~ StratO's Truck Stop: Age 74 Virtual Kingdom ~

[StratOcastle]

The Water Is Fine

Looking around the kingdom I'm in now I can say some of the worries we have about certain builds is unnecessary. Some comes down to the quality of the player. We have a dryad sage who's doing fine and has all age. We have avian tacs which have been striking t/ms all age. We have a couple players running dark elf heretics doing well; I had serious reservations myself. Bocans seem like a great deal of fun.

There are differences in our style of play. I've been ruining my own homes pump all age because I'm too sloppy to time this stuff out. Some guys don't handle chains as well as others, but it just takes a little tutoring to get players to feel comfortable, prepared and aware of what's important to retain when you're getting run over.

My tendency is to keep a roll of cash and enough thieves to steal a little from the enemy. Apparently lots of guys release thieves and release specs earlier than necessary. I'd imagine the fear is that of being PK'd and I can understand that. I'm active enough that I can flirt with retaining a high wpa and monitor my peasants down to the last few.

I've seen a lot more high defense chained provinces the last few ages. I'm happy to see these new approaches in the lower tiers. While I'm a proponent of high offense chained, I think there's room to stagger these builds for best results.

The way I'm setting up TVK is to offer an option. Not just the divisions, not just the race and personality, not just ways of looking at the game. You might have an idea for dark elf undead becoming progressively stronger or offset divisions with different array or focus. I've shown my ideal based in preferences. It goes without saying, you can do whatever you want, and my ultimate hope here is only as muse.

Tactically, the elliptical wave isn't particularly special. What it does passively is introduce the kingdom to warring differently, and encourages warring in ways relatable to military strategies.

If we look at Germany invading France in WW2 you'll note the offensive was on a broad front with the actual spearhead coming through the Ardennes. Spearheads are relatable to chaining in Utopia. Thus, when I see a wave that is exclusively designed to only engage one or two enemies my subconscious screams "Watch Your Flanks!"
Without designing in tactics to cut off enemy pincer movement we risk our entire attacker core. The reason they, chain waves, work and little harm is usually encountered is because many kingdoms use the same tactic. - If you've been around you may've seen entire attacker cores disabled by overpopulation like I have. This is because the enemy might be doing a fully t/m supported max gains wave vs a chain wave.

[StratOcastle]

The Special Division HQ

Part of the dance of dividing a kingdom between all races and all personalities is getting them into viable positions. The Special Division HQ is the peculiar blend that provides support and is ultimately the kingdom rally point.

If there's teeth in this division it's the bocan rogue, elf sage and human undead. The support is the faery paladin and tac, but these are more universal. We have a faery tac in our game kingdom and it's an oddly effective province. Providing aid, intel and self spells like all good provinces, it also includes effective army return times. The paladin benefits from plague immunity in that it can follow the human undead in attacks with no harmful effects.

In my somewhat nonsensical approach I rol(L)ed this division as Western European. Honestly, in my playing time I've noticed they boast the most activity as a whole..when motivated. I think they'd enjoy this more sophisticated position, and I think they grasp the unbreakable ideal more than some of us do culturally. Again, this is a wide brush I'm painting with, but I've run t/m types and I'm off the chain with zero regard for breakability.

But let's look at the elf sage because I think some see this as underwhelming. This is an all encompassing build with a moral zero sum team approach. Amnesia gets a bad rap in my opinion, but it's not seen in the battery I perceive it. If you'll notice spell effects, amnesia and nightmare work similarly in 2 separate fields. I want this high penetration unMVable capability to compliment the drastic bombardment of the dark elf mystics on either side of the division array.

What few kingdoms think about is the suppression effect in dropping Amnesia and Nightmare as a slow drip spell together. Because our 2 other sages are on the outer divisions, Premier and Plaza with Nightmare casters in the inner divisions, Deluxe and Continental. What's the point? These aren't only applicable to war, these can be follow up to counter abduction. So let's say some big kingdom crashes your mystics for abduction. They give relations. You counter with abductions which kick in gb protection, but follow with amnesia to sink the degree of loss deep on the counter victim. Sometimes you have to give a giant a bloody nose. He'll be alright if he backs off. The books will flow back. If not I'm showing you how you establish the triangle of breakability and to keep farm provinces to fuel the cause. As a rule I don't believe in letting big kingdoms off the hook unless they shave beneficial acres or show consideration due to unforeseen circumstances. But I digress.

The human undead is the dial up attacker here. If all divisions are carrying their own weight The Special Division HQ can embark on its own ventures. Here as the main attacker, the human undead can benefit from a great deal of divisional support. Since The Special Division HQ is bracketed by the Deluxe and Continental, a continuity of plague spreading and immunity is congruent with the avian and orcs: speed and power.

The bocan requires little explanation. The field of sabotage is shallow compared to ages past, but the capability here is unquestionable. We defend bocan interests because they can kill wizards and we like them for who they are.

[StratOcastle]

War Spoil Dynamics

Most kingdoms avoid the use of WS because the fear of having no incoming acres with army out can be hazardous when the plan isn't thought through. The upside is the acres can't be ambushed and in the case of dwarves can be built immediately at no cost.

These dynamics can be useful both in and out of war depending on the clearance the WS is used. We have to be mindful of watering down tpa/wpa but otherwise, with solid interference runs, we can increase our economy. The not so big secret is to cast WS after a couple of taps so you have army with acres coming in at the same time as the WS tap. You have to account for outside kingdoms jumping into wars as a precaution.

Dwarves can do this easily, but a wealthy kingdom can also, with accelerated build and army training. A good candidate might be dryads who have the military capability to ensure healthy taps and already have a training bonus. dryads have passive land efficiency from their food bonus. Faery have the defense and generally have a good trade balance to benefit as well. Dark elves have converted elites they might protect.

When do these strategies come into play? I've used WS tactics when I was alone in a shell kingdom as a human war hero. The number of randoms I encountered offered an understanding of attack rhythm; yes feel. Essentially out of war you have an ops ceiling that some kingdoms are reluctant to cross. Many an undead war hero were aware of the benefits of running a relatively high defense and WS as a means to protect elite conversions. This forces enemies to counter march only with no trash offense to ambush.

So if we amplify the WS effect to kingdom level we force our enemies to squander the meter thus making the likelihood of one sided ops a possible consequence. In war we can use WS as a separator to achieve higher economy thus dragon funding, training etc. In zone tactics we can use WS to extend the zone and open on big attackers to prevent life saving ambushes when they're chained.

It's not a tactic used liberally unless you're outclassing your enemy by a decent margin. Dwarves will have built acres in 6 ticks and as campers makes them considerable threats. This tactic, if used with faery casting, can make the undead dark elf a viable alternative to traditional attackers. They will increase defense as war continues making multitaps less likely as war creeps along.