Thunderdome 2015 » Printable Version of Topic

Forum: Games
Topic: Lord Of Ultima
started by: TheCatt

Posted by TheCatt on Apr. 13 2010,18:47

Just started playing.

Feels kinda like Travian so far, cept far prettier and easier to use.

I'm TheCatt

Posted by WSGrundy on Apr. 13 2010,19:52

Yeah I signed up a while ago but then never went back. Been meaning to play it again but keep forgetting about it.

Posted by Cakedaddy on Apr. 13 2010,21:59

I'm Cakedaddy. I invited you to the aliance Vindication (TKV).

Posted by Cakedaddy on Apr. 13 2010,22:10

My coordinates are 423:529. You are way far away from me. Is there a way to start next to people?

Posted by Cakedaddy on Apr. 13 2010,23:22

Oh, by the way, we are on World 3 (NA EST). I took the recommended server, and it just happened to be the same Catt is on.

If this is something we toy with (high potential as it's fairly low overhead. Something you can manage once a day over lunch.) I would suggest we all play our first week (you are protected), figure things out, then start over on a new server all at once. That way, we maximize our first week and are more ready for action at the end of it. As it stands, I've made a TON of errors building my city. I thought the tutorial was just a tutorial. So, I'm reading and doing what she's saying, but not really trying. Just trying to get through it. At the end she says "Ok, you're all set. Good luck!". Ummmm. Horrible city layout.

When she says place next to trees, do that. And the more trees you border, the more you produce. Same with other resources. You have two sets of walls (inner and outer), you can build outside the inner walls, but inside the outer. All of my shit is crammed in the inner city walls. I have a feeling my production buildings would be better outside the main inner walls. Dunno yet though.

Anyway, those are my early thoughts.

Posted by TheCatt on Apr. 14 2010,04:56

(Cakedaddy @ Apr. 14 2010,01:10)

QUOTE

My coordinates are 423:529. You are way far away from me. Is there a way to start next to people?

No idea. In Travian, you can kinda do it by joining in the same quad as someone, and joining around the same time.

My coords: 448:553

That doesn't sound way far away, but certainly not next door.

Posted by TheCatt on Apr. 14 2010,05:57

I think everyone will default to World 3, it's the North American EST server.

Posted by Leisher on Apr. 14 2010,06:06

I see, nobody could join me in Evony, but when EA (the company Cakedaddy is boycotting) releases the exact same game...

Posted by TheCatt on Apr. 14 2010,06:08

So... you joining us or what?

Posted by Cakedaddy on Apr. 14 2010,07:33

I noticed the EA thing as well. So, when it comes time to pay to play or to do something, then, I'm out.

Posted by Cakedaddy on Apr. 14 2010,07:39

Raided a level 1 dungeon last night. Sent 15 berserkers. 15 survived. Looted a handful of resources. Nothing major, but something.

It would take 8.5 hours for my foot soldiers to reach your city if you were under attack. 4.25 for Cavalry. That seems prohibitive when trying to support each other. That's what I meant by far away. Seems like things would be long over before I got there to help.

Posted by TheCatt on Apr. 14 2010,07:45

OK, how did you find the dungeon? I went to region, and clicked around, but couldnt find any

Well, by Travian terms, 4.5/8.5 hours isn't very far, but I dont know how that translates here.

afaik, this is a beta, which means the game will reset afterwards? dunno.

Posted by TheCatt on Apr. 14 2010,07:49

Nevermind, just found my first dungeon. Going to queue up some troops and go for it.

Posted by Cakedaddy on Apr. 14 2010,08:42

What are your production levels? I'm at:

578/h - wood
846/h - stone
470/h - iron
75/h - food
155/h - gold

Posted by Cakedaddy on Apr. 14 2010,08:49

They gave examples of sending 10 troops to a level 1 and not losing any. I sent 15 cause I had extra iron, so made more troops.

With the level 1 dungeons, there's a cap on how much you can loot, and it's not very much. With level 2's and higher, the more you send, the more you can loot. Each unit has a carrying capacity. So, the more troops you send, the more the group can carry. They were giving examples of sending a total of around 40 troops if memory serves. They'd lose 1-3 troops in the level 2 dungeons.

I found a level 1 hydra out there too. Seems whoever strikes the killing blow gets the prize for the kill. Didn't send any troops there though.

If you scroll and scroll and scroll to the right, there's another land mass with no one (that I could see) on it. It highlighted as if to give me the option to start a city over there. Didn't see any dungeons or anything though. So, not sure if that's future expansion or a bug with the build options. But, it's out there.

Posted by TheCatt on Apr. 14 2010,09:26

954 940 375 178 25

Wood/Stone seem to be the important ones early on, so that's what I've focused on

Posted by TheCatt on Apr. 14 2010,09:35

Wow, I attacked a level 1 Dungeon with a Dragon, and it went poorly.

19 Bezerkers, lost 6; The dragon lived.

I looted just a little stuff:
260 gold., 66, 19 ,19, 26 of the other.

Posted by TheCatt on Apr. 14 2010,10:14

So far this is, roughly spekaing, 55 bazillion quadrillion times more fun that HandH

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 14 2010,10:24

(Cakedaddy @ Apr. 14 2010,00:59)

QUOTE

I'm Cakedaddy. I invited you to the aliance Vindication (TKV).

Invite Gordonopolis.

Posted by Cakedaddy on Apr. 14 2010,10:55

You are actually 448:533. Sent you 30 iron as trade. I figured the beasts would be hard to kill. I've got a dragon by me now as well.

I build a second squad of 15 berzerkers and sent them to the dungeon as well. I'm recovering about the same amount of loot you are. Next trip, I'm going to send 10 troops and see how it goes. Maybe have 3 squads running around.

I'm ramping up wood/stone production as well. I did heavy iron at first out of ignorance. At least I'm getting lots of bezerkers starting out and producing income.

Posted by Cakedaddy on Apr. 14 2010,10:57

This is a different kind of fun than H and H to me. WAY less grindy and overheady. That's for sure. MUCH more condusive to casual play.

Posted by TheCatt on Apr. 14 2010,11:03

Booo... since I already attacked the dragon and lost, I cannot re-attack. And the other boss near me is gone.

Oh well, I have 45 beserkers now, split them into raiding groups of 15 to hit dungeons.

Saving up for a level 6 town hall now, which is expensive.

Posted by Cakedaddy on Apr. 14 2010,11:51

I found a good city planner tool. Easy and quick to use.

< http://www.lordofultima.com/en/forum/showthread.php?tid=40077 >

Finding wacky things out. Like, if you have a woods area and you build wood cutter's hut all the way around it. It produces x. If you tear down the woods and put another wood cutter's hut in it's place, you get x - y. If you tear down the woods and put a cottage in it's place, you get x + z. So, it's better to replace woods with a cottage. But if you surround the woods again, and tear down one of the wood cutter's hut , and put up a cottage, you get less return.

People in another forum are saying "Don't be afraid to destoy you resources to get the best city layout. I'm wondering if cottages surrounded by mining/huts/etc with other cottages placed in between would be better than building around resources.

I have a max military of 33 right now. Still trying to maximize production. And I am also saving up for level 6.

I haven't put any mills/masons into the planner yet, so don't know how that will play out. If you play with it, let me know what you find.

Posted by Cakedaddy on Apr. 14 2010,11:59

More research later and ya, it's best to nuke your resources and go for layout. Can't destroy lakes though, so plan around those.

Also, people are building entire cities dedicated to one resource for max production. Problem I see with this is resource transport. Would have to manage all your trade between towns. Assuming you don't pull from a common pool. If so, dumb.

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 14 2010,12:32

Is this world supposed to be ULTIMA ultima?

Posted by WSGrundy on Apr. 14 2010,13:22

(GORDON @ Apr. 14 2010,12:32)

QUOTE

Is this world supposed to be ULTIMA ultima?

Yes the Lord British one.

Posted by Malcolm on Apr. 14 2010,15:24

Lum had some kind of post comparing this to Evony or something. He also had a link to an article on the evolution of Evony ads.

Posted by Cakedaddy on Apr. 14 2010,15:46

My cart of iron made it to Catt's city. Enjoy the bounty!

We have a request from Manhoso to join our Alliance.

QUOTE

Can I join your alliance?

I just started and am learning how to play.. youre in close vacinity of me so I figured it would be a good idea

I'm not sure I'm all that flattered that he wants to join based on proximity. But anyway, I have no idea of what advantages/disadvantages of having people in our Alliance is. So, thoughts?

Posted by TheCatt on Apr. 14 2010,15:52

I lend towards "sure" It's just a beta after all.

The theoretical advantage is that it's one more person to help defend our cities, or join us on attacks.

disadvantage would be spies.

Posted by Cakedaddy on Apr. 14 2010,15:59

Also, Gordonopolis is on a different continent. Reachable only by boat and many many hours.

No iron for you.

Posted by Cakedaddy on Apr. 14 2010,16:00

TKV has many enemies. . . .

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 14 2010,16:08

(Cakedaddy @ Apr. 14 2010,18:59)

QUOTE

Also, Gordonopolis is on a different continent. Reachable only by boat and many many hours.

No iron for you.

My goal is actually to build a harbor. I'm on water.

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 14 2010,16:12

When you are building things for the adjacency bonus, do diagonals count?

Posted by Cakedaddy on Apr. 14 2010,16:34

Yes, diagonals count. So, one tree surrounded by 8 huts will give it's bonus to all 8.

And we all have water. Lower right corner with the harbor is on all city maps.

I guess our assault on continent 41 will be based from your city then.

But I still say we all pick a time and start over at the same time. Get us all on the same continent and stuff.

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 14 2010,16:49

Well do it soon because if I put a lot of time into a city and then have to start over I will lose interest.

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 14 2010,17:52

There are at least twice as many cities on my region map as when I started a few hours ago.

Posted by Cakedaddy on Apr. 14 2010,17:57

So you'd want to keep your original guess work city limping along instead of starting over in a week? I'm willing to bet that after a week of doing research and learning the game, I'd be much farther (or would it be further?) along after 4 weeks time (and then forever after that) by dumping the first week.

In other words, we both play for a week. You keep playing your city, I start a new one with a much better layout and use of resources. 3 weeks later, I pull ahead of you and you are rebuilding your city to match my output. You eventually catch up, but I'm already building my second city, which means you didn't catch up!

So which would make you lose interest faster? Having to start over and be much more prosperous or lagging behind everyone else and struggling to keep up?

I'm just sayin, if it's a fun game with long term potential, giving up a week's worth of work for maximum long term gain would be worth it.

Posted by Cakedaddy on Apr. 14 2010,17:59

(GORDON @ Apr. 14 2010,10:52)

QUOTE

There are at least twice as many cities on my region map as when I started a few hours ago.

That's why I think it's important to do a synchornized restart.

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 14 2010,19:40

I'll be lucky if my interest in this game lasts a week as it is.

Do what you want.

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 14 2010,19:47

Rumor is a reset is coming on the 20th, anyway.

Posted by Cakedaddy on Apr. 14 2010,21:28

Perfect. 1 day before my protection ends!

Posted by TheCatt on Apr. 15 2010,04:35

(GORDON @ Apr. 14 2010,22:47)

QUOTE

Rumor is a reset is coming on the 20th, anyway.

Yeah, the game launches for reals next week.

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 15 2010,05:45

I can't see me paying ~~more than a dollar a month~~ actual money for a game I can only play 20 minutes a day.

Did they plan on charging? This IS EA we're talking about.

Posted by TheCatt on Apr. 15 2010,06:58

I think they're doing the free, but with micro-transactions thing (buying diamonds).

Posted by TheCatt on Apr. 15 2010,07:12

Re-attacked the dragon today with 45 beserkers.

I lost 1, and the dragon died.

Looted a small artifact, 880 gold, then small amounts of the others (66 to 200)

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 15 2010,08:10

Well y'all figure out our game plan for the Day 1 reboot, and tell me what I need to do. I assume we will try to cluster on a single continent? Let me know how to do that.

Also, we should start as close to opening minute as we can.

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 15 2010,09:17

This game really needs a "marketplace" like almost every other resource balancing game in the world so I can sell excess of one resource to buy more of what I need.

Posted by TheCatt on Apr. 15 2010,09:20

(GORDON @ Apr. 15 2010,12:17)

QUOTE

This game really needs a "marketplace" like almost every other resource balancing game in the world so I can sell excess of one resource to buy more of what I need.

Yes, yes it does. It's very odd the way they do the trades right now.

Posted by Cakedaddy on Apr. 15 2010,12:13

With no market, you do avoid the hassle of an unbalanced market though! The Chineese will rape the servers for gold, devalue it and only the mega rich can buy stuff. No market means you only produce what you need and there's no rich people.

So far, the only thing I see that you have to pay for that you may not be able to do without is the defence minister. I guess he's the guy that warns you of incoming attacks or something. You can build watch towers that increase the amount of warning you get. But I don't see how to get the warning, unless you have him. If that's true, I'm not going to waste resources on watch towers cause I'm not going to give them any money.

The other for purchase stuff seems to be for auto maint while you're AFK and increasing your build queue.

Posted by Cakedaddy on Apr. 15 2010,12:16

By the way, I did invite that Manhoso dude into the aliance. He sent me 500 wood and iron.

Posted by Malcolm on Apr. 15 2010,12:34

(Cakedaddy @ Apr. 15 2010,14:13)

QUOTE

Where's your hammer & sickle?

Posted by Leisher on Apr. 15 2010,13:19

I cannot stress enough that this is EXACTLY the same game as Evony. It's a complete ripoff. The worst part is that based on what I've seen so far, Evony might be a better game.

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 15 2010,13:47

(Leisher @ Apr. 15 2010,16:19)

QUOTE

I cannot stress enough that this is EXACTLY the same game as Evony. It's a complete ripoff. The worst part is that based on what I've seen so far, Evony might be a better game.

I friended you.

Posted by TheCatt on Apr. 15 2010,14:13

(Leisher @ Apr. 15 2010,16:19)

QUOTE

I cannot stress enough that this is EXACTLY the same game as Evony. It's a complete ripoff. The worst part is that based on what I've seen so far, Evony might be a better game.

Well, evony and LOU are both rip-offs of Travian.

Posted by TheCatt on Apr. 15 2010,16:36

Became a Baron today, and found a level 2 dungeon with dragon. Recruited 25 beserkers and 25 mages, going to see about going after it tomorrow.

Posted by Cakedaddy on Apr. 15 2010,19:37

I skipped going for Level 7 and continued building my infrastructure. Maxed out my buildings making wood farms and a stone farm. I killed my first dragon with 61 berzerkers. I should wake up tomorrow morning with plenty of resources for level 7 and building up my wood farm even more.

Resources right now are:

w - 2185/h
s - 1272/h
i - 521/h
f - 64/h
gold - 157/h

Posted by Cakedaddy on Apr. 15 2010,19:44

Gordon, on continent 41, is reachable by water. Leisher, who is also on 41, is not reachable. Looks like being next to a river on the region map actually matters.

Posted by TheCatt on Apr. 16 2010,05:00

1555 / 1274 / 405 / 175 / 51

I spent too many resources on bldg stuff like barracks/stable, should probably be focusing on resource bldgs, but those are boring.

Posted by TheCatt on Apr. 16 2010,05:46

I was a little concerned about the use of items for people to get far ahead, but looks like they're constrained by mana, so at least people cant just buy their way all the way to victory.

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 16 2010,09:26

Someone in the chat window asked "How do I get out of the Alliance I joined?"

I said: "Say 'I resign from my guild.'"

He did. It was funny.

Posted by Troy on Apr. 16 2010,09:44

Bonus points for the person who answers the "How do I attack someone" question with "I must consider my sins."

Posted by Leisher on Apr. 16 2010,09:58

When the wipe occurs, whomever jumps in first should announce here the server and region (IF EA breaks the land mass into regions).

Our alliance won't be worth much unless we're near one another.

I wish this game had city teleporters like Evony. Everyone started out with 3 basic models that would teleport you to a region. You could also buy (or win) one that was advanced. That device could move your city to any specific location.

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 16 2010,10:25

I was never asked what continent I wanted, just the server. I don't think we'll have the option to be placed together.

Posted by Cakedaddy on Apr. 16 2010,10:52

I believe the best chance at us all being located near each other is to all start at the same time. Like 8pm Friday night, or whatever. We pick a date and time. And all start at that moment.

And I agree, starting out, our best strategy would be to start near each other. If it doesn't work out, eventually, we can settle other areas and try to live on multiple continents. As in, I could build a city on cont 41 with Gordon and Leisher. But, it's still spreading our resources way out.

That's what I've come up with so far, with not much research on the subject. So, there might be a better way (too bad for whoever joins late?), but I don't know what it is yet.

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 16 2010,11:02

If the game places you randomly, starting at the same time won't help.

We'll just have to race to being able to transfer stuff by sea.

Also, after the wipe I recommend we devote the first 4 days to 95% resource generation. Then, before our 1-week safety timer runs out, we'll be in good shape to build big armies, fast with 5k/hour wood and stone generation.

Posted by Cakedaddy on Apr. 16 2010,11:20

Catt and I started close to each other, and we are both on 54. You and Leisher started around the same time, and you ended up on 41. That's most of my evidence for 'if we start at the same time, we'll at least be on the same continent'.

I'd be willing to start a city and build nothing but resources, then, with everyone else pitching in, move to a different cont and start over so I'm closer. Point being, it wouldn't be THAT hard to move everyone close, it would just mean a later start towards world domination.

I agree. Resources while protected and then building a ton of solders at the last minute for defence. Have to keep in mind also that most people probably can't build a castle and an army in the first week. Those that can may or may not target us. So, we'd probably be safe for a little while with weak defences. On the other hand, knowing what I know now, having a castle by the end of the week could be possible. I woke up to 30k wood and 20k stone this morning. Dumping all that into level 7, expanding my resource farms and I should wake up to even more tomorrow. Level 8 on Saturday, etc. And my city isn't even layed out optimally. We'll see. Not sure what kind of resources you need at 9-10. Having not gotten into army building much, not really sure, but it looks like iron and gold are needed. However, with my 521/h iron and 159/h gold, I have about 20k of each plus my 100 berzerkers. So, it seems I'd be able to build a pretty good defence with that.

Over all, dunno how much potential there will be early on for attack.

Speaking of attack, are we going to be good guys or bad guys? Are we going to recruit, or force into submission, or ally with others? Cause with all of us on, we'd easily pick off single players. But, we'd get a bad rep and others would come after us. Would others join us? etc.

Posted by TheCatt on Apr. 16 2010,11:21

In Travian, the villages were allotted further and further from the center as time went on. That doesnt seem to be the case here. It would be nice to be at least "kinda close" to each other. But we can create a cluster by packing up and moving after spawn villages are created. Yeah, it'll hurt growth some, but it's not death.

Posted by Cakedaddy on Apr. 16 2010,11:22

Another thought, we might want to delay our entry into the game for a few days. All the hard core, good players will be joining after release. Do we want to be clumped up with them? If we wait a week, we'd be pretty separed from them, I think.

Posted by Cakedaddy on Apr. 16 2010,11:37

Sent 90 berzerkers to a level 2 dungeon. Lost 1 and got about 3 times more loot from a level one. Sent the 90 again to check results. After that, I'm going to send 45. But with sending 90, I can do way better sending 6 squads (15 men each) to level 1 dungeons than 1 squad to a level two.

1 15 man team to level 1 = 200 gold x 6 = 1200 gold
1 90 man team to level 2 = 600 gold.

Sent 1 10 man team to a level 1 and they all survived and got 200 gold. However, I can only send 6 teams out at once, so having the teams that small doesn't help anything.

Posted by TheCatt on Apr. 16 2010,11:45

I went after the level 2 dragon:
1 ranger, 108 beserkers, 51 mages
lost 4 beserkers, 2 mages

Killed the dragon, got
1 bronze toolkit, 1554 gold, 667 wood, 194 stone/bronze, 259 wheat

Agreed with the "wait a couple of days" thought also.

Posted by Cakedaddy on Apr. 16 2010,14:59

Second trip to level 2 dungeon with 99 berzerkers and got 530 gold. Not efficient at all. . . Lost one Berzerker. When they get back, I'll send two teams of 45.

Posted by Cakedaddy on Apr. 16 2010,15:13

Anyone know if you can destroy your castle after you build it like you can other buildings? I'm guessing not as it would be a way to survive a take over. But just curious.

You can build a castle at level 8. I say we hurry up and do that and attack a couple places before week's end to get a feel for combat/invasion.

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 16 2010,15:14

I'm game. I have the highest city score of anyone on my region screen, so...

I'll probably really screw it up because I don't know how to pvp.

edit - And I can't find a single city that doesn't go out of newbie mode before the 21st.

edit 2 - Found one, far away with 3 times my city score.

Posted by Cakedaddy on Apr. 16 2010,16:04

heheh figures. Didn't even think to look at that. Ahh well.

Posted by Cakedaddy on Apr. 16 2010,17:56

What's a good target for resource collecting? I'm playing with the builder and I'm getting 13k+ in wood, iron and stone, 10k in food. Doesn't leave much for an army though. I can have 9k troops, but don't have any buildings left for siege units, hideouts, etc. And thinking about it, 13k+ per hour is a TON of resources. So, would 6k per hour be enough?

For the long haul, will gold and iron be what's needed? That's what's going to maintain your army. Unless you go with a large navy which requires a lot of wood.

I'm leaning towards about 7k/h for resources, and that should leave enough room for an army, hideouts, etc.

Posted by TheCatt on Apr. 16 2010,18:10

In Travian, you would generally have 1 main hammer (offensive) city, and the rest would be feeders that max out production and send resources to that one main village for building the largest possible single army.

Posted by TheCatt on Apr. 16 2010,19:09

Cottages (which speed build time) appear to be cumulative. So if you have a 45% bonus and 26% bonus, you get a 71% bonus to construction speed.

Posted by Cakedaddy on Apr. 16 2010,20:52

Yes, they are cumulative. Other support buildings (saw mill, etc) work differntly. A wood hut can gain the bonus of ONE saw mill, but can gain bonuses from multiple cottages.

Only problem with that strategy in this game is getting resources to other cities. If someone sieges your amry city, you can't get resources inside to build more. Unless all cities draw from the same pool, then, never mind. Also, if you don't have an army in your resource city, you get plundered constantly, unless you overload on hideout.

And 5 hideouts around 2 sets of trees provide 100k+ of hidden resources. Way too much in my opinion.

Posted by Cakedaddy on Apr. 16 2010,22:49

It's getting to the point where upgrading won't pay off before the server wipe! Some of my upgrades won't break even for two days. Getting VERY expensive to upgrade. A level 6 quarry costs 6k wood and 3k stone. It only boosts production by 60/hr. So, I might be done building my farms and just working on getting an army going. I found a place somewhat close by that I can attack some time on the 19th. Don't know if you'll be ready Catt, but if you want to coordinate an attack (cause TKV don't 1v1 LOL!!1! OMG FAG), I'll give you the coords. They have about 300 points right now, so they shouldn't be too tough. Unless they really get going over the next 2 days. So, tomorrow is level 8 and beefing up the army. Then building a castle on the 19th and issuing the attack order.

Posted by Cakedaddy on Apr. 16 2010,22:57

Still recommending this tool:

< http://www.lordofultima.com/en/forum/showthread.php?tid=40077 >

Here's my city so far. Share what you come up with.

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 17 2010,06:48

Geez get some returns in there or something.

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 17 2010,07:44

Just heard a rumor they are not wiping the servers after the beta.

We need someone to find out whats up.

Posted by TheCatt on Apr. 17 2010,07:46

Well, we can just wait 3 days and find out.

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 17 2010,07:49

Yeah but I need to change what I am doing if we AREN'T starting over.

Posted by TheCatt on Apr. 17 2010,08:08

Well, here are my thoughts:

1) 4/20 arrives, new shards open up. old shards stay or go.
2) 4/20 arrives, they keep the same shards, but they reset.
3) 4/20 arrives, nothing happens.

The way I see it, #3 is dumb, and won't happen. So either there will be new shards, or the current ones will reset. Either way, there will be a way we can reset.

And since we're ranked thousands below the top players, we may as well aim for the reset.

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 17 2010,08:37

If we don't reset I am going to crush the guy right on my border as soon as his newbie status wears off on the 21st.

Because that would be funny.

Posted by Cakedaddy on Apr. 17 2010,11:22

Reset or no, I'd like to reset. We are spread out all over the place and it would be weeks before we could actually play with each other.

I also, will attack without mercy MANY of my neighbors if there is no reset as I am WAY ahead of them. Then will start over next week on our new server/cont.

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 17 2010,13:08

When we start a second city, we can't CHOOSE on which continent to put it? Wouldn't that expedite teaming up on people without having to scrap all progress?

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 17 2010,13:10

I'm thinking if y'all decide to reset, I'll just create a second account, keep my main city, and be way ahead of y'all on resources.

Posted by Cakedaddy on Apr. 17 2010,16:17

You are not allowed to have multiple accounts. You decide what that means, how it's enforced, etc.

You can choose which continent as long as you can get there. You'd need a shit ton of boats and resources and stuff. You will spend 100's of 1000's of resources to start you new city. So, not something you can just whip out. And how can you defend your original with your aliance, and new main city on a different continent. Plus you'd have to have a large fleet of ships to move resources from your resource city to your new main city.

I have come to the conclusion that we COULD populate multiple continents. However, each one would be it's own autonomous unit. Not relying on, or supporting a city on another continent. It's just not feasible with the traveling time and transport over head.

Posted by Cakedaddy on Apr. 17 2010,16:24

Sent 159 units to kill a level 2 dragon. Lost 8, killed the dragon.

Sent 25 units to raid a level 2 dungeon. Lost 1, got 288 gold.
Sent 35 units to raid a level 2 dungeon. Lost 1, got 408 gold.
Sent 45 units to raid a level 2 dungeon. Lost 0, got 540 gold.
Sent 46 units to raid a level 2 dungeon. Lost 1, got 510 gold.

All units were berzerkers.

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 17 2010,16:53

You certainly have a lot of reasons why I should just start all over.

Posted by Cakedaddy on Apr. 17 2010,16:54

I'm just leading you to the water. :-)

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 17 2010,16:57

Well you're not the boss of me and I have a problem with authority so now I will do the exact opposite of what you want me to do.

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 17 2010,16:59

So if I build a castle, am I opening myself up to PVP?

Posted by TheCatt on Apr. 17 2010,17:52

(GORDON @ Apr. 17 2010,19:59)

QUOTE

So if I build a castle, am I opening myself up to PVP?

Yes, once your week of protection ends.

Without a castle, you can only have resources stolen. With castle, you can be conquered.

All free-to-play games bar multiple accts, but I always ran multiples on travian. Just dont be dumb about it.

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 17 2010,18:42

I'll just launch another account and use my son's info.

Posted by Cakedaddy on Apr. 17 2010,22:15

What if he wants to play?

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 18 2010,05:24

Then he can launch an account using my wife's info.

Posted by TheCatt on Apr. 18 2010,05:39

I sent over 200 units at a level 3 dungeon (no boss) today, we'll see how it goes.

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 19 2010,05:25

So where is everyone at?

I am currently upgrading my Town Hall to level 9.

+3203
+2918
+361
+199

Posted by TheCatt on Apr. 19 2010,05:47

2145
3503
619
248
507 (gold)

I'm upgrading my moonbeam to level 9. Wanted to see what it would take to get barons. Will upgrade to L10 overnight.

Posted by Cakedaddy on Apr. 19 2010,06:37

I went level 9 last night for more building slots. Expanding my army now for an attack.

I've been reading unofficial stuff that server 3 is not resetting, only the other servers. I still want to start over so our alliance is positioned close together.

3413
3057
460
18
293 gold

Posted by Leisher on Apr. 19 2010,08:35

2221
1593
559
307
320 (gold)

Posted by Leisher on Apr. 19 2010,10:21

So...
What do your cities look like?
Your armies?
What did you build first?
What are you doing with your troops?

Etc.

I'm at lvl 8 and you see my stats above which are achieved via a bunch of lvl 4-5 buildings. I'm using proximity bonuses where I can. I also have a "military" cluster of buildings.

My army is 225 city guards, 150+ berserkers, 75 mages, 25 scouts, and 100 templars. I've been mainly hitting 3 nearby lvl 1 dungeons, however I've also killed two lvl 2 dragons today, and destroyed a lvl 3 dungeon.

Posted by Cakedaddy on Apr. 19 2010,10:31

I have 3 city guards. I plan to preemptively strike the whole game.

Still recommending that city planner util. If you build your city around the resources, you are doing it wrong. A level 10 cottage gives double the bonuses that the resources do. You build next to resources in the beginning, but they should be taken down and replaced with cottages as soon as possible. You should have 3x4 clusters of resource farms for max return/building. My current city is a mess because there's no hope for getting it setup correctly. My next city, right from the beginning will be built with the 3x4 clusters in mind.

I have stopped playing with dungeons because the upper level ones are too far away from me. I'm surrounded by newbs who won't advance my area of the map. But that will make easy pickin's after I build my castle and launch my mage/templar army.

Posted by Cakedaddy on Apr. 19 2010,10:36

I'm wondering more and more if they are going to reset the servers. Many people are complaining about losing their hard work (even people that have played for a week?). Some people have bought diamonds to progress, etc. So, who the hell knows what EA will do. What ever it is, it's in their bank account's best interest, and not the game's. So, I'm betting on the servers not being wiped.

Oh, and there are already people bitching about getting beat up by armies in the thousands after they build their castle. "What's the point in playing if every time you get somewhere, a bully comes along and takes it all?"

I normally play the good guy. In fact, ALWAYS play the good guy. Until the server admins piss me off, then I try to ruin their game. This is the first game I've started right out with the ruin mentality. I'm going to enjoy making people post and whine about getting beat up and taken over.

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 19 2010,10:40

Thousands, eh... so sounds like.... lots of defensive towers?

Posted by Leisher on Apr. 19 2010,11:05

In Evony, Archer's Towers were THE defensive structure. Your actual army, especially archers was next. It was a flaw since there were actually 5 different defensive structures.

Also, in that game you could open your gates or close them. If they were closed an enemy could send a single scout and see EVERYTHING about your city and army. If they were open, they could send thousands of scouts, and lose them all in a battle with your own forces, and they'd learn nothing.

Another FYI, max armies there were 125K. What are they here?

Posted by TheCatt on Apr. 19 2010,11:51

< Barracks info >

So 3150 per L10 barracks.

Each 9-bldg cluster of wheat with a mill = 10325 wheat/hour.

So it would seem you could do "a lot" of troops.

Posted by Leisher on Apr. 19 2010,18:35

Am I missing the "travel faster" research tree or something? (Evony had a couple...one for your troops to attack, one for your troops to trade, and one for your troops to support allies.) It shouldn't take my army 3+ real world hours to walk two squares.

Posted by TheCatt on Apr. 19 2010,18:47

(Leisher @ Apr. 19 2010,21:35)

QUOTE

Good point, I don't see one. Travian has that as well.

Posted by Cakedaddy on Apr. 19 2010,20:14

Two squares for me is about 5 minutes. That Manhoso dude is on my border and it takes less than a minute to transfer resources to him via a cart. If you are seeing that much time to travel 2 squares, you or your continent is broken.

Posted by Leisher on Apr. 19 2010,22:07

QUOTE

No, you're comparing apples to oranges.

Sending troops to another city doesn't take as much time. I've got a city one square to my south and it takes my infantry 10 minutes to get there. (Ditto for the city 1 square to the east.)

Your example also brings in two other factors:
-You're trading (using carts)
-You're going to an alliance member's city

It's likely that both may offer bonuses in travel time.

Try again, but find a wooded area with a dragon, hydra, or dungeon. Compare the travel time for infantry versus a city nearby.

For example:
I have a wooded area, that's currently filled with a lvl 1 dungeon, one square to my city's SE. It's one square directly east of the city to my south that takes 10 minutes to march upon.

However, it takes my infantry units 1 hour and 28 minutes to travel to said dungeon. It's an hour and 40 minutes to the dungeon 2 squares directly east.

That travel time sucks. I get why they're doing it, they're limiting the amount of times you can attack. I think Evony's timer was a bit more reasonable. Catt, how was Travian's?

Posted by Cakedaddy on Apr. 19 2010,22:24

I was saving up for level 10 when I noticed someone to the south of me in what I thought was a castle. Turns out, I think it's just a level 10 city. I don't know for sure though. So, I'm beefing up my army. I'm free for attack some time tomorrow and have a shit ton of available resources. Just spent 40k wood on defences!

Mudcutters is a large alliance on cont 54. Well, they have members there. Didn't actually check to see how many were on 54.

Posted by Cakedaddy on Apr. 19 2010,22:41

Nope, it's a castle. He's only at 1700 points though. But, he's got 50 people in his alliance.

Started shopping around for other alliances to ally with, but figured, what's the point? Going to be moving to a fresh continent soon anyway. Will be cool to have everyone together so we have a fighting chance to expand.

Posted by TheCatt on Apr. 20 2010,04:43

Well, 4/20 is here and nothing is different yet that I could see.

Posted by Leisher on Apr. 20 2010,06:04

IF the wipe doesn't occur, there is a way to get together that worked in Evony (without teleports).

Simply start a new city near each other.

So what we'd do is pick a continent and then a spot on the continent. If one of us in already there, even better. That person should be our "protector" as we get going.

Everyone else finds a spot in the area and builds a new city. We then move everything there slowly turning the old city into a resource farm and nothing else. Something that can be lost if need be. (Although, if I read the rules correctly, perhaps don't build a castle there and use hideouts...? Wouldn't it be close to raid proof?)

And Cake, accept all allies now as they may remember it after the potential wipe. Allies are important in this game. Going it alone isn't an option, especially when bigger guilds start running over everyone.

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 20 2010,07:50

There's a vulnerable guy a screen and a half above me with half my score.

Posted by Cakedaddy on Apr. 20 2010,09:11

We can all start new cities, but that takes a baron, boats and 100k wood and stone. And boats are expensive as hell. So, it would probably be another 3-5 days before we can actually move.

We could also all create a new account, and start over at the same time.

We would probably need to do constant recruiting campaigns as well. People just join those alliances cause someone asks them to. Then, the alliance gets so big that people would be afraid to leave. It's easier to join and be left alone than to not and be a potential target.

If we are starting new cities, there are 3 alliance members on 54 right now. So fewer people would have to move.

Oh, and the protector thing is a good point. You start a new city, and you don't have the 7 day protection period. You'd be getting stomped constantly, I would think.

Posted by TheCatt on Apr. 20 2010,09:13

54 is definitely the place to be.

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 20 2010,09:41

I'm not far from being able to build a second city, fyi.

But I have no problem just creating a second account.

Posted by TheCatt on Apr. 20 2010,09:48

I'm down for trying the 2nd account thing if we want to try a coordinated time as well. I just doubt it will work that well.

I've got my L10 moonunit shortly, then 2 more lvls to theblessed bldgs to recruit barons.

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 20 2010,09:49

Peeps have been talking about resource placement and stuff. I haven't really been paying attention. But even though I started a day after Catt and Cake, I am staying up with them quite well with my sceme of doing things. In fact, I know they are saving up right now, but I am the current point leader. In spite of starting a day late.

Here is a corner of my city. I still have some holes to fill, but there it is.

Begin criticism.

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 20 2010,09:52

(TheCatt @ Apr. 20 2010,12:48)

QUOTE

I'll have my L10 Zappa today, my L10 Town center... tomorrow, maybe. My newbie status wears off tomorrow.

Posted by Leisher on Apr. 20 2010,10:18

I'm guessing that you'll be told your city is inefficient.

I'm changing my layout to multiples of this:

X = resource (iron mine, quarry, farm, townhouse...)
0=cottage

XXX
X0X
X0X
XXX

Such a build gives you 5K+ of that resource an hour.

Posted by TPRJones on Apr. 20 2010,10:47

So how's the geometry work? Xs touching an O get a bonus, that's obvious, but is there more to it? Like, does an X touching two Os get a bigger bonus? How much so? What about three? Is there any benefit to Os touching?

What makes

XXX
XOX
XOX
XXX

better than

XXX
XOX
XXX
XOX
XXX

?

Posted by Cakedaddy on Apr. 20 2010,11:47

The best layout is:

XSX
XCX
XCX
XSX

X = resource gatherer (hut, mine, etc)
S = special (Sawmill, foundry, etc)
C = Cottage

X can get bonus from only ONE S. So, having multiple Ss touching a single X is a waste.
C gives twice the bonus of trees/stone/iron. So having trees/stone/iron inside your Xs is a waste. Position your cluster so it has trees/stone/iron touching on the outside.

XXX
XOX
XXX
XOX
XXX

That layout gives 8400/h. Changing it to:

XXX
XOX
XOX
XOX
XXX

gives 9150/h

Plus, it eats up your buildings. You can only have 100 buildings and you have to gather:

Wood, iron, stone, gold, army, food.

Plus you need storage, a navy, etc.

Gordon, a level 5 cottage gives a 25% bonus to each gatherer it touches. So, replacing those trees with cottages will give you better results after level 5.

But really, any deviation from:

XSX
XCX
XCX
XSX

gives you less than you should be getting. That natural stone layout is AMAZING. You could put the 3x6 cluster right in the middle and have a huge stone advantage. I don't have any natural layout even close to that.

If you take this string:

QUOTE

[[########################----FMF#-------#####-----FCF#--------###------FCF#---------##------FMF#---------##------#######------##-QAQ-##-----##--IDI##-QCQ##--KJZ--##-ICI##-QCQ#---------#-ICI##-QAQ#------HH-#-IDI#######----T-..H#######----#------HH-#-EE-##----#---------#-EBE##-WLW##-------##BGBB##-WCW-##-----##GBBBG##-WCW--#######--VVBB##-WCW-----#---UR##VB##-WLW-----#--PUR###V###--------#-UUUUR#######-------#-PUUPUR########################

And put it into notepad and make it 21 characters wide, you'll see what I came up with as a city layout. Or, you could download that damn utility I keep talking about and put the string in that and see. Then you can make changes and post YOUR string. Or we can keep posting screen shots and ascii art.

Posted by Cakedaddy on Apr. 20 2010,11:51

I'm for starting over, over setting up a second city. I think the overhead and logistics involved in that far outweigh starting new accounts at the same time. We may be spread out on that continent, but we should end up on the same one with other newbs. Everyone moving to 54, or some other one, will mean going up against established people/alliances, and that may not work out well.

Time frame. . . this weekend? Most likely everyone would be available? Start posting date/times?

What sucks most is that I can't use my name twice.

Posted by Cakedaddy on Apr. 20 2010,11:53

Raided a level 3 dragon with:
123 rangers, lost 55
53 templars, lost 24
270 berzerkers, lost 121
129 mages, lost 58
35 scouts, lost 10

Did NOT kill the dragon. Damn. I had more troops I could have sent, just didn't know it would take that many. Got decent loot, but not nearly enough to cover the losses.

Posted by TheCatt on Apr. 20 2010,13:53

Holy crap. I raided a level 3 dungeon, with just slightly slow #s, and lost 1.

Dragons be powerful.

Posted by TheCatt on Apr. 20 2010,14:04

Moon rocks are expensive. 50k of every resource.

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 20 2010,15:58

I wish randy would stop breaking the forum every time he posts one of those stupid strings of characters no one looks at.

This game is going to be crazy tomorrow... 80% of the cities in my region are losing newbie status tomorrow.

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 20 2010,16:00

And I think needing 120k of wood and stone is too much for a L10 town center.

And I think it is unfair to need a L10 town center in order to build a harbor.

See what you guys can do about that.

Posted by Cakedaddy on Apr. 20 2010,20:54

Going level 10 tonight. Wanted to get those resources out of my queue before being open for attack.

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 21 2010,06:13

There's a dude not far from me open to being raided, has half my points and his entire 3 man guild combined doesn't have my points... should I attack out of boredom? I can only raid, no castle yet.

Posted by TheCatt on Apr. 21 2010,06:23

I tried to raid without a castle, and could not. Looks like you can only raid dungeons without a castle.

Posted by TheCatt on Apr. 21 2010,06:29

Became an earl (made my first moonstone) today.

Trying to get the L10 trinsic now.

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 21 2010,06:29

Oh.

What does combat in this game look like, anything? Is it just dice rolls behind the scene? Does the positional placement of defensive towers in your city matter? Will Cakedaddy ever unfuck his posts that break this thread?

Posted by TheCatt on Apr. 21 2010,06:37

It's purely a numbers thing, no randomness.

Power of offensive and weighted defensive power (weighted by composition of attacking forces, since def #s vary by calv/inf/etc)

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 21 2010,06:40

So tower placement doesn't matter. Just do them left to right, top to bottom.

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 21 2010,07:41

By the time I leave newbie status tonight, I'll have about 600 city guards and about 200 other military units, level 3 walls, and a few defensive towers. Hope that is enough to keep me from getting sacked.

Posted by TheCatt on Apr. 21 2010,08:02

I'm upgrading my scout towers. I have a small handful of def troops.

Posted by Cakedaddy on Apr. 21 2010,08:45

The city guards are ass. 10 in all stats. If you are depending on them to save you, probably not gonna happen. Build some hideouts. If they can't see your resources, they can't take them. Plan, if I'm about to get attacked, is to send all of my troops to raid a dungeon somewhere and to make sure all resources are hidden. None of my troops die, and they get nothing.

My posts look fine when I view them. They are well contained in the quote boxes. And funny joke. Will I fix them. heheheh As if we've EVER been able to edit our own posts here. :-)

Posted by TheCatt on Apr. 21 2010,08:46

I fixed that editing thing once... or twice... or three times...

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 21 2010,09:02

I still don't have a problem editing my or anyone elses post, so I don't think about it.

Posted by Cakedaddy on Apr. 21 2010,09:05

I tried to edit the post in which I said I couldn't edit posts.

Sorry, you do not have permission to edit that message

You are currently logged in as Cakedaddy

I can edit a post immediately after posting it, but if you wait too long, you are locked out. Even if no one has posted after you.

Like just now. Immediately clicked edit to add this.

Posted by Cakedaddy on Apr. 21 2010,09:14

Just now tried:

Sorry, you do not have permission to edit that message

You are currently logged in as Cakedaddy

HEY!!! Look at that! I can edit!

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 21 2010,09:20

You're probably screwing it up somehow.

Posted by TheCatt on Apr. 21 2010,09:23

(Cakedaddy @ Apr. 21 2010,12:14)

QUOTE

Just now tried:

Sorry, you do not have permission to edit that message

You are currently logged in as Cakedaddy

try npw.

Posted by Cakedaddy on Apr. 21 2010,09:56

Yep. I was able to edit.

Posted by Cakedaddy on Apr. 21 2010,09:57

However, when I went back to the first post I made in this thread, I could not edit it.

Posted by TheCatt on Apr. 21 2010,09:58

(Cakedaddy @ Apr. 21 2010,12:57)

QUOTE

However, when I went back to the first post I made in this thread, I could not edit it.

There's a limit of 500 minutes.

Posted by TPRJones on Apr. 21 2010,09:59

The thread has looked fine all along in Google Chrome. Maybe you just have a crappy browser.

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 21 2010,11:03

Firefox isn't wrapping his text.

Posted by TPRJones on Apr. 21 2010,11:53

Oh, yeah, there you go. You have a crappy browser.

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 21 2010,16:51

Incoming resources from Cake, sweet!

By ship, or do you have a town on my continent?

Arriving too late to speed up my lvl10 Town Center, but still appreciated.

Posted by Cakedaddy on Apr. 21 2010,20:05

By boat, and I saw that it was going to take 22 hours to get there and figured it probably wouldn't help. But at least you'll have some left over after you buy the upgrade and you can throw some other stuff in your queue.

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 21 2010,20:42

(Cakedaddy @ Apr. 21 2010,23:05)

QUOTE

Only racing to 10 to build a harbor so I can get my feet wet, so I'm sure those resources will be used.

Posted by TheCatt on Apr. 22 2010,05:36

Building level 8/9 trinsic tower today... slow going.

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 22 2010,10:26

Just clicked "Upgrade to Level 10" on my town center.

4 hours 22 minutes to wait.

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 22 2010,15:23

The "time to completions" are incorrect. Still reading 35 minutes to go on my TC, almost 5 hours later.

Posted by TheCatt on Apr. 22 2010,15:46

Did you refresh, or open/close, or leave it open the whole time?

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 22 2010,16:02

I think I left it open the whole time.

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 22 2010,16:43

I wonder how many peeps are on server 5. I've clawed my way in to the top 600, my build queue is full, and I have more resources to spend when I can.

Posted by TheCatt on Apr. 23 2010,08:16

Well, I can now recruit a baron, except for the 100k gold part. I'm 50k short.

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 23 2010,08:22

(TheCatt @ Apr. 23 2010,11:16)

QUOTE

Well, I can now recruit a baron, except for the 100k gold part. I'm 50k short.

I'm learning that I wish I had invested a little more in farming and gold collection early on in my city, instead of focusing on wood and stone.

Just bringing my food production up to 300 on day 1 would have helped greatly. By the time I needed it I'd have had a lot.

Posted by TheCatt on Apr. 23 2010,08:46

Yeah... you dont need gold/wheat at the start, but man, when you need them, you need a lot.

Posted by Cakedaddy on Apr. 23 2010,10:13

When I decided to build my army, it was a while before I was negative in food production. And even then, it wasn't by much, I had a ton of stock, and a few low level upgrades and I was gaining again. Gold was short. Especially when the better units opened up. Not only do they take forever to build, they cost a fair amount of gold. Now, my gold and food is still low, but the army builds so slow that they can keep up.

About the alliance plans. I'm assuming we plan to invade, conquer, spead, etc. Are we going to recruit people, or do it by ourselves? My thoughts were to invite everyone. But make it mandatory for people that are close to us. They either join us, or we kick them out of the surrounding cities. And when I say close to us, I know we probably won't even be on the same screen with each other. But my goal would be that each of us either own, or be allied with a large portion of the cities on each of our screens.

It was cooling having Manhoso right next to me with the leader of the Mudcutters just south of us. Even though he was actively attacking cities in our vicinity, we had to be the least attractive targets in the area. We could provide support for each other withing 30 minutes.

But again, how are we going to play? Aggressive and threatening (join us or die), nice and inviting (we help each other and chat about puppies), or both (What? You don't want to chat about puppies? Then die.)?

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 23 2010,10:56

(GORDON @ Apr. 22 2010,19:43)

QUOTE

I wonder how many peeps are on server 5. I've clawed my way in to the top 600, my build queue is full, and I have more resources to spend when I can.

In the top 400.

Posted by TheCatt on Apr. 23 2010,11:00

Both. I would assume based on s4 that alliances need to be larger (50+ people), and we'd have alliances with other alliances, etc.

Posted by Cakedaddy on Apr. 23 2010,12:36

Ya, I was gonna start lurking the alliance forum on the lou site to see what's being said and stuff.

Actually, nothing is. It's all recruiting posts.

My guess is the best way to get members is to message them directly in game. Send them an invite, send them an email and wait for people to accept.

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 23 2010,13:50

(GORDON @ Apr. 23 2010,13:56)

QUOTE

(GORDON @ Apr. 22 2010,19:43)

QUOTE

I wonder how many peeps are on server 5. I've clawed my way in to the top 600, my build queue is full, and I have more resources to spend when I can.

In the top 400.

I spent all my resources so I will creep back up a bit before I advance again.... but I just broke under 300 in rank.

Posted by Cakedaddy on Apr. 23 2010,16:18

Long term:

It doesn't seem to me that you need much food. I have two level 5 farms right now and at 1500+ soldiers, I'm just now exceeding their capacity. But, I've build up so much food, that I could still go 256 days on current production. I'm only producing 236/h. To me it seems that having more than 3 farms and a mill would be MORE than enough to support a city for a very long time. Assuming all three are at level 10.

For army production, lots of iron and gold. But how much? My recruit queue is pretty slow. How many buildings to you build and take to level 10 to speed that up? When we start fighting, having a constant stream of troops will obviously be important. But, where's the balance here.

Resources. For early city building, you just can't get enough of them. But now, it seems I can't spend them fast enough to get rid of them. The higher level buildings take a pretty long time to build and my resources fill up before the queue is empty. Granted, those resources will come in hand when starting a new city. But that city will be producing it's own shit too.

So, I'm wondering, during the life cycle of a city, are you perhaps shifting buildings around so your production shifts with your needs? Or is there a solid template that will work well from city birth to long term stability? Right now, I'm thinking that once your city is built (all level 10's), you start tearing down quarries and huts and replacing them with iron, gold and barracks (and other army supporting buildings), so you can really crank out the armies when needed.

Further more, for expansion, are we all going to found new cities as we can and expand individually, or will all the others support the first 'second' city someone settles to boost it up as fast as possible being that it won't have newb protection? Then we start another, etc.

Posted by TheCatt on Apr. 23 2010,16:49

I think the idea is to build a first all-purpose city, and use that to make more cities/barons, and the new cities specialize.

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 24 2010,09:03

I'm going to build a castle and go offensive on the original server 3 city. Learn how combat goes. Heads up, if you are still on server 3 and in my guild.

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 24 2010,21:04

Ok, attacking the 214 point city right next door with:

120 Berzerkers
10 Rangers
5 Scouts
18 Crossbowman
4 Mages
8 Warlocks
36 Templar
104 Paladins

214 Point city. Can't have a lot in the way of high level barracks/training facilities with which to have massive defenses. Level 2 or 3 walls.

I hope some of them survive.

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 24 2010,21:19

And on another note... there is seriously something going on with passwords. Now the account I created for this reboot is not accepting my password. I haven't figured it out yet, but there's no way I screwed it up.

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 24 2010,21:21

(GORDON @ Apr. 25 2010,00:04)

QUOTE

Entire army destroyed.

"Night Protection: 60%"

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 24 2010,21:24

(GORDON @ Apr. 25 2010,00:19)

QUOTE

And the 14th time I tried the exact same password, it finally "Verified."

I was going to quit the entire game if I lost that account.

Posted by GORDON on Apr. 25 2010,08:02

SO I've got a quarry with 2 level 5 cottages next to it.

The cottages say they are giving 50% bonuses to stone cutting, each.

The quarry says I am getting 25% bonus from each cottage. What up.

I think the cottage's 50% bonus is being split between the 2 quarries it is touching.

That is interesting.

edit - I think it doesn't work that way. I think I am getting it. The "50%" bonus is that it is giving 25% to 2 quarries. I think that is correct.

Posted by TheCatt on Apr. 25 2010,08:35

Yes, it's summed on the cottage. Bit weird way of doing it.

Posted by Cakedaddy on May 13 2010,16:49

For those not playing this game, you should be. It's really starting to get interesting with the taking of various cities and whatnot. Scored a major one last night. When a player stops playing, his cities go 'lawless'. Then it's a mad scramble to get the best ones. A set went lawless yesterday. A larger castled city and it's two support cities. We failed on the castle city only in that we didn't know it had to be besieged. We scored the best support city instead. By TWO minutes! Given the fact that we worked together, moving resources to Gordon, him speeding up build times, etc for about 2.5 hours before his baron could start the 1.5 hour trip to the city. So, 2 minutes is an at the buzzer kind of time frame. They had to settle for the second support city worth about 50% less. Now we are working on the castle. We have to mass up enough troops to besiege it before any other groups can.

I also have a castled city that I raid my neighbors with. So now, I can carry on with my raiding, or I can stop and try for the castle. However, don't know if we'll have enough support to make it happen. Very frustrating. But in a fun way. :-)

It's turning out to be the type of game where you can play a few minutes a day, or a few hours. Just depends on your mood.

If you have any intentions of joining in, you might want to consider joining sooner than later. Everyone is still turtling, so you'll be fine long enough to get a city going and them move to our continent. But, the server could end up filling up and locking out new players.

So, join now!

Posted by TheCatt on May 13 2010,19:19

This game is fun. The building minister is a requirement, imho, to maximize game enjoyment, but that's like $3/month.

The game isn't nearly as heavy into pvp like Travian was, so it should be more tprjones-friendly.

Oh, and if anyone just wants to try it out, I have a spare account I can lend.

Posted by Cakedaddy on May 13 2010,19:53

Ya, I've thought the same thing. Based on what I know of his gaming, this seemed like it would be right up his alley.

Troy too. It's totally a game players can get really into, without it eating up all of their time.

One of the best things about the game is that when I take your last city, you are done. You start over, and possibly, not even on the same server. I'm REALLY enjoying invading other peoples' cities too.

If we don't get that lawless castle, I'm going to be taking that castle at the top of the continent.

Oh, I have been playing just fine without the building minister. I won't be giving EA any money, so won't have one. :-) It's not hard for me to schedule many hours worth of building with the 6 slots I have. I do have some wasted time if I don't get back to the keyboard after the building is done. But, I'm still able to hold my own.

Posted by GORDON on May 13 2010,20:10

I thought Tazz was Troy.

Posted by Cakedaddy on May 13 2010,20:13

If he is, it's news to me.

Posted by GORDON on May 13 2010,20:17

Just assumed since Troy uses that nickname (sorta) everywhere else.

Posted by Leisher on May 13 2010,22:06

What am I doing wrong?

I'm sending a 3K unit army to plunder my neighbor who has a wall, less than one hundred units, and no other defenses.

My morale is fine, but I always get negatives due to that night protection thing.

My army will hit and I'll lose a handful of units to his 3-4 every time.

Why? Is it because he doesn't have a castle? Have they nerfed attacks on players who choose not to engage in PvP? I'm fine with that if that's the case, I'm just curious if I could be more efficient.

Posted by Cakedaddy on May 14 2010,00:32

I'm assuming you are still getting a shit ton of resources though. When you plunder, it's a 'non combat' attack. Meaning, your objective is to steal resources, not wipe out the troops. Although there is fighting, the losses for both side are minimal. When I plunder, I do kill many of their troops and the current city I'm plundering has less than 4 troops left. This was a 171 point city though.

The other thing that might be happening is he has defensive towers. If he does, it neutralizes x number of your troops. So, if you are sending 1000 zerks, but he has traps that neutralize 1500 zerks, then your zerks do not fight. I'm assuming they are still vulnerable to damage though, so you are losing troops, but are dealing no damage.

So, if you are doing NO damage to his troop numbers, I would check to see if there are defensive towers neutralizing your forces. Also, when I attack, I always lose more than I kill.

And speaking of having a 3k army, is it available for an assault on that 4k lawless castle?

Posted by TheCatt on May 14 2010,04:58

(GORDON @ May 13 2010,23:17)

QUOTE

Just assumed since Troy uses that nickname (sorta) everywhere else.

I thought that until I saw him in chat. It sounds like a kid.

Yeah, I have the same plunder issue, my 1400 versus his 20-30, and we each lose 1 or 2. Bah.

Posted by Troy on May 14 2010,08:24

Tazz is not Troy. I do use similar names when I play online games though.

I keeping meaning to try the game, but just haven't had the chance/not totally bought into the general game concept.

Posted by Cakedaddy on May 14 2010,08:56

I didn't think it was Troy from the beginning (cause he had a later start date and just happened to end up on our continent?) and it was also confirmed after I saw him in chat. Asking too many dumb questions, and Troy is usually the one answering them. But I didn't want to say that until after it was confirmed, just in case. :-)

I didn't think I would buy into the concept either. That's why I never tried Evony. But I was in the right mood when this game was mentioned and I jumped on to try it. Even though I'm a non-paying customer, I'm getting a TON of enjoyment out of it. I figured, if I don't pay, then I'm going to be missing a bunch. That's not the case. I'm getting stuff slower since I'm not paying to speed up production/resources, but I'm still in the top 1000 players on the server.

It's just a slow paced RTS, or dumbed down Civilization type game. Or a combo of sorts. But it's definitely fun.

Posted by TheCatt on May 14 2010,09:57

(Troy @ May 14 2010,11:24)

QUOTE

Tazz is not Troy. I do use similar names when I play online games though.

I keeping meaning to try the game, but just haven't had the chance/not totally bought into the general game concept.

If you want to try it out, I've got 2 spare accounts on our continent that you or anyone can testdrive/have.

Posted by Cakedaddy on May 16 2010,13:40

11 more minutes, and the castle is MINE!!!! *evil laugh*

Posted by Cakedaddy on May 17 2010,08:13

The castle became mine as scheduled. Rebuilding now and will be my infantry city. My main castle is setup for cavalry. I probably need to start another support city soon as well.

Posted by TheCatt on May 17 2010,09:48

So this was an abandoned one? How do you "siege" something? There's a castle near me that will go lawless within a week, want to be ready.

Posted by Cakedaddy on May 17 2010,10:03

I included a baron in the siege force. I didn't pay attention to whether it took 100k stone/wood, etc.

So, clicked, send troops, type was siege and included the baron. I wish I had paid attention to the resources.

Once they landed, I knocked out a bunch of their troops and was 10% owner. Other than the unknown about how well my troops would do, etc, it was pretty easy and straight forward.

With lawless castles, you don't have to worry about morale and night protection. They don't get any. I earned 10% per hour.

Posted by TheCatt on May 17 2010,10:07

OK, so they just stay there, camping out, earning the 10% per hour? did you have to include any siege units?

Posted by Cakedaddy on May 17 2010,10:16

The castle I took was very weak. I posted the battle here: < http://www.thecatt.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=81 >

I did take 30 rams, but I don't think I needed them. Both from the stance that I don't think they are required as part of a siege force for it to count as a siege, and from the stance that I killed his units before the towers were destroyed, so, I didn't need to destroy them.

Posted by GORDON on May 17 2010,10:39

I think Rams are good for weakening defensive towers each round of the siege.

Posted by Cakedaddy on May 17 2010,10:40

Does Striker have a castle and a baron to take that city with? If not, we'll have to hold that attack due to lack of baron. Myster and Fysith do not have barons.

Posted by Cakedaddy on May 17 2010,10:43

(GORDON @ May 17 2010,03:39)

QUOTE

I think Rams are good for weakening defensive towers each round of the siege.

Yes they are. However, if the defender doesn't have very many defensive troops, might as well leave the towers intact for when you have the city. Like I said, in my attack, I was still killing the towers after the troops were all dead. On a heavily defended castle, ya, rams are needed.

Posted by GORDON on May 17 2010,11:18

His defensive towers, depending on the type, can also neutralize up to half of your attacking force, not just buff up the defending units. Each level you take off of those towers lets you put more troops into the next round of the siege.

Posted by Cakedaddy on May 17 2010,11:49

But if their troops are all dead, then you are just breaking good hardware for nothing. If the troop numbers are low, and yours are high, you can take them out even with their towers. If they have high towers and high troop numbers, then ya, get rid of the towers.

In my case, it was a weak castle with very few troops, I didn't need to hit the towers. That's not a blanket statement saying never siege engines. I'm just saying they aren't ALWAYS needed.

Posted by GORDON on May 17 2010,12:04

If they have the 'trap' towers in great enough numbers, and you send 1000 troops to attack him, only 500 of your troops will attack, because of those towers. Whether or not he has troops in the city.... your attack force is still 50% neutralized.

Just sayin. If you are dong anything that will take a while, and time is a factor, those towers can be an annoyance.

Posted by Leisher on May 17 2010,12:50

Who are you attacking?

Posted by GORDON on May 17 2010,12:56

Depends on which server you are talking about.

On 3 I am attacking my peace-loving neighbor who wanted nothing more than to live in harmony with his neighbors.... but he was the softest castled target near me, so he must die.

On 5 we are attacking a lawless castle.

Posted by Leisher on May 17 2010,13:28

I don't care about 3. I tried logging in to really build up to help you out, but I just don't have the time or energy.

I'm full bore on 5 though. No idea where you guys are in relation to me. I'm waiting out a city or two myself that might go lawless.

Posted by Cakedaddy on May 18 2010,12:23

Getting VERY interesting. . . We are on the offensive in the central area of the continent. Being scouted on the western side.

Gordon and I are doing most of the fighting, but that's gonna change soon.

Posted by GORDON on May 21 2010,12:05

Just turned the PC back on, was doing electrical work in the house...

Is the entire game site down?

Posted by GORDON on May 21 2010,12:09

Never mind, it all just popped up.

Posted by TheCatt on Sep. 15 2010,17:27

Leisher, you quitting?

Posted by Leisher on Sep. 15 2010,18:07

Are my cities still there? I forgot to log on over a weekend and figured I was too far behind.

I can log on right now and refresh them then hand over the account to you if you'd like?

Posted by TheCatt on Sep. 15 2010,18:11

(Leisher @ Sep. 15 2010,21:07)

QUOTE

Are my cities still there? I forgot to log on over a weekend and figured I was too far behind.

I can log on right now and refresh them then hand over the account to you if you'd like?

Sounds good. Yeah, I think someone attacked you, but not to siege you yet.

Posted by Leisher on Sep. 15 2010,18:19

Fysith did, but called off the siege.

I'd love to join back up and see what happens, but 51 cities take too much of my time. I'll IM you the id and password.

Posted by TheCatt on Sep. 16 2010,04:51

Thanks.

There's a new tool that does make life somewhat easier. It will supposedly auto-build moonstones for your moonstone cities and do some other nice things, so you never have to visit your moonstone cities again.

That being said, I still have like 40 castles. Fysith has taken over part of my account so that I dont spend so much time on it.

Posted by Leisher on Feb. 18 2014,09:25

< Going the way of the Dodo. >

Posted by TheCatt on Feb. 18 2014,09:32

At least I won it

Posted by GORDON on Feb. 18 2014,11:03

That other Ultima game that made ended up being iphone only. That was dumb.

Posted by Leisher on Feb. 18 2014,11:09

You mean iOS.

Posted by GORDON on Feb. 18 2014,11:46

I don't even know the difference.

Posted by Leisher on Feb. 18 2014,11:49

The game is available for all their devices, thus iOS.

I thought it was a Facebook game too?

Posted by GORDON on Feb. 18 2014,16:53

I wasn't able to figure out how to play it the one time I tried.