Kingdom Positions

Here are some quick musing about player positions within the Kingdom. I can later make an actual guide of indvidual gameplay. This is not a complete guide, but rather some musings i wrote down fast.

KINGS AND DUKES: Will take the 4446 spots. The rasoning is, that King have one anyway, and the crop spots are needed for Attack players. If King is within 4446 spot and Dukes are within 15 spots, it creates imbalance between them. Kings and Dukes will preferably play Teuton, and will play defensive + help pushing resources to crop capitals.

ATTACK: There will be as many attack players as there are available crop capitals, emphasis being on 15 crop and 9 crop with good percentages. So, the number of Main Attackers is limited to the available Crop Locations to the Kingdom and Teuton players take priority. Any other type of players will develop resource production and push them evetually to these capitals, and the Attack players will build their other villages near, or adjacent to these capitals. For attack players, use of Gold is almost mandatory to push hero exp, gain better items and to NPC Trade your Crop to Res and later on, Res to Crop. Teuton players are especially good as Attack players, especially when making Clubs. (Teutons or Romans)

DEFENSIVE: Defensive players do not need to generate large armies at one spot as they can reinforce them on one location, and thus will not take crop capitals. At best, they might take a crop 9 with lower percentages, but these are best reserved for Support players. They will instead develop Resource Production, make their cities and villages to generate Tribute for their Duke or King, and push their resources to the crop capitals. Gauls and Teutons are best for this, as they have both defensive infantry and defensive cavalry. Defensive players rarely raid and if they do, they usually raid inactives far away with Theutanes Thunder, while the Attack and Support players raid the closer targets. (Gauls and Teutons)

SUPPORT: If a player wants to take an Attacking role, but does not gain a crop capital or have a time or interest to invest in one, thay can either do defensive and attack forces both, or produce a smaller attackng army called a Semi Hammer. Sometimes the Main Attackers divide their forces to many smaller armies (around 10k troops at 1x speed Worlds), or one smaller and one larger. Support players could do around 10k troops and act as one of these semi hammers within the attack. Purpose of these armies is to wreck support cities and hit their resource production, aiming to destroy 8 lvl 10 resource fields in one attack or 16 if two is combined. These type of armies are also called RoF (Rain of Fire) armies by some. A Support player might of course have an amount of defensive troops too. Roman is a good support tribe, as they have both strong defensive Infantry, strong offensive troops and better Catapults. These type of players are usually in no hurry to create troops either, as their main purpose is to generate defensive forces and push resources for the main attackers capitols - So they are in no hurry to create their army. A Roman Support might for example, mass Pretorians to defend their Duke or King, and then make an army of Legionaires + Cavalry + Catapults in which case, the Legionaires can be used to support the Pretorians in defense. And of course, raid. (Romans)

A Support player might build 1 or 2 cities within Kingdom Borders, have several support villages within the booder or outside of them, mine oasises, use their crop production on Pretorians and 1 RoF army, use their resource production to generate fields and push it to attacking players crop capitals. Usually needing some Trade Offices for that, especially from cities where the troops are generated also. A Defensive player might use a similar setup, but generates only defensive troops.

DECIDING WHAT TO DEFEND: Regardless of who to defend or not, always leave at least as much defense in each Treasury that it is enough to destroy the initial wave. (To not make it free, and to benefit from possible defense bonuses, if any)

DECIDING WHAT TO ATTACK: Hitting the Treasury seems tempting, but might not always be the best choise. The existence of them can also be used as a threat, so faking them and striking the infrastructure that supports the kingdom might also be a good idea. Especially if the Kingdom have many smaller (Semi Hammers / RoF armies) on their disposal. Still, this is best done so, that all the attacks come from known crop capitals by main attackers, and the armies are divided to fakes and smaller (support villages) or larger (capitials) armies that hit the infrastructure.

Where the RoF armies from a support player is better used, is when the treasury is actually hit, and there is need to give the opponent targets what to defend. A support player might for example, fake one support village and hit the other both with 4x catapult waves.

DIPLOMACY: Aim to unite with the strongest kingdom locally, and aim to have absolute control in your map quarter. Decide carefully what Kingdoms to rob, do not loot and pillage a Kingdom just because it is weaker and close by - But aim to Assimilate them to your own. This far outweights the amount of treasure or loot you can get, and if it is successul, you gain their Treasures any way. This is usually easy, as the smaller Kingdoms often look to join a bigger Kingdom anyway. Attack only those you cannot assimilate but after 2 weeks of gameplay in 1x speed, there should only be one Kingdom in your quarter - And that is yours + your ally you are uniting with on day 30.

RECRUITING: Focus on recruiting from other quarters, especially the one you feel the strongest. If you have space, recruit even inactive or bad players. It doesnt matter if they will idle and only generate Tribute, what matters more there are one less farm to strengthen your potential enemies and if you have the space anyway, you wont lose anything. This will also make your Kingdom look more intimidating on the statistics, making further recruiting easier. So if you have the space, do not be shy to recruit even players that you feel that are of no use. At least, your enemies will find them good farms that you are now denying them. This hold only true on servers that have low amount of players. On this kind of servers, this also helps you assimilate smaller Kingdoms, as they now think you are stronger than you actually are. They will sometimes only see the statistics, and a large Kingdom with two or three times more members than them. And if you are lucky, some of these players who look weak at first might actually be strong and active.

I dont see it the same way. You can as well push the kings and dukes res to an offensive players crop capital. I already typed that in the original post.

If you did not know, there are even players who build their hammers in 4446 and push their crop from 15 to there. Some of these players are even Kings or Dukes. So if they can push it away from 15, why cannot they push it in ?

Pushing the kings or dukes tributes to off players should not be a problem, especially if you have a Trade Office. Just make your Treasury next to the 15 crop and let your off player take it. That way you probably wont even need trade off, as the capitol you are pushing it is right next to you.

Having a King or Duke to play off is too daring in my opinion.

The only thing that is limiting the off is the crop, pushing it in or out or dukes or kings is not the problem. Problem is the limited amount of crop you can have and all Kingdoms aim to use it all, one way or another.

What you say might be true, if everyone plays as an individual. But if you play as a team, it ceases to matter. If you play as an individual, you wont push your res away, everyone is just using their own.

What you mean limits ?

No i did not know that.

Still it is the same, no off kings or dukes in my plan. Its a matter of command structure, and make the positions clear. They can make off army, but they wont gain the 15 crop. Basically they are seen the same as Defesive or Support.

Taking a 15 crop as a Dukes Capital will also give the opponent one less target. You basically have 2 targets as one. a Crop Capital and a Treasury. If that Duke would make a Treasury on 4446 and a Governor would take the 15 crop that is two targets instead of one. If that Treasruy that is in 15 leveled, you lose 2 of the most important assets rather than one. This is the downside. Having one 15 treasury and two 4446 treasury for example, can also create problems when thinking what to defend. It creates a loop in your head where you think they will surely land on the 15 treasury, and then you think thats what they think you think. Better to have them all similar to avoid that.

My attack structure is also a bit different. I am more likely to aim on hitting tens of locations rather than only one or two. I am more likely to hit the infrastructure than the Treasuries. I am more likely to hit the Oasises than the Villages.

It is also what you want to accomplish. I do not aim to steal treasures, i aim to destroy a Kingdom. Treasuries only act as deterrence that allows me to hit the real targets - their production.

I have also seen many Kingdom to just strike a treasury and then the attacks stop. With me, the attacks only stops when its over.

I can also gladly weaken my enemy, so that other Kingdoms may move for their Treasuries. I was never after them anyway.

Better that way than playing ten servers and never make a guide.

I dont even understand the words you use so i cannot answer.

There is many meanings for Kings and Dukes to have 4446 as their treasuries. One is humility, give the best land to those who protect you.

I have already seen what people do. Being Kings and Dukes turn you selfish, and may even result on them quiting as the King calls all the defenses on their village, and the Duke (or Vice King) is hit without defenses, the treasury emptied and the town leveled.

Playing offensive is a stance, that wont fit for one in such position. It can also be thought in this way: That the person who wants to use a crop 15 as a Duke for his/her treasury is not fit for the position in the first place.

These things are beyond Travian.

The thing that is the most important is, that the opponent will defend your fake, and that the real attack hits. In defending, the most important thing is to catch the real one and neglect the fakes. In this, having few thousand, or even ten thousand in one single army wont help. The importance lies elsewhere (especially when you have those troops at your disposal anyway, and plan to split your "hammer" frequently too - so it makes no big difference to me, is one hammer 180k soldiers or 170k and so) - The thing what matters is that the attacks land, and that you are able to defend.

For me, having all Kings and Dukes as 4446 helps on my thought process. To land the hits and catch what is coming. It is more a psychological and mental thing than any. But how i mean it, is also a psychological thing for the opponent when he/she chooses the targets. This helps me to catch it.

I will gladly make this tradeoff even it is so. It also means one more Governor with 15 crop, which should make that person happier.

(I thought DrugsInc have some good to say but did not, so i checked what he wrote. I see the same continues. Hope my guide makes you a better player)

Here is an example of an attack that might come from this kind of Setup. It is a smaller server, so the number of attacks are small. The crop capitols are 15 and 9 crops and Teutons. Support attacks are from Roman 6 or 7 crop towns. Kings and Dukes wont attack. The gov capitols that are being attacked are all crop 15, and some of them are far from your borders. The ones you build and preserve those WW Hammers in.

KING: 12x4 Attack from Crop Capitol (36 Attacks)

DUKE 1: 12x4 Attacks from Crop Capitol (36 Attacks)

DUKE 2: 12x4 Attacks from Crop Capitol (36 Attacks)

GOV CAPITOL 1: 12x4 Attacks from Crop Capitol (36 Attacks)

GOV CAPITOL 2: 12x4 Attacks from Crop Capitol + 1x4 Attacks from Support 1 (40 Attacks)

GOV CAPITOL 3: 12x4 Attacks from Crop Capitol (36 Attacks)

SUPPORT 1: 1x4 Attacks from Crop Capitol + 1x4 Attacks from Support 2 (8 Attacks)

SUPPORT 2: 1x4 Attacks from Crop Capitol + 1x4 Attacks from Support 3 (8 Attacks)

SUPPORT 3: 1x4 Attacks from Crop Capitol + 1x4 Attacks from Support 4 (8 Attacks)

SUPPORT 4: 1x4 Attacks from Crop Capitol + 1x4 Attacks from Support 5 (8 Attacks)

SUPPORT 5: 1x4 Attacks from Crop Capitol + 1x4 Attacks from Support 6 (8 Attacks)

SUPPORT 6: 1x4 Attacks from Crop Capitol + 1x4 Attacks from Support 7 (8 Attacks)

SUPPORT 7: 1x4 Attacks from Crop Capitol + 1x4 Attacks from Support 8 (8 Attacks)

SUPPORT 8: 1x4 Attacks from Crop Capitol + 1x4 Attacks from Support 9 (8 Attacks)

SUPPORT 9: 1x4 Attacks from Crop Capitol + 1x4 Attacks from Support 10 (8 Attacks)

SUPPORT 10: 1x4 Attacks from Crop Capitol + 1x4 Attacks from Support 11 (8 Attacks)

SUPPORT 11: 1x4 Attacks from Crop Capitol + 1x4 Attacks from Support 12 (8 Attacks)

SUPPORT 12: 1x4 Attacks from Crop Capitol (4 Attacks)

What will you choose to defend ?

That probably wont look similar than what you have used to, and the result would not be either. Now you must choose your defense, and tell how you attack me with similar amount of troops at disposal and crop capitols as king and / or dukes. (which btw, will lose their troops if caught)

Our play styles are very different, you are very confident if you outright think yours is better.

If you position all your treasures in one place (which i have not yet seen anyone to do, and i have looked the situation in almost all current servers, yet no one does this) that makes it even easier for me as an Attacker, not the other way around. (You give me "one target to strike" - But can you be sure i even strike there ? Can you really abandon the position and be sure i wont ?)

In that situation, the attack looks like this:

KING: 12x4 Attack from Crop Capitol (36 Attacks)

GOV CAPITOL 1: 12x4 Attacks from Crop Capitol (36 Attacks)

GOV CAPITOL 2: 12x4 Attacks from Crop Capitol + 1x4 Attacks from Support 1 (40 Attacks)

GOV CAPITOL 3: 12x4 Attacks from Crop Capitol (36 Attacks)

GOV CAPITOL 4: 12x4 Attacks from Crop Capitol (36 Attacks)

GOV CAPITOL 5: 12x4 Attacks from Crop Capitol (36 Attacks)

(And then the Support Villages)

What will you choose to defend ?

You do understand this is a similar game than Poker ?

Then you at least know, that the support villages that are hit from crop capitols wont contain Troops.

Yes, that one i have seen, emptying and abandoning the villages. But you should know i am not there for Treasures.

And this is not bad advice, it is just something you are not familiar with, and thats why it wrecks you in the game. In other words, you lose to "bad" play because you cannot acknowledge its existence.

You know what i have, you have yous scouts. It is no secret. I have more troops than you. Support vilages attack with approximately 10k Imperians + Catas. Crop Capitals have clubs + teutonic knights + rams and most of them catas

So now you must choose the defenses if you want to play this game with me in this Thread. Then i will tell you which were real.

haha, yeah

You need that, im just trying to shake yours. Thats when the bad decisions start to happen.

Another try is to provoke, thats when you should use DrugsInc. Thats when the bad decision happens also and thats why i have him ignored. Cannot provoke me if i dont see it happen.

Then within your choises are, from where to change treasure away, and to where put them + defend.

I wrote my attacks down already, i will reveal them after you tell me where you defend.

You cannot know that. It is not possible.

Actually you see one. Support 1 got all of its troops in city. 10k+ of Imperians + Cavalry + Catapults sit there. (Those attacking locations are all Cities)

All others are empty. The troops are really en route.

And if i would have scouts, your scots would have hit the town with all my scouts as Support 1. But im generous, ill tell you that Support 1 does not contain the troops from that village.

Your scouting is done, now make your choise mr.

No need to give specifics, just state how many troops will defend where, or rather dont give amounts, give percentages and do you move treas and where.

no i didnt do any of that, your move.

But if you would be kind, you could answer to my "Use of Scouts" thread and tell me of those uses. I want to learn to understand them better. If i find something more useful than i know now, it might change my perspective on the subject.

There is a lot i dont know, thats why i ask. And i learned few things already by doing so. Actually i learned few things in this thread too. So i am probably the one who learns here the most.