The role of deception in the game

[Arantor]

Dwarves often have large SAs, Elvish armies in general seem to have little covert; Orcs often have large defenses, and Humans seem to be the only ones that really use their racial advantages (though I guess humans really have no choice , unless they must be building a large defense to protect their money, in which case few humans use their racial advantage very well).

What's your guys' experience?  Do any dwarves out there build lots of defense?  Are many elves even close to being unsabbable?  Do your primary targets, orcs, have more defense than offense?  

I'm beginning to think that if I see a large dwarven army with a stronghold or even citadel, I should immediately assume it has no defense (I must admit my highest-ranked farm is only 2,000-odd).

Am I way off?

:fireball: Aran Taur :fireball/r:

[Thamior]

I've noticed a lot of orcs with massive covert action and defense so that when you try and spy them, they catch you, then when you lay one attack turn on them, they tear you apart.  Since this is the case, they probably don't have much offense although that is what they are supposed to specialize in.  I keep my army very much balanced.  I may go with something different in Age 3 though....

[FragMaster1972]

most orcs i attack have fairly low def. i have 600,000+ CA, and im an elf. many elves ive talked to have this or higher. I think most people tend to use their bonuses.

[Thamior]

I think that with every race, there exists every possible combination of high and low SA, DA, and CA.  I doubt that there is any pattern.  Some people use the advantages they're given and some don't.

[Arantor]

I think that with every race, there exists every possible combination of high and low SA, DA, and CA.  I doubt that there is any pattern.  Some people use the advantages they're given and some don't.

I forgot to mention that this particular dude had level 10 covert (12,276,000 gold) but only 10 spies.

But I still fail to understand why people spend 5,080,000 on something they don't use, and spend a quarter of that on something they do use.  It just doesn't make sense to me, UNLESS this person is counting on somebody seeing something like citadel, seeing that he's dwarves, and has lots of men, and deciding they can't attack.  Otherwise...it's either foolishness or another result of bad education systems...

And yes there are an infinite (practically) number of combinations, but surely people would try to play to their strengths?

[Drowzycow]

Early on in the game it was very true as people spent entire amrouries to get the upgrades and then hide behind the upgrade titles. I don't think that is the case now, people tend to get unsabbable and then tend towards there bonus but kepting the other stat reasonable. For example i've tried attacking orcs about my rank, some pay off other came pretty close...

[Drauka]

Thats true, since my D point was the last to raise. Yet i raised the seige equipments equally with my spy level. (Dwarf)

[slayerselune]

As a human, I absolutely use my race as an advantage.  Bring on the $$!!!  Build higher and stronger in all areas.  With balance comes rankings, Grasshopper.

[Arantor]

As a human, I absolutely use my race as an advantage.  Bring on the $$!!!  Build higher and stronger in all areas.  With balance comes rankings, Grasshopper.

:hmmm: Yes, of course, but I pride myself in the fact that once I decide to start building DA I can quickly jump from 28K to 4-5K.

Though I have noticed a dangerous trend lately:  more people are really upping their SAs.
Then again, that means that they're decelerating their DA upgrades.

Anyhow, maybe I will think a bit about it before I just go and spend 15 attack turns on the next big dwarf.  Thanks for your input, veterans!

 :fireball/l: Aran Taur :fireball/r:  

[bofor]

Bah humbug slayer who wants balance? who wants rankings? I hate to admit it by I prefered age 1 when there was more freewheeling attacking. No offense to the people just building defense and covert but it's made for a boring age. Back on topic I used to make judgements based on race. Those advantages seemed meaningfull when noone had much but now I totally disregard, After all I'm a dwarf focussing on attack.    

[slayerselune]

admittedly this is a more boring age, who wants to just sit around spending TBG.  Give me the days of Age 1 when I could attack people in the top 20 and take their millions and still have attack turns left over.  Ah, now I have to save up attack turns constantly and bide time waiting...My only goal now is to build rankings so I can at least have some sort of accomplishment.  Find the next bowl and all.  What's left?    

[master_kamui]

I like balance.  I had my stats well balanced until someone sab me and the balance was lost.  So maybe that's why people raise their DA and CA first so they can be safe from going back to the start.

[Perdition]

I focus on defense and coveryt action even though never use my covert action, but if it gets good enough I might.  and my defense isn't strong enought to protect me i'm thinking of going on some suicide missions to get rid of some of Soldiers.  

[opperdude]

you could reach ur goal by buying spies too... mebbe smarter move?

[Lyban]

In the last week, I've encountered about 7 or 8 larger (800+soldiers) Orc armies with Citadels, ranked in the 13k region. All unsabbable of course, however with a 1 attack turn probe I found that they were only doing abt 200k damage. With a CA that high, and a DA that low the only thing that could be holding them at the 13k ranking is their SA.

To support that theory, I had one retaliatory attack from one of them, and his SA was abt 2mil from what I can figure...so yeah, they're using both deception and racial advantage. Obviously they're only in the 13k rankings temporarily after upgrade...I guess that means I was looking in the right place at the right time.