Feelings ~ TVK 68

Greetings and welcome to The Virtual Kingdom, Age 68: Feelings.

To start, this is the first age I've decided on establishing the kingdom name "Feelings". It has an inappropriate ring to it. Since no one cares about hostile tags etc, I thought it'd be fun to have access to tags like

Feelings Hurt

Nothing More Than Feelings

Design Concept:

For those not familiar, The Virtual Kingdom is a template that includes strategic province alignment, pageantry, and cultural grounding.

1- The foundation of The Virtual kingdom is based in a 3 kingdom merge where each kingdom brings 8 of their best players. These players are organized in their own division. - The remaining players of the 3 kingdoms are merged into 2 escort kingdoms.

2- Each division in The Virtual Kingdom must include 1 of each race and 1 of each personality.

3- The monarch must be a combination of race/personality not already represented in the aforementioned collective provinces.

Strategic province alignment is a puzzle for each division to solve. They know their players best and what roles suit them best. They can compare notes with the other 2 divisions for sobering guidance.

Pageantry is in the equal share each race and personality represents. This kingdom is a celebration of the game and it's balance. Even if there are mechanical imbalances, The Virtual Kingdom holds true. This is its institutional culture.

Cultural grounding is the essence of the merge. Each kingdom bringing it's best players to the whole but retaining team synergy in each division. Perhaps later I'll add a tldr perspective on enduring culture and its value.

Thank you for your time. Any suggestions and comments are welcome.

~ The Virtual Kingdom of Age 68: Feelings ~


Liquor division 1

Avian tactician ~ Sky Pilot
Dwarf war hero ~ Emotional Rescue
Elf sage ~ Self Control
Faery mystic ~ In the Rain
Halfling rogue ~ Take Me to Heart
Human heretic ~ Kentucky Rain
Orc cleric ~ The Boxer
Undead warrior ~ Ashes to Ashes

Pills division 2

Avian cleric ~ Deacon Blues
Dwarf heretic ~ Wildfire
Elf rogue ~ Heaven and Hell
Faery sage ~ I Go Crazy
Halfling mystic ~ Black Magic Woman
Human tactician ~ Luckenbach Texas
Orc warrior ~ Ebony Eyes
Undead war hero ~ Sunset Superman

Smokes division 3

Avian warrior ~ Into the Night
Dwarf war hero ~ I'm Your Captain*
Elf mystic ~ Voyage to Atlantis
Faery rogue ~ Screaming in the Night*
Halfling sage ~ Float On
Human heretic ~ Albatross*
Orc cleric ~ Don't Dream it's Over
Undead tactician ~ Please Don't Go

Monarch

Faery heretic ~ Stargazer*

I thought about adding the bands as leader names. To get the feeling right:

Self Control - Laura Branigan
In the Rain - The Dramatics
Ebony Eyes - Rick James
Albatross - Public Image Ltd.
Stargazer - Rainbow

You really shouldn't have any dwarfs or humans, if you look at the stats for the number of peeps playing them it's basically as if they are non existent, just like dark elfs.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by neanderthal

You really shouldn't have any dwarfs or humans, if you look at the stats for the number of peeps playing them it's basically as if they are non existent, just like dark elfs.

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Thank you for the comments.

The inclusion of all races is integral to the kingdom design. I contend that the community knows it's numbers but not it's functions. Dwarf is now the fastest builder in the game, has CS and mystic aura, and a full balanced elite and still builds for free. Dwarf had always been fairly raze resistant but it has amplified this ability to a much higher level in 68. Now it is a bonofide strength. They can build before any wave other than human tactician or avian in war. You'll note I bracketed dwarves at war hero to use war spoils: one of the mythical no-nos. But I've used WS and I learned to use them strategically. When I was solo in a kingdom shell in 63 I was a human war hero. You see, it had to work because there was no one else for my enemies to target in my kingdom till late in the age.

While many fly the banner of elite nw, I'm not chained to the concept because I don't prescribe to war tier ideals. I prescribe to growth tier because the inclusion of land and contending for acres means the fights happen by force of gravity. The philosophy being to stop me if you can. This doesn't mean I think it's better, it simply makes sense since The Virtual Kingdom is not designed as any particular type of kingdom. It's dictates are the culture of inclusion. We have a pool so we use it.

It's harder to make an argument for humans but I'd play one without reservation. I've played the most rediculous builds, like faery cleric last age with just a few weeks left. There's no way to muster the science that build would need but we went to war and I fought. I suicided, ate massacres, cast spells, stole people's stuff and eventually landed 100 acres short of where I was headed. Not bad facing undead that can 4 tap back, and did.

In The Virtual Kingdom we regard the human in his state as an aggressive hybrid. It's not quite what it use to be but it's got a great combination to compliment heretic. The elite can break decent defenses, the heretic bonuses make humans a constant picket line vs the marginally fat. The high theft and wizard retention serve when losing guilds means losing wizards to self spells. No one can deny the value of theif retention. It's the main ingredient in preserving a land fat attacker, in which I have vast experience.

It occurs to me we could offer a more meta friendly build pattern here. This will be based in linear strength with some of the offset t/m in The Virtual Kingdom above. While we could get full strength from a given t/m we might suffer a repeatable weakness.

Avian cleric
Avian cleric
Avian cleric

Dwarf war hero
Dwarf war hero
Dwarf war hero

Elf heretic
Elf mystic
Elf mystic

Faery mystic
Faery rogue
Faery sage

Halfling heretic
Halfling rogue
Halfling rogue

Human heretic
Human sage
Human sage

Orc warrior
Orc warrior
Orc warrior

Undead tactician
Undead tactician
Undead tactician

Faery heretic

The point here is to incorporate some top kingdom ideals and streamline the attacking core purpose. The avian cleric - undead tac tandem are set to do the bulk of the fighting vs enemy undead core. In this instance the t/m support would be much heavier. The orc warrior, human sages and dwarf war heroes would be assigned to wrecking t/ms.

Against enemy cores that are orc heavy, the bulk of all attacking would be concentrated with appropriate target assignments against said core. The finishing and zone domination left to the avian and undead.

The humans move to sage and exercise a decided economic edge. This along with dwarf war hero bonus and faery.

Heretic was moved from a bandaid strat to fuel higher ops concentration with t/m races. Heretic was retained at 4 provinces in the interest of firepower.

~ Uniform Division Strategy ~

1 faery heretic
3 avian cleric
3 dwarf war hero
3 elf heretic
3 faery mystic
3 halfling rogue
3 human sage
3 orc warrior
3 undead tactician

Faery heretic: representative of monarch. The faery heretic is both a nod of pageantry to ring in the new personality; thanks to the developers; and to bolster divisions where volume of damage is desired. This isn't a land efficient design and the monarch designation signifies it's reliance on kingdom support to reach its apex. Once realized, this design should be ferociously effective in its role.

Avian cleric: beyond sustain, the reason avian was chosen for cleric is tactical scope. With undead in the mix it helps to have core capability immune to plague. Avian can work equally well with attackers not immune to plague. This build is integral to finishing chains and clearing nw zones cooperatively with undead tactician.

Dwarf war hero: running a dwarf cleric myself I can attest to relative ops/sabotage resistance. Not all builds can take advantage of their accompanying spells, but dwarf is especially equipped to make the most of war spoils. Conversely, I've found the build capable of landing ops/sabotage vs core. War hero is economically superior to cleric in all areas other than combat, but makes up a little with elite conversions. Honor effect is pure cream.

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* A Word About t/m Distribution - distribution here is based in effectiveness of the personality and uniform land efficiency across all races. While halfling may seem to expose vulnerabilities, the aim is to force enemies to pick their poison. *

Elf heretic: though this may appear to simply get elf back to where it was an age ago, a closer look reveals excellent sustain. The Achilles heal was always sensitivity to rogues and that still exists to some extent. In this case there is practical durability across all fields. No longer is the elf in peril doing followup sabotage, and there are bonuses. Elf gains land efficiency via towers. This build is also intended to offer relief to tactician intel gathering.

Faery mystic: because it's the choice of top kingdoms. While rogue would fit just as well, it's hard to set other races at mystic and expect the build to survive all war vs concerted enemy effort. We all know the benefits. Faery gains land efficiency via mystic guild bonus.

Halfling rogue: the deepest capability with synergy in sustain, halfling has been a staple at rogue. We all know the benefits and susceptibilities. Halfling gains land efficiency via thieves dens.

*

Human sage: I've resisted this choice because I hold personality spells in high regard. Despite this concern I've shared time in kingdom with a well run human sage and can attest to the viability. Besides the poor spell capability, human sage excels in its field.

Orc warrior: I looked at the alternatives but warrior landed on orc particulary for it's intended target. The intention here is to engage near unbreakables with follow up work by human sage and dwarf war hero. Thus considered impractical to begin with undead risking unnecessary plague spread. The deeper kill ratios make followup attacks by human and dwarf attackers more reliable.

Undead tactician: along with avian cleric, undead tactician offers the speed and durability to operate in the trenches with a decided edge. Undead tactician offers power to avian speed. This is another proven build with well known benefits and drawbacks. Undead tactician are the kingdoms primary intel tank.

Project still doing good?

Any new developments/insight?

Hello feast.

As for in game endeavors, I'm not seeing the type of players that embrace the ideals of team oriented gaming. This isn't necessarily a disappointment, just what we have left.

I've been contemplating subdivisions based in their specific operations. For example:

Elf heretic
Halfer rogue
Undead tac

For tearing down enemy core quickly and safely. Generally the heretics will be like ground support. So the squadron may change but the elf heretic maintains theatrical control.

I haven't looked too specifically, but scheming triads, or eight subdivisions of 3. I'm paying closer attention to the type and consistency of activity I see in each kingdom I occupy.

The halfers seem to be the most critical hing-pin. While they can quickly wreak havoc on enemy core provinces, the strategy can backfire by not providing the counter coverage necessary to secure our own kingdom mystics. The ideal would be highly developed faery heretics taking the role of ground support, but that is a logistical fantasy. elves provide the quick and necessary capability and the durability to work close quarter with like nw attackers.

For high side control the triad is:

Faery mystic
Halfer rogue
Orc warrior

With 3 divisions engaging 3 enemy t/ms.

For overall logistic support I've contemplated:

Avian cleric
Dwarf war hero
Human sage

The avian can serve many roles in camping, supporting undead and replacing the loss of attackers to chains otherwise. I've noticed avian clerics react well to logistical support and can absorb a lot of t/m focus and recover. This essentially leaves:

Elf heretic
Undead tac

^ With overall command by the lone faery heretic, and elements of the avian cleric core to control a similar number of enemy attacker core simultaneously. While reducing offense is hypothetical we can force enemy cores to reduce wages on a broad scale.
Depending on the type of core one faces, we want undead tac to operate on a wide scale spreading plague as far as possible.

Nightmare runs will be in priority of getting a safe tap for dwarf war heroes to cast war spoils, and/or humans, if the NM run was insufficient for a dwarf single tap. The enemy province is then engaged by the undead tac, followed by avian. If plague hasn't been spread then orcs can participate in the chaining with their warrior reach.

Depending on organizational prowess and offensive depth, the enemy province is then cross chained. All the while with attention payed to enemy relative nw/max range. We don't want our slower attackers being in nw max vs enemy hunter/killer types.