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Thread: An interview with AquaSeaFoam

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    An interview with AquaSeaFoam

    Hi everyone!
    Due to popular request in an earlier thread on these boards, I went out looking for AquaSeaFoam to ask him a few questions! I hope you enjoy reading!



    Interview introduction
    AquaSeaFoam (ASF) is currently a leader and member of the kingdom Rage of Absalom. He has also been a court member (leadership) of the Absalom alliance since Age 4.
    Many players also know ASF for his strategic ability both numbers wise and big picture wise.
    He has also been leading several top kingdoms in the past. To sum them up shortly:
    • Absaloms Dark Lords, Hand of Absalom, Skies of Absalom, Heart of Absalom (All the same kingdom but switched names)
    • Beauty of Absalom
    • Destiny of Absalom
    • Rage of Absalom

    He has also ran a number of top provinces particularly in the early ages when it was still possible to attack to #1, but also developed the modern exploring "cow" strategy designed to economically support a top kingdom.


    Please introduce yourself! Who are you, where do you live, what keeps you occupied etc.. Basically anything you'd like to share with us.
    I work in materials research and am also working on a PhD. Unfortunately, this does not leave a lot of time for Utopia these days.


    Where did you get the name AquaSeaFoam from?
    It came from the nirvana song "All apologies".
    It's a nonsense lyric in it.
    "I'll take all the blame, aqua seafoam shame"
    I guess sounds a bit like I'll proceed from shame.


    How and when did you first interact with Utopia?
    I was first introduced to Utopia in Age 3 by a friend that I co-ran a Starcraft news website with. I started the age a week or so late and back then you could bottom feed on new provinces for good land so I got owned when I came out of protection. Then I figured I better learn how to play so I could get back at those guys. I started making a list of all who hit me for payback even though I ended up forgetting about them later. Within a week I was elected monarch after the old monarch quit. I made a goal for myself to make top 10 on my island and I made it by the end of the age without exploring an acre.

    There was a full reshuffle after this age so everyone had a new kingdom the next age. I aimed to make top 10 nw both kingdom and province wise this age. I was able to make both in my first full age playing with my kingdom 100% legit without a single traded province. This age I also met a lot of other important players including Return To Power who founded Absalom.


    What kept you motivated to play for all these ages?
    Both my kingdom, Rage, and my alliance, Absalom. I mainly just try and put in the minimum effort to keep both running smoothly.


    Are there any people who have had any impact on your gameplay?
    • Return to Power - Founder of Absalom, great inspirational leader, developer of the "Kinesis" econ prov, and much more.
    • Dark Sky - Early top player and my first co-monarch. In our first age co-leading, we set a goal early on and pushed each other to both attack to over 40k acres when this size was previously unheard of. At this time, many thought it would be impossible for even one province to attach to this size, let alone two in the same kingdom.
    • Macen - I co-lead Beauty with him when I came back to the game after a break and relearned much of the changes in gameplay from him.
    • B1acksun - An early practitioner of mutually assured destruction and monarch of Jesters Troupe.
    • Kanga - Perhaps the best player of the early ages who also wrote up some of the first good strategy articles and was always happy to discuss strategy with me.

    Those I listed are earlier age players that I think had the biggest impact on the way I chose to play the game while I was still learning and easily influenced. Obviously there were also many other great players who were influential to me and/or had a big impact on the success of my kingdoms and Absalom.


    You have played Utopia together with your wife/girlfriend. What is/was it like? Did it influence your day-to-day talk, would you talk about Utopia while sitting in front of the TV or while eating diner at the table?
    It definitely makes it easier when you need to wake up in the middle of the night for a wave. Utopia wasn't the main focus of our talk, but certainly there were times when we'd discuss build strategies or what each others kingdom should do. I'm sure it's not too different from any other activity that you both do together, be it playing a computer game or playing in a co-ed bowling league.


    Are you currently still active within Utopia? If yes; where do you currently play and what is your role?
    Yes, I'm one of the leaders of Rage and also one of the leaders of Absalom. Since I'm limited on time, my role is generally to advise on what I think should be done, more so than actually "doing" it.


    How did you become part of Absalom? And what has your role been within Absalom?
    RTP (Return to Power) invited me in Age 4. RTP was the sole leader, but he unexpectedly quit (for a time) soon after and as his departing act he selected a 5 member Court to lead Absalom. I was selected for that first Court and was generally the most active leader for the rest of age 4 and age 5 as Absalom became known as a major power. I've been on Absalom's court for most of its existence. I had passed my seat on to Zoot for a while but he eventually passed the seat back to me.


    What impact do you think Absalom has had on Utopia in the past and present?
    I think Absalom has had a major impact. On the surface, I'd say that impact has been positive by promoting and enforcing one versus one play. Absalom was largely the architect the modern day code of ethics in utopia. Absalom took a stand against cheating and "non 1vs1 play" and promoted this agenda throughout utopia both by swaying public opinion and through direct displays of force.

    It may seem natural to players now that people should not cheat and should play 1v1, but this was not always the case. Cheating used to be far more rampant early ages and although cheating was always "sketchy" by it's very nature, it was relatively common to use multies and the like with minimal scorn even when it was blatantly obvious. It was probably natural for cheating to become stigmatized over time as the game matured, but Absalom played a role in this.

    Absalom played a bigger role in stigmatizing "non cheating" "dishonorable" play. It was not always dishonorable to have a province attacked or opped by your friends throughout utopia if they attacked you. It was often considered a necessary show of force if you wanted to be respected. In the old days it was common to have province based alliances irrespective of kingdoms. Absalom pushed for public acceptance of 1vs1 kingdom based play becoming the standard and respectable way to play. Even kingdom based alliances typically believed that their purpose was to help their kingdoms whenever they needed help, regardless of if the situation where they needed help was 1v1 or not. I'm not saying Absalom were the only ones to believe in this philosophy, but they were the ones with the power and influence to make it nearly universal.

    Through this long term presence and and influence, they brought a stability to the game. This stability minimized non 1v1 conflicts, minimized open cheating, and minimized the ad-hoc creation of alliances, backstabbing, etc. This agenda of stability was an intentional consequence of Absalom's goal of providing fertile grounds for our kingdoms to succeed and our own view of how the game should be played. We believed that in fair situations (1v1 without cheating) our kingdoms were generally better than competition and we therefore promoted such an agenda to give our kingdoms the the best chance to succeed based on their own merit.

    While most today probably now agree with this philosophy, it is questionable if it was really best for the long term good of the game. The early ages, before this type of play took hold, were very dynamic. Absalom may have contributed to stagnating the game by helping create a stable 1v1 type of playstyle that limited the the ability to deal with problems through networking and bringing in help. Certainly the game maturing and Mehul moving to support the 1v1 view by implementing various ingame mechanisms to promote it were major factors, but Absalom also significantly contributed to it. It's hard to say if the game would have fared any better if left to a more chaotic climate. It might have died much sooner, or it might have been more friendly to new players and better maintained its player base.


    In the last 10 ages Absalom has lost a few kingdoms. Do you know why?
    Mainly the same reason that kingdoms everywhere are frequently disbanding these days. The main reason is lack of competent leaders who can commit the time required to run a top kingdom.

    Absalom has also made a conscious effort for quite some time to try and minimize our footprint. We have never set out to be a group that dominates the top lists with massive numbers (unlike some other past alliances.) However, in ages where we were smaller, we've also had some problems with other groups trying to take advantage and jump us. Our target is to have the minimum number of kingdoms we feel is necessary to ensure our member kingdoms are treated fairly. In recent ages, as utopia has declined in players, we've felt that required number has dropped.


    Kingdoms come and go. What do you think is the most important for new kingdoms to try and settle themselves, be that as a warring kingdom or as a whoring kingdom?
    I think it's important for the leaders of kingdoms to have some sort of mission statement in mind for their long term goals and then also set out a target and plan each age. If you aren't clear on what you're trying to achieve, then most likely you won't achieve anything. Having a clear mission statement can guide your decisions both proactively and reactively. The mission statement should focus more on your overall objectives with the kingdom rather than specific age goals. For example, the mission statement could be similar to, "Achieve a reputation as a great and honorable kingdom through a combination of warring, whoring, and fair play."

    I think that it's also important for kingdoms to believe in themselves and set high goals without fear of failure. If you want to go for land, then don't be afraid to set your goal as #1 land even if it's unlikely you could achieve it. That said, you should also have a secondary goal that can still be achieved even if the primary goal isn't achievable. Relating to the previous example, this could be something as simple as "rank as high on the land chart as we can."

    If a kingdom wants long term stability and success, then individual age goals should not override your main mission statement. For example, if your overall goal is to be known as an honorable kingdom, then you wouldn't want to break NAPs or cheat even if it might help you achieve your age goal. Age goals should work to help build on the goals of your mission statement without using methods that would discredit your long term goals.


    In the last 4 Ages Absalom hasn't won any crowns. Do you know why? Is this related to the number of kingdoms Absalom has? Is Absalom getting weaker or their competitors stronger?
    An Absalom kingdom won in Age 47. In age 49, three of the top five were Absalom allied kingdoms. In age 51, both of the top 2 kingdoms were Absalom allied. This age a number of Absalom kingdoms are in the top spots. I think if anything, we are bordering on being too strong right now these last couple ages, but that's in part due to competition weakening and in part based on early age strategy and luck. Again, we are not trying to "dominate the top" or ensure Absalom kingdoms win, just ensure that Absalom kingdoms get fair treatment.


    In the past Absalom has been a victim of gangbangs a few times. What impact has this made on yourself and on Absalom?
    Our main in-game goal is to ensure our kingdoms get fair, 1v1 treatment, so when groups have taken what they saw as opportunities to gangbang us, we've taken that as a call to strengthen our power. I think if you were to take a look at the ages we've been gangbanged (usually by large "supergroups"), we've usually ended up dominating on the charts in the following ages due to this "strengthening up." Over time, we cut back our power to try and achieve a balance, but once we get low enough, we usually get gangbanged again, leading to a repeat of the cycle.


    In age 50, Absalom was the initiator of a gangbang on Dreams. Why did this happen?
    In age 46, Rage was #1 with Sonata #2. Rage was pumping on low draft and had timed ceasefires with Sonata and other top kingdoms (several of whom were in Sonata's alliance.) It was widely anticipated that Rage would fight Sonata after the cf expired and Sonata did not look forward to fighting a stronger and better prepared Rage. Sonata convinced their allies that it was necessary to gangbang Rage before Rage could finish their pump and the ceasefires were up. It was obvious that this would lead to an alliance war and to try and uphold a positive image, Sonata and their alliance declared alliance war on Absalom and opened the alliance war with a devastating gangbang on Rage taking over 40% of their land.

    Absalom was quickly able to turn the war around through outstanding performance of the Absalom core kingdoms, by bringing in additional allies on our side, and by some of the Sonata allies realizing they had essentially been tricked on the true motivations for the alliance war and withdrawing. Rage had the button on several kingdoms following the gangbang on them and declared Playboys first. In the war, Rage managed to recover a lot of the lost acres before Playboys were able to withdraw at minimum time. Rage then held the button on Sonata and were preparing for a declare when Sonata mass self-deleted their kingdom.

    Absalom soundly won the alliance war after Sonata abandoned their allies and many of Sonata's allies were badly farmed and their alliance was destroyed. In age 49, there were rumours and even an announcement by Sonata's founder that Sonata was returning for Age 50. I was approached by Cheese who was formerly Sonata's ally but was burned by them in age 46. He planned to gangbang Sonata if they were back and I offered my help. From my view, Sonata had never surrendered the alliance war they had started and never worked out cf terms with us like all the other kingdoms involved had, so we were in principle still at alliance war with them.

    When Age 50 came around, the "Sonata" kingdom was going by the name Dreams and although it did have most of the Sonata core members involved and helping lead it, it also had some players that were not in Sonata such as Elit, Amaz, and Cello. There was a lot of debate about if this was a new kingdom that should be given a chance or if it was Sonata and having a few new players didn't change that. At one point, we had called off the long debated gb involving both Absalom and Cheese and his allies.

    Rage had decided to give Sonata notice and go after them ourselves as a compromise for them being "sorta Sonata." Then we had two of our provinces hacked by a Dreams leader that was also a former Sonata leader. We then decided that they were the same old Sonata and moved forward with the gangbang. The gangbang initially focused on bouncing and hitting Sonata's cow and Sonata quickly went to fake war for protection. After several days of fighting through fake war and negotiations, we agreed to a cf deal.


    If you could change one thing in the game, what would it be?
    I suppose increasing number of players, but the root of that problem is really more fundamental and no snap fix (like advertising) would work long term without more fundamental changes.


    Fakewars have been part of Utopia for as long as I can remember. One of the major changes in the current age was to ban fakewars and add a viable pumping stance. On top of that, the End of War Cease Fire period has been opted to be extended to upto 96 hours. Do you think they have achieved to remove the need of a fakewar by adjusting the EoW:CF period and changing the effects of the fortified stance?
    There are still situations where a fake war would be useful, however the "need" is less. While the longer post war cf period and fortified stance help to remove the need to fw, the war meter now maxing out actually adds to the need to fw. Overall, I think the changes are pretty positive, however there are negative effects as well. Fortified stance allows quite powerful and quick pumping which promotes a "pump and jump" type of style. The problem with that style is that if you don't want to be "jumped" you better be either very pumped or sitting in fortified. This makes it hard to grow well from non "jumping" methods and also hard to get good science.

    Some top kingdoms and lower level kingdoms are less affected by this due respectively to cf agreements and rampant disorganization, but mid level kingdoms need to always be prepared.


    What are your thoughts about hybrids? They have been a no-go for quite a long time in Utopia, but nowadays you see alot of them. Do you think they are worth having, or would you rather have pure attackers combined with pure thiefe/mages?
    There is a lot of "rock, paper, scissors" sort of stuff to consider. Hybrids can work very well vs many set-ups but can be overpowered by some others that include some reasonable defenses with superior military power. You have to also consider your overall setup and synergistic effects as well as how races and personalities suitable for hybrids fit with it. Generally my kingdoms use both some thief mage specialists as well as some hybrids.

    Some ages we've used full hybrid type setups but if a kingdom prepares specifically for your setup, then full hybrid can be countered pretty well. To have good thief success, you generally want double your targets tpa. A kingdom that prepares for a hybrid kingdom could run 6 mod tpa fairly easily while the hybrid kingdom might need 12 tpa to have good success. 12 tpa is pretty costly (takes a combination of pop space, building space, and science investment) and if the target kingdom also uses some wt's with their 6 tpa, your effectiveness might be limited. That said, a hybrid kingdom can rip up an unprepared non-hybrid kingdom.


    I think science is often underestimated by new and unexperienced players. In the past I have personally seen Spy on Science with provinces having less than 100 books per acre in total by end of age. Could you explain why science is so important? And do you have any tips for new players how to invest science optimally?
    If you are not playing a merchant or a sage and need to always stay pumped due to being in a small warring kingdom, it can be difficult to get a lot of science. That said, science is very important and it is quite difficult to compete late age without it. For that reason, if you want to be competitive late age your plan should include a way to get science. Merchant is a strong personality that lets you run decent science all age even with high military. Everyone should aim to run active science or higher basically all age besides a few situations like in protection or in a war.


    How do you feel about the current competition between the kingdoms at the top?
    I think that the competition can rapidly change from age to age now more easily than ever with legalized trading etc. Kingdoms can disband and then reform with ease. Kingdoms change goals from age to age and kingdoms that went for "top warring" this age, may go for rank next. Overall, there are much fewer strong kingdoms than there used to be.


    What would you like to see different?
    I'd like to see more players and more mid level kingdoms. I feel like the mid level in the game is what really vanished. There are still a lot of ghettos where the leaders don't put in much effort, and there are still top kingdoms, but there are much fewer mid level kingdoms now than there used to be.


    Smaller kingdoms are often victim of bottomfeeding from the larger kingdoms. We often see larger explorers in small kingdoms who are sitting on 140-150dpa (or more), but still get broken. What advice do you have for these players/kingdoms to try and defend themselves from being bottomfed upon?
    Top kingdoms generally try and make random grabs on provinces that can't hit them back that don't have kingdom support. Due to most elites being higher offense than defense, it's hard to ever get safe with defense alone. A province in a top kingdom has low risk for others to random them since anyone hitting them could likely be retaliated many times by their kingdom mates. This means that such a province could suicide on a defense only target in a ghetto and be relatively safe.

    If you want to successfully be a big province in a weak kingdom, you need to cf kingdoms that have many provinces able to break you. It's easiest to get such cf's if you have offense and a knack for diplomacy. If you have pool and only need a few cf's to be able to use it, those cf's can easily be worth giving up free land to obtain.


    Warring kingdoms are often dubbing between undeads and orc for their attacking force due to their endurance. If an undead and orc kingdom fight each other, which one do you think is stronger?
    Either is capable of winning so whichever one performs better. Given equal preparation, performance, and personalities, I think orc should win due to their gains bonus.


    When two kingdoms are at war with each other, a question that is often asked is: should we chain the enemy or not? What is your opinion on this?
    The answer to this is very situational. You need to look at the advantages and disadvantages of chaining for your given situation.

    The advantages of chaining include the ability to make target preparation work count for more (e.g. mystic vortexes, burn guard stations, removal of defense through nm or ns, etc), the ability to reduce ambush effectiveness to minimize the need to anon, and of course the ability to overpopulate your target to make his military leave.

    The disadvantages of chaining include the need to hit through gbp and often the need to hit outside of ideal gains range leading to reduced overall gains. This can also lead to the 'non chained" enemy provinces becoming too strong to deal with later if you aren't careful.

    In short, in situations where target preparation is an important part of your strategy, then chaining is usually worthwhile, while if you are not utilizing much target preparation, then you're probably best off with max gaining. One final consideration is that chaining generally takes more effort and organization and can result in people holding armies for a bit waiting for the next chain time. Overall, its often still worthwhile to chain a target or two hard early so that most of their military leaves and then you can hit them easily with spare generals later even if you moved to max gaining.


    There have been quite a few kingdoms on top of the food chain throughout the ages. Which kingdom do you consider to be the best of the best? And why?
    The single best was Pansies. They had a remarkable streak of dominance in Utopia's most competitive era. They were not able to maintain the long term high level of performance that some other kingdoms have achieved though. Pansies performance quickly decayed once Sid quit.


    Everyone has friends and enemies in this game. Who would you see as your biggest enemy?
    I'm not sure of anyone that's really a big enemy right now. Some notable enemies throughout the ages who have also been friends include Flogger, Ravenant, and Cheese.


    And final question, anything else you would like to share and/or say to the 'readers'?
    A lot of players seem to believe that the difference between top kingdoms and "average" kingdoms is just that the top kingdoms cheat more. This is simply not true and the reality is that these days no cheating at all is required to play at the top level. Even in the past, it was possible to compete in the top with only minor trading and no other cheating. These same players typically believe themselves to know all there is to know about utopia and to be master strategists and are therefore unwilling to consider others advice.

    This is a huge mistake and is a sign of a poor leader. No one can know everything and even presidents have a team of advisers to help them make decisions. I have played this game since Age 3 and have competed in the top levels province wise many ages and kingdom wise essentially every age I've played, yet I frequently ask other knowledgeable leaders for their opinions on situations and strategy and these same other top leaders also ask me for my opinions.

    Top kingdoms are are successful for one reason -- top leadership. Successful top leadership needs to have two main aspects, 1) A sound understanding of utopia strategy at the province, kingdom, and interkingdom levels, and 2) the motivation, activity, communication ability, and charisma to attract and motivate players and negotiate with other kingdoms to implement your strategies. These leadership abilities can be divided up amongst a leadership team or all in one sole leader, but they are are what separates the good kingdoms from the average or below average ones.

    In my opinion, the utopia experience is not complete without having tried to lead at the top level. I also think that it's a mistake to believe your kingdom needs "practice" over several ages to "rebuild" and become "good". Only the leaders really need to know what to do in various situations (such as warring) and utopia is not a game that requires practice in the way that a first person shooter does. "Practice" or experience is one way for leadership to lean strategy or learn how to better lead, however it is far more effective to learn from watching others and talking to them than it is to try and learn everything through first hand experience. There is really no need to learn this game by trial and error and there is no need for kingdoms to "practice" things like warring if the leaders know what they are doing. Because of this, an intelligent and motivated new player with plenty of time on his hands can become a top leader and have his own new top kingdom within a couple ages.
    If this is of interest to you, don't be afraid to go for it!



    I would like to thank AquaSeaFoam for taking the time to answer the questions I had for him. It took a while as all communication was done via email due to time restrictions, but I think the result was worth it! I hope you enjoyed reading!

    That said, if you have suggestions for future player interviews, feel free to PM them.

    Thanks!

    protector
    Last edited by protector; 08-01-2012 at 21:26. Reason: underline q's

  2. #2
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    the questions are black against a dark blue background....not the easiest to read.

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jevouse View Post
    the questions are black against a dark blue background....not the easiest to read.
    Looks fine here, but might differ per person.. I'll try and change the color from the questions. Will probably change them back to 'default'

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    Solid interview with an epic player

    +1

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    Awesome. Well done!

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    I like to post MorbidAngel's Avatar
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    Thank you protje for doing what you've promised what, 5 months ago? Keep it up nigga

    Respect to ASF
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    Quote Originally Posted by MorbidAngel View Post
    Thank you protje for doing what you've promised what, 5 months ago? Keep it up nigga

    Respect to ASF
    First email was sent on September 27th, but ASF was busy so replies took long
    Better late than never though, right?

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    Goodjob prot! good article.

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    Good common sense advice.
    I'm pleased there are normal people in Utopia without their ego's spilling out all over the place.

    Nice interview, best so far since it actually gave information of interest.
    "Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in the opposite direction." Albert Einstein

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    As promised prot you delivered Was a very interesting read, a good interview.

    And ASF is one of those few players I do have a lot of respect for being on both sides against and with him
    Original wearer of the Raikonhat

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    TL;DR

    JK

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    Good interview

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    Great interview of a great player.
    That nerdy guy that obsesses with game mechanics.

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    I almost died laughing at the part where ASF says ABS has brought fairness and 1v1 fighting to Utopia.

    That was truly rich.

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    1v1 sanc + dragons all day!

    And my favorite quote:

    Again, we are not trying to "dominate the top" or ensure Absalom kingdoms win, just ensure that Absalom kingdoms get fair treatment.

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