first time attacker advice

[grizzlytooth]

I have played for several ages always t/m. my kd needs more attackers and I have decided to switch it up for next age. as I have never done it before wondering what the best r/p combos are (barring any unforeseen drastic changes) and what would be the easiest to learn the ropes of being an attacker as. I have been deliberating between a human/merchant (thinking steady economy and cheap army) as an easy beginner choice, or the standard orc/tact or cleric (seem to be best pure attackers).

any input, keeping in mind it'll be first time around, would be greatly appreciated.

[Natsu]

No point in trying to figure this out yet as you'll need to wait on the upcoming changes anyway. This also depends on what your role in the kingdom will be. Are you looking to be a speed oriented attacker who hits 3~4 times a day or twice a day? Do you want to be a powerful pure attacker or one that also is capable of doing ops? For example Orcs make a strong pure attacker but they do around the minimum on op side of the field. All this should be taken into consideration before making your race/personality choice.

[grizzlytooth]

well I likely will only be logging in twice a day, so 2 attacks per day, and since we just need more attacks I am thinking pure attacker. will the changes really be that drastic though? just trying to narrow my options and get a feel for why each combo is good, even if they may change slightly.

[Natsu]

For a pure attacker if only focusing on attacking then Tactician, Cleric, or Warrior are best for personality side. Regarding races it's currently Orc, Undead, or Dwarf are best due to high offense elite values. Human can be a viable attacker if played right.

Key attacker buildings:
Farms (unless Undead) - Enough to keep a decent stock of food but don't need 100k+ bushels
Guard Stations - To reduce resource losses
Banks - You'll need funds for military
Guilds - 8~12% is what you want as an attacker depending on build
Towers - 3~5% is all you should have for self spells (Can ask kingdom for more if you want to do ops)
Watch Towers - To help stop enemy hybrids from breaking you at a high rate (won't prevent good thieves or T/Ms from breaking you)
Barracks - To maintain a minimum of 2 attack cycles per day
Training Grounds - To improve MO and should be at around 20% especially if attacking only 2x a day

Optional Buildings for attacker:
Homes - 40 homes max as it's 4% at 1k acres and 1% at 4k acres. Won't need more than 40 acres allocated to homes.
Stables - Prewar building that is used to build up War Horses before war. Once you make your first in war hit drop Stables for TGs. Good prewar building
Dungeons - If utilized correctly you can make this a very effective building to increase BE and extra MO if needed.

You'll also want to maintain a good 2.5~3 rTPA with 2~2.5rWPA so your province stays strong against ops.

[grizzlytooth]

thanks for the general info, very helpful to start.

[Persain]

You'll also want to maintain a good 2.5~3 rTPA with 2~2.5rWPA so your province stays strong against ops.

Those numbers aren't mandatory though, depending on your kd 2 raw tpa, and 1 raw wpa can be enough

[grizzlytooth]

thanks. yeah the more I think about it, the more I like what the orc cleric has to offer, with animate dead to use with earned elite credits. seems pretty resilient.

[Landro]

With only 3-5% towers you will be short on runes a lot. I aimed for 10% as Orc and was barely able to keep RM, IA, MP, MS, FL and L&P active 24/7 during war. (yes my sci is good but lots of land trading hurts your actual %)

The most important thing is to accept that people will hit you. 15% GS is pretty much mandatory.

[grizzlytooth]

thanks landro, will make a note of gs. that is why I am leaning towards orc as you have to fully commit to full attacker and get used to getting hit a lot, would speed up the learning curve. as it stands what is the standard breakdown for orc of ospa, dspa, and epa? (or maybe in terms of ratios is preferable)

[Landro]

about 10 epa, 6 dpsa, 2-3 rtpa, ~2 rwpa(depends on how fast you can train it) and the rest peasants

These numbers are based on my own province. I play in one of the better warring kingdoms which deters incoming hits to a certain degree.
If you feel you get hit too often you might want to drop some epa for dspa. Just make just to have more elites than dspecs.

[nooblet]

Next age will have different races.
I'd take undead for a first time attacker, since it's very easy to build up an undead province from scratch, but ymmv - especially in an organized kingdom.

Anyway you should have at least one offensive troop for every defensive troop, erring slightly on the side of offense if picking orc. Exact numbers of troops per acre are dependent on what you can maintain, but don't go under 6 dspa unless you have a specific plan that benefits from heavy offense... on average I see ghetto orcs with 7-8 dspa and they function well enough, so long as they can regularly 2x enemies. Personality is also important, since warriors have a huge offense boost in war.

[Persain]

about 10 epa, 6 dpsa, 2-3 rtpa, ~2 rwpa(depends on how fast you can train it) and the rest peasants

These numbers are based on my own province. I play in one of the better warring kingdoms which deters incoming hits to a certain degree.
If you feel you get hit too often you might want to drop some epa for dspa. Just make just to have more elites than dspecs.

Landro's comments are spot on, the only difference is i run a higher draft with specs to send at dragon. unless i have a specfic plan based on kd position/role I aim for 40 dpa+1 def spec when leets are out and then just train as much offence as i can muster. i am for 1.5-2 tpa early age that shifts to 2-2.5 mid age and 2-3 late age as science starts to come in.

edit, leets/acre isnt as important as how you mod them i also add in horses+TG such that the goal even early age is 100 opa on the kd page.

[Ethan]

(This is not any advise that isn't mostly here already. Just put it together in 1 post, with my personal take on it.)

If your province isn't dead, keep attacking. If you are even remotely unsure what is better, get offense. Live like a lunatic, and you'll outplay much of the game though shear aggression. I'm guessing a mid-level kingdom or a semi-getto, so you'll know your doing it right when you get smashed every war, but still take more acres than anyone else. Then you just have to convince more kingdom-mates to up the offense and lower the defense to keep up with you. (I've *never* seen my semi-getto have the problem of too little defense on a kingdom scale.)

There are limits - don't do stuff like start war with 140 OPA and 20 DPA - being able to 7x yourself is just plain dumb. In fact, 5:2 off:def is a pretty good upper limit (100 OPA:40 DPA) - except during chains, don't go over that. Don't really plan to go over 2:1 unless you know why, but it makes a nice target as the age goes on. Don't draft super high either - have 90% DR = even gettos can chain you. I like a low DR (60% war ready), but most find ~70% a good target. You should know it when you draft too high though, so again err on the side of offense via higher DR.


Take a race that forces you to be aggressive - I play an aggressive human sage, but it is a bad choice for you cause 'tis too easy to turtle up when in trouble. UD/Orc are the obvious pair. Take a personality that lives in the blood-bath... Cleric is one of the most obvious there, though anything attack focused can be good. Many things can be made to work (I played faery attacker 2 ages - with Fog, though), but some options *force* you into doing it right, and that will build the skills you want.


Basic build guildlines - details depend on enemy:

War start (ish):
20% Basic (farms etc.)
35% Offense (rax/dungeon/tg/stable/forts/homes) - in about that order
25% Defense (GS/Hospitals/WTs/Banks)
20% Flux

Late war:
5% Farms
5% Guilds
5% Towers
10% Rax
10% TG
15% GS or WTs or Hospitals (GS if shelled, WTs if taking ops, Hospitals if being max-gained against. More TG if chained.)
~50% The snot kicked out of you.

[grizzlytooth]

awesome thanks for all the input, exactly the type of info I needed. Bishop just posted the end/start dates, so hopefully the tentative changes are up soon so I can start thinking about options.

[Persain]

awesome thanks for all the input, exactly the type of info I needed. Bishop just posted the end/start dates, so hopefully the tentative changes are up soon so I can start thinking about options.

btw if you are geting chained HARD (as in zero def) in war and can manage the acitivity/kd aid a great end of war build(for undead and orc/clearic) is 40% GS, 35% TG, 25% Rax. You basically just build those 3 buildings and let the others fade away as you get hit.