Multiplayer Forums

I'v been playing for almost a month now, finished almost 50 games, winning maybe a third of them. And I'v noticed over 60-70% of the people I'v played against could have done alot better. So I thought i'd share some of the stuff I'v learned. After all winning easily isn't much fun and some of those games are nothing but a waste of time.


*** Missed Turns Equals Death! ***
Becareful not to play some of the fast paced games if you can't login to play them.

*** Kings ***
1> Like many of the other posts, protect your king. Don't have your king on a coastal prov, if at all possible find another secure spot, not bordering anyone.
2> Capturing inactive kings can get you lots of easy gold. And usually the starting provs have more pop than others. You can tell inactives by checking their prov's populations and they don't gain any new provs.

*** Morale ***
1> It is very important not to increase your tax rate too much. You should never increase it past 10%, unless you're under attack and despritely need the gold, and then I wouldn't go past 20%.
2> There was just recently changes made involving morale so my old strat is useless now. Previously I'd set my taxes to 0% for the first two turns, then raise it to 10% keeping it there. Basically I was giving up like 10k gold at the start, but in long run my pop would outgrow others so i'd be making more than them. But I don't think that will work anymore... Usually 0% taxes increases morale 10%...

*** Expanding ***
1> At the start it is important to expand taking as many neutral provs as you can before they're all taken by others. On most maps armies of 720-730 is enough to capture a neutral prov. Think ahead sending multipules of 720-730 depending on the number of provs you want to take in that direction, basically each time you have to recruit or get mercs you use a turn you could have spent taking another prov so don't do it unless you have to.
2> Beware attacking neutral provs that border other peeps since they're likely to be sending their own army, colliding with yours. Usually a good idea to send extra army to make sure you capture the prov, not them.

*** Diplomacy ***
It's always best to ally/nap everyone you can at the start, at least those as big or bigger. Most will ally/nap almost anyone at the start however as the game goes on they'll get more and more allies/naps and less peeps they can target, so they'll get more strict on accepting. It's always better to half too many ally/naps than not enough, after all you can always decide to cancel some later. Almost every game I lose I got ganged up on, usually one person will attack making you fall behind, then another person joins in, and then another trying to get some easy gains.

*** Attacking - When ***
I usually perfer sending an army out starting a war on a odd turn. So the next turn's even and all their provs you just took makes you gold.

*** Attacking - Who ***
Ask yourself these questions:
1> is there anyone else who might attack me while I'm attacking this guy?
2> are they able to strike at a large number of my provs?(trying to protect a large border can be costly)
3> if it's a distant fight, do they have the population for me to recruit when I take some of their provs?

*** Attacking - Where ***
1> target provs with high populations, it will let you recruit more army and increase your income.
2> try to find their king, taking their king can save you the trouble of taking alot of their provs by force.
3> alot of times you can use allies that border your target, having them build towers so you can see how much army you're facing. Also be aware that others could be doing the same to you.

*** Recruiting Vs Mercs ***
Recruiting can sometimes get you a large amount of army in just 1 turn, but you have to wait a turn to get them. While mercs always cost the same, but it takes several turns to get a large number since it's only 5k at a time. But mercs are ready in the same turn unlike recruiting. When you have spare turns I usually perfer mercs since you can move faster, using recruiting for defence and to get the really large armies.

*** Attacking - Defensive Bonuses ***
1> Like it says in the manual, 80% for forts, 50% towns, and 30% king. So remember to send enough when attacking a prov with these.
2> when you find yourself fighting more than one player at a time, it's best to just focus on one of them, going right after their king, using forts playing defence on the other(s).


Well it's getting late, hopefully this helps someone...

0-19% = -9
20-36% = -8
37-51% = -7
52-64% = -6
65-75% = -5
76-84% = -4
85-91% = -3
92-96% = -2
97-99% = -1
100-100% = 0
101-103% = +1
104-108% = +2
109-115% = +3
116-124% = +4
125-135% = +5
136-148% = +6
149-163% = +7
164-180% = +8
181-199% = +9

This is the table for spending, and how much it will increase or decrease your economy. So always use the lower number:P

Thanks killer76! Please note, that this table might become obsolete over time as new features are added - "economy" is still to be considered "under development"!!!

Also save your last attack for those provinces, then pray for his attack go first, since he will have a ~700 troops lose after conquering the province then you can take from him easily
But if you allied or Naped him send in your first move

Also if you screw up or run out of moves, you can always hit quit, exiting out then join again and do it right this time. Very helpful when fighting big wars when you need every move to count, or if you forget to do something running out of moves. Then after you're sure everything's perfect, restarting as many times as needed, then hit the next turn button.

Another thing I forgot to mention. It would go under Expanding, it's not worth starting fights with someone right at the start unless they're inactive, after there's no more neutral provs that you can take, then you start fighting peeps. Cause you can take a neutral prov with only 1 turn and 720 army yet taking a prov from another player can cost you many times that.

When attacking AI factions, as you said don't beat them up province by province, go straight for their king, as you'll get all their lands without fighting for them. Even if they take a province or two from you, you'll get it back with 600-800 men in it.

To expand on that point, sometimes it's better to let them expand their lands for a few turns, because they also tend to hoard their cash (which you'll get when you kingsnipe them) plus the bigger they are the more territories you get. Just don't wait too long or someone else might beat you to them, especially if their king is on the coast.

I would say that wars before turn 4-5 is a really bad move unless you can secure yourself a quick victory. That means you HAVE to win every single battle, or else you will fall behind the players that seek the neutrals.
That is a very tall order.

Also, when fighting early wars you have little land to fall back on, so failures can be catastrophic. Even worse, fighting takes a lot of effort that early. Chances are that you won't be gaining many alliances and NAPs. Other players will look at you like a nice little snack after a few turns. Often very early wars end in both players being destroyed rather fast as a third player comes along and **** up both of the weakened players.





When starting a war:
Strike as hard as you can. That doesn't mean with as many troops as you can get. It means get as many provinces are you can get in one hit. That weakens the enemy hugely for a response, and might just be enough for you to win against stronger factions.

When having a long coastline:
This is important, almost as much as the first.
Coastlines are like borders, they need to be protected against enemies. So when at war, getting his coasts should be your prime objective. Even if you have to use more forces to do it.
It is far better to use 200 ships once, than keeping 100000 troops for turn after turn (also remember that troops drain the population, which drains the income). So if he has two coasts, HIT THEM! That saves you a lot of trouble.

If hit by a coastal power:
Well, I have pretty much said it, hit his coasts.
But it is harder to determine what to do. Should you strike as many provinces are possible? Or strike a few with overwhelming power?
Both have advantages, as the first might gain you the upper hand (obviously), but the second is more secure.
Generally going forthe second option is best. Most players with long coasts, attacking you will protect them. Better to gain something than nothing.
Also, while gaining a single province might not be worth much at first glance, it is the threat of landings that will keep him on his toes. Forcing him to recruit forces to repel your initial landingforce (say 20000, which will mean about 12000 in every coastal with fortification), is a very good thing. Also, he will need to recruit troops around the landingsite. So recruiting all the population will make it a great threat (are you building boats for them all? Are you going to attack inland?). So targeting provinces with a lot of borders will be best. There is a province in southern France that borders 7 others and still have a coastline, a perfect target, as he will need to recruit troops in all 7 (if he owns them) to keep you out. However he might not be able to do that (it is after all rather expensive), so be sure to build a tower in case he leaves an opening.
If you can keep hopping around, draining the provinces, you will hurt his economy greatly. Drained provinces cost more than they generate (if he keeps economyspeding higher than 100%), and the lack of income from the population is also hurting.

Protecting long coastlines:
If you happen to no be able to get all the enemy's coastals, then you must look to your defenses. Find out how far he can strike, two turns is the limit. So provinces that can't make landings on his coastals, don't need protection at the moment.
Also, it is far more important to protect the 1-turn provinces than the 2-province ones. Since you are likely the aggressor, you needn't fear the 2-turn attacks right away. If you can't protect all those, then you need to protect the vulnerable ones. Are they isolated? Maybe you don't need to protect them as much as others. Are they low on pop? Have they got a lot of borders? Do they open up for many many more of your lands (by getting him into another travelzone)? All need to be considered, and you need to find your own balance there, there is no set rule for that. But you need to consider it all to be effective.
And finally protecting a few provinces with good forces is better than protecting a lot with insufficient forces.

Disbanding:
Troops become population... And troops cost half a gold each in upkeep. So you can see where I'm going. Drained provinces are expensive and they recover very slowly. If you don't need the army, or as many troops, then for all reason disband some. You get more money next time, and you get a lower upkeep. Win/win.
If you are at an impass�, where you have created a wasteland between you, but you have large standing armies between you, and money is not really and issue. Then it might be time to disband troops to give the population some recovery. It is risky, but the next turn the increased population could give you the edge needed for the next offensive. However do not do this if you expect him to attack, as he might just gain that rejuvenated population. Another balancing act.
When allied to all players, then disband all troops. No need to keep them around. It takes long enough to cancel alliances for you to respond. Better to get more money for a while.

Fortifications:
They are relatively cheap in both MP and money (no upkeep). Use them as much as possible. Landingforces have priority as counterattacks are almost certain.
However fortifications are expensive early on (again in money and MP), so it might be a waste to use them then. But on the other hand the fortification can signify that you are strong in defense there, and might save you an attack. It can certainly be used for deception, but be careful.

Know when you can't stop the enemy:
Often it is futile to fight the enemy on all fronts. It might be money or MP or both that you lack, but often you can't respond to everything. Pick the most important.
Also, know when you are overstretched on the main front. Do not be afraid to fall back. Chokepoints can save a losing faction from annihilation if you fall back before it is too late. If you have enough money you can hold out for a long while on a 1-2 province front. You might even be able to drain the surrounding provinces so much that killing you isn't worth it in time and money for the other faction.

NEW NOOB TIPS

well, know i see the importance of population. So to resume all those post:

ALWAYS HAVE A LOT OF POPULATION

All topics always end speaking about sex

no really, that's called wishful thinking!

hmmm... change the first P in Population to a C.... hehehehe

that's kind inapropriated for minors

minors should kwow where they come from.

Pellican droped me off

the stork was too expensive