Winning wars

[StratOcastle]

My kingdom watches for this. If your army is home, we can destroy it, and have in the past. We have beaten more organized kingdoms before, because they try to hold a few armies to hit a wave time, and we would see that army home and go for blood. If you are fighting a kingdom that isnt very observant, or doesnt know how to adjust their strategy to the situaion, you will probably be fine. Any respectable war kingdom (and I dont think we are there yet ourselves) would demolish any attacker that lets his army linger.

Dont rely on wave times if your kingdom can't manage them reliably. There are other ways to win.

This is true and there are exceptions to every rule. Say Chris121 observes a window in the rotation, then perhaps his kingdom can hash a small concentrated spearhead. This is where the game can get incredible complex if you're camping or adjusting time patterns to pound armies home. It's not a kingdom strat unless you've got real time intel feed and troop distribution. I've seen it in epic wars.

I'm systematically too slow and mentally too lethargic to accomplish camping/timing feats myself, so my patterns are based in fighting faster thinking, faster executing players. If you ever watch boxing, most fighters suffer when facing faster opponents. This is particularly true if a very fast fighter is matched against an even faster one. The exceptions are few but notable; like Marvin Hagler. So if we pattern ourselves in this light. Marvin could throw great punches from every angle, and most importantly, with both hands. He was also incredibly durable.

How do I back up that theory? When I soloed(1 province in a kingdom shell) in age 63 I encountered BeastBlood who randomed me. I'd already been experimenting with War Spoils and when to use them. So this is more about fishing than triumph. After casting WS and retaliating I built my acres. When I pressed the Order Construction tab I had like 14 acres. I checked news and Emeriti struck whilst I was in the process. Then I retaliated Emeriti but didn't cast WS. This doesn't mean WS is wrong, it's when you have clearance.

But the bigger lesson was the value of seeing how fast top kingdoms operate. If you consider not just the computation and execution but the relevant intel digestion, this was something I'd never seen. These are important things to learn and the value of knowing shouldn't be squandered on hopelessness.

Now when engaging top kingdoms through retaliation I run a progressive aggression technique. That's a reaction to every action and the option to double up if *necessary. The reason I don't go full Monty on top kingdoms is because they tend to be *reasonable. They're experienced enough to see I'm dropping breadcrumbs to a CF. Fundamentally, this is armies out but I'm punching nw/acres where they have redundancy and I'm not maxing. When I did this to a war kingdom they were bent out of shape because they had a war on the horizon. For some reason they think it's cool to keep armies safe in my province. Anywho, even after explaining I hit said province in a nw/acre redundant spot they still weren't happy. - note: I'm not afraid of being PK'd. In other words I was so nice that I didn't interrupt their chain formation. How many guys would do that for you?

* reference code: Sleepy, or coss.

Insofar as armies struck at home, my protracted view of this was vs Freeakstyle. While I'll credit FS with fantastic work I must also fault my kingdom for overbearing micro. This was not only slow but telegraphed our intent. Management was overly concerned about maxing a hit rather than catching Freeakstyle where they didn't expect to be compromised. It's why I chose to gather my own intel and troop expenditure. And if this was the only kingdom that made that mistake.....no, this happens in a number of wave oriented kingdoms with a wave "boss" where they tell you what to send without sharing the actual defense.

Disasters ensue when wave bosses gamble with you and your position. This is particularly true of chain waves which are magnificently derailable(it's not a word but should be). Here they are gathering intel on 1-3 enemy provinces which is begging for soldier blocks and getting armies crushed at home. I know you're attacking in nw/land order lol; how could I not? Just so you know why zone tactics blossom in wave based environments.

Again, chain waves work because Timmy needs to be at school in a half hour, or my boss is watching me. I'm not insensitive to life's dictation on gameplay and thus understand the culture of chain waves. We end up agreeing on when etc. Top kingdoms have even perfected the ideal, but have also accepted that this is a campaign.

The game is a campaign as soon as you choose races and personalities. Top kingdom might even choose whoring templates first and then the race and personality that fits best. I wouldn't know, but I'd imagine.