenarios play into the same concepts of perceived invincibility. If you read Sun Tzu but never sensed the leap of existential logic then you will concede victory to enemies you can defeat. I never read Sun Tzu because I read his fundamentalist in enumerable random encounters.

Two I Didn’t But Wanted To

One of the finest sub-core race/personality combinations I couldn’t fit in the virtual kingdom was the Dark Elf Tactician. Most of you will recall when orcs had reflect magic and took the role of tactician, enemy t/ms were alert to the ever present threat of squandering stealth or eating their own meteors. The beauty of the Dark Elf iteration is the economy of rune consumption and the ability to turtle make this a puzzling build to wreck without leaving lots of enemies uncovered. The turtling makes it difficult to land the number of taps necessary to achieve efficient chaining. Add to this the speed factor and we have a very sturdy all purpose attacker. Mages fury makes them viable fireball casters and they retain wizards racially and thieves through personality.

(A lot of players get locked into the logistic of specs without due consideration for vulnerabilities. When a race presents you with a balanced elite you should begin to appreciate resistances vs gains. Besides which, through happenstance of war you will become more efficient by reinforcing with specs. In essence, you become stronger in the correct way as the enemies resources become more scarce.)

Another build I couldn’t fit is far more common, and that’s Faery Mystic. If you’ve run faery and you cherish defense then you’re aware of the mana and rune consumption. Mystic addresses this and makes the faery shine in a way that no other race can. The population limits are a drawback, but I’ve shared kingdoms with many successful faery mystics in ages when the build was nerfed.