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Thread: Virtual Kingdom ~ Amber Dream Orrery

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    Virtual Kingdom ~ Amber Dream Orrery

    Age 61:

    1) Avian cleric - Lagavulin: division 1
    2) Avian tactician - Isle of Jura: division 2
    3) Avian war hero - Highland Park: division 3
    4) Dwarf tactician - Clynelish: division 1
    5) Dwarf warrior - Longrow: division 3
    6) Dwarf war hero - Glenkinchie: division 2
    7) Elf mystic - Talisker: division 1
    8) Elf mystic - Bowmore: division 2
    9) Elf sage - The Macallan: division 3
    10) Faery rogue - Glenlivet: division 2
    11) Faery rogue - Edradour: division 3
    12) Faery sage - Dalwhinnie: division 1
    13) Halfling merchant - Bruichladdich: division 2
    14) Halfling mystic - Aberfeldy: division 3
    15) Halfling rogue - Strathisla: division 1
    16) Human cleric - Laphroaig: division 3
    17) Human sage - Glenmorangie: division 2
    18) Human war hero - Balvenie: division 1
    19) Orc merchant - Aberlour: division 3
    20) Orc warrior - Oban: division 2
    21) Orc warrior - Tobermory: division 1
    22) Undead cleric - Ardbeg: division 2
    23) Undead merchant - Bunnahabhain: division 1
    24) Undead tactician - Cragganmore: division 3
    25) Dwarf sage - The Dalmore {M}

    * As tradition, feel free to offer personality and race compliments you may prefer. *
    Last edited by StratOcastle; 29-05-2014 at 22:35. Reason: mystic/rogue switch
    Quote Originally Posted by Bishop View Post
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    Avians:

    The avian breakdown this age was an attempt to get the most out of the population bonus in balance with a variety of personalities. We couldn't really spare warrior here as the premium on turtle-breakers must largely go to orcs.

    At first glance I think most see initial disadvantage to this template of personality and racial diversity. My stand is that we sometimes don't see advantage until we are involved in a common situation that exposes it. My example will be war hero last age: everyone in the sub-top kingdoms had nothing good to say about war hero. The highest performing kingdoms were using war hero. When I asked about this the silly answer was that war hero was only good when it's big.

    So the answer is that war hero is good. We all chose to be the size we'd like, its getting there that's interesting. We all know avian has speed. The gains deficit may play into the hands of the birthrate bonus in functional acreage. Consider your total build; Your thieves, wizards and defense. Buildable acres play in, and how you compliment your neighbor.

    The miss-mark on what's going on in this Virtual Kingdom is how it applies to the traditional players we all know. You know what I mean. I'm looking for the few guys that want to play avian this age. I want that more than anything else. Virtually.
    Last edited by StratOcastle; 03-04-2014 at 22:18.
    Quote Originally Posted by Bishop View Post
    Correct me then, instead of being a dick about it.
    love that thick mahogany back with no belly carve or anything...pure thick wood ! The thing ROCK is made of !
    ________
    Weed bowls

    http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=...+say&FORM=VDRE

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    Dwarves:

    You'll note the dwarf compliment is 4 provinces in the template this age. The reason for this was the variety of ways the dwarf can perform. Human is wonderful, but the dwarf can recover quickly. Dwarf has Mystic Aura which is a game changer if online. Quick Feet offers a speed element to what I'll call Elliptical Waves. This kingdom will have attacks rotating in many orbits.

    What I find amusing is what many refer to as ' effective ' or ' worth it '. For instance, I heard that sage isn't worth it unless you have Fountain of Knowledge and Tree of Gold. This on the surface makes sense if it wasn't for actual encounters with actual sages that make life incredibly hard for their enemies. And again, this is about players exercising their know how.

    The dwarf offers a bolstering effect to the kingdom. With a virtual template of a balanced variety the strength of the dwarf is in how it supports each theater: attacking, economy, intel, magic and sabotage. it's not always in offense not always in defense, but the dwarf presence will be felt in all sectors.
    Quote Originally Posted by Bishop View Post
    Correct me then, instead of being a dick about it.
    love that thick mahogany back with no belly carve or anything...pure thick wood ! The thing ROCK is made of !
    ________
    Weed bowls

    http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=...+say&FORM=VDRE

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    Elves:

    Wouldn't say elves are hard to run, but I think a definition of objectives is important. My first advice is to look at elf as the mirror image of undead. They have opposing strengths. Both are a bit of a howitzer in that they require a support team to express their brilliance. They can function independently, but with a team can be amazing.

    So why rogue on one of these? This is a players build decision. I've seen the choice made and while not ideal is effective. The elite is better this age so some of this can be interpreted as full elite army. It would seem all specialist credits make sense for the 0/5 defense spec. but that is situational.

    While I may buy into unbreakable insofar as function, I don't support it as doctrine. My main concern is if the enemy is breakable. And I'm not some offensive suicide freak, just being realistic about sensible gaming. Since I've worked with many an elf it's the ones that are assigned or chose to be unbreakable that are nervous, underwhelmed or disappointed. Happy elves are elves on offense in my experience. There's always room for a nail biting player who loves to play elf, but the Virtual Kingdom isn't looking to war down. Thus I encourage alternatives to unbreakable and forecasting your thief and wizard populations.
    Quote Originally Posted by Bishop View Post
    Correct me then, instead of being a dick about it.
    love that thick mahogany back with no belly carve or anything...pure thick wood ! The thing ROCK is made of !
    ________
    Weed bowls

    http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=...+say&FORM=VDRE

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    Faery:

    Faery is at a zenith this age I'm happy to say. This was a very close contender for the alternate 25th spot. The dwarf got the nod on the basis of attacking since the default balance here leans toward Mage and Thief heavy design. The dwarf also can rebuild quickly and in doing so strengthens the kingdom overall. I'm a huge fan of the faery spell book and I seldom see it used to full capacity due to the rudiments of dragon economy. This is truly a shame and I attempted to spread Tree of Gold as liberally as possible to get some Faery fun in here.

    The faery distribution here may be the most efficient of all the races. I attempted to keep the spell plethora as functional as possible across all races to allow the mages and thieves to open up a bit and do more head-to-head operations. To witness a faery with full mana and stealth exhaust all powers as one chooses is a beautiful thing to behold. I was pleased to witness the play of Tolerian Academy while I was with Aggression is the Liquor. Another faery called Pocahontas was very basic but so very effective in this as well. I miss seeing this type of play and hope that dragon tiddlywinks don't stand in the way.
    Quote Originally Posted by Bishop View Post
    Correct me then, instead of being a dick about it.
    love that thick mahogany back with no belly carve or anything...pure thick wood ! The thing ROCK is made of !
    ________
    Weed bowls

    http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=...+say&FORM=VDRE

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    Halflings:

    The current environment is a difficult one for the halfling rogue, but we can't ignore that she is apex thief if any traction is to be made on the hardest targets. That said, the kingdom if looked at clearly is ideal for the kind of support the rogue will desire. In the past I've designated all 3 halflings in this template to rogue, but have reason to diversify this role. This in turn diversifies halfling to some player favorites I hope intrigue others.

    I admit to living vicariously through halfling as I've never felt I was ideally skilled to run them optimally. In part it's because I've seen fantastic halfling play. One build that has been explained to me is the halfling mystic. As you have seen we have the mystic assigned to 3 different races. This is to exercise the full breadth of the mystic scope. The elf is the hard target breaker, the faery is for general volume and the halfling is the endurance.

    Halfling merchant was a homegrown build, not of my making but that of a kingdom mate. It makes enough sense and gets Tree of Gold in capable hands. As you can imagine the additional credits give the halfling tremendous resource to wield. I'd like players to think through a system of completion. That is, assume you are breakable and perceive your elites in an attacking role even if you don't need to. Lovely thing to behold in the right hands.
    Quote Originally Posted by Bishop View Post
    Correct me then, instead of being a dick about it.
    love that thick mahogany back with no belly carve or anything...pure thick wood ! The thing ROCK is made of !
    ________
    Weed bowls

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    Humans:

    I get it. I've played human a few times and can appreciate the role. It's a bit more serious than dwarf in it's economic impact and the elites are unparalleled. We ask a lot of humans for good reason and thus would like to attract players of a no-nonsense stoicism here. We don't mind dry humor, just don't want Leeeerrroooyyy Jeeennnnkkkinnns!!!
    We begin with cleric here and this may offer a sigh of relief to the more combative. The use of Pitfalls was a nod to humans science edge and tight operation due to full elite capability.

    Sage is to human what cleric is to elf or undead. That sounds awful but most don't use cleric the way I do. We have 4 sages in kingdom because I get that at trails end we want a competitive kingdom. Part of that is to push the enemy science down with amnesia. I always hear this is situational and I'd like to point out we should create that situation. Overall kingdom strength again is bolstered through science for which there is no substitute.

    With the fawning over war hero after the fact it's no surprise we have a human dedicated to the role here. Unlike the dwarf war hero who gains from the personality via immunity, we have the human who can use war spoils in ideal situations. With the avian covering the other side of this type of pincer the goal is to secure net worth middle. I'm going to laugh prematurely at those who regard strategy in a singular vacuum: War Spoils is another strategic puzzle aimed at the enemy along with a mosaic of many other difficulties. Speed, plague, nightmare barrage, elliptical waving, safe intel and reaction, camping, etc. Did I mention attacking? Well, that goes without saying.
    Quote Originally Posted by Bishop View Post
    Correct me then, instead of being a dick about it.
    love that thick mahogany back with no belly carve or anything...pure thick wood ! The thing ROCK is made of !
    ________
    Weed bowls

    http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=...+say&FORM=VDRE

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    Orc:

    It's simply the fact that nothing hits harder than Orc Warrior. The ability to crumble a big and make it breakable for all other attackers is the reason we have repeated the formula twice. The secret to happiness here is to get a comprehensive aid system in place so the soldier draft makes sense. There is a certain amount of protective effort the orcs can expect as I understand they are targets. This is part of the kingdom synergy in that as you are the mauler that can save the day, we owe a zone of defense.

    And merchant. If you saw the enthusiasm that players in my kingdom pursued orc merchant by dropping undead tactician you know it must be included in kingdom. This is another pressure zone that enemies either deal with or allow to run amok. Along the lines of the undead merchant but with free draft. We can't forget that reflect is in play here. We get another player with Tree of Gold. While this might not be aimed at dragon generation it certainly makes for a formidable heavy attacker that has built in sustain. This compliments the even harder hitting warriors.
    Quote Originally Posted by Bishop View Post
    Correct me then, instead of being a dick about it.
    love that thick mahogany back with no belly carve or anything...pure thick wood ! The thing ROCK is made of !
    ________
    Weed bowls

    http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=...+say&FORM=VDRE

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    Undead:

    Lots of people play undead, but I'm a different kind of undead player. So it's undead cleric again; a signature to my gap zone doctrine. You can chain him, but isn't that trite? Unchecked your job is to hold a net worth zone. While you might do the heavy lifting the gap is created by a cooperative of speed, hard hitting and selective operations and sabotage. I have a specific build here that includes no offensive building types. It's not to grow and is a chore to bring down. I can say through several ages that very few have found it ideal to push my undead cleric to full defense release. Your job isn't to grow much either if that wasn't evident. So no glory hounds here, but you have enough responsibility that there should be a measure of attention given to your role.

    Merchant here is no secret. It's nearly parabolic unchecked. What you lack in speed or defensive endurance is made up in pure resource. Obviously like any undead you can expect operations to reduce your effectiveness, but all the while lending this danger to kingdom goal. You must be dealt with or go out of control. Glory hounds welcome; climb as high as you like.

    Undead tactician is one very efficient build. It's likely this kingdom would face kingdoms full of the likes of you. Unlike them your kingdom has a variety of resources to bring to war. We can and should be as fast or faster than undead tactician core. In mid-net worth control you will find a home using your impact behind the orc warrior in feeding chains. The system thus gives you shovel ready targets that the cleric is then in line to club with dwarf and avian types to feed. All in all we want to force the enemy to deal with the defensive stalwarts while freeing up the speedsters and hard hitters to hunt with a degree of free wisdom. Your job is more disciplined than the merchant, but involves selective targeting that the rogues and mystics can further prepare. We will attempt to avoid plague susceptible attackers to different targets, so undead and war hero are your network.
    Quote Originally Posted by Bishop View Post
    Correct me then, instead of being a dick about it.
    love that thick mahogany back with no belly carve or anything...pure thick wood ! The thing ROCK is made of !
    ________
    Weed bowls

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    In Conclusion:

    As stated in other Virtual Kingdom templates this isn't a real kingdom. It's purpose is to offer a guide to fun and a player biased strategy. Because the kingdom offers a variety of player wishes the expectation and obligation is enthusiastic activity. That is, if you are playing what you want and desire a unique experience then I'd think you would spend more time happy than disappointed. There are plenty of successful kingdom that dictate build, strategy and direction. There are many more unsuccessful, but this shouldn't be a measure of happiness.

    I'm of the mind you should war anybody and where else is a kingdom so equip to encounter every build the game offers? This template covers the entire breadth of Utopian virtue and limit. Unlike undead core we can use sabotage. Unlike human core we have the wilting offense of undead and orc with the speed of dwarf and avian. There are those with enough magic resistance to tangle with operation and sabotage heavy kingdoms in hostile. We have sage for the long road ahead. Enemies of superior net worth or overall strength may see this as a farm out, but I encourage each player to observe his strength in the whole of kingdom potential. Control what you can and conquer in your sector. Losses are as much a part of learning as victory is a stepping stone. Every step should be more challenging and embraced.
    Quote Originally Posted by Bishop View Post
    Correct me then, instead of being a dick about it.
    love that thick mahogany back with no belly carve or anything...pure thick wood ! The thing ROCK is made of !
    ________
    Weed bowls

    http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=...+say&FORM=VDRE

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    Numbers & Shapes:

    I'm terrible at numbers and tech, but I'm not lost on shapes. I urge any of those who wish to gain a basic understanding of strategy to study battlefield maps or game play draw ups like football. Strength at the point of attack with support are bluechip fundamentals. The more advanced strategies involve dropping points of resistance( pulling back ) to establish new lines or float out to a better opportunity. Offensive spearheads are only as strong as their logistical backing. This relates to chaining and stalling chains. Though many a player is far advanced in the game mechanics I see very few who practice zone exploitation and supremacy. The principals are there in chess with advanced techniques that mirror the passing game in football. If we pay attention to ball location and reverse engineer how it got there you will see the similarity in chess.
    Quote Originally Posted by Bishop View Post
    Correct me then, instead of being a dick about it.
    love that thick mahogany back with no belly carve or anything...pure thick wood ! The thing ROCK is made of !
    ________
    Weed bowls

    http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=...+say&FORM=VDRE

  12. #12
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    Leadership:

    I'm no leader, I'm a muse.

    Current Events:

    Kingdoms that desire a merge are posting in the Recruiting forum.
    Last edited by StratOcastle; 20-04-2014 at 13:52.
    Quote Originally Posted by Bishop View Post
    Correct me then, instead of being a dick about it.
    love that thick mahogany back with no belly carve or anything...pure thick wood ! The thing ROCK is made of !
    ________
    Weed bowls

    http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=...+say&FORM=VDRE

  13. #13
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    Edit to Kingdom:

    After several weeks observing mystics I've switched the elf rogue to mystic. Though this might be against a few players endeavors I'm thinking in terms of space efficiency and meteor swarm effectiveness.

    The rogue personality was turned over to faery as I'm suspect of faery ability to land meteors consistently. This bolsters the overall t/m effectiveness IMO.

    Sage count will remain at 4 in kingdom. I feel this is necessary to combat enemies with formidable science.
    Quote Originally Posted by Bishop View Post
    Correct me then, instead of being a dick about it.
    love that thick mahogany back with no belly carve or anything...pure thick wood ! The thing ROCK is made of !
    ________
    Weed bowls

    http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=...+say&FORM=VDRE

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    Current Events:

    Roughknecks, one of the most honorable and best war kingdoms is disbanding. While this may seem a bad thing we must relate it to the challenges noted in previous Virtual Kingdom entries: the challenge of recruiting.

    Here we have a core of 10-12 players looking for merger. If you haven't followed the ideals of the Virtual Kingdom template, it isn't just a zero core strat and framework for fun, it was aimed precisely at a 3 kingdom merge. RK is exactly the type of kingdom that brings viability along with the experienced wonderings of former Havoc boss goodz.

    So let's summarize: we would be 2/3rds of the way toward a kingdom the way we see it here. The mistake would be for this collection of fine players to dictate strict kingdom doctrines and end up in the same quagmire. Activity driven by fun influencing execution and reaching objectives. This is what the game is really about. I love teamwork more than this template might indicate on the surface. Look closer and you'll see that each interlocks with the other. The dedication to pass the baton to the next and see through to the satisfaction that the kingdom exercises itself fully in every challenge. Not the vision of one, but shared vision united.
    Quote Originally Posted by Bishop View Post
    Correct me then, instead of being a dick about it.
    love that thick mahogany back with no belly carve or anything...pure thick wood ! The thing ROCK is made of !
    ________
    Weed bowls

    http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=...+say&FORM=VDRE

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    Defining a Role: undead cleric

    There are different ways to play each iteration of build, but specifically I'll discuss undead cleric. When I play undead cleric I have specific goals that affect war. I build my province to absorb punishment, play it hyperactively and monitor my net worth vicinity. I use my build, my strategy to best aim myself at the objective. That objective is opening net worth gaps and occupying them. There are a lot of 'my's' in there but this is a kingdom health issue.
    Chain resistance is not an act of greed. The reason you resist chaining is to waste enemy resources and time. There seems to be a belief that somebody has to be chained. Let's switch that to someone is likely to be chained.
    When I build undead cleric my offense is important, but it's not aimed at being the best. The buildings we need to resist chains aren't found in the offensive buildings as a whole. What I'm looking at are Barracks, Guard Stations, Hospitals. What I attempt is to retain a formidable ratio of both offense and defense. If I retain defense I must retain acreage. Most heavy attackers see this as gains and use offensive buildings, and they should. That's part of the plan.
    Gap/zone strategy has to do with net worth pressure points. This is what we are doing with defensive buildings. By retaining both acreage and net worth and attacking and reducing our enemies net worth by ratio we create net worth gaps. Hospitals unlike Training Grounds and Stables retain troops both defensively and offensively. We can't just have these things in place since war is fluid. Additional to having high retention benefits I also relay my attacks to keep acreage coming in at regular intervals. In other words I don't immediately multi-tap all my army at once. I let a couple of hours go by and I send the next tap or ambush. I try to keep the acreage coming in at somewhat even intervals so troops lost to overpopulation is minimized.
    In heavy war exchanges the initial intervals are achieved through ambush. If you don't have attacks to ambush then you vary time on your taps via the time/gains menu. Ideally you want traditional march taps that keep building credits rolling in. Because you're cleric with hospitals you suffer less casualties from ambush and barracks help keep your return times tight to keep the intervals in closer proximity.
    This is not a kingdom strategy, this is specifically how I play cleric in a core that includes high offense attackers or attackers with recovery speed. If we achieve the gap then our next objective is to simultaneously extend the gap and help our kingdom mates by pushing our enemies net worth further away and thus reducing gains. From the gap the cleric, or any attacker of offensive lean on hand, can then begin to pull down larger enemy provinces and isolate them in one-to-one exchanges. You want the cleric to absorb the brunt of these exchanges so a warrior is ideal for the initial march.
    By creating the gap we open an area where our provinces moving up or down have a respite to bolster themselves. Sometimes it's necessary to absorb a larger attackers march without ambushing. This is so the gap is naturally created from the top. The gains will reduce the enemies tpa/wpa and he can be hit by mage and thief operations more easily to promote shelling.
    I hope this is somewhat enlightening to how I operate and why I believe in integrated cores. Thank you.
    Quote Originally Posted by Bishop View Post
    Correct me then, instead of being a dick about it.
    love that thick mahogany back with no belly carve or anything...pure thick wood ! The thing ROCK is made of !
    ________
    Weed bowls

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