I've seen it since I very first jumped on, and I'd like to discuss it :)
There seems to be at least two schools of thought where using apps/tools/extensions/whatever is concerned: pen-and-paper only! and I do what I want!
I'm interested in what your take is about tools and tactics in general. Clearly some things are allowed and are not, but I'm not after experiential evidence--I want to know opinions and views :) strictly about this please.
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I've been introduced to Munk, Angel, and UpoOpu. I've also eyeballed what to send in the war room. However, I've been mathing in an Excel spreadsheet since I first understood the fact that this game is made up mostly of sweet, sweet math.
Some I've spoken with think that my spreadsheet is 1) too much work or 2) not within the spirit of the game. I've got to disagree with the second part, since troubleshooting it has made the first part true in part lol, at least sometimes.
I learned about Excel while developing my own tool. I spent a long while getting it to where I could make it a copy/paste from my throne. I also spent time setting up a couple of other features that help me out, like a build calculator as well as what to train and how many of them I need to hit my target per acre.
When I make a hit, it takes me a bit less time (when my spreadsheet is working, at least). I get the SoT, paste my throne, then my minimum send is figured out and I hit. This saved time doesn't cut down on what it made for those attacks though--I spent hours preplanning those attacks, every attack. Just because I can get thirty seconds doesn't mean it wasn't lost. Kind of like making art, just because someone spent thirty minutes making a picture doesn't mean it only took them thirty minutes.
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I want to discuss using tools on principle. Please don't bring up that other thing, or opinions on marketing tools. This is about whether using or not using tools like UpoOpu, Munk, Angel, w/e detracts from the human element. In my opinion it doesn't so I want to explore the stances of people who believe it does. Maybe I'm missing something?