King of Kings

[Attero]

Hey there it is me once again. Your local utopian aficionado. I basically post here because i want feedback on how to be a good leader and get the most out of my kd mates. I am a decent player with a drive to be great and with that come leadership. Any tips on strategy, getting people involved and just making the kd a fun place to be. I don't want the hassel or feel of a top 15kd bc that doesn't interest me but what does interest me is how to motivate people to enjoy the game and enjoy it albeit top 50 or 200. I want a community not rank.

[smercjd]

I think that I'm working hard to do this with my KD.
Need:
1 - Willing Attitude. Drive. Motivation. (You seem to have this already)
2 - Good listener. My KD reports back to me occasionally that they really like how I listen to everyone and try to fulfill their wishes. No, you can't please everyone. Yes, there will be difference of opinion from multiple people. No, there isn't always that perfect balance. Yes, you will still lose some. For most, however, as long as you're actively listening and putting in effort to meet demands (by actively, I mean write stuff in forums about what they suggested. What do you think about it? What do others think about it? Etc.) Even if an idea seems off at first, you can either develop a strategy based on the idea, or logically provide constructive and optimistic criticism as to how something else might be better.
3 - Defend your people. Stop conflicts. Don't take anybody's "side" but rather try to find that compromise. Even if there is obviously no compromise, the fact that you're trying is most visible to both sides. If one doesn't budge at all and continues to refuse to cooperate with anything but his/her own ideas, then maybe that person isn't so great for the KD. I have never had to do this, but I could see there being a time when it would be necessary.
4 - Rules. Set basic/standard rules. As long as you and your KD know that those are the rules, you have something to fall back on. This doesn't mean you can't change/tweak the rules later. But at least you have a good policy that should be followed by everyone. You'll have more backing to a potential argument. You want them to be brief and concise. (I can be long winded and I'm sure I've lost some people with the lack of clarity in what I say). The shorter/easier to understand the rules, the better. That said...don't make ridiculous rules that aren't fun. Everyone plays a game to have fun (or win). Both are fun, sometimes they are both possible! But it's important for people not to be bogged down by a huge list of rules that focuses on only one or the other (usually winning).
5 - Inactives. I put this apart from rules because this is the one thing you must be very strict and intolerant with. Inactives KILL your kingdom. Both in war and in diplomacy. That's that many people not saying anything. Not contributing. Making the KD more boring for lack of presence. That's that many people feeding the enemy dragon. Not really taking hits because their province sucks so bad (since they don't check it) that they aren't a threat. Your active people will get tired of being chained non-stop while the inactive sits there feeding the enemy kingdom. It is MUCH better to have a 10 prov KD than 20 with 10 inactives. Do your best to take out the inactives as quickly as possible. Sure, you might get another inactive to fill the spot...but you might not. Take your better chances. -- I usually give 24 hours after + symbol before opening to attacks...if they come back after attacks have started, I give them a chance. Maybe they had a serious reason for it. If it happens again, though - that's it. If they are having that many issues, even if they're a nice person - they are still killing your KD. They will understand and hopefully take care of whatever the situation(s) was/were before playing again. RL happens.

This is a good start, I think. :) You could just join my KD :D

[octobrev]

See: Realest

[tras19]

As a monarch you need a lot of activity and patience. It takes many ages to establish a good kd. You will go through a lot of players before you're there. Establish your goals and your rules clearly And work towards making that your standard.

Steward or a council is a must. Find one or two guys you trust and have them help you to lead the kingdom. It helps in wars if someone from leadership can always be around to direct the hits and ops.

IRC. Can't stress irc enough. Makes it so much easier for leadership to give orders and such. And it's the best place to meet other utopians and is a good way to work diplomacy or recruit. Irc is a great way to get your kd talking. It's so easy and you can make a public channel for general talk and a private channel for war and such.

Read. Read the guide, read forums. Learn a lot and start thinking of kd builds and such. War knowledge will come in time.

War as often as you can. If you lose then learn from it and improve. In time you will have a solid core that fights we'll together.

[Bukharistan]

One of the most important parts of leadership, which does take a lot of time:

PRIVATE MESSAGES. You need to build a connection with your guys if you want them to stick around. Only communicating via mass messages and throne message won't do the trick. Show them they are individually important to the KD, and not just 1 out of 20.

[Attero]

I have read much and feel like i have improved leaps n bounds over the past 3 months. Also im not to familiar with irc tras19. I have noticed that PM is very effective as my turnover has slowed radically over the past 3 weeks. Are there any forum games that you play in yalls kd? Also how do i get hooked up in a irc for my kd?

[Squee311]

Show them they are individually important to the KD, and not just 1 out of 20.

if they need their hand held this badly... high chance they will bounce on you even with the effort. Most of those players who need to be walked through like this cant handle a war loss and think the kingdom isn't worth it and jump to the next one that looks decent.

The council idea is right on but not too many chiefs

[jsmeaze]

I am the king of what I would consider a very good, effective warring kingdom, we've been top 15 on the war charts for the past 4 ages.

I'm typing this assuming your goal is to win wars.

To get the most out of your kingdom, you have to be the most active player in your own kingdom, in war and preferably out. Always have a direction. When we're in war, I'm always paying attention and updating orders like it's my job. When people say IRC is crucial, I disagree. I feel like Kingdom chat is sufficient. If you're always in there typing, it makes other people use it just as much. Joke around, build a rapport, but most importantly build trust.

If someone has a bad attitude, doesn't follow war orders, or is constantly arguing with people, kick them out. If you have your kingdom's trust they will back you up. And kicking out inactives and bad eggs actually helps people respect you. Meanwhile, make it your goal to find 20 or 21 active players that are willing to follow your war orders. Not a single attacker in my kingdom goes off on their own and hits "whoever they feel like". Good clear orders are always written in the forum, and I am active enough to keep them updated and accurate.

Next you just need to look at your war orders that you give. Make sure what you're doing makes sense. Have a plan in place to slay dragons, and make sure every province follows it. If people slack in this area, talk to them nicely and get them to their job. I make a thread in the forum for each dragon we fund, and slay and people post their funding and slaying stats, and after each war I add up the numbers and post them in total. I also make sure to format the news for attackers to see how many attacks and uniques each attacker makes. In a min-time 48 hour war, 4 uniques min is acceptable, but I'd like that number to be even higher. 4 minimum! If anything less, once again talk to them, and if it becomes a habit...say bye bye.

Using upoopu we keep track of all thief ops, and I post those in the forum as well after the war. Using all of the dragon funding/slaying stats, attacker stats, t/m stats, at the end of every war I name an attacker MVP and a t/m MVP for that war and make another forum post explaining why they won and people can offer congratulations. It becomes a competition within the kingdom to see who the best performer is every war, and friendly competition is good! It makes everybody compete to do better!

Just keep things organized, and win wars. The more wars you win, the more people will listen to you and work together, because then they'll want to keep winning even more wars. If people need to quit or become inactive, try to recruit in the forum. When you recruit, make it clear about what you're looking for. It should go along the lines of "you need to be active during war, you need to be able to follow war orders and work as a team, and you need to be able to get along with others most importantly. during war i need you to keep your troops out and attacking as much as possible, and blah blah blah"

[Attero]

Jmeaze what a wonderful article. Thanks to all who posted here..so as not to spam the.forums what is the best method to chain down someone eceonomy? Right now we are TD TD RazeRaze in waves of 4 hit. I also sprinkle some Massacres in there too. Raze is always last hit. Tips plz!

[Chrystal Palace]

Well in the start it depends. What are you trying to do? Sure economy is a major factor but securing your tm is what I like to do. So if I was running war I would start hitting top off with troops home. That faster I can secure my tm the faster they can start hitting chained provs. But again this is all circumstantial. And raze is no good. Getting caught with troops out and no incoming land can become a disaster waiting to happen.


Edit: kd chat is fun and all but as monarch I would join irc. You might not be able to get your whole kd to go along with it but you should. It's a great community and someone is always there to troll you but also to help you. Get to know the other 200 people that play this game.

[Spahrep]

IRC + good Bot go a long way for makking a KD play better as a whole, ignoring the human factor.

Using IRC will help you get to know your players well, and it will greatly improve the KDs communication. Also fix player problems asap and dont be afraid to make hard decisions. Let players express their views, but dont let them rock the boat, and stand by your decisions. You might kick a bad egg, and 2 or 3 people might leave with them, but if they truly were a bad egg, even if you did lose a few good people with them, its better for the KD in the long run. Having a KD of people who all want to put in the same effort and reach the same goal will go a long long way. I personaly think that if a a clear mission statement or charter can be helpful as long as its not overly draconic, so new and current players know what is expected and what the goals are.
Also to reiterate from above, a council is a must.