I keep loosing because I think I m wasting all my money in tech and update and when the ennemi arrive I''ve got no military defence!

your probally people picked on by vets >.>
tech up but make sure u have some units and hit a unit till it goes down. if u want more msg me and ill be happy to help.

Teching up is good...making sure you pick the right ones is the key!

Always a struggle between how much tech and how much military to build. You have to find the right balance.

When the enemy turns up are they less advanced than you? E.g. do you have expert level troops in your barracks that you can't afford to deploy, and they're attacking with advanced troops? Or you have Expert weapons and armour, and they just have advanced? If so then you're teching up too much.

If not then you've got a funding problem. Get out there and grab those resource piles.

And when you say upgrades, I hope you're not upgrading the resource buildings.

What''s wrong with upgrading resource buildings...? I do it, and it certainly pays off in the long run. Sure, it might set you back a little when you buy them, but if you stay alive it is very worth it. At least for your initial resource buildings... later on you might capture so much it is pointless. Also you don`t want to upgrade them right away (usually), that stunts your tech/upgrade/building growth too much. You have to find a time when you can spare the resources without setting yourself back too much.

*_* Biodus *_*

Great advice, Biodus. Nothing irritates me more then when I capture an enemy building and they don''t have it upgraded! Geez, do I have to do everything myself? Come on, people, always remember to upgrade your buildings!

Quotes Biscuit: "Great advice, Biodus. Nothing irritates me more then when I capture an enemy building and they don''''t have it upgraded! Geez, do I have to do everything myself? Come on, people, always remember to upgrade your buildings! "

Enemy, I thought we were all friends here, darn, thats where I have been going wrong......lol

{{{As if I were stating something totally new and hidden}}}

Fact is, one needs to take a balanced approach in campaigns between economy and military, between offensive techs and defensive ones - and these choices are made according to the information he can gain (or have forced down his throat) in how his neighbors are playing, and who they are planning to attack.

As an example: Biodus and I were next door neighbors in a camp. and we both realized that unless we attacked each other that we were not going to have any initial enemies, so we built economy right along side of Military. In another camp I was attacked within 4 turns, so I knew that I needed to research Military a bit heavier and wait to upgrade resource mines, but the aggressor was not hitting me hard, so I knew I could upgrade Weapons first (rather than armor) and still likely beat this foe.

Jmacattack D~S

Last Edited : Friday, 6 July 2007 - 09:17

If you are a tech nut and will continue to use this approach, then you need to take some precautionary measures at the beginning of your matches. One of the key things to do is to figure out how many turns it''ll take you to tech up to the point of feeling comfortable that you can produce units and troops to defend yourself. This helps you understand how much help you would need.

When you figure out if you will be ready and teched up by say turn 15, the first thing you should do is make NAP''s with your nearest neighbors for at least 15 - 30 turns. Hopefully you are near some vets who won''t take advantage of you and will have the advantage of protection on your side. When you build your NAP''s you should outline your terms carefully so the rules of the NAP are clear. You should also offer them assistance in some fashion, remember you are trying to protect yourself, but you don''t want to have your NAP partners doing all the work for you. My typical initial offer for a NAP would be:

NAP until turn 30 (change as needed or negotiated), no resource takeovers on original castle colors for both parties, no resource takeovers if already claimed by the other person, both parties agree to keep either 5 pop scouts (1 pop now), or outposts on the borders of their territory to alert the other person of any enemy troop movement heading in their direction. At turn 30, either the NAP will be renogotiated, or ended. Both parties agree that if they plan on attacking each other after the initial NAP is over, they will give a minimum of a 5 turn heads up to the other person in preparation.

Regardless of the NAP''s you should ALWAYS have a 1 pop scout unit WAY out from your borders doing his thing this will(you know scouting), try to tech up to vision improvements for them. You should also try to tech up and get your outposts quickly as part of your tech plan and proceed to have them placed in key areas that your scouts have already scouted out for you, otherwise you have to keep units in the areas scouts have already checked out. You should definitely get distance improvements for your outposts as well. Well placed outposts can give you huge amounts of time to have advanced warning that someone is heading your way and allow you to switch to military production as needed.

In short, NAP''s and as much advanced warning through scouts / outposts, are two of the key components you should establish if you decide to put as much teching up as possible in place prior to military improvement.

Sense your 0-2 in duels, and havnt played a campaign,
Heres a shorter answer
Go ALL military every time!
This gives you the units to scan in all directions. and TAKE what you want!
Then and only then will you know if its safe to creat your government quickly "all at once", or slowly if there is a threat. Either way, Military should NEVER stop! You will not finish a large economy in a duel anyway. Not against a skilled player

Last Edited : Friday, 13 July 2007 - 14:07

blackhat hit the nail on the head, as for what laughing man said its true that military should always be concern but you will always be producing men and just need to adapt which types you use for duels and camps, if you can get a nap in a camp then its usually a good idea to produce high end units and plently of commandeers so that you and attack some on fast and hard a then take their castle before they can get back, i suggest 25 commmandeers (it will take one turn to capture the castle if they don''t upgrade, i think its castle protection but i may have the name wrong but whatever it is in that case it takes 2 turns). then if they want it back just block up the castle exept for one exit and beat down any men he sends at you one at a time; or if your mainly ranged then no exits and fortify the castle.

just skiming through...If your losing try starting by being more active, taking all your turns, get your techs and when production is nice pump it out, if you need to stay at home, I was just attacked in my rear while on the way to another castle turns 5 now, so i had to turn around and fight this guy instead, thankfully i stole some resources from an inactive out of it and a building, anyhow although he got the first hit in on me i got the upperhand by making the right move...You also just need to know how to play, it seems simple enough but if it was just playing the game then nobody would win or lose,

Also reading up on the income buildings, the only time mine get boosted are when i steal them from somebody who paid up, They pay for themselves eevntually but are way to expensive if you don''t have the money, if your sitting around though just umkping troops and resources and ur set for a while i guess its not a horrible idea.

in the end being agressive and savy to poltics and strategy are what win it for you, every one can make troops and go to battle, hope for luck or that a strategy will work but usually it comes to beingable to gather info and decide when its best to strick and what units and tech you should develope for the situation

diplomacu is the last option in my book

tactics is what pushs the game but if you want to be good you have to use everything you have. dipomacy can be just as sure a weapon as 100 hc

If you don''t mind I''ll take the HC...oh and ask cdl about his diplomacy, it got him and 2 of his friends eliminated by me all at once

diplomacy is gang banging people, its making naps and choosing sides, usually you don''t get a real free for all until you get into higher games.. then after only the best players are left you can go wild and its lots of fun =P

be aggressive, just take out anyone in your way, finish of the big boys first and play with the little people while your army expands

I agree with a lot that is being said here, and would add a few little creases of information to clarify:

Concerning when to tech up what - Foster is being the clearest - it really depends upon the map, the opponents and what the opponents are either doing or getting ready to do to you. I will summarize all 3 basic modes you should be in at any given time in a camp.

The first Mode I am sharing is Attack Mode.

Attack Mode is the Mode of positioning the right forces to attack an opponent. Don''t get caught being too passive in going to attack mode just because you see a veteran on the horizon. As Foster stated above, once you see the big-boys, if you have the basic mix of troops, you should give attacking those big-boys a try, because waiting until you are stronger will fail (these veterans know how to tech up and gain military advantage due to their familiarity with the game - and they will out-match you later in the game unless you are plowing through other newer players effectively). Do NOT go into attack mode if you just got done getting your butt whipped and you need to re-arm your forces (and are given the opportunity). Also, to be clear, if you DO understand the basic strategies and ways to tech up, don''t ALWAYS go after the big dog first. If you also have a similarly skilled player next to you within striking distance, take him on - there might be a very poorly guarded castle just behind his forces, and taking it will strengthen your position against the vet. Learn all the basics in Zones of Control, Rock/Paper/Scissors, and movement/range of fire (for ranged troops).

The next mode is Defense Mode.

Defense mode is used when you are either attacked by a superior force in the open field or when you are being attacked at or near your castle. Once again, Foster defined a time when his castle was being attacked early on, and he had to shift his forces from a different battle-front to defend his castle. Do NOT think that defense mode means inferiority, it only defines the necessary action - as in defending your castle vs. attacking someone elses. My recommendation is that you always have scouts on perimeters so to warn you of an impending attack towards your castle - this alleviates the chance of being blind-sided by a BIG force that you will have a very difficult time to defend against.

The third mode is Build Mode.

Build Mode is the time in any camp when your neighbors are otherwise occupied in battling one another and you are left with time (Turns) to build your techs, gather resources and strengthen your army. Sometimes you end up in the right position in a campaign and all of your neighbors are fighting one another early on. Take this opportunity to gain your resource mines and tech up as much as possible. Do go military first, but do NOT let economy fall behind. I usually tech up my weapons and armor and then take a economy tech next time it is available. This balancing will only boost your ability to tech up military later, and without it, you will be crippled in terms of later military or castle defense techs. IF you find yourself in one of these non-aggressed pockets of loveliness, it is my opinion that you should fully repair the mines, and then pay for the extra tech for production. The cost is high initially, but get a boost in productivity of each mine you research later on, and that will help you build a bigger force with more diversity in troop types. One final note on Build mode - if you are behind in a particular resource - find that mine or quarry or mill! Dragon lakes camp is a perfect example of lots of resources to balance with - go find what you need.

Finally - whether in Attack, Defense or Build Mode, all 3 can and often times are used symultaneously - you need to study your map, study your opponents, and try to maintain balance in a campaign. If you can do this, you will start winning more and enjoying the game that much more as well.

Last Edited : Monday, 16 July 2007 - 12:25