Virtual Kingdom ~ The Heavy Cruiser

Hello and welcome to a new addition of Virtual Kingdom. For those who read the last this may be monotony, but I'll attempt to keep this cleaner. The Virtual Kingdom is a game template not an actual kingdom.

Origins: Thank You Palem for The Faery Circle. Palem was my primary influence in that every province in TFC was monoracially faery. This sparked the idea of a zero core in which the kingdom was balanced by equal measure of personality and race. The lone character bias being the 25th player; for our purposes, monarch.

Motive: I'm a traveller. That is, I venture many kingdom averaging 5/age. I've seen great players locked away in semi-active kingdoms with dictates of rigid kingdom strategies that are middling in success and basically not fun. Most of these kingdom average 8-10 players who are both active and enthusiastic. I'd like to imagine these players in a free environment with like players.

Template: Based on army groups, I envision a kingdom of 25. The kingdom is comprised 3 each personality 3 each race. This total is 24 with the monarch choosing a persona/race not represented in the kingdom. Some combinations are not efficient, but designed toward players open to alternative builds.

Divisions: The kingdom is comprised of 3 divisions. Each division includes one of each persona and race. Unlike the musket salvo system we are use to, my vision is for integrated tactics from the logistics of merchant to the rubber-meets-the-road warrior.

Talent Pool: As mentioned above in my travels, this kingdom would be based on 8-9 players from 3 different kingdoms merged here in divisions. This offers each division a synergy they are familiar with and the opportunity to learn and share with the 2 other divisions. Another possible benefit is competition between divisions to compare doctrine and it's virtual effectiveness.

Organization: Council will include 2 members from each division. Steward will be appointed by the king. Divisions can be integrated, lopsided, concentrated and reinforced depending on kingdom posture and requirements.

Roleplaying: Is not required but certainly welcome. Roleplaying culture is encouraged to be per division. If division #1 are monks and division #2 pirates then division #3 can be samurai if they wish. A fully integrated culture is welcome provided no players are alienated.

Doctrine: As the template dictates there are no absolutes. My personal preference is not for war or whore, but simply a kingdom that embraces the challenge of a balanced template. Challenging wars are encouraged and not just respect but regard for enemies and strangers. Even in brutal one sided conflict the enemy should be greeted as friend. Activity is why we're here.

* Soon I will post a kingdom template only as a beginning stage to evolve as we go.*

~ Thank you for your participation. Comments and suggestions are welcome. You may post a persona/race combination you would enjoy and name a province in kingdom if you please. ~

Wha, there's a roleplaying board? I subbed.

~ The Heavy Cruiser: Age 60 ~

1st Avian - tactician: Yamaha YZF-R1 or Harley-Davidson Super Glide
2nd Avian - warrior: BMW K 1300 S
3rd Avian - war hero: Kawasaki Ninja*
4th Dwarf - sage: Moto Guzzi Griso*
5th Dwarf - tactician: Buell S1 Lightning
6th Dwarf - war hero: Triumph Daytona
7th Elf - cleric: Excelsior-Henderson Super X
8th Elf - mystic: Harley-Davidson Night Rod
9th Elf - mystic: Triumph Thunderbird
10th Faery - merchant: Harley-Davidson Fat Boy*
11th Faery - rogue: Victory Hammer 8-Ball
12th Faery - sage: Honda Valkyrie
13th Halfling - mystic: Ducati Multistrada
14th Halfling - rogue: Honda Interceptor
15th Halfling - rogue: Norton Commando
16th Human - merchant: Moto Guzzi California*
17th Human - sage: Harley-Davidson Springer*
18th Human - war hero: Kawasaki Vulcan
19th Orc - cleric: Big Dog K-9
20th Orc - warrior: Yamaha VMAX
21st Orc - warrior: Victory Gunner
22nd Undead - cleric: BMW R 1200 R
23rd Undead - merchant: Indian Chief Vintage
24th Undead - tactician: Ducati Monster
25th Undead - rogue: Buell Cyclone

For reference, this is a discussion to map out the draft of what we have above. I thank all participants who guided me in this: They are more knowledgeable. While some were not approving of this as a real kingdom strategy, they were generous to share their insight. Again, thank you.

http://forums.utopia-game.com/showth...ality-amp-Race

Quote:

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Originally Posted by noobium

Wha, there's a roleplaying board? I subbed.

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Isn't it cool. I sometimes come in here and pretend I'm a tree.

There is an alternative. Keep up with The Misery Crown in Utopia Talk. If you to suspect this is an Alternative Dating Site with a game theme then enjoy comedy gold.

why u dwarf/sage? undead/merchant?

i know it's not serious but i'd boot people who made those picks for themselves. ^^

This is from kingdom experience:
I'm in the rebuilding former Ardent Consortium. Our biggest province prior to defecting was a dwarf sage run by a former A Mothers Advice-Polar Bears player.
The undead merchant became a popular choice after a war AC lost. Apparently the enemy had a few undead merchants. AC did fairly well in the war I spawned. Undead merchants moving net worth topside.
I generally like the stacked advantage builds for myself. So elf and undead cleric are favorites, avian tactician. I did enjoy playing a human mystic as well. It's stack was versatility.
~ As stated, your welcome to offer an alternative in the alignment. ~

Division #1:
Avian - tactician
Dwarf - war hero
Elf - mystic
Faery - sage
Halfling - rogue
Human - merchant
Orc - warrior
Undead - cleric

Division #2:
Avian - warrior
Dwarf - sage
Elf - mystic
Faery - merchant
Halfling - rogue
Human - war hero
Orc - cleric
Undead - tactician

Division #3:
Avian - war hero
Dwarf - tactician
Elf - cleric
Faery - rogue
Halfling - mystic
Human - sage
Orc - warrior
Undead - merchant

Monarch:
Undead - rogue

~ Only a preliminary breakdown. We may adjust certain joint operations among speed or durability. ~

Division #3 is set to be the long war standout. This build doesn't carry the impact of #1 or 2 but has resilience built in by a variety of means. This is intended as the finisher division.

Division #1 is the archetypical builds. All these builds emphasize the depth of range we look for when we imagine personality that best represents race. There may be some disagreement insofar as Faery sage, but we must observe the breadth of capability a learned Faery brings to the table vs Human due to bonus types and wealth of spells.

Division #2 best represent what I'd describe as theater control. Thus the strength here is in augmenting the goals of the 2 other divisions. These are rather efficient if not as impact oriented as division #1 and not as long-range as division #3. This division is intended to both support division #1 to complete objectives and deflect concentrated efforts to derail division #3.

The monarch Undead - rogue is set to bolster overall strategy and directly impact a division that is either exploiting greater success in a vital battle or reinforce a division that is suffering collapse.

Why Integrated Divisions? :

Again, no absolutes. The integrated divisions were initially designed as individual splinter groups of 3 different kingdoms merged into one. Upon startup there is meant to be familiar synergy players each have experienced from previous ages. Thus the 8 players, say from We Hurt as example, know each others time table and are sensitive to each other tendencies.

This is a loose system that is liable to fade as players from each division get to know each other. {The ideal I may have failed to mention was that the divisions occupy each of the 3 major time zones.} intended result is a 24/7 active kingdom.
So a player from a given division has a primary source of aid, intel, advice and tactical awareness based in that divisions objectives. Chained or fat provinces are in close company with support. Unbreakables have attackers on hand to deflect enemies who threaten their status. Campers are provinces of opportunity. Though I have little experience in exercising this tactic, I have witnessed it to great effect.

I'm not familiar with explore formulas and therefore how they could best be used in this environment. I do know that this will fluctuate depending on skill of threat assessment, diplomacy and luck, good and bad.

Roleplaying and Utopian Etiquette:

I've role-played for many years pencil&paper in a variety of games from spy, feudal Asia, cartoons, superheroes, gumshoe detectives, post apocalyptic, future space exploration to traditional fantasy. We have a regular group of 8-9 that have played together for over 30 years. In this group we have the guys who stir trouble, the ones who always play it safe, the ones who enjoy hero gallantry and the goofy offbeat. 'Get 'em!' is the only thing we've agreed on despite our years of play together and I wouldn't want it any other way.

The importance of etiquette as it relates to roleplaying is to communicate this aspect to those you have contact. Yes, you may be setting yourself up to be trolled by immature bullies( even mature ) but you have to be bigger than them emotionally. ~ This is a game so enjoy it. ~ There will always be some negapuss who scoffs at this style of hobby and fun. Treat them with mutual respect; that is, it's okay to defend yourself and be wise to keep your temper. Most are just damaged goods who like to front elite based in some mathematical skill. Just know we are all capable of crying from hurt.

A long time ago I was a rent-a-cop( security guard ) in some really bad neighborhoods. The culture is driven by violence and fear. Many try to intimidate and question your bravery while touting street cred that may or may not be legitimate. I wasn't brave, but I knew I had to stare down some ugly thugs to get through the night. Aside from this I knew some genuinely good people who grew up in these real life ghettos who had fantastic self awareness, generosity and courage. They were better people than me in how they carried themselves in this world. So be who you want to be: this is only a game with text based interaction. Words can hurt, digital results can be depressing but just keep it real.
~ Be Who You Want to Be ~

Subject: Welcome To Utopia

~ A few friends of mine played this game years ago. Bob asked : why do they call it Utopia if all you do is war? Steve pronounced : BECAUSE WAR IS UTOPIA! :-) ~

Seems a little out of context to mention this here, but i notice time to time we have guests visiting the forum. These might be unregistered game veterans, but let's play it safe and think of the new player.

I've attempted to avoid acronyms that would confuse newer players. Acronyms that are common to regular players are in a guide somewhere I think in Talk sticky. I'm a poor substitute for the breadth of moderator knowledge. They can get you there much faster than I could.

aww this is like your own little world. i like it stratocastle. i wish i had my own little world. you lucky.

I'm willing to share ;-)

So I didn't spend much time thinking on this, but I'm applying virtual solutions to current game events.

Thus below:

Off the Rails Diplomacy ~ A Solution to Fair Play and AMA (a mothers advice) ~ Virtual Merger Age 61

It occurs to me several kingdoms of very good players are facing a miserable age 61. Sure, some embrace the heated rivalries, but now we are looking at spinter groups to phantom raze and put the banana in the tailpipe.

I propose we break up A Mothers Advice, Cromulent Republic and PyroManiaCs for one age. The monarchs of each of these 3 kingdoms will assemble 7 of their players of choice. These icons will run a division as advertised in this Virtual Kingdom. Remaining players from these 3 kingdoms will migrate to the Utopian community both to bolster a sagging populace and act as Fair Play militia. A top monarch would be chosen from the conflicted scenario: Flogger, Anri etc.

Simply, the rivals can compete with each other, but not in a way that effects the community at large. Here they can exercise healthy competition without dragging shell kingdoms into the mix who may have players who just want to play. They may give their subjects a chance to cut down on the kool-aid and breath sense for a change. The top will have greater diversity as alliances have less steam to drive agendas. The merger will allow for these epic players to taste humble teamwork with their rivals and match skills in a compromising position.

Finally, it rings more fun to me than tunnel vision anger destroying all that's left of the most skilled sector of the game.

~ Thank you for your attention ~

Chemistry Synergy Team:

Personal experience is a good foundation for understanding what constitutes a workable situation. What I mean by this is what is mutually enjoyable at the point where the game is both fun and the players are reaping success. this requires us to go deeper than the concept of the divisions consisting of 8 provinces.

The buddy system: This is most evident in a band situation with connections that hone a cohesive sound. Notice in many cases there will be an obvious relationship in the lead section of say guitarist and singer, AND a relationship in rhythm between bassist and drummer. The connecting agents are the string player bassist and guitarist. Despite the relative distance in relationship of drummer to singer, it's the nights when they both are "on" that the best performances take place. - Same goes for quarterback/wide receiver and pitcher/catcher. This is the root by which team synergy grows.

My basic skepticism of the widely used system here in Utopia is that each kingdom has a peak and then a less spectacular foundation. Here I'm talking about the fun more than the success. Being told what to do in quasi-robotic fashion is fine if your focus isn't quite here. What I'm presenting as a template is a way to take your relationships in the game and express that as unfettered as one can offer. Besides the numerical harmony of the 8 persona/race combinations the game offers, I also decided on divisions to nurture the concept of team. This may seems counterintuitive, but I promise you that even the game of football only gets you 11 players on the field, not 25.

All the kingdom will be aimed at particular goals but the pursuit is down to the dynamic duo, all 12 of them. From there each duo has a chemistry with a member of another duo. Be it heavy attacker to thief or mage to merchant, each will find someone they can go back to back and take on the world. my hope is that you won't get lost in the mix but found as a unique gem that shines among the jewels around you. Call it art.

Triskelion Monarchy:

Crucially, take a look at the Swiss Pike Square. Now conceive this triangulated to upper, lower and midrange relationships. Diplomacy, goals and tactics.

( * I stole " crucially " from the Sir James Dyson * )

I mentioned a jazz band as influence on the approach to kingdom activity and scope in my last Virtual Kingdom thread. We have a most diverse range of personality/race to have reach in every corner of game mechanics. These aren't massive in any aspect, but there in some authority. We have war hero for all the reasons a war hero is presented as a personality: fast training, immunities, war spoils which all play a part in the myriad of options this kingdom strategy offers.

Like a jazz band each player has their opportunity to solo with backing support. The rhythm section is still pumping, horns laying out tasteful sustain while you're doing your thing. When you're done we all meet at the bridge. So if war is a song we can ad-lib with one eye on the sheet music. It's not a promise of success, but every player gets a moment to shine in the build they cherish.

Where Strategy & Roleplaying Fuse: Rule #1 - nobody cares about your D&D character, but tough cookies!

In my last campaign I played Misty Keghammer. She was a dwarf earth warden who specialized in area effect attacks. Strategically she was an anomaly as she defended her party from a distance. Misty was at her best when surrounded by enemies; the more the better. This complemented the conventional defender types who thrived in traditional fashion. That is, standing as a wall between the enemy and our healers and mages. Warden is the most durable defender build and dwarf ain't bad either. For roleplaying purposes and to lend my Game Master a portion of the fun, I wore only leather armor. This kept the game fun which I think is important when the Game Master sacrifices much to make the game fun for the players. Misty had redundant and far reaching capabilities that made her a very satisfying character to run in combat, but in D&D it's more than that.

Misty was a rather small dwarf, even shorter than some gnomes. One peculiar detail she was born from an egg. She had long straight silver hair tied in a ponytail and pale gray skin tone with a blue hue. Almond shaped steel blue eyes and a somewhat long pointed nose. Her facial features were sharp like a grey elf with a small mouth and thin pink lips. Her limbs were short and chubby, but shapely if you're into that type of thing.
Misty had a voice like Kathleen Turner though she was both a close and quiet talker. Her first language was dragonborn and she had a dragonborn accent when speaking dwarf or common. She walked with a dainty swagger and never quite mastered a straight line. This could be because Misty was a relentless drinker, even in life and death combat. Her favorite pipe was a short stout briar with a wide heavy bowl and fond of English tobacco. She carried on her personal business with the charm of Mr.Bean. The essence of her underlying personality was generations of wardens that were reincarnated and carried on in spirit. So even though Misty seemed nothing more than a cute little drunk dwarf girl she was destined for centuries to carry on a mission handed down from the birth of the crystal gate of the Far Realm.

In conclusion, we have the opportunity to imagine our provinces in full technicolor as demonstrated above. Let strategy and character meet as one and fully enjoy this game.

Be Water:

How important is uniformity in Utopia? There seems to be a majority that believe a set core of similar races and personalities have advantage. Yet, someone is losing wars or not growing. Right? I think if we look through the charts we'll see most do this anyway. To make it clear, I think it makes a difference but better players make the most difference.

So do I really think a kingdom with zero core can beat one of current age efficiency: elf, human, undead? Unquestionably, yes. This template is based in player desire with the tools to do what you're best at. Is there chaos? Yes. But I wonder if this templates mistakes would be as detrimental as the efficient kingdoms mistakes?

Number crunchers seem to have some grip on what works in some sort of octane delivery ideal. I'm not saying they're wrong, but efficiency in Utopia is bargain shopping. It doesn't account for quality. What I'm doing here is presenting you with quality. With traditional strategies you have simple balance but here in this template we have sophisticated balance. That's right, I'm talking about taste. It would be offensive for me to present this template as better. It is not. What this template offers is complexity. It's beautiful to a player who enjoys sophistication. Doesn't mean this is hard. This template could run on a basic war and peace plan as any other kingdom, but it's upside is it's depth of character.

What Am I Selling?

Nothing. This is a Virtual Kingdom template with a few rules to keep a common theme. The reason this is virtual is that while this kingdom could live I know that it probably won't. I'm not fond of monarchy myself and I enjoy traveling from kingdom to kingdom. It's my travel that influenced several features here.

What I'm presenting is an alternative to raze and recruit. Merging kingdoms is obvious to me because I travel enough to see the same problems in the lower to midrange Utopian sectors. Merger is better for the game and offers greater potential to yield a good kingdom. Egos are the greatest obstacle.

Almost Forgot:

We can't fully realize The Virtual Kingdom until we fake tag.

~ I christen thee: The Hallmark Channel ~

Theme will be each province named after a
Hallmark Channel movie. There, that was easy.

* Have you watched this stuff? It's fantastic! - So every Saturday I do laundry and watch TV. Now I'm mildly addicted to this stuff and suddenly realized the Virtual Kingdom name has the same initials as The Hallmark Channel ( The Heavy Cruise ). Isn't that goofy like a crazy romantic movie!? ;-) *

Recruitment & Requirements(?):

First thing I'd like you to do is look at the recruit page and notice the common theme of minimum requirements. I think if you need to be told to deploy your army twice a day in war you honestly shouldn't be playing competitive Utopia. I'm not saying this because I believe in the doctrine of army in/out, I'm saying if your not interested enough to need minimum level guidance you should simply random to any given kingdom.

Recruitment here will be handled by division to fit their particular needs. If they desire help from outside their division they are welcome to ask. Shuffling player to player, role to role, division to division is welcome. We want synergy and ultimately happiness, as far as the Utopian ideal. Think about this virtual kingdom in the light of Utopian society. Not snob, not overly idealistic, not narrow minded war mongering.

If communication were up to me I would use Chatzy as the private channel and have a public irc. The public irc is important to get to know the Utopian community. By getting to know the community you have a much more reliable source for recruitment. By example, #ACPub is the benchmark public irc. How can I say that? Answer: because when AC broke up the personalities were easily recognized by the larger community and several players went from below the charts to top 10 and even 5 kingdoms. Warseekers, Pew Pew, Simians, Legacy come to mind immediately.
By virtue of happiness it would be nice to have our players that want a shot at crowning to exchange places with top players that want a more relaxed social playing environment.

I'm an advocate for generous amounts of intel, but i'm a guy who enjoys the charms of Pimp. Clearly not popular with the Upoopo and Stingernet crowd. Here I will be my most ridiculously communist and say let's have all 3. One intel source per division with the kingdom registered to all 3. This way I can have my pimp and you can have Stingernet. We'll figure out something to make the coordination as seamless as possible. Just a few more cups of coffee and it'll all make sense.

Continue To Age 61:

Did I ever mention I'm left-handed? Lots of people are, but I'm very right brain oriented. This is why you won't see build % here. I'm a feel player to a fault. I need freedom to be happy and the reins of top play simply don't fit. My honest opinion is they are better at this game. So where do I fit, or you if you're like me in this way?
My suggestion is to find the highest level of play where you have that freedom.

When you travel this game with good intentions you learn there are a few top 50 kingdoms that can accommodate freedom of build with a level of formidability. I've fought good kingdoms in said places and while we lose it isn't quite because they are better in execution. Most of it has to do with their greater plans. In every case it has been the kingdom I'm in with the handicaps. If we can reason with this then we get to war a refined enemy we can learn from.

I'll be preparing an age 61 template in the near future. Because it will mirror this template not much will change other than personality to race alignment. As usual these will vary from the immediate impact builds to the builds of sustain.
I'd love to get periodic build structures from the math oriented players so that interested readers might have a more defined view of this template. Thank you if you stop in to contribute. Or just say hi ;-)

Relative Understanding: Influence Your Game By Your Interests

It's obvious some guys in this game use chess tactics and acquired vision via competition. This is why it's important to keep a cool head in diplomacy. If an opponent can learn the depth of your understanding, your level of foresight he may gain advantage. They may use insults or a demeaning affront to get you to expose weakness. My opinion is there are no cease fires for enemies. This seems cruel in short, but our interest is to make them friends. If we look at the picture of grace I can say from personal experience that Roughknecks and Shinra are benchmarks.

Now, back on track

Cigars: I love cigars. If you don't know, there are particular blends from different regions. There are tobacco men who master this blending, rollers who are responsible for how well constructed the cigar is and aging to get the characteristics to marry. This at it's zenith isn't about efficiency, it is about quality. It's about care, time and wisdom.

Revolvers: A fine revolver is a machine of beauty. Timing, lock mechanisms, trigger action, safety features, ergonomics and customization. My preference for grips are smooth, not checkered, single finger grooved Brazilian Tulipwood Hogue. In better revolvers we enjoy the pageantry of man and machine. I enjoy the loping feel of a large calibre, short barreled revolver. Again this isn't efficient, but it brings together charms we simply don't have in automatics.

Live Music: If it were up to me I'd love to see a resurgence in live music in as many neighborhoods as possible. As with most art it is a display of expression, be it covers or originals. We have the option to listen or walk away. The organic sound from a small venue is always appealing to me. I truly miss the jazz scene where cigars and scotch were the culture. I'm as much a metalhead and simply like being near the music. It is a dimension of art, from the people dancing to the reflections of colored light off chromed instruments to the very reason; to listen to art.

Age 60 concluded, I'm just taking notes for 61:

1- Faery mystic ( Elf mystic, Halfling mystic )
2- Faery rogue ( Halfling rogue )
3- Faery sage ( Human sage, Dwarf sage )