The Virtual Kingdom: 78

[StratOcastle]

TECTONICS *~ Age 78 Virtual Kingdom

DIO

Avian: war hero ~ Holy Diver
Elf: mystic ~ Rainbow in the Dark
Faery: rogue ~ I Could've Been a Dreamer
Halfling: heretic ~ Sunset Superman
Human: warrior ~ Don't Talk to Strangers

RAINBOW

Avian: war hero ~ Stargazer
Elf: heretic ~ Can't Let You Go
Halfling: rogue ~ Since You've Been Gone
Human: warrior ~ Man on the Silver Mountain
Orc: tactician ~ Stone Cold

BLACK SABBATH

Faery: mystic ~ The Wizard
Dwarf: paladin ~ Wheels of Confusion
Halfling: paladin ~ Sweet Leaf
Avian: paladin ~ Heaven & Hell
Orc: tactician ~ War Pigs

DEEP PURPLE

Avian: war hero ~ Perfect Strangers
Elf: heretic ~ Smoke on the Water
Halfling: rogue ~ Hush
Human: warrior ~ Space Truckin'
Orc: tactician ~ Knocking at Your Back Door

OZZY

Dwarf: undead ~ Over the Mountain
Dwarf: undead ~ Killer of Giants
Dwarf: undead ~ Shot in the Dark
Elf: mystic ~ Flying High Again
Faery: heretic ~ Crazy Train

[StratOcastle]

Hello, and welcome to The Virtual Kingdom, Age 78; Tectonics.

First I'll post clarity in the breakdown and perhaps explain some of the working parts:

Avian: paladin .
Avian: war hero .
Avian: war hero .
Avian: war hero .

Dwarf: paladin .
Dwarf: undead .
Dwarf: undead .
Dwarf: undead .

Elf: mystic .
Elf: mystic .
Elf: heretic .
Elf: heretic .

Faery: heretic .
Faery: mystic .
Faery: rogue

Halfling: heretic
Halfling: paladin .
Halfling: rogue .
Halfling: rogue .

Human: warrior .
Human: warrior .
Human: warrior .

Orc: tactician .
Orc: tactician .
Orc: tactician .

For those who don't know, The Virtual Kingdom(TVK) is based in the premise of game pageantry in that this kingdom build exhibits the widest array of races and personalities. The dual challenge is then to get optimum theoretical playability from the choices made. TVKs template offers cultural foundation as well as strategic alternatives to traditional kingdom building.

[RattleHead]

LOST IN SPACE

JupiterII
Elf Mystic
Elf Mystic
Faery Mystic
Elf Rogue
Faery Rogue
Halfling Rogue

Robinson Family - I imagine the Paladins as attackers, and heretics more TM, but they could go either way, except maybe the faery.
Elf Heretic
Faery Heretic
Halfling Paladin
Halfling Paladin
Halfling Heretic

CRUSH - high-offence, high-speed 'breakers'
Orc Tact
Orc Tact
Orc Warrior
Orc Warrior
Avian Warrior
Avian Warrior

KILL -
Avian Paladin
Avian WH
Dwarf Tact
Dwarf WH
Dwarf WH

DESTROY - try to keep them at the bottom, high nwpa but on low end of NW scale, send in after everyone else as finishers
Human UD
Human UD
Human UD


... and the easier to read race break-down;

Avian Paladin - sharing GP+Fanat
Avian Warrior - lacking horses and 9pt elite, a little something to get them over the hump
Avian Warrior
Avian WH - the +1 specs with conversion, and increased credit gains, makes this seem a natural fit... someone get me some soldiers!

Dwarf WH - with OS same off as elite, you can start real low NW and actually build it up in war, potentially
Dwarf WH
Dwarf Tact

Elf Mystic
Elf Heretic
Elf Rogue
Elf Mystic

Faery Mystic
Faery Heretic
Faery Rogue

Halfling Rogue
Halfling Heretic
Halfling Paladin - sharing TW
Halfling Paladin

Human UD - build lotsa hosps and GS, spare those pricey elites and hope to minimize desertions
Human UD
Human UD

Orc Tact
Orc Tact
Orc Warrior
Orc Warrior

[StratOcastle]

Thank you, RattleHead.

The age ended at a weird time for me. Was barely paying attention to the proposed changes.
The orc losses are mildly depressing, but apparently orc players don't think about it much. Thus, I to ran 4 orcs in TVK.

My entanglement with a couple of t/ms last age sunk in the impression that t/ms are hard pressed to handle a determined attacker. My lone reservation was that I hadn't locked up with an enemy heretic, which by my measure should be able to defeat an undead dwarf one-on-one. Part of my basis on formidability is in how many provinces jump in on mine after the initial engagement: In one conflict I was pulling a rogue and heavy attacker along with a mystic I was attacking = 3. That ratio influenced the 3 dwarf undead this age in TVK despite the loss of an elite defense point. Reason being, the point is relative with the exception of halfling. The ability to build fully under duress convinced me the worth of continuing the undead dwarf this age.

[StratOcastle]

Explaining My Undead Philosophy

While the undead serves in several ways and offers great advantages to attacker races, I've found through experimentation what I had theorized regarding dwarf:

Before we consider the 30% decrease in combat losses we should consider the total builds resistance to all attack types. Last age the dwarf had a sterling 7/5 elite which means the combative build retained relatively high defense after chaining. We don't want our defense wiped out because we are vulnerable to Nightmare, as an example. Sure, dwarf is just as susceptible defensively, but the elite itself has built in salvageability.

Sadly this age the abandonment rate is equivilent across troop types. I find this regrettable since we perceive our elites as fanatics. Mechanics are mechanics so we deal with it. Dwarves ability to switch builds, build free and build quickly make them harder to break post ops, and activity pays dividends. The 7/4 elite is a drop so this build isn't as effective this age as last; still, it boasts the highest base ratio of conceivably common attackers.

Elf has promise, but essentially serves best in other areas. Remember that elf doesn't build like a dwarf. This is a very important aspect in the ability to send elite armies out without flinching. Avian simply rocks and almost doesn't need a personality.

Undead is great because you can run smaller armies that sustain

These smaller armies can be interpreted as tpa & wpa advantage

Dwarf fast/free build addreses raze weakness

Dwarf has a decent elite break angle of 7/4

These advantages offer a nw zone anchor

Now players in lockstep kingdoms with interdependent strats might be under the impression that their way is superior. In other words, kingdoms where the attackers are pure attackers with sciences and troop distribution, and t/ms are expressly build to cast ops/sabotage. This has merit in experienced kingdoms that can micro along with the changes in the field. The problem is that despite troop superiority and express t/m builds I've found success vs these types of kingdoms. Why? Because I come from inactive, unorganized kingdoms I'm use to doing the heavy lifting myself.

Thus, my advice to less than pro kingdoms is to be careful about what appears to be a better way. Lockstep strats work for players who understand the clockwork, and can be a train wreck for players who don't. Analogy time: the AR-15 is for shooters who maintain their rifles and the AK-47 is for those who don't have the time.

Explaining The Dwarf Paladin

The dwarf paladin is ho-hum in the shared spell department. Where it excels goes back to the dwarf fast/free build. Unlike other paladin builds the dwarf design is able to rebuild quickly, which includes guilds which directly effects duration and reliability of self spells. Once the other paladin strats experience a strategic raze they're faced with expensive rebuilding, particularly if they accelerate to be ready by wave time. Otherwise the paladin is looking at 12 to 16 ticks to achieve optimum capability.

[RattleHead]

I thought I did this once before, but I couldn't find it. Anyways I like to collect the Survey info for each Age, for the past few at least, for posterity I guess. Might as well make some use of it, so here is a VK built on the top25 picks as of JanYR0. It breaks some of the conventions, but that's what I like to compare; how well rounded, or not, are the top picks vs the balanced approach of TVK.

https://image.ibb.co/mBsCtp/Survey.png

I couldnt post it as an image for some reason, the 'Insert Image' option doesn't work the same in the Roleplaying thread as it does in Strategy, apparently!

[StratOcastle]

Beyond TVK: Santas Little Helper ~ elf tac

If you're like me and use your abilities liberally through activity then you might've pondered elf tac. I've run elf tac before and it's a wonderful utility build in kingdoms where teamwork is appreciated. Even as a dwarf undead last age I spent my mana through fireballing and tornados. I used my stealth to steal and grab intel. Elf tac ups these abilities because you're not losing thieves on intel. You have a good bonus to fireball and rune generation to keep the enemy glowing. Decent speed plus Fanatasism with an 8/3 elite allows you to break viable defenses. You may not win the field, but you can poke your nose in a lot of places and have fun doing it.

Edit: Thank you again, RattleHead. I had just written a post regarding your VK above and how much I appreciate your approach. Sadly, the token expired so I figured I write something when I had more time.

[RattleHead]

<3 Elf Tact, its one of my favored picks! Some ages better than others haha...

Damn tokens! Its ok, what I'm most proud of is my theme, even though its not really complete :P

[StratOcastle]

RattleHead Appreciation

While I might offer an integrated strat based in my favorite combinations, RattleHead bring a wealth of mechanical knowledge to the idea of of uniform kingdom array. RattleHead doesn't just bring cold mechanics to the ideal, but his own "feel" for playability and theme. These intangible qualities along with RattleHeads depth of knowledge may influence you as much as they do me.

Before I get too far, I should explain some of the characteristics of TVK. The idea was sparked when I spent time in Palems gem, The Faery Circle. The Faery Circle was, as you might've guessed, a kingdom entirely of the faery race. This kingdom deeply integrated the virtues of theme and strat: we use the word "strat" as shorthand for kingdom array. The Faery Circle was beyond warring, beyond ghetto. It offered a unique experience that attracted players from every tier. We had whoring players, high caliber warring players, pure ghetto lurkers like myself and new players who just bumped into this peculiar cast of characters. I would never attempt to capture such a charming chapter in my time playing Utopia, but it did spark the idea for a kingdom built on an entirely different premise:

what if we built a kingdom made of every race and every personality as evenly distributed as possible?

Like TFC, TVK is a pageantry of kingdom theater. We take what the devs have dreamed up each age and apply it to its diverse limits. Along the way were developments in what the kingdom constitutional origins would be and imagined how such a strat might be played. This led to the idea of divisions and the elliptical wave.

While i might have a vivid imagination I've never been what most would consider a mechanically sound player. So I started posting in The Strategy Forum to get ideas from other players to help guide my hand to more formidable strats. Happily, some very adept players offered their version of TVK with the expected excuses for the haphazard collage.

RattleHead didn't just offer a version of TVK but also carries on the legacy of The Power Charts in The Strategy Forum. It is with humble gratitude that I'm honored to have RattleHead contribute to this corner of the forum and offer players an alternative of ideas that may offer an epiphany to their own ideas.

Thank you.

[RattleHead]

#appreciated

[StratOcastle]

Avian and Orc Paladins

If you'll note, I've switched orc to avian in one of the paladin roles. Perhaps a deeper explanation than flat numerics is in order, because I don't want the reader to simply deem this as a mechanical improvement. There's give and take and it's not in depth of offense or credit return rate, etc.

To understand my view of orc paladin is to explore the way I view Utopia, from a lurkers perspective. Reflect Magic is the crux of the build and the expanse of the theatrical aim. The way I play Utopia is that of retaliation against opponents of every level. Reflect Magic is not reliable, but it boasts one of the most coveted mechanics in the game: when it works, it works against anyone, no matter the size, organization level, science or nw.

When you travel through the game in small kingdoms as I do, almost every kingdom is bigger than you. Even when my province gains in acreage, the relative size of my opponents entire kingdom is universally at great advantage. Additionally, I often find myself attacked by 2 to 3 opponents; even from different kingdoms at times. These types of mechanics became valuable to me when I played D&D and they carry a sentimentality in Utopia for me.

Strategically, I see orc paladin in a bit of a different light than hemogenous orc core kingdoms. When opponents open with ops, yes they generally cast Mystic Vortex, but sometimes don't consider it priority against races that don't have Reflect Magic as a self spell. So a hemogenous orc core can expect Vortex because nobody likes kicking their own ass, but a non-orc core kingdom might see fader ops with no prelude of MV. Thus, the orc paladin sharing RM to an avian or human may catch a t/m off guard.

We could delve into all the intricacies of proper micro and when things should or shouldn't work. It occurs to me most players don't play like I do, or work in the environments I enjoy. Since I've played both avian and orc paladins I can tell you the avian is more ergonomic. While avian paladin self spell mechanics are relative to the kingdom build, these are generally where most players want to be: in war tier in, give or take, even conflicts.

Avian paladin brings a lot to the table:

2 self spells vs orcs 1.

Avian is faster and more durable.
a) speed allows credit stacking
b) avian fills land faster with peasants = BE/soldiers/thieves
c) faster return times cut down on disertions

Avian has no science deficit.

[StratOcastle]

Race Relationships

Observers might think I've got negative impressions of humans and reluctance with avians. This is actually the opposite. My familiarity with avians is such that IMHO they're playable without personality. Personality on an avian in most ages is the cream. They've got great self spell, unrazeable speed, that birthrate...

Despite my haphazard build schemes I've never embraced TG and can live with or without stables. It's that avian base characteristics fit almost perfectly with my play style. I operate to open nw zones, which often allows me to stabilize acre intake and grow in formidability across my tpa and wpa while maintaining my troops.

As for humans, it's strange in that I've always felt formidable when I run humans and seem to push them around when I don't. Some of my mightiest stalwart performances have been as a human. I've held zones for entire wars vs repeated chain attempts.

The reason you'll see I often put yawnfest personalities on these races in TVK has to do with the fact that the strat has limits on available personalities. Dwarves are in this mix as well, it's just that I think most players know dwarves are basically great.

Now I do try to keep high rune consumption personalities away from humans because I carry my D&D curse of bad dice rolling. Despite the meager 10% negative humans have, my personal experience is much worse; and I'm a guild freak! When I've run human tac I end up gobbling tons of runes in failed spell attempts. The same goes for undead, which I love. Thus, it appears I dump warrior on humans, but it's purely a matter of wasted resource sensitivity. This is also one reason I'll use avians as war heroes. I just can't have humans casting PF and expect the necessary results.

I've been known to use PF to invoke the false impression I intend to attack an active enemy. I do this with single thief intel as well. The reason I do this is from warring organized kingdoms adept at soldier blocking. It's sort of like volleyball tactics where you try to confuse the opponent as to who and where the ball will be spiked. Because these tactics weigh on mana, rune and stealth consumption I try to work in the most efficient format to perform these shell games.

The fact is, other races need the personalities suited to them more than avian, dwarf and human.

One of the characteristics I've adopted in my version of TVK is spell variety dispersion. This is why you won't see me running avian tac or undead. It's not that these aren't fantastic builds, but that in doing so we deprive other builds of Fanaticism and Greater Protection. Again, this is due to TVK personality and racial limits.

[StratOcastle]

Learning From TVK

Kingdom building is an art. Impressive kingdom pages can intimidate some while others are curious to see if it's a paper tiger. You can choose war strats, whoring strats, honor strats and combinations thereof. In most of these the leadership choose racial and personality biases that suit a plethora of their aims.

The Trick of TVK is to bias the template in your wheelhouse. The point is to clarify the strengths and weaknesses so you can then project to actual kingdom building. I often refer to Freeakstyle as the epitome of these aspects:

They carry a reputation which is earned.

They practice diplomacy.

They have a deep understanding of mechanics.

They have a deep understanding of strategy.

They have a strong grasp of what works.

My knowledge on the other hand is rather sporadic. I know what I know by feel. For instance, I'm hard pressed to find an equal who runs an avian tac as I can. My personal depth on the use of avian tac allows me to observe even great kingdoms and note the flaws in how avian tac is used. Great kingdoms may use orcs in ways I'm naive to, but avians and particularly tacs are what I know very well. This knowledge has allowed me to lock horns with avian tacs when I'm playing something else and control them because I know what they can and can't do.

This is the essence of TVK. This is why I spend my time experimenting with different builds. Nuances that are not apparent from the outside come to light when you're doing the driving. It's also why I choose to be in the most chaotic kingdoms I can be recruited to. In order to learn the little secrets in each build I require a lot of freedom. It's here where I can learn what builds are best for certain types of organization.

Last age the kingdoms I occupied were stricken with poor t/m activity. Situations like those offer attackers an approach to the game that differs greatly from having full t/m support. So what was learned?

We can take this knowledge to an organized kingdom with active t/ms and let them know how little or big a push the attacking core requires to achieve objectives. This is about economy of force. If I ask anyone who can FB an avian tac just FB once or twice, I'm offering valuable insight so they can unload the majority of mana/runes in other critical areas. We want to be in a position of mutual feedback rather than one sided complaining.

From a leadership perspective TVK can help expose kingdom strat strengths and weaknesses. We can assess potential threats and targets for war or diplomacy.

I've spent my share of ages in organized to highly organized kingdoms, so I'm aware of some of their tendencies. One important aspect is discipline. Sometimes these kingdoms leadership are use to not being questioned so they don't take to it too well. Often they confuse my economy of utility with a selfish desire to finish well. This is because a lot of core players just want to win and don't ask "why?" or "how?" or "when?"

One of the unwritten rules is: you only run as many avians as you have enthusiasts that want to play them. Most leaders don't fathom this simple rule and have exasperating experiences with what on paper is a dominating core. - This is a matter of ultra-strating in that from understanding strategy and tactics we can apply the same logic to what type of players we're dealing with.

To squeeze this subject dry, a kingdom who understands that avian tac appeals to rovers should also understand dwarves appeal to campers. I've seen great campers and they are among a rare and valued player type. Campers can be just as active as avian tac, but you wouldn't know it unless you spend a lot of time evaluating kingdom pages.

A lot of good kingdom overexert themselves in chain waves because they're appealing to a majority time frame for activity compromises. This makes for a less appealing environment for campers and rovers who are best at proving their value outside of the organizational norms. It's my opinion that these aspects can be integrated to achieve best results from all parties.

There are formulas that work with uniform racial and personality cores. TVK offers a sample size of each to expose the weight of these balances.

[StratOcastle]

Dark Side of the Wave

Each age I try to tweak TVK a little. The divisions are representative of prime activity phases around our world. To point, the DIO and OZZY divisions encompass Asian and Australian prime activity in what I call the elliptical wave.

This age I've weighted the divisions to better balance an overall strategic theater by increasing the t/m strength in DIO and tactical zone control in OZZY. This offers the ability to work in a more authoritative manner away from the spearhead divisions. To understand this, my view of opponents is both of respect and resource acquirement; that is to say, if operations go as planned we are using our opponents as booster mechanisms but consider them a crushing threat simultaneously.

While dwarves are great for certain aspects of heavy attacking they benefit more from t/m support than a true heavy attacker race/personality compliment. If you're not quite following, it's that dwarves don't have the raw offensive capability to yield best results per tap. Dwarves can however incorporate their gains into productive acres far more efficiently. This is the premise of the zone tactic.

The elliptical wave was developed from common disorganized ghetto conduct into a quasi-organized GMT based rotary offensive. Oftentimes in ghetto environments we loosely gather whoever is available and work in narrow array with narrow objectives. The elliptical wave accounts for real world limitations and thus aims to bring a level of effective organization ergo to work life. One of the beneficial side effects is the ability to sideswipe traditional wave opponents with real tactical force and actions of opportunity.

[StratOcastle]

A Little Ergonomic

An aspect TVK includes that wouldn't be apparent by just seeing the kingdom strat is the order of battle. Most of the kingdoms I work with in the ghetto are fragmented with poor activity and inconsistent behavior. These are important deficits to experiment in because they provide a level of expectation rife with urgent needs. I compare these with the performances I've worked within organized kingdoms to arrive at what are essentially redundancy stacks, or batteries.

This age I've separated mystics from heretics and rogues in a tactical sense. The mystic is by and large a siege machine that can act like a direct fire, room to room assault weapon. Heretics are particularly assault specialists, but might lack the armor piercing capability of the rogue. Thus I've paired heretic and rogue for close quarters work with a trio of attackers to achieve sector objectives.

When you step back you'll see 2 spearhead divisions with 3 assault accompaniments. By no means are assault units less threatening, but their objectives are different. These are systematically designed to create the freedom of engagement necessary for the spearhead divisions to complete their objectives. There is nothing easy in war when a solid enemy understands your level of killer instinct. Mine is acute and tick by tick I mind my flanks which I've mentioned before as zones. These zones are the crux of unseating a formidable enemy. You must contend nw zones in order to complete strategic objectives. The fights become incredibly furious with heavy interference and chain threats.

This is in essence why I've designed divisions. They are truncated from full kingdom waves because of a lesson I learned in security training. A quote:*Wyatt Earp described it as being mentally deliberate but muscularly faster than thought.*

Despite the great firepower and complete devastation a full kingdom wave can achieve, an active enemy can derail the wave by the quote illustrated above. The chain of events is segmented and flexible by a less devastating but fast acting effective force. This same philosophy is oddly found in short barreled weapons in that target acquisition is faster and appropriately accurate ergo to range. That is, that you're already aware of how close you have to be. It's as simple as knowing what enemies in a given nw range apply to your division objectives weighed against enemy conduct or behavior.

The analogy is an enemy fighting you room by room with a sniper rifle and you have a snub nose revolver. Sure, the rifle can do more damage but you've chosen the battlefield where the ballistics and action are in your favor. By abbreviating the number of relay tactics to a shorter and broader circuit we can micro efficiently.

To understand this, I'm not saying the enemy can't micro in a full wave, but that there's a train of followup tactics that can be stalled when 25 people are online. By truncating the active parts we can punch through wave formations in quick order reducing "oops!" counter tactics by in-the-know meta practitioners. Simultaneously, we have reduced our vulnerability by jettisoning the dreadnought mentality. I love dreadnoughts, but their existence is based in an archaic strategy that has settled into Utopia almost as physical law. My aim here is to explain to you through alternative perspective how great kingdom micro is the ultimate evolution of ghetto slogging.