Witch!

A heartfelt thanks to RattleHead, Twily and Madchess. I'm interested in your views on hybrid and bottom strats because these would be the less known areas of the game. If you have secrets then please keep them to yourselves; we all still play for the competition.

The two races and personalities skipped this age is one orc, one avian, a warrior and one war hero. These weren't strategic decisions based in lack of ability, it was to explore the alternatives offered this age. It's important to point this out because orcs are possibly the most meter efficient race and every avian is an unparalleled control mechanism vs enemy cores. Last age my kingdom boasted some avians capable of cracking t/ms and their speed allowed them to massacre and raze where other races would face certain chaining.

Madchess was a direct influence on the decision to opt for an avian warrior and dryad war hero. In my time creating virtual kingdoms the avian enthusiasts have consistently recommended warrior. In my own experience, one of the most memorable losses I recall was hinging on an avian warrior and tactician. The enemy ran textbook zone against my bigger, more active kingdom. This age, avian has no offensive negatives other than the traditional stable usage.

As for the dryad war hero, I was in kingdom with Madchess and witnessed his brilliant work with this combination the first age they appeared. We were in a micro kingdom so this was as close to field certified success as possible. With no place to hide and every kingdom in the game larger than us it offered the most undistorted view of a race/personality combination. We did not CF powerful bullies, to reinforce the true prowess of the build.

What was gained? That depends on how you see the game. Here it is for me: t/ms will be in abundance so the dryad choice was based in the vacillating world between meter, war and CFs. The dark elf decision was actually a bocan decision in that now we can link nightmare across twice as many provinces. If nightmare is the common thread there was attention to chastity over meteor swarm as a staple ops strat. I like meteors as much as the next guy but the expenditure of mystic on elf alone yields only 3 chastity casters. We compound chastity with plague because we are attacker light in The Virtual Kingdom this age.

Thus, if we are outnumbered by attacker provinces we become obligated to control total enemy army. We begin to see the paladin effect here.