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Thread: Age 87 VIRTUAL KINGDOM

  1. #16
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    The HQ

    I’ve offered what the spearhead and assault divisions do, but I may have missed explaining HQ. HQ is there to support the division either to ace an objective more quickly or bolster a division that is failing to achieve its objective. This is why the human necromancer is an ideal rover. The mystic can cast meteors where others may've failed. The elf can cast support to sagging defenses. The human artisan can update intel as well as support a nw zone initiative. All these things and many more.

    The NW Zone

    When I use to relay tap it was usually started by strife in war. To offer myself the best chance to stall being chained, I would march like so:

    1st General: Ambush attack from attacker above my nw/acres
    2nd General: Ambush attack from attacker above my nw/acres
    3rd General: Trad march attacker below my nw/acres
    4th General: Trad march attacker below my nw/acres

    So the ambush armies started the process of the relay by returning at different times from the trads. I’d then combine ambush armies to trad down or grab easy acres in my max wheelhouse. I’d continue this process, spreading armies equidistant but relevant to enemy defenses. While this relay takes place, I’m carefully spreading nw/acres to a low max bubble. At this point anything below you is a matter of playing Whac-A-Mole: anything that enters your nw/acre dmz is attacked. You chain from above as necessary, but only absorb attacks that enhance your zone. I like to ambush the bigger provinces because it reduces their offense so they’re less a threat to our t/ms and trad the smalls to strangle their economy.

    This is a specific type of attacker that can enhance the core. By providing a nw zone you offer respite for fellow attackers that breakout after being chained. Being chained and persevering is exhausting activity. These conventional attackers deserve a moment of composure. This in turn should relieve the kingdom of tremendous aid consumption.

    Most leaders can’t stand my builds and if I ever go vacation mode the sitter always moves stuff away from my strat. Most of this is convention being confronted by the unfamiliar. These guys build wonderful stuff but it ends up in the gutter at the end of a chain lol. By being the ugliest thing on the kingdom page I’m given exactly what the enemy shouldn’t: time.

    I’m big on guard stations like a good top player should be, but I run fat with mediocre offense and higher wpa/tpa. It’s a top build without razing homes. I simply don’t replace the homes. I almost never run barracks and barely run stables if my race has high offense. This is how hunter/killers are
    built. This is a specific attacker killer that might be able to break t/ms but it’s not the focus. Basically I will lock horns with any attacker in my nw wheelhouse even if I’m running a faery attacker. My preference is the necromancer type that are durable and race is just the cream.

    My wpa/tpa is used to probe the enemy for weakness and resources.
    Last edited by StratOcastle; 30-07-2020 at 23:29.
    Quote Originally Posted by Bishop View Post
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  2. #17
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    The Theater of Assault

    To help explain this more specifically. You know that orc in all our kingdoms that can break t/ms but they always end up getting chained? The guys that chain our orc are the guys we beat the religion out of before they can chain the orc...or massacre the t/ms.

    Assault is specifically there to keep enemy damn-dirty-ape-paws off our spearhead elements. This is not a perfect science, but practice will lead to intuitive jerk moves that’ll result in more success than failure. Screw your enemy in game and be gracious and humble in communications with them. Kick them when they’re down but just once. Offer your enemy respite, because we don’t want players to quit. We want more and better competition, so please be polite but make them earn it in game.
    Quote Originally Posted by Bishop View Post
    Correct me then, instead of being a dick about it.
    love that thick mahogany back with no belly carve or anything...pure thick wood ! The thing ROCK is made of !
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  3. #18
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    The Trap of Culture

    The apex of society is when a people have what they want and can trust their neighbor. This is akin to the idea of never having to lock your doors. That’s the good. The bad is the desire to tolerate bad behavior to preserve the apex. This is exactly the moment we no longer enjoy apex virtue.

    So let’s say in your work environment you are a metropolitan surrounded by country folk. This is not the problem. The problem is kinsman trusting kinsman to a fault. Being tested is not an offense, but being relegated to non influential status is. Because nobody wants to get out of line unless they’re ready to die on that hill; you Or they, might stand alone.

    I’m a strong believer in culture as a saving grace but will once again preach the word of nuance. There has to be a dimmer switch to introduce subtle positive change. A leader shouldn’t fear an intellectual, but should have a relationship that both monitors and shares advisement. Credit matters. The intellectual should be respected but should not expect recognition.

    Intellectuals can reinforce culture rather than bend or weaken it. This is why cultural leaders must be vigilant, but shouldn’t fear or ignore intellectualism. Somewhere between the two is wisdom. The ability to time what is modern and what is classic, when to implement new facets and have them be a fabric of civilization.

    The reason we monitor intellectuals is because anyone finds it easier to destroy than create. For some intellectuals they enjoy secretly lording over the naive only to coerce them into self destruction.

    My perception of intellect is thus: the greater intellectual can see more of the horizon, or curvature of the earth than those below. Perhaps the horizon looks flat to you. You don’t take their word. You must first perceive the scope of their enlightenment. How many chess moves can ones memory digest? Know your theater. The fundamental is to qualitatively improve your perception of your theater, not quantitively expand. So the litmus test is, if the intellectual is offering you qualitative improvements to your theater, then it’s likely positive. If all it seems to do is change for the sake of change then let that be your critical decision.
    Quote Originally Posted by Bishop View Post
    Correct me then, instead of being a dick about it.
    love that thick mahogany back with no belly carve or anything...pure thick wood ! The thing ROCK is made of !
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  4. #19
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    Relative Strategy

    Before playing Utopia I played D&D and several other pencil and paper games. Like 30 years longer. There’s also the fundamentals in sports, and I played football. Then also, besides the epiphanies we may all have at work, I roadied for a friends band.

    Thus, when I look at Utopia I see it from an applied theory to a work in motion. The math of Utopia is a passive function for me. I pretty much know what I’m getting and how effective it’ll be without crunching any numbers. In most games there’s a learning curve, so when I got serious(kicked out by my X) in Utopia I knew to go avian tac for repetition. While other builds are great for teaching wisdom, like better target selection, patience, etc., I’m already topped out in wisdom by virtue of paying attention through the years.

    One thing that applies here is D&D personality categories. While we have attackers, t/ms and dedicated rolls, D&D had controllers, defenders, leaders and strikers. Defender was unfamiliar in Utopia so you might understand more on how and why I built differently
    and used relay and zone tactics. My last D&D character was a defender who could absorb tremendous amounts of damage and specialized in zero range area effect attacks.

    If your familiar with the fighter wall in D&D, my defender( a dwarf earth warden ) was not a conventional phalanx fighter. My tactics were to go alone, deep into the center of the enemy numbers and defend from there. The exceptions were as expected; I was fine one on one, but my zanshin was in being dog piled by enemy numbers. In essence, my character was a frustrated controller in a dwarf defenders body.

    This is why you can run very successful faery attackers. By applying a vision to passive mechanics you can achieve the desired effect within mechanical limits. What I’m pointing out is that mechanics at the forefront can cloud your execution. There were always a lot of good orc warriors, but I never conceived or realized them as a threat as much as a faery mystic or rogue. I learned I could build attackers from any race. The question was always how resistant I was to t/ms? If I could marginalize t/m damage I was confident the attacking core could be handled.

    I’ve played every personality, just not in Utopia. I played most of the preceding 30 years as an attacker with most of the same guys. Spoiler Alert: plan A works maybe once or twice in a campaign, and never in an epic theater. Plan B is “get’m!” and you get better and better as the illusion fades: the exception is the rule. Plan A is the ideal. Plan B is pragmatism.

    Whenever your leader makes an epic plan that’s sure to result in disaster just say these words with an exaggerated Roman salute:

    IT CANNOT FAIL!!!

    Demand the same of your players if you’re the leader. And just tell them:

    ....it better not.
    Quote Originally Posted by Bishop View Post
    Correct me then, instead of being a dick about it.
    love that thick mahogany back with no belly carve or anything...pure thick wood ! The thing ROCK is made of !
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    Weed bowls

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  5. #20
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    Earning It

    It goes both ways, but earning it is part of micro strategy. While I might’ve had a gusto for retaliation it’s not just an emotional reaction. Retaliation is my favored play style for what amounts to whoring, or land gains, in common tongue.

    This isn’t an individual strat, but a most ideal kingdom doctrine. The meter is pretty much the grail, and if you approach the game from that aspect you can get necessary experience when to give and take. Think of the meter as a fixed asset that can go liquid. Everything counts in that each point you surrender you’d better assure returns for the enemy reaction. Meteors hit all provinces so going in said direction must make economic sense in the long run. Yes, that means crashing t/ms etc.

    The big picture is this: war is best when earned through retal. Planned wars, cfing or cowering through absorbing attacks are all recipes for garbage morale FOR PLAYERS WHO CAN MATCH BLADES WITH THE BEST. There are lots of OCD leaders who love planned wars. Some are excellent, but those aren’t the ones reading this. Planned wars require more than a love for neat and tidy things. Your diplo game has to be meta to be on point. Anything else is naivety waiting to be broken.

    Out here in the field your best wars will be the ones you get through retal. No squirming. Even a powerful opponent can be wrested of station if you push the button. You’ll see that in this elliptical wave I’m always going on about is natural order, if you let war come to you organically. The stronger will attack and we retal with no cf in mind. This goes to war unless the enemy offers cf. I’m very humble about playing and feel it is polite in the gaming world to accept cf without condition. But usually the powerful will take war. This is good and there should be no “ifs”. Top kingdoms will look to farm and competitive war kingdoms will look for victory. This isn’t a game where you can’t play at the other guys level. This is the level that you learn till you are a fixture.

    Ok. So in age 63 I ran a solo province in a kingdom shell and exchanged attacks with 4 of the top 6 land kingdoms. No kingdom backs down from a single province so the only way out is to grow above as many kingdoms as possible. Land kingdoms have priorities and farming a nw sinkhole isn’t efficient. Mutually, I respect kingdoms actively playing for crowns so my priorities were to only retal superficial entities like fat attackers. Still, these guys are good so my attacks had to reap benefits for me and be unpredictable enough to avoid bouncing. I generally grabbed intel in a “duck, duck, goose” system so they couldn’t trace where I’d march. Additionally, top kingdoms watch each other like hawks so I had instances of retaliating one only to have another snatch the
    acres from under me. This was me accidentally being an acre proxy between kingdoms who play diplo very seriously. The real damage came from Green; a deceptively good war kingdom. They were capable of brilliance that belied their quiet exterior. I finished 47th in human land charts only retaliating and offering no cf. I accepted cfs and Binar messaged me to send him one, which I thought was more fair than getting razed.

    The point of this is to exhibit the refined world of very smart people who play Utopia. It’s hard to learn facing known threats or staying in your meager lanes. The more experience you get the more you test. What you want is to invoke enough stress on great players and kingdoms to show you their best stuff. That day you might be defeated, but now you know something you didn’t know yesterday. I’m speaking from the 30 years of yesterday’s illustrated in the post above.

    PS While my acres of age 63 are forgettable, think about it this way: I was the size of the smaller core provinces in land contention. That’s where the math clarifies the reality of having no cfs and maximizing retal. When you have 24 more provinces to negotiate the cost benefits you can qualify strength in numbers. Your days of asking become rare.
    Last edited by StratOcastle; 11-08-2020 at 22:24.
    Quote Originally Posted by Bishop View Post
    Correct me then, instead of being a dick about it.
    love that thick mahogany back with no belly carve or anything...pure thick wood ! The thing ROCK is made of !
    ________
    Weed bowls

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  6. #21
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    Triads

    The spearhead divisions core players are logistically the best race/personality at breaking a particular defense. Captain Obvious:

    Faery Mystic vs magic
    Gnome Rogue vs stealth
    Orc Warrior vs defense

    What your doing is finding the most profitable venue toward breaking difficult targets. The objective is to exploit at least one weakness to make the target accessible to the entire triad. Once a target is uniformly breakable it becomes an assault objective to neutralize or obliterate.

    This system was clearly displayed in a long war between Pyromaniacs and Freeakstyle. Though Freeakstyle appeared to be taking a ferocious beating, they were careful to assure the breakability of key t/ms in Pyro. Again, Captain Obvious; attackers are always breakable so it’s the t/ms that possess a kingdoms ultimate security. The rare exception is the likes of hybrids or an enemy shelled so thoroughly that their wizards and thieves are nonexistent. This is why the relative security of the triad is important and the focus of how the kingdom is organized. “Relative“ because there will be compromises and there will be a price.

    I grew tired of the treadmill of attackers waiting to be chained one after the other, only to find some t/m groups didn’t understand the necessity to undermine the opponents t/ms. They just spent their time smashing attackers who had no real impact on the war. And not just this; after chaining an enemy they’d all but ignore it till it became their problem again. Not realizing a chained enemy left alone, aided by their side and feeding off our chained provinces can become the distraction that leads to failure. You keep tabs on everyone. We don’t let our guys suffer being learned/robbed/razed with impunity, and we don’t let any enemy off the hook for anything but losing their province. Your honor and acres will be there, just don’t get too clever.

    The remaining provinces are pure utility. They can help the orc warrior feed down a t/m, camp a high defense killer, or be a hands on extension of the assault divisions.

    Dwarf Necromancer
    Elf War Hero

    And you could even consider switching the dwarf necromancer with the human artisan. Intel can be handy. I chose the dwarf as it is the superior camper, but that’s because I’m oriented toward endurance wars. I think the support spell casting is irreplaceable in a spearhead division so I chose the elf war hero for overall utility.
    Quote Originally Posted by Bishop View Post
    Correct me then, instead of being a dick about it.
    love that thick mahogany back with no belly carve or anything...pure thick wood ! The thing ROCK is made of !
    ________
    Weed bowls

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  7. #22
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    Seek and You Shall Find

    Even though I’m not playing I’m still keyed into fundamentals that ape one ability for another. The speed factor of avians and tacticians seems to have gone away, but the basic element of speed is still there. You no doubt see that human artisan comes the closest, but it’s because artisan can build racks faster. These racks can be built between taps, which is another reason I use to relay
    tap. In those days I couldn’t count on having runes or mana for builders boon so I’d smatter my build liberally through the day, assured of some semblance of utility for each returning army. Remember; I was trying to resist raze effect.

    Since I know avian well, I learned that speed supremacy was the ideal tool for impaling enemies. Once you have return times inside your opponents you can control them rather easily. What you’re looking for is speed disparity, so to augment my racks strat I’d harass my opponent with tornadoes and general arson. The point is to put your opponent in a 16 tick turnaround for new builds, so you might additionally steal runes or hamper peasant numbers. The analogy would be yacht racing where you steal the wind to secure position.

    Once your opponent is in this position they will often ponder razing, and this is where the exception to the rule of nw zone can turn to hard chaining. There are several indicators in the game to track proper chess moves. Smart kingdoms will raze from their chained attackers with residual offense. This is why you’ll see that I believe in uniform assault. The cross section of the assault array will reveal enemy weaknesses which can offer venues to drive hard with marginal resistance. You don’t do any of this without observing any trap formations the enemy might be trying to disguise. Zone is safe and should be the default, but try not to ignore your killer instinct.

    When you see a kingdom with a wealth of artisans you should be weary. They can raze with impunity probably by day 2 of a war, because their armies can return from a raze and redeploy for acres before the enemy armies get home. Avian tac was phenomenal;)

    One more edit. I use to overbuild racks to accommodate efficiencies when new acres came in. So instead of building for where you are, build for your projected gains. Also remember I was operating a nw zone, so once the zone was established my projections would equalize with GS and WT and even guilds so my cast reliability and wizard generation could catch up. Because your next visit will be from t/ms trying to keep you away from them. Always train thieves. Make it hard for them and you can absorb punishment that would’ve been spent on other kingdom mates.
    Last edited by StratOcastle; 13-08-2020 at 21:02.
    Quote Originally Posted by Bishop View Post
    Correct me then, instead of being a dick about it.
    love that thick mahogany back with no belly carve or anything...pure thick wood ! The thing ROCK is made of !
    ________
    Weed bowls

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  8. #23
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    Those Things Nobody Talked About

    Human ability to grab accurate intel is akin to what use to be integral to the tactician personality. This is a great crutch to have since it’s ergo to preserving tpa. Artisan offers humans a kind of offset defense to cope with their wpa deficit. Not a direct defense, more the ability to grow fast and recover quickly.

    Related to this was a skill set I developed over several ages; basically, how to be fat. If you stall a chain attempt against you or deemed a lower priority by your enemy, you are likely to get fat in war. Most see this as an awful thing, but it’s not. It’s actually a good thing if you understand how to fill your acres and what defensive measures you take. And don’t give up on building acres. You should present an ever growing threat to the enemy to take heat off kingdom mates.

    Because human have accurate intel they will not be squandering thieves and thus pay less to train. So for the human artisan to exploit that edge it’s important to be in a kingdom where the t/ms know to mute the enemies magical output. Humans can economically take over the game, but they require team input to help protect their weakest shield.

    As you can see, the spearhead divisions serve the assault just as the assault divisions serve the spearhead.

    By keeping your finger on diverse situations you can position yourself in a nw zone and control more in the theater of war than most. Between my ears I’ll barrow experience for analogy. In the paper and pencil version of Star Fleet Battles the Kzinti have a dreadnought class ship called the Super Space Control ship. Through use of drone, main battle array and fighters the ship was designed to carry out its namesake.

    We covered how to grow by using racks and ops. Now you might know what a nw/acre zone is but you should exercise skills to enforce the zone. Humans are good because of their intel ability in this. With intel you can check return times and enemy buildup. Snatch news to see the aid flow which will help conserve some stealth. I already covered relay tapping for acre fluidity and whakamole to solidify the zone.

    I’m sure some are wondering how much nw/acre zone do you need to stabilize? Consider the enemy as a massive pincer. Their top jaw are the hardened t/ms with the attacker core being the bottom jaw. I’m doing this as a counter to war kingdom doctrine. The beauty of zone is that it’s a default position. If you have the top you should win the war. Zone is for when you don’t have the top. Zone is to crack the joint that holds the pincer together.

    To keep it short and perhaps rude, the enemy is a fuel source. With all due respect to my enemies we both seek the same thing. If you establish a speed advantage you can then establish an attack advantage. In war we generally have to source acres to avoid disaster. This means learn, massacre, plunder and raze are hard to use under duress. The zone creates respite which will allow you to achieve an attack advantage. By reducing the enemies acres and nw they can still raze you, but their attempts at acre grabbing begin to go mute, even with a huge offense.

    Instead of playing peekaboo with high offense chained provinces just continue to resource grab, do your own razes, build WT, GS, Guilds and Racks. Relay tapping allows you to react to problems as they occur. I trained even, so I trained offense, defense and thieves continuously. I also spread my books evenly as an attacker which many disagree with, but I was the one standing over many, most of the time. My objective was taking the most enemy hits while having positive acres. In most wars I’d finish 3rd or 4th while absorbing far more hits than the top 2 or 3. I’m telling you how, but I was a very off the cuff player. These are the big basics.

    I was told by highly experienced war kingdom leaders that they could circumvent my tactics, so I spent a few stints up top in kingdoms ages off to hone my craft against solid kingdoms. An age off doesn’t mean you play like limp noodles, it basically means
    you don’t diplo for position. In Pyro I ran an orc cleric and in Jerks I ran a 5 week old elf cleric that was a real bone crusher. Imagine having 3 top ten kingdoms randoming you and you’re gaining acres, honor and badassness. In Pyro I learned how to build a home razed attacker(thank you, Pyro). From then on I used a modified homes build because ghettos don’t have a diplomacy environment to realize the full potential of home razed attackers.

    This is why I had personal doctrine. My code of ethics was

    1. to never attack of my own volition. I stopped random attacking out of war and would only retaliate. I would obey orders to attack in the interest of war.

    2. I prioritized retaliation on the basis of the most powerful enemy first, and I always retaliated them. If the province was below me I’d ignore it, unless I deemed it proxy. In other words, a worthy adversary.

    3. I would accept cfs, but not offer them. There were times where I exchanged messages to assure a kingdom I had no ill will. The meter is there as a trust but verify
    measure. Since I never attack of my own volition there’s no need for a cf.
    Last edited by StratOcastle; 14-08-2020 at 21:25.
    Quote Originally Posted by Bishop View Post
    Correct me then, instead of being a dick about it.
    love that thick mahogany back with no belly carve or anything...pure thick wood ! The thing ROCK is made of !
    ________
    Weed bowls

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  9. #24
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    Diplomatic Silliness

    There are cultural oddities in Utopia based in the bigger fish theory. I’ve had formidable kingdoms contact me upon retal saying that I shouldn’t retal if I don’t want war. Those are a lot of words to put in someone’s mouth.

    I want war and I retaliate as a means of establishing my crap ain’t free. I played because unlike the real world I get to tackle my adversaries without lawyer involvement. Why would I want to war a kingdom I know we can beat? For campaign? Even for campaigning, a crown is worthless to me unless I’m defeating the best to get there. Yes, I “get” existential whoring but that’s of zero value to me. I want my enemies to surrender.

    I have now established my opinion of formidable kingdoms. This means that my opinion of kingdoms that cower from being farmed is not low, I simply don’t comply. It’s senseless to surrender for mercy vs a superior foe. There’s no meat in that type of diplomacy. You give them a bloody nose and we establish honesty. My real world ego can take it. My game ego doesn’t have to.

    Think about this: someone attacks you who is bully qualified and expects you to absorb punishment till they decide not to hit you anymore. And this is how most ghettos react. Not just this but, the bully kingdom might even criticize wether you sent a message with a cf.

    No.

    Everybody can be hit. An attack or wave from a larger more organized kingdom is, in my eyes, an invitation to meet the challenge. I’m telling you because the results are better than your doom riddled imagination can conceive. You take it to them by playing smart , aggressive Utopia and you’ll never look back. While my literary talents may be confusing, rest assured I would rather play in half a kingdom of barbarians than a full kingdom of cowards. A bully is just a source of progression. Sometimes you eat the bear and sometimes the bear eats you.

    One gets better with practice fighting more than practice cfing.
    Quote Originally Posted by Bishop View Post
    Correct me then, instead of being a dick about it.
    love that thick mahogany back with no belly carve or anything...pure thick wood ! The thing ROCK is made of !
    ________
    Weed bowls

    http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=...+say&FORM=VDRE

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