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Thread: Virtual Kingdom, Age 62 ~ Tannhauser Requiem

  1. #16
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    The above statement is not to define the Virtual Kingdom template but to offer an alternative structure to what most kingdoms are built for. You can certainly pursue war or honor or exploration. My point is you can do all of them without category.

    How often do we see frustration or ill regard for community in these forums? Quite a lot. What I'm trying to do here is bring the player to the front and not just provide them as a unit to achieve one goal. You see the build strategies with a slew of common races, common personalities to leverage a result with little regard for player enjoyment. The joy is in achievement. Take achievement away and many players are just a cog in a wheel. We see end of age activity drop as so many kingdoms are focussed on narrow goals.

    The plethora of personality and race here allows the players to express themselves. Sure we want to achieve. We achieve with an appreciation for the individual gifts each bring that fuels the others. We have unity, but we do it as individuals complete objectives. You like avian? You can be avian. You can be fast and circle your enemies in relentless bombardment.
    You like human? Study to your hearts content and be master in all things. When our enemies come we have something to fight for and that is a culture built to last. I like to compare this kingdom to a jazz band for many reasons, but one of which is the longevity of good players enjoying playing together. Just look at the age and enthusiasm of so many musicians and you may understand that the culture is the addiction.
    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 !
    ________
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  2. #17
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    So you wanna win the age at 0/0 then? :P


    The Jerks.

  3. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by tetley View Post
    So you wanna win the age at 0/0 then? :P
    Monkey see monkey do, lol.

    Myself, I enjoy aspects of war. I've not been part in kingdoms that are balanced in the fashion the Virtual Kingdom is that also have the attitude to war up. I'm frankly disappointed in this aspect of the player base that doesn't embrace challenge. It's a kind of starvation for me.

    To offer insight on D&D brand of teamwork they have four major roles that are further defined by occupation and skills:
    Leaders - team bolstering, healers
    Controllers - general operations against enemies
    Defenders - blends durability and action types to protect team
    Strikers - initiative and killer attacking

    Just like here there are different roads to accomplish goals. Obviously this leads me to the aspect of enjoying an array of attacker types rather than the system we see so often in Utopia. Warriors and tacticians are your strikers. War heroes and clerics are your defenders. Thus...
    Last edited by StratOcastle; 21-07-2014 at 18:56.
    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

  4. #19
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    Expanding On D&D:

    In this section I'll show you how my D&D party was built; what we had and what we didn't and perhaps how it can influence your perception of Utopia. Just as Utopia provinces there was ability run over in D&D, like spell use. Our story was based on a destiny of lineage starring our most intelligent and brash player ( not me ) : He was Dragonborn.

    Dragonborn Paladin - defender ( great booster, great isolator )
    Dragonborn Fighter - defender ( great isolator, superior movement, auto-damage )
    Dragonborn Warlord - leader ( great healer, great booster )
    Dwarf Warden - defender ( most durable, zone damage )
    Elf Ranger - striker ( incredible speed, incredible damage, ranged, stealther )
    Elf Wizard - controller ( incredible zone effects, best in skill challenges )
    Halfling Sorcerer - striker ( incredibly elusive, incredible damage, ranged, stealther )
    Half-Elf Bard - leader ( great healer, great booster )

    We didn't have a rogue, but our strikers made up for this and it really never became a problem. We had no Melee Striker, but I'll explain. While Melee Strikers can potentially out damage anyone in the game, it comes to no surprise they also take a great deal of damage compared to ranged strikers. All our choices were free and our ranged strikers were very happy to not absorb the punishment of the Defenders.
    I ran the Dwarf Warden and this was some influence of my take on zone control and who should be controlling it in Utopia. My dwarf was incredibly durable, and counter intuitive to most defenders, my place in combat was in the middle of as many enemies I could dive into. This seems unhealthy, but the zone combat was not friendly to the weak of heart. It was by occupying as many enemies as I could that provided room for others to work. I could open up areas for the strikers to work the edges. The Paladin always engaged the most formidable opponent and my job was to help him get there. The fighter in his tradition was a wall between the enemy and our healers and controller.
    We were very aggressive, but careful to pull everyone along. If someone needed help we found a way to get to them. I always found it funny how the wizard would get too close to the action and crumble like a cracker when engaged. No worries, we needed him and I like elves.
    Because our Strikers were ranged it helped conserve healing so that the defenders were getting most of the necessary aid. My character had tons of self healing which also helped focus healing at the need areas of our Fighter being the wall and the Paladin engaging the toughest boss. Our Fighter could fly so if we got divided up he often was able to get back to a good position.

    8 Makes Great:

    Notice this party consists of 8 guys I've had the pleasure of playing strategy games with for well over 30 years. This is no accident of team chemistry. If you'll note, I site divisions in this Virtual Kingdom along the 8 available personality and races. I know from personal experience and just looking around how many it takes to make a synergized team. Team sizes vary from one game to another but on the field players never reach 25. Thus, in Utopia it is natural to have divisions of 8 by personality count, race and global GMT. If we follow the 3 major time zones in a 24 hour period we have 8 guys every 8 hours doing their business at full alert. So even at normal drop off hours this kingdom will be nominally functional.
    You can argue these are simply ideals and I'll agree with you with this exception. Mechanically this works for real life and kingdom culture that spans the globe.
    In real life I can gauge the amount of interest and participation from 7 others for sure. To blur this line by forcing bland kingdom builds is just rendering yourself to the also-ran builds we see strewn all over the game. Half interested players just logging on to be part of something, but starved of that real get together gaming that I am use to in D&D. There is a difference and in my heart of hearts it's what every team player needs to nourish the best game experience.
    We always challenged the strong. Always. When you're bred to fight great challenges it burns in you like a star. Goals are just trails end like crowning. It's nice, but look up there now. Is that fun? Or is climbing up there more fun? I'll bet you it more fun to get up there and unload everything you have to win the day. This is q game with logistics up front, but you should look beyond that and see if what you're doing is honestly fun. It's a game so play it.
    ~ Love, StratOcastle ~
    Last edited by StratOcastle; 26-07-2014 at 00:37.
    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

  5. #20
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    Symbolic Of The 25th Player:

    It would be wrong for me to leave out the most crucial element to our group in D&D, and that's our Dungeon Master. He has actually been a close friend even before we started playing D&D. Guys traded running games and he would run a character as well, but he was always our host. He has hosted games for most of my life and still does to this day. it's at his table we play, his computer now days and his place to stay and sleep off a long night of gaming. You couldn't ask for a more noble friend.
    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

  6. #21
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    Doing The Merge:

    In the Virtual Kingdom we are based around a 3 kingdom merge. Our difference is in preserving the culture of the 3 kingdoms. The reason I'm supportive of cultural division is to offer the active player a rich experience. To shed light on this premise and the interpretation here, I would point to metropolitan burrows: Little Italy, China Town etc.

    The idea isn't to draw lines between districts so much as to have a comfortable place to call home and an exotic kingdom to experience overall. As the kingdom matures some of the lines will blur as player interaction relaxes. A respect for kingdom culture may be the most important element in successful mergers. If we follow Pew Pew we can observe from the outside what appears to be a succession of solid merge doctrine.

    None of us from the outside can say what causes a merge to fail, but I'd venture a lack of respect from the parties involved. Respect is an all encompassing idea:
    Were we clear about our activity and goals?
    Did we understand who would be making final decisions?
    Are we generally aligned on how we deal with challenges?

    We are looking for 8 of the best from each kingdom. Best doesn't mean jerks who know their numbers and regard bullying as the way of being. We are looking for players who want challenge and can back it with activity. This also requires an explanation because most would see this as fever pitch freak mode. It is not. As I've pointed to before, imagine a jazz ensemble, old rock band like AC~DC etc. You should be as one and enjoy intereaction in a reasonable division of 8 players. This brings synergy to the fore and allows each player to color the game in their own signature.

    As stewards of good gamesmanship we aren't forgetting the kingdoms we left behind. We should work toward merging these as well. They may be lower activity and less experienced, but we owe them a debt of contribution to our cause. Leaving these casual players with a strength of roster that fits their agenda is the noble thing. We should seek their agreement to alliance because we believe in strength. To compete at higher levels requires an understanding of alliances and insurgence. Diplomacy isn't a weakness unless you let it become the driver. Let the tops have their diplomacy amongst themselves; we're not here to wait our turn nor are our ambitions toward taking over. Coexistence is the welcome challenge. If we're poking around and someone gets interested, be kind but be formidable. Appreciate strength, measure it but don't fear strength. Know your own and excercise that strength through execution.
    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

  7. #22
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    Avians & What We Like:

    It's comes as no surprise that avians are largely ignored as a viable core race. Here, by obligation we avians ( 3 ). This isn't to my eyes a weakness. What we do here is weight of synergy. Speed is part of our strategy and we cover that with avian pure ability and dwarf using Quickfeet.
    We have 3 personalities for avian to cover various strategies. First is cleric. Simply, lower troop loss is a practical desire if your running army in/out. We expect the avian cleric to act in a classic heavy attacker role, but allow some room for off target marching and some alternative attack types as required.
    We have an avian tactician which acts as our free attacker. We do this for the avian tactician to excercise a full speed advantage. The responsibilities would be more direct than the dwarf tactician in that the avian is more suited to pure attacking and not theater control. Free of doctrine the avian tactician can dodge ambush and add support leverage to chains. Alternative attacks are encouraged.
    The avian war hero works closely with undead in chaining and uses war spoils as net worth zones are cleared for occupation. The inherent speed and ability to reach home allows us to set up shop wherever the avian war hero makes her move.

    Sometimes it's hard for wave based kingdoms to understand integrated tactics outside of wave times. Here we flex waves. The impact of what we try to do is perpetual motion. We want continuous pressure in all sectors of attacking, spell operation and sabotage. Our divisions are set to exploit their strengths across the entire Utopian time frame. Avians are part of a bigger picture and integral to dismantling enemy cores.
    Last edited by StratOcastle; 27-07-2014 at 00:37.
    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

  8. #23
    Forum Addict smercjd's Avatar
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    Dude Strat0
    Our KD is missing
    2 Avians
    1 Orc
    1 Human
    1 Halfling
    to be perfectly balanced race-wise. :D
    Our personalities are a bit skewed, though so won't get balance there...but funny how it turned out!! ^_^

  9. #24
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    Good Leadership, Good Strategy, Freedom: in honor of smercjd

    The Jimi Hendrix Experience is a story about the 3 elements of leadership, strategy and freedom. I won't summarize that here because I hope, if you don't know, you would be motivated to discover this yourself.
    Listen to Hendrix now and you'll still be hard pressed to find the individuality expressed in those recordings compared to many other artists. Imagine the mind blowing impact in the 60s. We can chase numbers and hope for satisfaction as players. Sadly we can't just flip a guitar over and become legends. What we can do is approach our game with freedom of choice. This isn't greedy choice, this is Jimi on guitar, Noel Redding on bass and Mitch Mitchell on drums.
    By honoring each other with mutual respect we practice our freedom with authority. If you didn't understand that I'll rephrase: because we want to be our best for our kingdom mates we want our kingdom mates to be their best for kingdom. So if I'm Mitch Mitchell I'm anchoring the beat and my playing guides rhythm anchored by Noel Redding who supports the most explosive player of our time, Jimi Hendrix.
    I'm not asking you number guys to try to be the big dreamers. What I'm asking you to do is stop saying no. Use your gift and help dreamers reach their zenith. It's why we need each other. I think I've pointed out so called inefficient things that unchecked could be disastrous for bottom feeders: I point you to last age and the vulnerability of explorers to amnesia. Now this age is the age of the sage.
    ~ Sure it's coincidence, but that's how close we were. And no I didn't do math to see this vulnerability. ~

    Edit: Oh, because I just realized some may not share my perspective earned through D&D. Simply, the biggest kingdoms have the most stuff. You can build to race and/or you can build to take things away. We always chose to go after the dragon.
    Last edited by StratOcastle; 28-07-2014 at 04:27.
    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

  10. #25
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    Observations On Build & Relating Ideas To Numbers:

    1- assign personality and race to a color wheel based in penetration and relation
    Blue - Elf ~ magic penetration
    purple - Dwarf ~ magic damage
    Red - Orc ~ attack impact
    orange - Undead ~ attack endurance
    Yellow - Halfling ~ sabotage penetration
    green - Avian ~ sabotage damage
    * Black - Human ~ tertiary primal balance
    * White - Faery ~ tertiary cosmic balance
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
    Blue - Mystic
    purple - Merchant
    Red - Warrior
    orange - Cleric
    Yellow - Rogue
    green - Tactician
    * Black - War Hero
    * White - Sage
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^
    You must understand I'm no mathematician so this is somewhat how I relate build to numerical conception.
    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

  11. #26
    Forum Addict smercjd's Avatar
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    Your mind is a puzzle designed by Escher. This is one of the reasons I keep asking you to join me - someone who can't ever understand the art, but marvels at it's beauty.

  12. #27
    Forum Addict smercjd's Avatar
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    Here is the breakdown of my KD I will tell you what we have and then one that I would think balanced. I can't remember what yours is and I'm intentionally not looking to see how different our minds are. I used to DM - and having a player that thinks the way you do makes the game more enjoyable for everyone. I like the unique differences each player brings to the table top. ;)

    1 Avian - Tactician
    2 Dwarf - Tactician
    3 Dwarf - Tactician
    4 Dwarf - Cleric
    5 Elf - Sage
    6 Elf - Mystic
    7 Elf - Merchant
    8 Faery - War Hero
    9 Faery - Mystic
    10 Faery - Sage
    11 Halfling - Rogue
    12 Halfling - Rogue
    13 Halfling - Sage
    14 Human - Rogue
    15 Human - Sage
    16 Orc - Warrior
    17 Orc - Sage
    18 Undead - Tactician
    19 Undead - Tactician
    20 Undead - Cleric
    21 Undead - Warrior
    Personality distribution: 5 Sages, 5 Tacticians, 3 Rogues, 2 Mystics, 2 Warriors, 2 Clerics, 1 Merchant, 1 War Hero
    Race Distribution: 1 Avian, 3 Dwarves, 3 Elves, 3 Faeries, 3 Halflings, 2 Humans, 2 Orcs, 4 Undead
    Missing: Human, Orc, Avian, Avian
    --------------------------------
    My virutal KD
    1 Avian - Tactician
    2 Avian - Cleric
    3 Avian - Rogue
    4 Dwarf - Sage
    5 Dwarf - Merchant
    6 Dwarf - Merchant
    7 Elf - Sage
    8 Elf - Mystic
    9 Elf - War Hero
    10 Faery - Sage
    11 Faery - Mystic
    12 Faery - Rogue
    13 Halfling - Rogue
    14 Halfling - War Hero
    15 Halfling - War Hero
    16 Human - Sage
    17 Human - Warrior
    18 Human - Mystic
    19 Human - Cleric
    20 Orc - Tactician
    21 Orc - Warrior
    22 Orc - Warrior
    23 Undead - Tactician
    24 Undead - Merchant
    25 Undead - Cleric

  13. #28
    Forum Addict smercjd's Avatar
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    I put it side by side to your original post the following were the differences:
    3 Avian/War Hero -- Avian/Rogue
    4 Dwarf/Tactician -- Dwarf/Sage
    9 Elf/Mystic -- Elf/War Hero
    15 Halfling/Rogue -- Halfling/War Hero
    18 Human/War Hero -- Human/Mystic
    20 Orc/Cleric -- Orc/Tactican

    6 Provinces were different -- wow...that's a lot less than I thought!

  14. #29
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    Yeah, and thank you for your submissions. I'll take time to look them over as it's a hobby of mine.
    Kingdoms I've seen have gotten fairly close to the Virtual Kingdom. I'm pretty sure where it falls off is the personalities. For waving purposes I understand a degree of uniformity, but each offers certain virtues I find invaluable. In the D&D comparison you'll note we had a number of defenders, but were specialized. Even though we hadn't really planned it we had both redundant basics and then a variety of capabilities that worked well as a unit. This is how I see the personalities in Utopia.
    Like Utopia we had some complaining but this was to my mind a misunderstanding of role. Our fighter sometimes said my character was overpowered, but he wasn't using his full potential. It's cool if the shortcomings are considered preference and I can agree with that. My character simply had great utility that fell into place. My character specialized in zone control and damage. That is, I had a number of features that worked something like grenades that I was at the center. So the way I'd fight was to get in the middle of as many enemies as I could. They weren't especially devastating; it was the accumulated effect of several rounds of work. I fully expected my team would exercise their strengths to pull off victory.
    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

  15. #30
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    The way I see the game is you have certain spearhead builds like elf sage and mystic, halfling rogue and orc warrior. Once these guys have broken off what they need to it opens the enemy to the more damaging faery, dwarf and volume assault by avian. Thus, in my setup I double up on the elf mystic, halfling rogue and orc warrior to deal with a degree of counter tactics. I try to get as much ToG in kingdom while not compromising attack capability.

    I'm glad you have DM experience. I have run a few games myself. Balancing fun and control is a test in maturity. Logistics are very important in Utopia, but I find players make themselves slaves to numbers instead of using what they have as leverage. This is why I say in the Virtual Kingdom you give freedom to speed. In D&D it was our strikers that required the freedom to do what they do best. They might run out of my zone and it was up to me to get close enough to occupy enemies that would've engaged them. Sometimes it was a balancing act protecting the healers and wizard, but that's where the fun is.

    I should mention my D&D character had the lowest magic item count, but I had the type of items that were particularly effective in my hands. All items were by the book so no funny imbalances were in play. I even chose leather armor which was two levels down from what I could've used. I did this to add flavor to my character and grant the DM the right to kick me around a bit.
    Last edited by StratOcastle; 30-07-2014 at 23:10.
    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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