Q&A: Military 102

[Zephyrus]

First, this isn't just for introductions. There's supposed to be Q and A going on here. So, no, this is appropriate for the forum.

Alrighty, most new players choose to mass troops. It's easier than most other ideas and strategies. It involves one basic thing. You take a troop, and you try to get as many of it as you can. You overwhelm your opponents with pure force, and often, you are successful. Here goes.

First, the pros to this. It is incredibly simple. You don't need any game experience. It can get you up the ranks fast, given the right circumstances.

However, that comes at a cost. This strategy has one major weakness, the fact that others will pounce on you and murder your troops. Of course, that's why you have barracks, and that's why you threaten people who think of murdering you. Also, you may have a problem if someone hits you too hard.

First, your turns.

Wait for 199 turns or more. Take out a max loan. Scout for 50 turns. Take out more loan. Scout. Repeat until you are on your last turn of protection.

Wait for full turns.

I assume you have read the help guide by now.

Set your troop productions under settings to 100% of what you mass. I'll go into details later.

When you come back, take out another loan. Build with your land. Your land should be divided as follows:

Markets: 40%
Camps: 0%
Tents: 20%
Barracks: 20%
Foragers: 20%
Huts: 0%
Guards: 0%

This is a rough approximation. Also, they are not in any order. Look carefully.

Then, you use turns. I recommend you train. By now, scout is useless. Loot and forage don't prove useful, either, as you should have surplus resources by now. Write is used only when you mage, and you don't if you follow this.

Use all your turns as above.

Okay, now's a good time to tell you what to mass. Well, anything works, but certain things work better.

(unfinished, to be continued)

[Zephyrus]

Well, there are a few things to consider:

1. Cost
2. Power
3. Requirements

Bleh. I just mass otters, and all this is just numbers to me.

Cost is the base price of a unit. It determines how much cash you pay for it as well as how much of it your barracks will produce.

(Anyone with source code access, fill in the blank here with a chart of how much eack cost.)

Power is the... well... power. Look at the game guide. Each troop has an A/D ratio. That is, it's attack divided by its defense. The more attack it has compared to its defense, the more your target *cough* victim will need to defend against you.

Look in the game guide for this, in case you weren't reading carefully.

Each troop requires upkeep. They eat food and cash. I was asked how they ate cash. Well, I think they just get paychecks. Check your stats.

(Once again, source access would be nice.)

Well, take your pick. Troop choice three, followed by one (I mean according to the lists in the market and such. The names changed since I last played.) are the most massable according to most. They have power, and are cheap. Troop one is stronger, but troop three is easier to keep.

Personally, I mass otters. I know. I do, and I am most likely obsessed with them and skiffs (their RWL equivalent). I was mentored in this game by Ashyra. I think her skiffiness is contagious, but in a good way. The math to this is here. No one masses otters. You can break almost anyone because they don't have otters to defend. Also, otters use less resources. They are satisfied with small paychecks, and unlike in the books, the require surprisingly little food for their power.

Well, again, take your pick, and stick with it.

(Again, TBC.)

[Zephyrus]

Playing is simple.

You log on.

Check your stats. Do you need anything? Loot/forage for cash/food. Train for troops.

Go to the scores page. Look for someone a bit above or below you with more land than you. Attack them once. If you get through, keep going. Get some land. Try for food and cash. If they have a lot, take it.

Remember, there is a Rule of Olde. Three attacks are normal. No one is that strict any more, but more than five is a crime anywhere. Take what you need.

EDIT: At FaF, it appears 10 is just light, and maxing someone, so long as you're their rank, isn't that bad.

Find a new target. Repeat.

When you have turns left. (200 on turbo. 100 on reg. Give or take.) Stop. Look at the buildings page. I hope you have extra cash. If you don't, loot. Build in the same ratio given above. Adjust as needed. Remember to have some cash left over or the 3% rule will kill you.

Nota bene: The 3% rule. If you lack cash or food, you lose 3% of your army per turn. That's a lot when it keeps happening. Be prepared.

Then, with the turns you have left, loot and forage.

Log off. Log on again when you have more turns and repeat.

(NOT DONE.)

[Zephyrus]

The biggest threats:

1. Leader-massers - Bleh. They can kill you. all they do is murder your troops. Of course, you can get the troops back. Then you kill them. Just put a warning in your profile.

2. Other warlike people - You only have one troop. All other troop attacks will kill you. The only thing is that you can afford to lose, as long as you have enough resources to tide you over until you get more land. Then you can either get more land, or retaliate.

3. Clans - Like above, only in massive groups. Join one yourself for protection, but understand there is responsibility. Don't anger other clans.

-

Tips:

1. Be nice.

2. Don't hurt others for the sake of hurting them.Take land, food, money if they have it, but don't hit too hard.

3. Be active. The forums are a great source of information. (See this here...)

-

Okay, that's it for now. Questions?

Also,
<span style='font-size:21pt;line-height:100%'>PLEASE STICKY</span>

[Zephyrus]

But when you mass one thing you can get hit by different troops and lose quite a bit of land.Right Riverpaw?

Yes, but you have nothing worth losing. Your land is all they want. You can get more land from other sources. Then you can build again. If they take food and money, well you have almost none to begin with. The thing is, no matter how hard they hit you, you can hit them back harder. And, if they use leaders, the land loss will affect them more than it will affect you.

[Devari]

Pinned.

Riverpaw, very good.

But, with that Hawk-massing bit... You forgot to mention hawk-looters. They can murder you, smushle you, AND still hold you off with troops. So, if you spot an evil hawk-looter, tell me and I will smushle you.

But, seriously, hawk-looters are definitely the bane of this strategy.

[IFman]

this is quite simular to my "BfR" strat :*laughs*:

<span style='color:green'>[edit]IFman, you don't need to quote that whole thing. [/edit]</span>
well, it's not the whole thing

First, this isn't just for introductions. There's supposed to be Q and A going on here. So, no, this is appropriate for the forum.

Alrighty, most new players choose to mass troops. It's easier than most other ideas and strategies. It involves one basic thing. You take a troop, and you try to get as many of it as you can. You overwhelm your opponents with pure force, and often, you are successful. Here goes.

First, the pros to this. It is incredibly simple. You don't need any game experience. It can get you up the ranks fast, given the right circumstances.

However, that comes at a cost. This strategy has one major weakness, the fact that others will pounce on you and murder your troops. Of course, that's why you have barracks, and that's why you threaten people who think of murdering you. Also, you may have a problem if someone hits you too hard.

First, your turns.

Wait for 199 turns or more. Take out a max loan. Scout for 50 turns. Take out more loan. Scout. Repeat until you are on your last turn of protection.

Wait for full turns.

I assume you have read the help guide by now.

Set your troop productions under settings to 100% of what you mass. I'll go into details later.

When you come back, take out another loan. Build with your land. Your land should be divided as follows:

Markets: 40%
Camps: 0%
Tents: 20%
Barracks: 20%
Foragers: 20%
Huts: 0%
Guards: 0%

This is a rough approximation. Also, they are not in any order. Look carefully.

Then, you use turns. I recommend you train. By now, scout is useless. Loot and forage don't prove useful, either, as you should have surplus resources by now. Write is used only when you mage, and you don't if you follow this.

Use all your turns as above.

Okay, now's a good time to tell you what to mass. Well, anything works, but certain things work better.

[Zephyrus]

But, with that Hawk-massing bit... You forgot to mention hawk-looters. They can murder you, smushle you, AND still hold you off with troops. So, if you spot an evil hawk-looter, tell me and I will smushle you. .

Smushle me? You mean them?

Anyhow, I know. I am one. Chances are, though, a pure masser will have more troops than a hawk looter. And they're pure huts, so there's no guards.

[Devari]

Yes, I do mean them.

Not really. Trust me on this, I can get scary amounts of troops.

Even if a pure masser did, I have no doubt that the hawk-looter could smushle them in other troop types so fast. And, again, murder.

There are really two different land divisions for hawk-loot. You can have 100% huts, or mostly huts, partly GT. Of course, using the second, you can only get to about 100 Hawks/1 acre, but you at least keep your land.

But, very well thought out and a good "newbie" guide.

[Zephyrus]

Devari, I know, but it's not recommended for new players. I tried it, and I was an ironclad until someone leader kamikazed me to 0 leaders, poisoned everything, and left me to delete. I couldn't remove my army thanks to the no pvtmarket of that round. As for guards, I've found most people either want to be attacked, don't need to defend, or have enough troops to be unbreakable by most.

[Urran Voh]

The cons of Pure Massing
I simply hate pure massing, unless I'm testing out a race. Pure massing can get you killed very easily. It also requires a ton of land, which makes you a bigger target for Hawkers (Leader massers), or experienced warmongerers (me, IFman, Alcaline, etc..). So, I basically "mass" everything. You don't have the best military in the world, or the best hawks, but you can defend better than pure massers, and you can beat them easily. *topic on this in a minute*

[Devari]

Basic troop massing is great for an intitial understanding of the game.

I survived the top 20-30 on RWL for months with it. Then I learned the magic of hawks/leaders.

Helloooooo top 3.

[Twin Rapier]

I get LOTS of land, Then use it to build LOTS of markets, and if I spend any type of turn, I get lots of cash. Also, I focus on getting lots of DIFFERENT troops, so I am strong against all attacks. I have Raise Defences on 24-7, So Hawks Can't hurt me. I get food by atacking, But never forage, or write, so I can have a good balancew of stuff. I usually Attack to KILL some guy, or atleast make him self delete. Does that sound good to you amazing, wise, proffesional, well trained, amazing players?

[Urran Voh]

You may have raise defense on 24/7, but Hawks can still hurt you. Especially if someone has a lot of turns they just want to waste. For example: on QMT Turbo, I rose through the ranks very quickly and had the best military other than massers, and more leaders than anyone. But then this guy massed leaders and murdered me more than 50 times. Even though I had raise defenses on, he destroyed all of my military and leaders. I then was killed in a matter of hours (note: on QMT Turbo, the max limit is a lot more).

Though your strat may be good on FaF, where most of the players are just starting out, if you try the exact same strat on some other game, you won't do as well. To get the best out of your strat, I'd convert some Markets into Huts, and buy Mercs to boost your military even more.

[Zephyrus]

I believe the entire point of this was to survive without huts. I know, it's not that good, but it's better than trying something too complicated and just giving up.