Age 90 Virtual Kingdom

[StratOcastle]

SPEARHEAD

Avian: cleric
Faery: mystic
Halfling: rogue
Orc: warrior
Undead: tactician

ASSAULT

Dark Elf: mystic
Dark Elf: sage
Dwarf: artisan
Elf: war hero
Human: sage

HQ

Dark Elf: heretic
Dwarf: cleric
Faery: heretic
Halfling: heretic
Human: tactician

ASSAULT

Elf: rogue
Elf: war hero
Dwarf: artisan
Human: sage
Orc: artisan

SPEARHEAD

Avian: cleric
Faery: mystic
Halfling: rogue
Orc: warrior
Undead: tactician

[StratOcastle]

The hardest decision was between a human or undead tac in the HQ, and then if warrior would be better on human. While I could switch them back and forth assured the undead are superior in gritty situations, the human ability to reflect magic was a factor. While it may not seem an attackers business to think about ops, I’d like the enemy to think about it time to time. Warrior just doesn’t have enough ‘training time applicable situations‘ to make it tactically viable. You’d have to run halfling warrior to bring war spoils to the table to give training speed real traction. We just don’t have room in the virtual kingdom to spare halfling for warrior work. You might explore this for glorious land grabs.

Thanks to CDoB and phoenix for influencing the switch from war hero to tac for the undead. This allowed me to pursue the esoteric
elf war hero as an honor levy. I’m still wondering what an elf war hero does, but I know it can accumulate honor effect. Even if you don’t know how to initialize tactics for a given build you have to recognize where resources pool. I’d have to play one to get in the groove.

Avian cleric is almost a must, but it feels good. I was never a big avian cleric fan until they added the horrific casualty bonus. With the undead tacs and avians the spearhead divisions are more capable of running interference on their own. The assault divisions are more economy based this age which should bloom into a monstrous advantage as the age progresses.

I’m sure a dwarf rogue is supposed to be superior to elf rogue, but I wanted a dwarf cleric and another honor dipping elf. You may not understand some of this brand of reasoning, but you should always have venues of opportunity in your strategy. I know watching some elf sliming his way up the honor charts would drive me nuts. They’re the tweeners that get away with stuff in war. The war hero should be deceptively good in combat with 7/3 elf lords and 0/6 archers.

As for the HQ division, it continues as a support division. They nudge where needed.

[StratOcastle]

On the quieter side of economy tactics look at avian +40% birth rate for soldier generation combined with halfling war spoils and +10% population. I’m sure if we spent time to optimize race and personality and threw in dwarf artisan production we might have a triad that can move the needle with authority. In this virtual kingdom we can use it with less complexity, as opportunity presents itself.

Having these micro scenarios in pocket, you can use them to pressure enemies and keep them off balance. It’s tactics like these that allow elves to rack up resources, or cause the enemy to break off chain concentration. Think about your nw zones and how you prevent your enemies from achieving efficient gains. Make everything unsure and uncomfortable along with gains of your own.

[tras19]

I’m rocking the undead tactician myself this age. We will see how it plays out

[StratOcastle]

I’m rocking the undead tactician myself this age. We will see how it plays out

Hello, tras19. Glad your around.

I use to run undead cleric a lot and undead tacs were tough to clear out of the nw zone. Timing and attention to detail were critical because they were faster and sustained nearly as well. Most races wilt under direct attack from an undead cleric, but I remember going through some nerve-racking exchanges with undead tacs.

[StratOcastle]

Economic Complexity vs Simplicity

Economic simplicity is what we may not recognize but is altogether in plain sight with the likes of orc core kingdoms. This is in essence the big OHV engines of straight performance.

The reason I beat war spoils to death is because we haven’t popularized the SOHC or DOHC of utopia. I think people recognize the value of dwarves, but after this you don’t see kingdoms extend their understanding of readily available economy. There are tactics in isolation like soldier swapping, which can be the first link in a chain of economic efficiency.

Fundamentally, the reason we refer to war spoils is because we have acres to develop now and not said number of ticks later. In this kingdoms instance we regard human financial bonus, faery tree of gold, warrior training speed, halfling population bonus & war spoils, elf rune bonus, and avian birth rate. What we want to do is create a machine in which we are grabbing acres and fortifying them to protect and produce in the shortest period of time. On a global scale you’re attempting to utilize an economy that produces more, faster and remains relatively secure.

Using these methods in the elliptical wave is doctrine. This is one reason I don’t recommend arranged wars. This kingdom is on a constant trajectory driven by a complex economy. It may never be perfect, but the overall performance should exceed a land grabber with simple resource conduits. The elliptical wave is economic innovation in perpetuity.

Generally we are looking to accelerate build at double cost with builders boon as much as sensibly possible. Every age has a limited number of ticks and we want acres producing. Consider the amount of time it takes to bring acres home and the downtime associated with construction. Obviously we don’t want to bankrupt ourselves, but when we have financial torque we should put tooth to gear and smash the pedal.

[StratOcastle]

Spearhead Design

Avian: cleric _ support
Faery: mystic _ highest magical penetration —————\
Halfling: rogue _ highest sabotage penetration ————— = tip of the spearhead
Orc: warrior _ arguably highest defense penetration —/
Undead: tactician _ support

We already know our provinces with the highest offense will be primary targets for the enemy. So we evaluate the enemy for likely nw chain formation and counter target with both our internal support provinces and our adjacent assault provinces. We want to give our (orc warrior) as much nw and acreage room as possible to attack unfettered. These conditions vary upon the action of the enemy. It’s not like their heretics, rogues and mystics won’t be hard at work; but that’s who the spearhead is targeting. We want to topple the enemies unbreakability and deflate their max gains capability while exerting a zero sum economic strangulation. That’s not the strategy, that’s the struggle.

The strategy is in the micro. Instead of implementing broad chain commands, the nw zones imply their own importance. The deeper you clear the zone the lower the max retaliation. By exercising economic enrichment the gap widens. It’s why I don’t believe in paying for your dragon; make your enemy pay for most of it. They can’t pay for their dragon if your stealing their funds. If you don’t have tpa advantage you make it an objective. If you can’t get tpa advantage, defend against it and get the enemy to squander thieves or use alternative attacks to reduce those numbers: nightmare, etc. This is also why we have 3 tacs and 2 avians. Fast attackers can spare a massacre more readily than slow attackers.

Look at the spearhead tip; the triad: The support is speed biased.

Power is important, but by the 2nd wave, speed has exerted more power than power builds. This doesn’t mean we ignore power, as the orc warrior is 1 of 3 primary elements of breaking.

Since the virtual kingdom operates in an elliptical wave, it’s likely we would encounter flack from larger kingdoms. That is, because of the growth pattern, larger kingdoms may perceive a chance to grab easy acres. This is partially why the virtual kingdom isn’t built like a war kingdom or a whoring kingdom. Kingdoms who don’t belong in a given platitude should be put in their place. If we don’t belong we will be repelled, if we do we render our enemies to digestible acreage, honor and standing, and eat their brains to acquire their knowledge. Thus, I’m not against CF, but that CF be arrived at as a gesture of mutual respect for the goals of another.

If we were built like a war kingdom the concentration of defense would be higher and the pointy things, like the spearhead divisions would be blunted. This is because warring as an occupation is about range compatibility and tournament like pageantry in the declare rules. The virtual kingdom recognizes that the wars we want are the ones our enemies would see us CF due to bullying us or take due to foolishness. I believe in being a fool in a war with no rules.

[StratOcastle]

The Squishy Build Fallacy

I spend a few paragraphs every virtual kingdom to dispel the illusion of soft builds. To put it in perspective, I never ran orcs as a choice because I felt they were too easy to play. When I adopted them or were forced by strat to build them I had no challenges due to the build or my ineptitude. I could easily sweep nw zones, and if not for helicopter monarchy, dominated my sector against renown multi crown winning war kingdoms. That was with an orc.

In my time I chose to explore the faery as attacker and it’s frankly tough to start and basically becomes unstoppable. Nobody outside of my kingdom posed a challenge. It’s only when you’re monarchy gets nervous that you now have a problem.

Orcs and halflings are the two races I barely ran. In war with any race and any personality, I never felt outgunned. I’ve run elf, dwarf, human, avian, undead whatever with a myriad of personalities in attacker roles. And if I wasn’t an attacker but needed to attack I never experienced a real problem with that either.

Mainly this is about knowing how to fight. When I faced humans or dwarves in war I barely noticed most of them. I can remember 1 human in an unknown kingdom and 1 dwarf in Spartans that got my attention. What’s odd is when I’ve run especially humans I can’t contain myself. They seem so powerful, even though dwarves have mechanics that I have better understanding. I’ve had great success with dwarves to, but they thrive as kingdom enhancers. So if your kingdom is too disconnected to appreciate enhancement your dwarf will be muted.

We went through all this because I’m confident in the human sages and dwarf artisans. In war against brute clerics, warriors and tacs they’ll be fine. I know because I wasn’t fighting marshmallows or ever slithered away from a fight. I’m the guy that throws stuff when we CF bullies. I’m not in the least bit squeamish about taking on powerful enemies. Experience taught me it’s better to grab a bullies acres and books than to freeze like a dodo bird and let them take yours, hoping they go away.

Most attackers learn only how to fight in phalanx, whereas I’ve run a human war hero solo, in a kingdom shell. Yes, that’s a 1 province kingdom from a guy who dislikes diplomacy. I know how to fight in utter chaos alone and with only my resources and spell book.

You should take sabbatical in shattered ghettos time to time to hone your craft.

There are far better players than myself who solo or campaign in micro kingdoms. They aren’t offering tutorials. Take my word that they overshadowed me easily. That should be your motivation as much as mine; to be so good that you don’t need a kingdom to see combat with top kingdoms.

[StratOcastle]

“Only Use When“ Fallacy

Nightmares is one of those spells I’ve noticed gets shunned if you can’t line up 100 guys to
cast. I’m well aware of NM waving for chains, but even more so for how and when to use tools, individually.

So, the first time I saw NM used in kingdom was when I was in Aggression is the Liquor. We had a grumpy old guy who barely communicated with the rest of us and functioned both successfully and independently. He only ever communicated to complain, but it was his charm. I witnessed him rending enemy provinces to shreds. I never saw him in trouble even under duress. He ruled his little junk yard with impunity. I never saw him humbled
despite the nature of our kingdom was to bite off more than we could chew. We were aggressive and reckless and didn’t function as a unit; but players competed with each other to kick the most ass. Inactivity was rampant, but the few of us that showed up made sure we lived up to our name.

I learned the ways of organized NM casting in organized war kingdoms and immediately noted the flaws. If you came from a fragmented yet violently competitive kingdom like I had you needed to learn how to intercept waves. I hadn’t yet learned the meaning of micro, but that’s what it became.

Understanding the mechanics of NM, I realized you don’t need to unleash it all, you can sculpt your enemy. It effects tpa which became the second tine of the trident. The march was the third. I could unleash on one target or engage 3, all depending on how shallow or deep I wanted to establish a nw buffer around myself.

What players in chain formations tend to misunderstand is individual strength. They see things as greed while they play a drone in totalitarian kingdoms. It is superior to be an accomplished individual cooperating with other accomplished individuals, making decisions in the moment because you understand the campaign. Imagine 2 players sweeping a nw zone. Imagine 5.

The reason I’ve chosen divisions over chain waving is because I have stalled chains and thus stalled waves by myself. When I was part of the chain wave in organized kingdoms I witnessed enemy individuals stall our waves. When a single player causes your battery of t/ms to squander mana, runes and precious time, you pay attention and dissect every moment of that resistance to learn a valuable lesson. Most people complain and forget. That’s the difference. That’s why, to this day, kingdoms will discard the use of NM instead of observing their errors and adjusting their micro.

I use to just spam mystic aura(when I had it) and maintain defenses while wave offenses exerted their prelude to invasion. I also knew to clear max range with my armies to make chaining more difficult. Chain waving kingdoms are apparently oblivious to the concept of flanking. A lot of them.

Basically, any of the barrage type spells can be used to shape an enemy to make them a better target for you and your friends. Even face to face with an avian tac, as I was an avian tac, I used general arson to reduce his rax. If you have experience in speed battles, you have to steal your enemies wind to impose supremacy. Once you can attack inside your enemies return time he’s finished without outside interference. It’s the nudges, not the mammoth pushes necessary to dominate an enemy. Your trading narrow field gains for theatrical control.

Thus, when I’m in war I have scores of scenarios to implement because I learned to play individually. Most of those involve making the team better. You can’t defend chain waves or boast about something always making the team better when most leaders regard chained provinces as acceptable. I mean it’s very disappointing to me when I’m in a kingdom where chaining is the strategy and I’m sitting here with 3 enemy provinces in max gain range. That’s senseless, because the catastrophic loss of healthy provinces only weighs on the kingdoms ability to maintain a war economy. The t/ms ignore your need for gold, etc. or they provide it stalling their unbreakability. Why? When I’m healthy I can lend aid to the chained, block enemies from reaching max with our t/ms, and create a nw zone of respite for our recovering provinces.

Look at every tool as a volume knob. You don’t have to blast it to get the desired result. Get the advantage to harmonize with your varying facets.

[Bananamancer2000]

The "core"
avian tact
avian tact
avian tact
dwarf warrior
orc artisan
orc artisan
orc artisan
undead warrior
undead warrior
undead war hero
human war hero
human war hero

The "tanks"
elf cleric
elf cleric
elf cleric
dwarf sage
dwarf sage

The 3-4 war hybrids
faery mystic
dark elf mystic
dark elf mystic

The 2 war hybrids
faery heretic
faery heretic

The TMs
halfling rogue
halfling rogue
halfling rogue

Article 1: What to drop?

The race+pers selection this time around is high. 9 race, 9 pers. 3 of everything, 2 of 2 things.
-1 dark elf. DE lost its best high wpa bonus losing the no wizard loss on fails, this is a buff that scales exceptionally well into the late age and highest wpa. I find when you're at 7+ rwpa, you can expect to lose 1 raw by the end of a short war. Casting rituals is risking hundreds of wizards. Even casually running your self spells can risk you hours of guild pump and real casting power. In addition, dark elf lost its best buff to having low WPA which was reflect magic. Reflect magic works best in the medium to medium high WPA ranges, where landing multiple MVs to clear it will be difficult.
Offense and defense are pretty similar to last age, potentially stronger relative offense.

-1 Human. I just feel Human was so strong last age relative to this age, that I don't want to be reminded they are an option.
Biggest drop in offense.
Losing speed.
Losing bonus credits.
I don't particularly mind -wpa, I find you can overcome it easily if that's your goal. Losing mana at the same time as losing 2 big mana sinks (qf+si) is sad, at least with them losing those spells you might hope you could have more mana open... But that door was shut before it opened. I also prefer RM when you can run it on higher wpa.
Just not sure where human can fit in, even the science role for them feels weaker than ages past. It's not at its best in any of the ways you usually find human.
I am sure someone will make use of their gold at least.

-1 sage. I don't think the sage bonus is much better than having revelations.
-1 heretic. I wouldn't say heretic is the second "worst" personality, just don't feel like I need the extra TM slot for this lineup, not sure what race I would like playing it.

[StratOcastle]

Thank you for the input, Bananamancer2000.

For the Reader: Bananamancer2000 is/was/(can be) an actual monarch so I trust his strats to be superior to mine. We have differing focus, but his strats would coincide with current logistics more accurately than mine. I’ve been in kingdom with Bananamancer2000 and he is a calmer soul than I am.

A ‘for instance’ is human war hero. I love this build because you’re stacking diverse bonuses that separate you without the diminishing returns. This in itself is a combat philosophy I use when I criticize the common mechanical use of chaining. Chaining isn’t the point of failure, it’s the linear method of execution with diminishing returns.

The lesson is to regard all aspects broadly, from static strats to rubber meets the road execution, for mustering highest returns. This is part one. Part
two is knowing when and where to use the pointy things. In the case of the virtual kingdom, the pointy things are the spearhead division: 3 dangerous, but ultimately brittle strats supported by broader, softer strats. This is why I learned to use nightmare as a sculpting tool. There are variables built into the algorithm, but the overriding min/max yield carries considerable gravity.

[StratOcastle]

Revised Virtual Kingdom with Hybridized StratO Ego and Bananamancer Logic

SPEARHEAD A

Avian: cleric
Faery: mystic
Halfling: rogue
Orc: warrior
Undead: tactician

ASSAULT 1

Dark Elf: mystic
Dark Elf: sage
Dwarf: artisan
Elf: sage
Human: war hero

HQ

Dark Elf: heretic
Dwarf: cleric
Faery: heretic
Halfling: heretic
Human: tactician

ASSAULT 2

Elf: rogue
Elf: war hero
Dwarf: artisan
Human: sage
Orc: artisan

SPEARHEAD B

Avian: cleric
Faery: mystic
Halfling: rogue
Orc: warrior
Undead: tactician

The switches were elf and human in the 1st assault division. While this may seem minimal on my part there are different considerations based in our personal play style.

Since I’m friendly, merciful and forgiving, but not diplomatic, the necessity of durable avians and the ability to deploy fools gold play a large part in my personal style. Bananamancer is more pragmatic and sympathetic to player morale than I am; thus, a superior meta. While you might think my self deprecating realization should change my style, it’s that winning is valueless to me unless I do it against predatory kingdoms. This isn’t moral high ground. Consider this the joy in the challenge of playing a paladin: the moral high ground is about the difficulty level I prefer. Without respecting the alternative, we can become narrow thinkers. My way is less efficient and deserves critical observation. The diplomatic environment is a substantive barrier to crown acquisition which I consider a worthy challenge, not a skill to develop. Just so we know, where I stand is not a customary position. The challenge for me is everything, not the crown.

Mechanically, the reason I didn’t switch both is because I see value in having breadth in certain builds and focus in others. I want the divisions to embrace healthy rivalry; to challenge each other in reaching objectives. We can then study if one is truly better than the other with all forgiving variables accounted.

Edit: Durable Avian Explanation *

* We’re talking relative to the fragile build this age. Because my experience is in nonexistent diplomatic theater, I know that random attacks out of war can accumulate as kingdoms vulture into snatch news opportunities. While I’ve always built my provinces for perpetual violence, I have to give as much as I can to a build that otherwise rules core supremacy. You give me an avian with relative durability and I command the nw in my area. The mechanics are beyond solid, because I’m no mathematician and it handles the same age to age. The caveat is the avian should be a rover and the player should be a hyperactive intuitive. This is why avian cores are underwhelming in practice.

There are few players that are wired for avian at full blast. There’s simply no attacker race that can match avians in core supremacy, but there aren’t enough players to organize an effective core. Besides that, the avian is best played in Aegis style which I refer to as rover. This simply means the avian is a seek and destroy protector of sensitive builds in kingdom. You scan the enemy min/max vs your t/ms(what have you) and engage with initiative. This age, the undead tac is a reinforcement in this system.

[StratOcastle]

Falsehoods

“Greed fuels Ingenuity”
“Laziness fuels Efficiency”

These are not truths, these are cargo cult dictums. I present to you, in this virtual kingdom, the groundwork I’ve done through my playing time. Why would I share how I succeed?

Because the more advanced the competition in game the more challenging. The more challenging the more I have to innovate until my aging brain can no longer process epiphany. Passing the torch to one day enlighten.

In life you learn some generalities: Evil does not create. Evil steals and lies to mock creativity. Evil will steal your ideas, lie about how they arrived at such genius and transgress against you, the true creator. - I’m using “evil” to replace “greed/laziness” because it can be applied to life, not just gaming.

To demonstrate this, right here and now, I ask you; which forum is more strategically enlightening? Is it the strategy forum, or is it the suggestions forum?

The strategy forum consists of lots of questions that are subtle in game; almost negligible impact. Those get answered. The real questions like, how do you compete with a crowning kingdom are surrounded by silence and arrogant boasting.

You see, the suggestions forum is where the tug of war can be more readily observed. Those who’d benefit from certain mechanics can’t easily manipulate the conversation outside the mechanical cog in question. It’s safe now because this forum is considered obsolete and the mechanics fervor are ancient. The point is you can see the true personality of the less virtuous as they struggle to hold onto the mechanics they honed. There’s a difference between creating and perfecting.

Jimi Hendrix is a classic example of a creator. I hear these bitter contemporaries complain “all he did was turn the volume up”. Guess what? It never occurred to the bitter contemporary because that is not creating. They, by generation, perfect upon the work of the creator and call him sloppy; but they never innovate.

This doesn’t mean innovators are good people, but they are in the 50/50 margin. The thing is that innovators in this game tend to crown when they put their mind to it, and quickly. This personality type is rare in Utopia because the game is wrought with perfectionists. When you challenge the machine of choice; that being the strategy and common core, you meet a lot of skepticism from people who never asked if there’s an alternative. They never sat down and turned the thing sideways to see if there are ways to customize their kingdom to their cultural benefit.

My way isn’t the correct way. My intent is to get you the player to reflect on the method. Logistically most of you will fail, but that’s the first rung of the ladder. Learn from your mistakes and you won’t eliminate them, but you learn where and when you can make them.

[StratOcastle]

The Elliptical Wave

The elliptical wave is based in the division system illustrated in post #1. Each division represents a quintette of players from each of 5 times zones popular to utopia. They are Australia, Asia, Eastern Europe, Western Europe & the Americas. Each division operates in its own version of prime activity with the obvious option to play beyond prime activity range. Thus, if benefiting the cause, attackers can plus/minus attack times if more brute force is required, and t/ms can levy mana/runes/stealth to achieve any number of objectives. This makes the virtual kingdom operable 24/7.

The division system was born from my experience witnessing kingdoms fragment over time due to real life pressures. Oftentimes these kingdoms would merge, but just as often dissolve because the hosting kingdom felt its culture superior or what not. My solution is to grant the players who carry on the culture of their kingdom to one of these divisions. Generally, but not always, the remaining players will have already achieved shorthand communication and passive teamwork that works for their style of play.

Many kingdoms wave twice a day during prime activity, so their kingdoms tend to attract players that conform to those time zones.
So we could have a division from Asia that was formerly a whoring kingdom and another from Eastern Europe that was an honor kingdom. The system is designed to enhance healthy competition and offers a learning template for those who haven’t been exposed to particular strategies and tactics.

Each division has a player in council and each council member specializes in a particular discipline. One might tutor on proper build strats, while another compiles snatch news from a predetermined breadth of kingdoms. By regular practice these disciplines can become second nature and truncate the amount of cross-talk. Despite my personal lack of diplomatic literacy, it is highly encouraged the kingdom groom or recruit a silver tongued council member to handle diplomacy. Even I understand the power of diplomacy meta: it is above the game and transports a kingdom to a higher strata.

Because this strat operates like a 24/7 airport the system of declare and agreed war operates in a catawampus dimension. It can happen, but I’d imagine most wars will be circumstantial. Because of the complexity of having 5 divisions operating in prime and secondary time zones I also recommend a council member to “air traffic controller”. The general rule of thumb is waving 12 hrs apart so there will be overlap and thus opportunity to phalanx with other divisions.

At the end of the day there are a lot of great players who simply can’t shoehorn their schedules to fit those of many competitive kingdoms. My endeavor is to achieve the highest quality alternative so they can still play the game they love at a high level.

[StratOcastle]

Why the Tweeners?

The design of the virtual kingdom is based in practical diversity. The exercise is using both race and personality as evenly as possible while attempting to create what would impress us as a viable kingdom. It is both pageantry and pragmatic to find graceful chemistry and expose imbalances. Because the formula for the virtual kingdom is the inclusion of all 9 races and all 9 personalities we drift into uncharted subtleties.

We get builds like dark elf sage, who while not a ‘main battery‘ caster, can stack mages fury and scientific insight. We acquire economy from less familiar reservoirs and offer a confusing array of counter measures against our enemies. They know the familiar builds to attack, but may not understand the danger in ignoring builds that seem unfocused.

The virtual kingdom template offers us the opportunity to see some of the unlikely builds. I maintain that you can attack with any build because my experiences proved to me these things get mashed out of recognition quickly. Many assumptions are culturally “verified” because the herd mentality in utopia offers no alternative. It’s when an orc warrior suddenly encounters a faery mage who marches that those mechanics begin to flex at unrecognizable angles. The point being that the faery mage is assumed to be a creature seeking unbreakability, not an attacker who can 3-4x vs 1-2x. These assumptions run so deep that a single faery “attacking” is perceived as a vulnerable chain target. Even if chained, the after effects then begin to set in: this faery is eating our chained for lunch.