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.
Originally Posted by Bishop
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