Virtual Kingdom ~ Amber Dream Orrery

[tetley]

i would make those war heros something else.

[StratOcastle]

i would make those war heros something else.

Thank you for stopping by.
The entire kingdom is an idealized template. The rules are: 3 of each personality and race. The 25th province must be a combination not yet represented in the kingdom. Roleplaying dictum.

While this isn't pragmatic on the surface there is multipurpose reasoning. First, it's for kingdoms to open their eyes to alternative builds by familiarizing themselves with the capabilities individuals bring. If I can spark someone to synergize the variables it may bring innovations. We must try to evolve :-)

Second, I'd like to push players to the fore of some kingdom strategies with a focus on team. The great majority of Utopia is in the camp of either monotony or chaos. My approach is to look at jazz as a conceptual inspiration. An additional method of kingdom doctrine. I'm not saying better, but a place where the player can breath and use instinct. This is not for your standard player, it's for those I've seen on rare occasion.

Third, fun. Just look at the top and ask yourself if that looks like fun. It looks like an addiction, but there's no positive energy. They are victims of their math. They must do things in such a way. This system of efficiency is in large part the way the animal kingdom works. Despite the teeth and claws of the lion, man has dominance because he embraces culture.
We are talking about quality. We embrace the quality of the player above the quantity of the build. We trust she will bring all capability to fruition because it's what she wants to do. I want a player that wants to play avian more than I want that player to lock into vanilla core. Winning is the end, playing is the point.

I always welcome comments here. I'm not the sharpest so I encourage input that benefits players.

[StratOcastle]

i would make those war heros something else.

You can switch the races, but must keep at least 3 war heroes. So if you switch the races you must have alternative personalities to compliment. Simple fun. I love archetypes, but several entries are player favorites.

[StratOcastle]

Divisions:

I've added divisions to the kingdom array to further idealize the 3 time zones that are integral to merge. The strategy is only here as a guideline, but offers insight to full quality activity. Waving is intended to be an elliptical function with attention to speed for attack phasing. Complimentary operations/sabotage prelude a complexity of traditional and relay uniques.
Think of the attack timing like the individual limbs of a drummer. Snare, hats, bass at the heart with ride, crash and toms for strategic change ups and fills.
Like jazz reads off sheet music the kingdom strategies will follow. The expectations are a kingdom that solos with the strategy at the core which we'll conceptualize as the bridge. Have fun, but always meet at the bridge.

[StratOcastle]

Music of Utopia:

Realating game play to music is a way of identifying the fun. True musicians can be identified by their interest in playing and entertaining the endurance of their years. The cultural embrace of seeing a live band locked in is the stuff of treasured memories; not just for the audience but the players. This is what we want in Utopia.

We'll go with a 3 piece band to relate concepts. 3 piece bands are traditionally drums, bass, guitar. When we look at persona/race they are divided into attacker, operations/sabotage, economy. There is some crossover both in music and Utopia: drums - avian/orc/undead. bass - elf/halfling. guitar - dwarf/faery/human. We can disagree on the category because we each have our own idea where each falls, as it should: These are creative interpretations.

I'll explain each category in my interpretation. The heavy attacker types drive the action. They are responsible for the beat and rhythm: hats, snare, bass drum.
The bass is simple, but it ties the drums and guitar together. Authoritative melody. This corridor is the fulfillment of the music. In Utopia the epic play of these types are key to bringing the rest to full realization.
Finally the guitar. This doesnt go as deep, but the creative edge, adaptive soloing and complexity are found here.

To give a snippet of where we're going, I knew a guitarist who could tune his guitar by the drums. The drums were always in tune so the guitarist would strike a note and as the tuning got close the drums would resonate much like a guitar string on the edge of fundamental. When the resonating stopped he was in tune.
And so it should be with your fellow players. Your actions or failures can be played off by instinct if you know how each other play. By sticking to the rhythm, even if you make mistakes soloing, you can always come home. A good band covers for each other; maybe the bassist cleans up a line or the drummer extends a fill. So it should be with attacks, operations/sabotage and aid.

We'll continue with more later...

[Bukharistan]

If I'd follow your rules, I'd run this:

Average prov size: 1000 acres.

Attackers:
3x Orc/Warrior. 900 acres. 100+ opa, breakers.
3x UD/Tactician. 800 acres. 90-100 opa, downchainers.
3x Avian/Cleric. 750 acres. 80-90 opa. Downchainers, razers, massacres on chained targets.

Attacker/Econ:
3x Human/Sage. 1100 acres. High wpa/tpa. Full elite army. Keep 50-60 dpa at home early war.
3x Dwarf/War Hero. 900 acres. 80 opa. 40-50 dpa. Meant to grow during war.

T/Ms:
1x Elf/Mystic: 1400 acres. 7 raw wpa. 90+ dpa, 20% WTs. Only casting MS.
1x Faery/Mystic 1000 acres. (my unique prov): Help with MS. Greeds/FBs/ToG
3x Faery/Rogue. 1250 acres. Help with greeds/FBs. ToG late-war. Kidnappings/riots/

Hybrids:

2x Elf/Mystic. 1100 acres. 60 opa, 4-5 wpa. NMing before chains. 20% Guilds to keep up wpa in war.
3x halfling/Merchant. 1100 acres. Full elite army, 5 tpa (riots on enemy TMs). Kidnappings/NS for chains. Late-war econ provs.

[StratOcastle]

Very nice, and thank you for your perspective. Personally I like the stacked archetypical persona/race your array exhibits.
No waste from tactician, full capability from warrior, sage, merchant and mystic. War hero is nice on dwarf for unfettered province capability in any kind of weather. The faery mystic was one of my close alternates for the unique as well.

[Bukharistan]

Yeah I've always been more of a stacker and straightforward roles. One of the major reasons is that barely any player is really able to effectively play hybrids. It takes a lot of skill to have enough defense/sustain while also having enough wpa/tpa to do enough damage. Then the hardest part is maintaining that during war, choosing the right targets. And even if you can run it well, it also very much depends on your KD. I've so often seen bad Kings making an Elf Hybrid waste all his mana on a guy with way too high wpa. Then they are ordered to do huge land-grabs which makes their wpa even worse.

It's easy to teach people to play pure attacker. Just give them an indication of opa/dpa rates, and during war even new players are usually able to follow chain targets.

Dwarf/War Hero is a great comb but would be very tricky to play. In any KD I play in we always instantly kill dragons, so for me WH has never really been an option.

The tact on UD is nice, because with some added WTs and 2 raw tpa, you can effectively hold off most thieves, or at least make it hell for them to do a lot of damage. Top of that you have free SoMs/Surveys during war. Especially in long wars that intel is crucial.

Furthermore, with this set-up you have 10 persons with ToG, of which 4 are nearly impenetrable to thievery/magic, 3 are open to FBs but can kidnapp back. The humans will have a harder time, but when that sci kicks in over the age, they can also get towards the 5-6 mod wpa/tpa.

[StratOcastle]

We think much alike with a few exceptions( Mine not based in the reasoning we agree on ). The alternative builds are due to player input in my setup. In kingdom I posted a happiness thread asking players how they like playing what they chose and detail reasons why or why not they'd play the persona/race combination again.
When I run across a standout player in war I like to take full intel to see their build and perhaps understand their perspective. I'm not out to ruin them as much as evaluate how they work.

[StratOcastle]

The Lower Tier:

While many have the general perception that the lower tier ( ghetto ) is only about a lesser form of play I must differ. My enjoyment comes not just from the freedom but most especially from the match ups. Organized kingdoms can only claim this through their leaders. If you don't understand where I'm going, here we go >

There have always been war stories where 2 formidable warriors meet each other in battle amongst the chaos. I'm not touting myself as such, but this is a motivator for me. I enjoy having a nemesis in war. You watch each other despite all that's going on. You embrace each other in arms and try your tactics against a foe who has proven themselves.
Recall Highlander when we see the kurgan for the first time. This is what is going on down here.

It's with this experience that I present The Virtual Kingdom. A place for a champions heart unbridled. Yes there is organization, but each is set for the next to take off. The promise here is that you will have your moment: do with it as you will and make it count. Victory usually feels good, but matching blades with a serious playing in open combat is simply raw. It makes for fine memories, even when your enemy gets the best of you. Give it time to burn in and it will harden you. It's why I name provinces individually like Unicorns Abandon. Play it like you say it.

Take care.

[tetley]

I GUESS here's what I'd go with:

3 halfling rogue
3 faery sage
3 elf mystic
3 dwarf merchant
3 human war hero
3 orc tactician
3 undead warrior
3 avian cleric

I suppose it's pretty straightforward and not quite as imaginative as your original construction, but I guess that's how my mind works :P all those crazy combinations freak me out.

- Ha/ro to be a nutcracker for those tough UBs or to spam Prop on turtlers with army home.
- Elf mystic spamming MS like they were born to do.
- I prefer faery in the sage slot because faeries a) can be set up as better toggers this way with good econ and b) they are already in the T/M slot here so they will be casting spells (obviously), I prefer to leave them to do reliable amnesia and let the humans TOG or FB attackers (bit easier and less reliant on good WPA). It also just rounds out their thievery better.
- Dwarf merchant as attacker gives them something to do with their mana when not in a conflict.
- Human WH because, I dunno, this is what I play. It just works. Humans hate plague; one sided dragon advantage guaranteed allows for more flexibility in their role.
- Orc is in tactician slot because undead already has more room for rax and WTs thanks to no farms and fewer hospitals needed. Orc needs CS more than UD in this setup. Also 5 generals on undead makes them better at spreading the plague.

I know ZZ runs human rogues + mystics this age. BB had an age of human rogues, but rogues still had the den bonus then. I find it difficult to think along these lines; I'm not great at mixing personalities with races that they don't intuitively 'match' with. But there are probably lots of workable combos.

Honestly, my biggest problem with setups like these is the intra-kd plague spread. Undeads start chains, and then suddenly your orcs, avians, dwarves, and potentially halflings have the plague too from contact spread. I've decided I don't really like undeads much in kingdoms that aren't war-hero based.

[StratOcastle]

Thank you for your submission tetley.
I confess that what looks like my imagination was in large part player preferences. My personal preference is to push a races particular advantages with personality. Therefore:
1- I like rogue on halfling, but I've gotten input from many who prefer faery.
2- I like sage on faery which may seem counter to stacking, but the faery has much more potential in crucial areas than human.
3- again, elf mystic for the same reasons as halfling. The lone drawback being the repeat of spells, but no one else is so designed to land them.
~ Part of my understanding of player input is the progression of certain breaking points that can be explored by the next most reliable in that endeavor. Examples like amnesia require an initial penetration that can hopefully be followed by less adept spell casters. These aren't ideal in a real kingdom and are restricted by the rule set here. So pragmatically I approve faery sage on my personal bias, with halfling rogue support. To my logic you must have the tools to engage as dangerous a foe as potential allows. You've done that in this build. Good work.

[tras19]

And so it should be with your fellow players. Your actions or failures can be played off by instinct if you know how each other play. By sticking to the rhythm, even if you make mistakes soloing, you can always come home. A good band covers for each other; maybe the bassist cleans up a line or the drummer extends a fill. So it should be with attacks, operations/sabotage and aid.

We'll continue with more later...

very nice. some of the funnest wars ive fought were with very small tight knit groups in the ghetto. there were only a small core of actives so we were pretty close.

[StratOcastle]

very nice. some of the funnest wars ive fought were with very small tight knit groups in the ghetto. there were only a small core of actives so we were pretty close.

I've been there myself obviously. In one kingdom we were double hostile by 2 larger kingdoms who wouldn't accept CF. Our entire mystic and rogue compliment refused to help at all. All except my friend Allen who joined as a halfling rogue. We chose war and with only a few attackers and one rogue actually beat the enemy by acreage at which point they deal broke and waved at what was supposed to be a timed WD by the loser. The monarch was soft and wanted me to take over, but the mages and thieves were just venom. Sad because as a kingdom we would've conquered them handily. But I have fond memories of fighting next to the few who didn't care what the odds were. I did like that king, just felt sorry for his draw on turtles.

[StratOcastle]

Cigars in War:

Color me off topic. Anyways, I find a cigar a nice compliment to those trying times in war when the chips are down, but your army is up.

1: Illusione - What a beautiful cigar. In the case of this smoke, and this is unique, I can recommend the entire line. These are among the most magical cigars I have ever smoked. As a mature aficionado my take on this line is that of a cigar that isn't trying to be something. It has at times such a glorious floral note it can pull your heart strings. Very few smokers know the brand in that it appeals to those who aren't guided by strength charts or legendary cigar blenders. Pure simple nirvana with a rich cloud and lingering finish with just enough spice to ring that bell. Epernay line is the THE.

2: Davidoff Colorado Claro - Specifically the best cigar Davidoff makes and that's saying legendary. What it lacks in floral character it makes up in an underlying breadth of classic notes of leather, white pepper and an unrivaled complexity that even trumps many fine Cuban premier makes.

3: Jaime Garcia Reserva Especial - This smoke takes a part in both the floral and spicy territory that touches home with both the cigars mentioned above. Clearly a masculine smoke with rich coffee and woody deep dark flavor. The French inhale is rewarding if one is prepared for a long powerful finish. A classic. In a way the best cigar after a hard stressful day.

There are a number of others that I visit time to time that on occasion have displayed the character of the smokes I've made staples in my bad habit. I await the return of a fine Honduran puro which was found in the Don Melo Centario. Until then....