Does any kingdom fit this bill?

I was reading in Utopia Talk and found the following post by Madchess from 2018. I thought it made a good point about obsessive planning - while it's true that I wanted to be in an experienced kingdom that takes things seriously, at the same time I want to take my real life seriously, not have all my province plans mandated, and am OK with being second-best. See quote as follows (from the thread "which is the best warring kd").

Quote:

---

As long as we don't go into the Vasp argument (no one beat me in a war I lead so I'm best) I'm fine with the discussion.

To add to the discussion, have you ever wondered why so many decent warring kingdoms has retired, maybe it is not a sign of them beeing best if they burn out their own leadership and core players all the time, maybe the real champions are the kingdoms that perform well despite not forcing a race/personality choice and request people to set alarms, there is only so many people willing to do that at any one time.

Not saying kingdoms run less strictly can beat a kingdom that is fully setup with all race/personality choices made by leadership where everyone gets texted in the middle of the night to send out or cast spells, but I know what type of kingdom I'd prefer to stick arround in for a long time and which of these I would not want to be a part of. I find it more motivating that I am the one making the call on when to set my own alarm in the middle of the night and when I simply can't do that, and still I'll aim for top uniques in war no mater what kingdom I'm a part of.

---

Any kingdoms around that are like this but still want to war anyways?



As for my experience: I played from roughly ages 12-22, then again from ages 50-60. Played as Monarch every one of those ages except perhaps one - I did lots of kingdom-building. No, I don't plan to take anyone's Monarch seat - I want to play an age where I try to tone down my intensity a bit. :)

Hi all - I've presently found a home; but besides that I think the quote above is worth some discussion. Does anyone have anything to say about it?

I always have something to add.

A less organized kingdom with solid players can defeat some pretty good organized kingdoms. The reason is simply that most organized kingdoms are under central command.

I’ve been in kingdom with Madchess and I could micro(micro tactics are a thing) with him and flank a wave before it launched. If you have a clear understanding of nw and how to zone off max gain chaining, you can hold a lot of core provinces at bay.

One of the ways I learned to enjoy playing Utopia was to challenge myself. In age 58-59 I began experimenting by only retaliating; I stopped randoming and tried to excel at growing stronger through retal. This meant my opponents always got to choose me as their ideal target, weighing the worth of hitting me. They relied on logistical evidence that I was no match. Now we begin to play.

The next way I learned to have fun was to include the stipulation that those who random me must be worthy adversaries. I would only retaliate down if it was a coordinated attack, proxy or multi. I’ve been a random target for up to 7 different opponents in a day and gone to war without blinking absorbing hits from 5. I preferred to retal the most powerful kingdom first because they’d have the resources to bolster their champion or gang up on me.

This foolishness results in learning. I learned how good they were and adapted. ~ The more you adapt the more you prevail. The more you prevail the more experienced and talented players random you until you reach a zenith of feel and mechanical subtlety.

I always looked like a fat province with boring offense. I required a loosely organized kingdom to enjoy the game, not an overlord wanting me to make safe hits against hapless novices. I learned I could play anything and do fine, and I preferred to choose less efficient race/persona because I ran out of elbow room when I played on all cylinders.

I don’t play because the fire is unquenchable. I need to fight “up” and if I top out I lose desire. I spent short stints in the top to see their style and mechanics, and I respect what they do. Like you, and maybe for different reasons, I didn’t want organization.

These ages with so many kingdoms requiring bot and com system utilization, I have nowhere to go. I played my last few ages in utter isolation from my kingdom because I didn’t use bots or app based com systems. I love the game primitive even though it takes a lot more stealth. Even so, I was taught early on how to estimate defense based on nwpa, racial and personality tendencies so I could attack without taking intel.

The world is very different now :)