WAR ARTICLE: Hitchhikers guide to victory

Another of our start of the age wars ended up with Hitchhikers coming out on top of Silver Screen Tomatoes.

START: February 4 of YR0 - War declared by 1:11
END: April 4 of YR0 - 1:11 withdrew from war

Monarch of Hitchhikers Guide:

Our OOP plan is always to find some modest gains where we can without stirring anything up, and then wait to see if anyone will pay us a visit. Unlike most top KDs, we do not hide who or where we are at the beginning of an age, so it is very easy for a kingdom to stalk us if they want to. Last age it was Merciless that came calling for us early (after we beat them up a bit at the end of age 84), and they handed us a solid drubbing through better preparation and builds. We didn't have to wait long this age. We were waved by 7:11 four minutes OOP, and it was clear at the outset that we weren't prepared to push back. We offered a 96 hour CF and then took a look around the island to see where we could get some badly needed gains for our trimmed provinces. We threw some lazy hits at Tomatoes 1:11 and gave them button. They were 22 to our 25, so we didn't think anything of it. They hit the button.

Their monarch explained to me in a mail that their leadership had agreed before the age started to declare on anyone who waved them OOP, no matter who it was. The fact that they followed through on that promise to themselves tells me that they have a bright future ahead of them. They came in up land and with twice our peons (thanks to the 7:11 wave) but with less nw, less tpa/wpa/sci, and only the smallest of unit leads. Down three provinces in an OOP war, that's simply not a war you can win, and if you're them it's a war that I think you only take for experience, a sense of pride, and to test yourself. Kudos to the monarch of 1:11 for being willing to put it all out there. His KD fought hard and never slackened. They have plenty to learn, but they have the right attitude. I think they will do well this age, especially if they can tighten up their mechanics and learn to utilize their stealth and mana more efficiently.

Monarch of Silver Screen Tomatoes:

So a little back round. I’m new monarch and half the KD is new so it was planned with others to war first KD that waved us OOP. Wanted to find out our activity early. We knew it would most likely be a kingdom that was bigger than us. 25 provs (8:11) 22 provs (1:11) No pre-arranged war, 8:11 waved us on Feb 1-2 yr 0. We hit back enough to get the declare button. We declared on Feb 4th. No history that I know of between us, they are a KD that’s been around for about 4 ages according to the Queen. What went well is, I found our activity to be better than I expected. We may have lost but it’s a win in my book. What didn’t go according to plan. This list is longer. First off 8:11 were being waved themselves from 7:11, so we lost out on a lot of gains right off the bat. They also sent a ruby dragon at us. And their ops were overwhelming. We were straight up out matched; we didn’t expect a win but we weren’t expect this much response. Being a new monarch, I was just expecting no dragons and just a straight up slug fest with minor thief and mage ops. We surrendered at minimum time (Apr 4 yr 0) because we were taking a beating 116 attacks from us and 180+ from 8:11.

War Summaries:

Total attacks made: 174 (5,355 acres)
-- Traditional march: 149 (5,154 acres)
-- Ambush: 3 (64 acres)
-- Conquest: 7 (137 acres)
-- Raze: 13 (0 acres)
-- Plunder: 2
-- Uniques: 99
Total attacks suffered: 116 (3,569 acres)
-- Traditional march: 100 (3,499 acres)
-- Ambush: 4 (70 acres)
-- Failed: 12 (10.3% failure)
-- Uniques: 55

** The kingdom of 8:11 **
Total land exchanged: +1,786 (174/116)
+138 Just tank the drake (4/1)
+124 Double check bots math (6/0)
+123 I Need Food (3/0)
+117 KeepBarrensForFood (4/0)
+116 Chain Monarch to Win (6/4)
+108 Nudies4cf (5/3)
+92 Dont train 1 tick before Arms (4/0)
+84 Dont give coss ur uto login (4/1)
+79 Vacation Mode Is Your Friend (7/3)
+78 Ambush Tactician (13/6)
+78 so long and thanks for all the (5/2)
+71 Spells (7/2)
+71 Davod Ceeblebrox (5/2)
+71 Do Not Use fuuu In Your Name (7/6)
+71 Post SOMs in Forum (3/2)
+63 Wages not Needed (6/3)
+62 Explore to 1000 Acres (4/2)
+60 Bounce Raze FTW (7/5)
+52 Cym guide (4/1)
+47 Check Orders (7/3)
+42 Install Angel (18/18)
+36 DONT PANIC (11/9)
+29 Its Organic (17/22)
+11 Play multiple provinces (7/4)
-37 Brain The Size Of A Planet (10/17)


** The kingdom of 1:11 **
Total land exchanged: -1,786 (116/174)
+24 Durkadurkastans Team Tomatoes (4/5)
+18 Naked Tomatoes (11/5)
+17 Tomato party (9/11)
+4 The great tomato (5/6)
-9 The Ten Tomatos (3/4)
-24 Tomato Walk with Me (7/10)
-41 Tomato smashingFightClub (6/7)
-48 venom tomatoes (5/5)
-62 No Country For Old Tomatoes (12/13)
-64 Tomato Cheerees (10/12)
-82 One Hundred and One Tomatoes (6/11)
-82 The Shining Timberline Tomato (0/5)
-104 Hung Hing (9/19)
-113 Blazing Tomatoes (0/2)
-122 Hanover Killer Tomato (0/4)
-123 Good Parkapenguin Tomatofellas (3/6)
-125 Tomato Reloaded (5/9)
-129 Lost in Tomato (3/8)
-133 charlies Tomatoes (0/3)
-140 Debbie Does Tomatoes (7/9)
-165 Lethal Tomato (10/13)
-283 Gamonon (1/7)