Lord of Ultima: Crossbowman Military City Layouts

I have two crossbowman military city variants. Please note that I favour crossbowman over guardians due to their mobility for two reasons:

1. Mobility allows you to redeploy defense rapidly, and that can be the difference in stopping a plunder or saving a city.
2. For times of peace, crossbowman farm dungeons a lot better.

The first variant is a defense configuration for a contested continent. Here is the Defense Crossbowman Military City Layout which you can see in the LoU Flash City Planner.

Max Units: 35,000 crossbowman

Recruitment Speed: 8s

Storage: 2,175,000 wood/food, 575,000 stone/iron

Food Deficit: 14,583 per hour (need to restock every 6.21 days)

As you can see, it is designed for maximum troop strength and reasonable recruiting speed. Being on a contested continent, this is not castled of course. Only your offensive cities are castled.

Thus, there is no food production, ship it in via the trade minister.

I have kept the design simple, without deviation from the conventional military city layout in the middle. This allows for easy conversion to the farming configuration once the continent is conquered.

For towers, I use:

• Lookout Tower x2 to give 20 hours of attack advanced warning. I find 1 tower/10 hours is not enough.
• Ranger Tower x 22, given I do not use guardians.

The second variant is a farming configuration for a controlled continent. Here is the Farm Crossbowman Military City Layout which you can see in the LoU Flash City Planner.

Max Units: 88,000 crossbowman

Recruitment Speed: 3s

Storage: 2,975,000 wood/stone/iron/food

Food Deficit: 36,667 per hour (need to restock every 3.38 days)

Shipping Capacity: 4000 carts

Given this is for a controlled continent (off water), the city is castled to maximize troop strength. You lose out on a lot of troop strength if not castled.

There is no food production needed as you will have surplus food from dungeon raids. If there are no dungeon raids for whatever reason, ship in food via the trade minister.

There is a good amount of storage but not too much, as you will be shipping out the surplus with the trade minister anyhow.

There are a lot of marketplaces as shipping capacity is key:

• You will be farming resources at a high rate, and need to be able to ship it to your warehouses/new cities.
• Rapid shipping to palaces will be needed once palace building gets to higher levels.

The moonstone tower is there if you need some resource purification.

For towers, I would use:

• Lookout Tower x2 to give 20 hours of attack advanced warning. I find 1 tower/10 hours is not enough.
• Ballista Tower x22 as the most risk is someone catapulting your city.

• Lord of Ultima is an online web browser based strategy game. More information can be found at my Lord of Ultima Coverage page.
• If you wish to jump straight in, you can sign up at http://www.lordofultima.com/en/ref/2300431315.
• As best described by the creators of the game:
  "Lord of Ultima is EA’s first game in the free Strategy MMO genre and is completely playable in a web browser. Developed by EA’s Phenomic studio, the game’s creator Volker Wertich (the genius behind strategy classics such as the Settlers) takes this genre to the next level. Lord of Ultima features deep strategic gameplay and multiple social features including an advanced trading system, alliance features, online chat, and forums. At launch it will be available in English and German language.
  
  
  Set in the legendary Ultima universe, the game takes you to the new world of Caledonia, formed from the remains of Sosaria which was shattered into countless islands. You start your journey with a humble village which you grow over time into a mighty and prosperous capital. On your path to glory you will have to expand your power by creating additional cities, exploring new continents and forging a vast empire. You must master the art of diplomacy and trade as well as the military activities of spying, plundering, attacking and sieging enemy cities to finally become the mighty and feared Lord of Ultima."

Aloriah: Midgard Progress Update #2.12

I (and the Ragnarök alliance) have settled into the grind now (at least until the new items/etc are unlocked by taking the Mother Dragon to 75%) which consists of:

• Black dragon scenario point farming.
• Weekly mother dragon attacks.

Not everyone in the alliance was ready for this week's attack so only Azumi, Draak and I participated. Thus, we were only able to take 1.7% off the Mother Dragon's life. She currently sits at 94.3%.

You might be interested to know what I use to attack the Mother Dragon. We aim for 100k troops per alliance member.

I have a dedicated hero for Mother Dragon attacks with the following skill design:

• Fire Resistance 12
• Rune Blood Ritual 9
• Defender 9
• Poison Resistance 6
• Water Resistance 6
• Bandit Tactics 6
• Aggressive 6

The hero sports the following items, most of them best available in game:

In other news, my fishing hero got pulled under and died yet again. This has been his 3rd time. Now that I have spare sleipnir horses, I am going to be trying ruins again. You can run around Misty Marshes safely with sleipnir horses, so I will be visiting ruins there, without any need to watch my army. This is opposed to Molten Ashlands where ruby dragon armies can kill my sleipnir horses quite easily. I will actually welcome running into mobs in Misty Marshes so my hero can level up a bit more.

• 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"

Aloriah: Midgard Progress Update #2.11

I blew past the 10k scenario point achievement quite easily. Unfortunately, there were no new epic(s) rewards. This was confirmed by the developers who said the "undefined" was just a display bug. I will be honest and say it was a bit of a let down. Farming 10k+ scenario points is no mean feat, and the reward is worse then the 5k one. I hope the 20k reward is decent.

On the achievement point front, I am currently at 1920. I hope to make that "Elite Player" 2k mark soon.

The update last week was pretty boring as we were preparing to attack the Mother Dragon and did not want to give that away, until the attack occurred. :) Now, I can talk about it.

So, we attacked the Mother Dragon! This was a proper attack, we did a test attack the other week.

In typical fashion, here is the role-play blurb from our leader Ramdas:

"After Midgard’s first clash with the Mother Dragon she breathed her last fiery breath and died. The G-ds took her soul with them hoping to tame this untamable beast. But it was just that untamable, instead the Mother Dragon got loose and ate several G-ds absorbing the power G-ds the Mother Dragon became Mother Dragon Goddess, the destroyer of mankind. 

You all thought the Mother Dragon was tough to handle now try her when she has the power of several of the G-ds. It is as if the Mother Dragon went on steroids (Don’t do drugs!)  . The Mother dragon will not go down in one attack. Now it will take several more attacks to destroy he life essence to such a degree to cause the Mother Dragon to become a spirit again.

One positive thing about the Mother Dragon eating the G-ds is that the G-ds in her stomach did something to her egg laying abilities. She now lays eggs that give rewards to the heroes who attack the Mother Dragon. This was the G-d’s who were eaten final act of revenge.

We Ragnarök will be taking these eggs in honor of the G-ds of Aloriah. All shall learn why Ragnarök are the force that ends the World."

You can find the full battle report at:

http://midgard.aloriah.com/battlereport.php?id=68138

Action pictures:

Notifications:

Note, the world announcement only listed me instead of the seven members of the Ragnarök alliance. I think that is because I was the last one to die.

The "undefined" scenario was a display bug. I did not record how many scenario points I had before the fight, but other members of the alliance reported they gained scenario points. It would have been 285 or so ((4 * 10 * 50)/7) each. The scenario points are not really worth it. Black dragons farming is still better. You attack the Mother Dragon more to kill it and to get access to other rewards, eg, eggs.

We brought 535k worth of troops, and only did 4%! It is certainly going to take some killing. It will speed up in future as:

• Not all of us were at full troop strength.
• Eggs (most probably) will process access to better buildings, troops, etc which will increase our capabilities.

Well, it is going to be rinse and repeat. Retrain troops, attack again until the Mother Dragon dies! We shall see what new items/etc unlock as we progress.

• 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"

Aloriah: Midgard Progress Update #2.10

I farmed 1922 scenario points this week, and now am so close to the 10k scenario point achievement. I should be getting that in 2-3 days. I am waiting with bated breath to see what the rewards are. I hope you are too!

There were no other significant events this week. Most/all of the effort was spent on farming achievement points, even more then last week. Hopefully, some interesting events will happen next week. :)

That said, I am pretty sure I am setting achievement point farming records. It may seem like mundane but farming at this rate takes a lot of time and effort. You have to be constantly watching and maneuvering your armies around. I am not sure I will be able to play at this level all the time. There is a definite advantage if you have a lot of time to devote to the game You pretty much have no chance of such achievement point mass farming if you are casual.

I do understand there is reward for effort, but I think games should be more about making intelligent decisions then pure grind. One thing that could improve things is if armies had AI (artificial intelligence) but that would be a pretty big change.

Apologies for the short update this week. I should have more to report next week.

• 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"

Lord of Ultima: Ranger Military City Layouts

I have two ranger military city variants.

The first variant is a defense configuration for a contested continent. Here is the Defense Ranger Military City Layout which you can see in the LoU Flash City Planner.

Max Units: 70,000 rangers

Recruitment Speed: 3s

Storage: 2,175,000 wood/food and 575,000 stone/iron

Food Deficit: 8,750 per hour (need to restock every 10.36 days)

As you can see, it is designed for maximum troop strength and reasonable recruiting speed. Being on a contested continent, this is not castled of course. Only your offensive cities are castled.

Thus, there is no food production, ship it in via the trade minister.

I have kept the design simple, without deviation from the conventional military city layout in the middle. This allows for easy conversion to the farming configuration once the continent is conquered.

For towers, I use:

• Lookout Tower x2 to give 20 hours of attack advanced warning. I find 1 tower/10 hours is not enough.
• Ranger Tower x 22.

The second variant is a farming configuration for a controlled continent. Here is the Farm Ranger Military City Layout which you can see in the LoU Flash City Planner.

Max Units: 176,000 rangers

Recruitment Speed: 3s

Storage: 2,975,000 wood/stone/iron/food

Food Deficit: 22,000 per hour (need to restock every 5.63 days)

Shipping Capacity: 4000 carts

Given this is for a controlled continent (off water), the city is castled to maximize troop strength. You lose out on a lot of troop strength if not castled.

There is no food production needed as you will have surplus food from dungeon raids. If there are no dungeon raids for whatever reason, ship in food via the trade minister.

There is a good amount of storage but not too much, as you will be shipping out the surplus with the trade minister anyhow.

There are a lot of marketplaces as shipping capacity is key:

• You will be farming resources at a high rate, and need to be able to ship it to your warehouses/new cities.
• Rapid shipping to palaces will be needed once palace building gets to higher levels.

The moonstone tower is there if you need some resource purification.

For towers, I would use:

• Lookout Tower x2 to give 20 hours of attack advanced warning. I find 1 tower/10 hours is not enough.
• Ballista Tower x22 as the most risk is someone catapulting your city.

• Lord of Ultima is an online web browser based strategy game. More information can be found at my Lord of Ultima Coverage page.
• If you wish to jump straight in, you can sign up at http://www.lordofultima.com/en/ref/2300431315.
• As best described by the creators of the game:
  "Lord of Ultima is EA’s first game in the free Strategy MMO genre and is completely playable in a web browser. Developed by EA’s Phenomic studio, the game’s creator Volker Wertich (the genius behind strategy classics such as the Settlers) takes this genre to the next level. Lord of Ultima features deep strategic gameplay and multiple social features including an advanced trading system, alliance features, online chat, and forums. At launch it will be available in English and German language.
  
  
  Set in the legendary Ultima universe, the game takes you to the new world of Caledonia, formed from the remains of Sosaria which was shattered into countless islands. You start your journey with a humble village which you grow over time into a mighty and prosperous capital. On your path to glory you will have to expand your power by creating additional cities, exploring new continents and forging a vast empire. You must master the art of diplomacy and trade as well as the military activities of spying, plundering, attacking and sieging enemy cities to finally become the mighty and feared Lord of Ultima."

Aloriah: Midgard Progress Update #2.9

Farm, farm, farm, that is my current life in Aloriah. I am farming scenario points at an even higher rate yet again. At this rate, it will be only two weeks to the 10k scenario point achievement.

It seemed boring to me this week. I guess that happens if you do a lot of one thing over and over, that is, farm black dragons. Killing the Mother Dragon requires a lot more troops then before, so I am currently waiting for the rest of the Ragnarök alliance to train the required troops. To pass the time, I will also be looking at filling out the rest of achievement points. I currently have 1825 achievement points so the 2k achievement point elite player mark is now within striking range.

Here is some detail about how I am farming scenario points so quickly:

• There are 4 sleipnir horse armies out there.
• I control a lot of lookout towers (currently 61) so I have a lot of visibility to black dragon spawns.
• The armies do not just keep running between far spawns. If needs be, they port back to my base village, pick up a new scroll of portal stone and port out to spawns. Hero-less armies are recalled back.
• I close the portal first for 3 points (2 for hero-less armies) and then kill the black dragons around it, hoping for a seal, then seal the portal for 12 points. 

Do you remember last week my hero died whilst fishing? Well, it happened again this week. :(

However, this happened to brighten up my day! So yeah, fishing is worth it!

Finally got a dragon armor off the emerald dragons to complete my mother dragon set achievement. I had to go out of the village and hunt them. I am still hunting in Misty Marshes though, as I now want to get the hippo kill achievement. However, I have converted from bear riders to sleipnir horses which move a lot faster. It was so zzzzzzzzzz with bear riders.

To end this update, here is a tip on troop training efficiency:

• Designate one of your villages to be your primary troop producer.
• Build mostly/all troop training buildings only, no taverns/etc.
• Put in all your training reduction/speed items.

• 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"