The general's compendium - we make strats for you.

[VT2]

Seeing as I'm a genius, as well as a living legend, it's not fair to the rest of you if I withhold my knowledge from you for much longer.

Following the footsteps of such great and superior fighters as vines the immortal, I'm dedicating this thread to all those among you who find this game a bit too complex for your own good.

Anything you may have a problem with, that's even vaguely related to strategy, I shall assist you with.

Also, I take requests for ultimate strategies.
All you need to do is post what you want to play, and me, my loyal henchman Ezzerland, or the great Realest, will get back to you with an answer as soon as we're able.

[_greenie]

can you make a strat that makes you all stop being idiots?

[VT2]

Why, of course I can.
I'm not a genius for nothing, you know.

Okay, here's the ultimate strategy to make everyone around here act their age, and engage with each other in a realistically harmonious fashion, which does indeed require that we - due to all of us, with the sole exception that is vines, being humans - pick on each other a lot, group up to crush things we don't like or agree with, and generally have a jolly good time.

Okay. Are you ready? This one might just make you cream yourself.

Implement a less constrictive, repressive, and stupid policy regarding our behavior, boot out all the failmods, and replace them with ones that actually know how to follow the rules they themselves set, while also actually showing signs of listening to the feedback that is so repeatedly asked of us.

That's the first one done.
I hope you have massively great success with it, for it truly is the ultimate.

[Jube]

Ok ive got one for you...
This is a strategy question Deana asked me:

"How many pancakes can you fit in a canoe?"

[Toadi]

"A good bunch"

[VT2]

That's an excellent question, but the answer - as always, when strategy is involved - is extremely simple.

One can fit as many pancakes inside a canoe as vines can flood his province with homes.

However, the maximum amount of pancakes increases with the size of the canoe.
While a small canoe can only accept so many, a more generously sized canoe has a much larger capacity - think of it as vines running first a 200 acre province, then a 2000 acre province. The pancakes are still a bit like homes.

The upper limit for pancakes you're able to fit inside a canoe is also directly proportional to how many people are currently in the canoe.
By far the best answer I can give is 'as many as your heart desires, assuming unlimited capacity, and that the pancakes are very small ones.'

That's the second done. Who'll be the third?

[nfidel2k]

I almost feel like flaming just so I can be banned from all of this.

[ddine]

What is the best race and build for A/M?

[VT2]

It really depends on if you want an equal focus on A and M, or if you want to rate one higher than the other.

Since you used caps for both, I'm going to suggest elf/mystic, and dwarf/mystic.
Elf has more mana, a bonus to WPA, a bigger spellbook, and built-in reduction in losses. The elite, which is your primary source of offense, is largely affordable now that elf has tree of gold.
Dwarf's got better buildings, much, much better self-spells, isn't missing anything useful when it comes to offensive magic, and builds stuff for free. Its elite is also a bit better offensively, but costs a lot more money, and adds more networth.

If it's your first time trying a magic-based hybrid, I recommend dwarf/mystic.
You simply can't go wrong with the combo - while elf/mystic takes a lot of care, love, attention, and acual understandig of the game to turn out good.

Your build shouldn't be a fixed thing, and needs to be allowed to change as wars and plans take unexpected turns.
The key buildings for you are guilds, towers, barracks, training grounds, and homes.
Everything else needs to be formed around the core five, or you won't be very effective at your job.

Next.

[Cheech]

and homes

Not hospitals? Did you read too many vines strategies?

[The Economist]

Elves my dear, elves. They have self healing. Doctors are quite redundant.
Although yeah i guess ickle dwarvies need the docties.

[VT2]

And hospitals aren't the core of any strategy, for any reason.
If they are, you're doing it wrong.

They go around the core, which, in the case of A/M, is towers, guilds, barracks, training grounds, and homes.
You'd be surprised how useful a chunk of homes can be when you're expected to carry around 4+ raw WPA, 2+ raw TPA, a badass offense, and enough defense to not be open to doubles while you have your army out.

[LameBeaver]

what's the best way to obtain a lot of honor points and keep it?

[VT2]

Those two conflict with each other.
The best way to get honor is through attacking, but doing so will leave you open for counter-attacks. The best way to hoard honor is through repeated and constant use of riots, greed, storms, and explosions, but it's a slow process, and why so many ghetto T/M's cry for surrender when they're finally broken.

With the current races and personalities, your best bet to actually get tons of honor, that will remain relatively safe, is by running an elf/rogue as a straight T/M.
Wait for your kingdom to drop into war, and only do the common spells and ops for the first 24 hours. Once they're up, you switch to propaganda, meteors, and landlust - all if the opposition is open to it. If you're seeing a below 50% success-rate, chances are you'll get more honor from your runes, stealth, and mana if you use greed, storms, riots, and explosions instead.
Of course, you won't be making many friends on your own team this way, but you should know that already.

Next.

[oldbie]

"Elf has more mana, a bonus to WPA"

wrong. RTG.