Chain survival

[Ethan]

So, looks like my kingdom got into slightly hotter water than we realized. And I, with one of the biggest offenses, just got cut in half within 3 hours. Don't know how long they will keep it up, but they've got a spread so I'm still in danger.
Basic info: (Sorry bout formatting, at work so no formatters installed)

Me - Human sage, formerly 1450 acres, 277k NW, now 780 acres, 201k. Plagued, with ruby on us, and into housing riots.
Kinkdoms - Us 3.7 mill, them 4.0 mill.

Our Population
Peasants 10065
Army 17193
Thieves 3983
Wizards 1685
Total 32926
Max Pop 26379

Offensive Military Effectiveness 131.7%
Defensive Military Effectiveness 111.9%
Net Offensive Points at Home 5,174
Net Defensive Points at Home 46,737
Army Availability
Standing Army Army #1
(8.24 days left)
Generals 1 4
Soldiers 0 0
Swordsmen 0 0
Archers 6,717 -
Knights 491 9,301
War Horses 0 2
Captured Land - 279

So, my strat question... what, personally, can I do here? I've got 8 hours till my land comes in and everything becomes kinda ok... how to I limit the damage till then? And once I do have land in... how to I get back in the main war? I assume I ambush everyone I can - get lots and lots of land back that way for the offense spent, but what else?

Also, what are the thresholds where attacks, thieves, and magic turn off? I didn't see those numbers in the guild, though I know I've seen the info somewhere before about exactly how desertions work... anyone know where that stuff is?

[octobrev]

115% of max pop will keep your military from dying. max landlust, release def/thieves, keep offense out. max gain whether it be trads or bush (probs 4x trads)

[Darkz Azn]

run some homes if you have to...

[Bishop]

by the time teh homes come in they will already have deserted. What octo said is good advice

[Mamman]

Insult the other kingdoms mages telling them they can't even FB a human. If you're lucky they'll take the bait and remove some of your peasants asap.

[Landro]

Mamman, that only works in the ghettos and provided the DEs don't have standing orders to save their mana for NM waves

You made me laugh though :)

[Ethan]

So, army out like crazy worked fairly well - ended at 575 from first wave, got 275 acres in from first hit... made one trad at about 140 and two ambushes at 60 and 70. Got quadded back down to 500 cause I only had around 30-35k def at that point, kinda thin even for my new size. Then kingdom surrendered (at about 30 hours in). So it worked out ok for me as I rebound back into the 800 range and still have 9k elites for over 100 mod opa. Don't think I'm going to be messed with oow lol.

Mamman - inventive but unlikely to matter. If I'd thought of it I'd have done it as a matter of honor. But you raise a serious point - how else could I have gotten rid of peasants? Specs against the dragon (I didn't, but could have)... and I even released 500 thieves at one point (over 15 mod, 5 raw). The pes are the easiest to replace anyway for an A/T, and the least useful tactically - and given the speed of a chain, good tactics -> good strategy. But how do I make the peasants leave? Intra kingdom FB?!

[raviy]

Oh boy Ethan, I hope you aided out those soldiers, cause it doesn't really sound like it from what you said. There's no point having a kdmate intra-op you, since they could be using mana/stealth on the other kd, which is far more useful. Not to mention you got chained, and your wpa/tpa is probably crazy high. So the main way to lower pop is to aid out soldiers, by releasing thieves and def. Or y'know, do difficult thieving ops to wreak damage while losing a lot of thieves.

[Landro]

Another option could have been to use Landlust to get some acres back. After getting chained you should have had rather high WPA so you probably would have a high success rate. Kingdom mates could have helped you with runes if you lacked them.

[olAllan]

Build and maintain Guard Stations, Training Grounds and Stables. Keep your guilds from droping to low. Then you bite the stick and give your oppressers hell.

Maintain Fog if you can and your opponants are NON-drawf.(or not drawf heavy)

[DeDLySMuRF]

How do you survive a chain like you described? Easy Solution :)

Leave more than 32 DPA at home next time you make an attack during war. Then you won't need to survive one.

[octobrev]

32 dpa is a little high isnt it?

[Moonspear]

32 dpa is a little low isnt it?

[Magn]

32 dpa is a little low isnt it?

Yes, it is. A bit of NM/NS and I could triple tap that.

Unless he has close to 135 OPA, he's unlikely to be able to triple tap me in return any time soon even with NS/NM.

A good OPA/DPA balance is important.

[Ethan]

Not sure where 32 dpa came from... I think I got that low *after* I got chained - but given that my kingdom is more 1:1 off:def, I was at something like 60 dpa with all my elites out before the chain. I apparently just looked a little more active and dangerous, so the picked me first. (And my kingdom wisely gave them the win before they got a second one in - knew we were outclassed in that one. Didn't even go min time.)

Sent the soldiers against the dragon, lacked runes and couldn't get any in time from kingdom (only 3 mill remember - we fight hard but aren't hyper-active or that well coordinated.) Plus I figured clearing plague was more important... though I don't know about that now. Did LL a bit before the plague.

So... sounds like I more or less did the best I could, and the only real better bit would have been if I could have afforded to stay online and keep stealing + begging for runes etc. No "soldiers protect specs" type tricks I failed to employ or anything like that. Now I know why chaining is so powerful many times!


Hope we get our next war soon... till I chose to make a land hit I was sitting at 100 OPA with +40% gains, just waiting for war and a chain to start. Figured a max gain double at the *end* of a chain would be even more brutalizing than what I took. Was sitting on 225 NW/A and only 60 dpa or so... but would have been worth it. Chose to make a hit in our last wave that got no response though... try to normalize my prov a bit. 1,000 BPA housing is fun though! I think I kinda scared my kingdom that I was "fine" after the war though - max gain (post chain) worked as well as anything can against a 10 vs. 1.