Penjing ~ Age 65 Virtual Kingdom

[StratOcastle]

The Kingdom of Penjing

Monarch

25) faery war hero - Andromeda

Chime Whisper Division

1) avian war hero - Honey Locust
2) dwarf merchant - Ming Aralia
3) elf mystic - River Birch
4) faery rogue - Sakura
5) halfling cleric - Desert Rose
6) human sage - Pacific Silver Fir
7) orc warrior - Wolfsmilk
8) undead tactician - Boxwood

Tabarome Breeze Division

9) avian tactician - Azalea
10) dwarf war hero - Atlas Cedar
11) elf sage - Firethorn
12) faery mystic - Hemlock
13) halfling rogue - Banyan
14) human cleric - Oak
15) orc merchant - Trident Maple
16) undead warrior - Myrtle

Platinum Brook Division

17) avian warrior - Fukien Tea Tree
18) dwarf tactician - Dwarf Jade
19) elf sage - California Juniper
20) faery mystic - Dawn Redwood
21) halfling rogue - Tamarisk
22) human war hero - Whitebeam
23) orc cleric - Chinese Wisteria
24) undead merchant - Cypress

[StratOcastle]

Hello and welcome to Age 65, The Virtual Kingdom ~ Penjing.

What it is:
The Virtual Kingdom is a template based in the natural game balance of all 8 personalities and all 8 races.

How it works:
The rule and culture of TVK is to chose 3 of each race and personality to equal a total of 24 provinces. The 25th province represents the monarch and can be any combination of race/persona that is not yet present in the 24 provinces herein.

Theme:
This age, the theme is bonsai. Penjing is a Chinese term used to describe a small treed landscape.

Divisions:
The divisions in TVK demonstrate the game in world GMT. Thus Asia, Europe/Africa and the Americas each have a division dedicated to players in different time zones. Divisions hold a representative of each race/persona with the intent to maximize team synergy.

Suggestions and interpretation:
We're here to use our imaginations. From roleplaying to tree names to your own versions of TVK, all are welcome. If you have a suggestion feel free to elaborate. If there's a tree you feel has been unfairly left out of my VK please feel free to offer your opinion. It usually will be placed on the list. If you have a VK idea of your own, please drop us a post below. Sometimes your suggestions will be added to the template. Obviously we occupy the rpg aspect of the forum. If you have a roleplaying aspect you'd like to introduce to us we'd like to hear about it.

Thank you for your time and I wish you all a happy and successful age 65.

[StratOcastle]

Dwarf Switcharoo:

Initially I had the 3 dwarves set up for more combative roles in TVK, but I took time to think on this and did a reshuffle.
I'm reminded of the Emeriti vs BB hostile where ABs used their superior gold position to freeze the dwarf tacs. Armed with this knowledge I thought that perhaps dragon immunity along with potentially superior honor would present better resistance.

Conversely, I had placed war hero on the mainline attackers thinking fast training time was retained this age. For instance I had contemplated the war hero stacking with avian. Without the ability to train quickly the war hero role for main attackers was a bit too narrow for the needs. To clarify, I have a war spoils zone tactic that was rendered impractical. It just made sense to give back to the attackers the roles they were best at.

I've still retained one dwarf tac, as I'm a believer in this combination. The war hero contingent in kingdom stands at 2 dwarves, 1 faery, 1 human. We can't accelerate build with dwarves, but we can with a human. Because of the monetary drain I see the need for only one acceleration capable attacking war hero.

[tetley]

As is my usual approach to the virtual kingdom I take a more straightforward approach (not to discredit your approach StratO, this is just how my brain works):

3 Avian War Hero - Because the 5 offense spec synergizes nicely with the elite conversion from WH, and the birth rate + build time bonuses can work nice with war spoils.

3 Elf Sage - Without the WPA bonus, the elf is no longer the go-to reliable race for MS coverage. They also get damage bonuses - with proper science these guys have flexibility and can prepare their military as required. A turtley T/M with huge fireballs and NS, and the ability to "crack a nut" with amnesia (a favourite of yours I know stratO); or they can roll out as attackers/bottom feeders as well with those beefy dspecs and proper milsci allowing for elites to easily send out.

3 Dwarf Merchant - Economic beasts in downtime, with okay military. Effectively constant free rebuilds. Free dspecs if you feed them some sols. I think they are the best race to give TOG.

3 Halfling Rogue - My usual choice. Power over versatility. The gains penalty doesn't cooperate with an A/T role anyways. They can still bottomfeed easily or hit low-def targets with aggression, the big soldiers, and elites.

3 Faery Mystic - Seems the best for landing MS and a powerful beater in the T/M slot. Good econ. Occasionally the +1 mana in war lets you get the extra togs you need to send a dragon or whatever it is.

3 Undead Tactician - They can't use their stealth for anything else, so might as well make them the intel whores with accurate 1-thief intel. They spread the plague like crazy. They don't lose offence as quickly as other race tacticians would, because of their offensive losses reduction.

3 Orc Warrior - Bloodlust stacks with the racial. Extra general is nice at the bottom. OME bonus with huge elite makes these guys powerhouses. You have to chain them early or your T/Ms are in jeopardy - but they'll get in some brutal hits first.

3 Human Cleric - Mainly an attacker role. Huge defensive bonuses stack up to give some flexibility with turtling and keeping armies home and just general survivability and chain resistance. The war OME bonus makes their elites pretty serious, and since it's one of the most costly elites in the game, cleric makes sense to keep those guys alive. TOG is massive; FoK + science bonus gives them options late-age in A/T or A/M roles.

The monarch is probably human something - sage or warrior. Sage if I'm greedy and have pump time, warrior if we'll be in war most of the age.

[StratOcastle]

@ tetley -

Indeed, I had similar thoughts. Some of my interpretations are playeresque since I know of one, for instance, who loves avian warrior. I to liked the idea of avian war hero, but I'd like to hear from a player enjoying the role. - I had to have an avian tac since it is once again viable and hails from my deepest ghetto roots. - My tacs are rovers in that they operate largely outside of kingdom waves. Cleanup and spot checks are the target of the tac. The lone halfling cleric is for those ugly tweeners we all run across in war who have stalled chains, what have you.

I can manage to shift a merchant for a war hero from dwarf to avian.

Again with elf I also agree insofar as sage, but I was convinced the faery is the only truly reliable t/m. My perspective is to use the faery as turtle-breakers (+ 5 crowbar ) so the shallow penetrating but hard hitting elves could pour in behind them. Thus my faery array is thin but arranged to chisel through the toughest opponent the kingdom may encounter. This is also why I went the extra mile with faery in the monarch position. Admittedly I don't know the math on which is most efficient with the additional mana as effects diminish with spell use.
Edit: I'm still looking at this and admit as a faery sage myself that mana is at a premium.
Elf still gains some acre efficiency but I may switch the weight to improve faery capabilities. Thank you.

Human cleric was my initial choice since I've played human WH and undead cleric enough to have a good feel. It's a great toe-2-toe attacker. The alternative builds I present in my version of TVK are a nod to top play. There's a couple of potential cows. This is where my use of WH on certain races had to do with establishing the second tier. In paying attention to AMA and recent CR kingdom strats I went for a fuzzy acre/honor digestion system within my limits of understanding. The heavy attacker munch up remaining defenses while the pingpong effect of acres and honor are fed up the line.

In summary I prefer the focal strat like you illustrated. Personally it's the way I'd go. The charm of the strat I illustrated is in player enthusiasm: that is, player desires presented to me or provinces I've seen in the field.

Thank you for your time :-) and welcome back.

[StratOcastle]

@ tetley. Your avian war hero and dwarf merchant are a go-go. Both in the same division no less, lol.

[StratOcastle]

After spending some time as a faery sage I must say I'm glad we opted out of the build here in TVK. In my experience the lack of mana is a heavy burden despite my hybrid success. I could see its utility but feel the faery excels at it's t/m capability with mystic and rogue. Both have proven to be effective game changers and they both benefit from land efficient personalities. Sage is best when all faculties are in play I guess we all know, but in actual play these benefits are more apparent. This is my first age ever playing sage so ymmv.

Edit: the good thing here is that TVK is heavily influenced by player input. Ethan has shown interest in faery sage.

[tetley]

since sage doesn't get any extra tickly sci or cheap sci or anything this age then yeah its success is sorta dependent on your pump time or at least your ability to gather science. So a faery sage in a war KD would need some war wins or some schools time to do well. At least a human or dwarf sage has the option of learning over the course of the age as an alternate mode of growth. In general it's harder for sages to do well in war kingdoms (which is the approach of your virtual kingdom).

[StratOcastle]

I gotta have 3, tetley ;-)

But I've considered switching a human war hero to sage and elf sage to war hero. This would bolster the ops side of dragon immunity while still retaining some attack capability.

If you've followed recruiting you'd noticed a drop of t/ms. Part of the diversified strat here is based in retaining unique player preference. Evidently the new fit faery and elf are trifling for some to adjust.

Thx. Next time head me in the exploration direction. I say exploration instead of growth because it bothers some old school robot. Growth sounds blech, like you've got weird nubbs coming out of you like a potato.

Most especially, I really do mean I agree with the alignment presented by you, tetley. I think it is most efficient and would have great faith in it's effectiveness. Obviously many of the things I like about diversified strats would remain.

So human sage. It's not greedy, it's efficient in a warm analog type of style.

[StratOcastle]

Billah Style Elf Mystic:


I think it's like this (I changed the numbers a little):

The Province of Billah (xx:xx)
[http://www.utopiatemple.com Angel v2.20 Beta]

Server: World of Legends (Age 65)
Utopian Date: April 10th, YR10 (85% in the day)
RL Date: July 24th, 2015 (3:51 GMT)

Ruler Name: Viscount Billah the Sorcerer
Personality & Race: The Mystic, Elf
Land: 2,640 Acres
Money: 928,195gc (20,280gc daily income)
Food: 47,302 bushels
Runes: 172,298 runes
Population: 76,704 citizens (28.76 per Acre)
Peasants: 6,957 (62% Building Efficiency)
Trade Balance: -291,512gc (0% tax rate)

Military Eff. with Stance: 128.08% off. / 112.19% def.
Soldiers: 0 (76.8% estimated draft rate)
Rangers: 0
Archers: 16,031 (89,927 defense)
Elf Lords: 32,100 (205,574 offense / 144,055 defense)
War-Horses: 32,000 (up to 40,987 additional offense)
Prisoners: 0

Total Modified Offense: 246,561 (93.11 per Acre)
Practical (85% elites): 209,686 (79.21 per Acre)
Total Modified Defense: 233,982 (88.07 per Acre)
Practical (15% elites): 111,536 (42.26 per Acre)

Thieves: 10,100 (3.77 per Acre / 18% Stealth)
Wizards: 10,837 (4.00 per Acre / 86% Mana)

Spy on Throne on your province will show:
Max. Possible Thieves/Wizards: 25,772 (9.69 / Acre)
Estimated Thieves Number: 10,309 (3.88 per Acre)
Estimated Wizards Number: 3,866 (1.45 per Acre)

** Networth Table: **
Total Networth: 530,562gc (199.76 per Acre)
Elf Lords: 184,575gc (35%) - [5.75gc]
Land (90% built): 135,660gc (26%) - [15+40gc]
Archers: 80,155gc (15%) - [5gc]
Wizards: 42,548gc (8%) - [4gc]
Thieves: 39,916gc (8%) - [4gc]
Science (estimated): 20,623gc (4%) - [1/92gc]
War Horses: 19,200gc (4%) - [0.6gc]
Peasants: 6,957gc (1%) - [1gc]
Money: 928gc (0%) - [1/1000gc]

Buildings: 917gc to build, 531gc to raze
_________________________________
Atm is the only way to go. I get drunk and log in and land lust people then i steal everything from someone else then someone else gets triple tapped its like non stop Utopia fun I dunno why the rest of you Utopia people dont stop what you are doing and play elf immediately.

~ Billah shows us this elf mystic which I will use here to show how this would ideally play ~