Aloriah: Midgard Progress Update #2.1

The Midgard server was restarted on 30 November, and round #2 began! It felt good to be able to start with the server reset (last round I started late), and with a decent idea of the game (round #1 was my first time). I feel I will be a lot more competitive this round.

Here is a recap of lessons I learnt from round #1:

• "Focus should be on civilization build only with scenario points farming on the side. Once built up, you can catch up on scenario points quite easily.
• Expand as fast as you can, take the risk! You do not need to send an overwhelming force with your settlers as you can just dodge mobs on the way. Once you establish a new village, the hero protective skill, wall, moat and towers will aid your village defense greatly.
• It is a pve race to the Mother Dragon. Anything else slows you down.
• I chose the evil alignment this round but I think good has more suitable uber units, so I will try good in game round #2."

There is one change of note from the recent patch 1.002:

"Tweak: The Mother Dragon is now much stronger. She has now 40 Million HP when sleeping and 50 Million when awake (Before she had 16 mill/20 mill)."

I feel this is a very good change.  I had made mention in my last update that I felt the rounds were too quick. This will hopefully address that. There should be a lot more pvp during the end game this time as you cannot just rush to the Mother Dragon. Other players will be attacking to slow you down as you build for the end.

There was a slight issue whereby I was not able to choose my starting spot but the developers quickly moved me to my requested starting spot. It is very nice having prompt support response!

I started next to Dry Steppes. It had the following advantage and disadvantage:

• Meant I could get scouting armies into Dry Steppes fast.
• It would take longer to get to Tropical Islands which would make it harder to get the 'Tropical Rusher'  achievement. I wanted to compare my expansion rate with other players.

My approach thus far:

• Sent scouting armies into Dry Steppes, claiming research obelisks and treasure chests. The rewards are much better in Dry Steppes, no need to waste time in Green Fields. I did have to spend a lot of time maneuvering around mobs to ensure my small armies did not die. You cannot just order and forget, need to watch every move.
• Avoided experience obelisks and stone portals in general, as I wanted to focus on civilization build and time taken to claim those would slow me down. I will pick those up later.
• Dragon obelisks are not my focus for now, I can also pick them up later and it saves squabbing with other players for them. I was lucky in that I got dragon amulets off the first 2 dragon obelisks I did try.
• Most of my resources going into civilization build. I have not even recruited my 2nd hero yet. I will recruit heroes/units when I bring up my 3rd village (in Dry Steppes) which will be soon.

Ooh la la, some firsts:

Having a magician for my first hero with points in the scientist skill helped a lot.

I did waste about 4 hours as I had trouble killing off (could not find any nearby mobs) a scouting army to make room for a settling army. I was a little worried that I would lose this race but it seemed I made it quite easily. This was before patch 1.002 so I did not have the dissolve army option.

If you cannot beat them, join them! I have joined the Ragnarök alliance which was the winning alliance from round #1. I hope to be able to contribute to many a future victory. There was no talk of my alliance (Roman Empire) from round #1 reforming, and I wanted to partner with some top players.

So, here are the current rankings. I am pretty happy with how I am placed at present as I am #1 on civilization size, so it has gone according to plan thus far. In addition, from inspection of some top player achievements, I think I am still leading in research.

• Aloriah is an online web browser based strategy game. More information can be found at my Aloriah Coverage page.
• If you wish to jump straight in, you can sign up at http://www.aloriah.com/?ref=guzzer.
• As best described by the creators of the game:
  "Aloriah is a free online web browser game based on mythologies of our time.
  Rule a civilization and experience epic events together with thousands of other players.
  • Play for free directly online through your internet browser
  • Expand villages, rally your armies and level your heroes
  • Explore the lands of Aloriah to find its mysteries
  • Journey on legendary quests together with your friends
  • Choose to worship the gods of good or evil"