Feelings ~ TVK 70

[StratOcastle]

One design element I've used in division array is to specify which are used to march against undead: the east and west division.

This as any rule is not absolute. My intent is to not invite harm where harm is unnecessary. We don't want to invite plague on a plague susceptible province. We don't want to launch spell ops on orcs with Reflect Magic.

In these cases we can see how the divisions flexibility can offer a fundamental guide in the basics of winning war. Minimize self induced harm, but don't let it control the theater of war.

Against the undead we outnumber them through ops/sabotage with attacker support. Against orcs we crank up the sabotage and march liberally. Part of the flexibility in The Virtual Kingdom is in available speed, so we can realize actual victory vs orc core by utilizing the available strengths. This same strength is necessary when facing dwarf core with an even higher emphasis on the march. Dwarves must be engaged regularly to keep their builds in the pipe and not producing on the ground. Do you know what I mean? You don't have to decimate dwarves, but you must crash them at a higher tempo. Whatever a dwarf is building you don't want to see it in full operation.

Besides what is integral to division strength we must understand kingdom strength and what this flexibility brings to the table. If you're familiar with certain basic armed strategies you'll understand flanking and covering flanks. War often depends on geographical obstacles and optimum weapon range to determine a sector of influence. In sports you have offenses and defenses that are determined based in where the boundary lies. In Utopia we have land, net worth and personality/race.

Whoever figured out cross-chaining must've had an inkling of modern field warfare. But what we're doing here is sweeping a net worth sector and eliminating pockets of resistance as the sweeping angle of each division intersects. To understand this you look at the enemy net worth group and determine the borders by your individual division capability or sweep. Simultaneously, your adjoining divisions are evaluating their landscape and determining their sectors as well. As you sweep your nw sector so to are the divisions surrounding you. If your division begins to get choked by an insurmountable number of nw viable targets the whole of the 5 divisions can collapse on the area of concentration.

The reason we use net worth and acres as the first impression guide to enemy engagement is because the chain progression will occur naturally through the division system. Obviously we need to disrupt enemy t/ms so we have the north and south divisions. This isn't an afterthought insofar as net worth concerns, it's that in the t/m battle we often experience victory or defeat: so goes the head. - It's important to note, while many polished kingdoms will see beating down t/ms as the path to victory, many casual to unorganized kingdom almost never approach the game in this way. By creating specific divisions for taking on enemy t/ms I'm attempting to impress the importance of this factor both in and out of war.

You may be thinking 'why change philosophy from net worth to danger scale when dealing with t/ms?'

In actuality we're doing both at the same time for all enemy provinces and their adjoining threats. For example, if you compact a mystics acreage you're boosting her wpa(wizards per acre). This isn't a concern for core since they're generally op/sabotage breakable, but it is a concern for your fellow t/m kingdom mates. Therefor the engagement of enemy t/ms is done with an eye toward rendering them inert or as close as possible. We must also understand the available offense vs near unbreakable provinces is a fading strength. To ensure the longevity of the attacking core I've designated those who run interference. While they may be running interference for the t/ms the t/ms are attempting to dismantle the enemy t/ms that harass attackers.

What you're looking at here is a corrosponding counter to each enemy threat. Most of what I've covered here is based in counter striking, but we don't have to follow that as a kingdom. We can run spearhead with 2 divisions while running suppression with the other 3. The more you look and realize each division can micro itself, the more clarity will come to the theater of war.

If you want to know where the counter game stems from, you need only evaluate the north and south division. Focus on the purpose of the elf, halfling and orc. Their job is to take down enemy t/ms. The entire kingdom behind these 6 provinces is ensuring they operate with as little interference as possible. Even if they go down we have plenty of firepower and I can assure you the enemy will have payed a steep price to eliminate these 6 provinces as a practical threat. Just go through the nw progressions to see where the hard work hits trails end.