Sunday, June 12, 2011

Might & Magic Heroes Kingdoms: Beginner Tips

Having played for two or so weeks now, I am still learning the ropes and slowly moving up the rankings.

Here are some lessons I have learnt so far:
  • Like most games, you have to be efficient with your resource use.
  • When you attack to clear your zones, do so with odds stacked in your favour.
  • Therefore, it may be prudent to build up first, instead of being overly aggressive.
  • There are no random factors in combat, so use the Jactari Fight Simulator to predict results.
  • Use the HOMMK script to populate the fight simulator. This saves so much typing!
  • Using the troop bonus is not always the best option. You could take less losses if you use bigger stacks, especially with higher unit powers. Just experiment with the fight simulator to see the best options.

  • Might & Magic Heroes Kingdoms is an online web browser based strategy game. More information can be found at my Might & Magic Heroes Kingdoms Coverage page.
  • If you wish to jump straight in, you can sign up at http://mm-hk.com/referral/630c8b58ed9c9d4c9deb0fcc0b0c40834628a9c6.
  • As best described by the creators of the game:
    • This is a web based game: you play within your browser, there is nothing to download, nothing to install
    • Free to play: you can play for free as long as you like
    • This is a strategy game: you make far-reaching decisions affecting your whole kingdom, and fight with your allies against other groups of players
    • This is Heroes of M&M: you will find the PC game's logic and theme in this massively multiplayer version

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Lord of Ultima: Ranger Military City Layouts V2

This is an update for my Ranger Military City Layouts to add a third variant, ie, permanent dedicated defense.

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.

The third variant is permanent dedicated defense for a strategic city, eg, palace. Here is the Defense Ranger Military City Layout which you can see in the LoU Flash City Planner.
Max Units: 284,000 rangers
Recruitment Speed: 3s
Storage: 2,575,000 wood/food and 975,000 stone/iron
Food Deficit: 35,500 per hour (need to restock every 3.02 days)

As you can see, it is designed for maximum troop strength and reasonable recruiting speed. There is no need for Moonglow Towers, Marketplaces, etc. You just build lots of rangers who sit and defend your palaces.

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

For towers, I 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."

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Aloriah: Midgard Progress Update #2.24

The Mother Dragon is finally dead. For those interested, here is the final battle log:

Round #2 took 6 months, given the heavily buffed Mother Dragon. Big congratulations to the Ragnarök alliance (names listed above). We pretty much dominated from start to finish. Honorable mention to Superbear0418 (was replaced by Rtbotb) who ran out of real time time and had to quit midway.

Here is the final scoreboard:
Note, I (and others) had a civilization size of 7700 also, but we abandoned villages at the end to get the "Honorable Deserter" achievement.

I came home strong with achievements at the end!

Here is a summary of lessons I had posted at the end of 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.

I can pretty much say those above points still hold true:
  • We did have some pvp to take out some players close to us in the first few months, but it was a pve race after that. Even before that, we had out built everyone else.
  • Sleipnir Horses > Fenrir Wolves for Mother Dragon attacks.

Furthermore, this is what I learnt in round #2:
  • Assuming you have an alliance that regularly farms Mother Dragon, farming Black Dragons for additional scenario points is still pretty much the way to win (as evidenced by my score). It does take a lot of time to farm at that level, so you need to be able to devote a lot of time to Aloriah. I spent most of my waking moments moving my armies around, constantly looking for Black Dragons.
  • 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"

Friday, May 27, 2011

Might & Magic Heroes Kingdoms: Coverage Started

I have always been a fan of the Heroes of Might and Magic series, so when this game came out, I was itching to try it. Things have cleared up a little in my schedule so here goes!

As best described by the creators of the game:
"What is this game?
  • This is a web based game: you play within your browser, there is nothing to download, nothing to install
  • Free to play: you can play for free as long as you like
  • This is a strategy game: you make far-reaching decisions affecting your whole kingdom, and fight with your allies against other groups of players
  • This is Heroes of M&M: you will find the PC game's logic and theme in this massively multiplayer version
How do I command my kingdom?
  • You play this game by giving orders to heroes or towns: attack monsters, construct buildings, spy on neighbors, pillage a town...
  • Each order needs some time to be carried out (a few minutes, hours, or days)
  • You don't need to stay connected while your orders are being carried out
  • After awhile, you may return and check the results of your actions.
What are the first steps to take?
  • Your first actions will be to hire heroes and conquer the mines surrounding your starting town
  • You will then upgrade your mines in order to improve your income
  • Add new buildings to your city to gather more troops and access additional options
  • Develop your heroes: make them learn skills, use artifacts
  • Contact your neighbors to assess their attitude toward you: friend or foe
  • Settle a second town to expand your kingdom
What can I expect from the long term
  • Join or create an alliance
  • Enter full scale wars to carve territories
  • Trade resources, buy and sell on the market
  • Discover the meaning of Ashan and control the world"

Further information can be found at:
I play (as Guzzer) on the "The Song of the Dryads 2" server. I have formed an alliance (The Dark Ministry) with some online gaming friends. However, things are still very new for me, as I strive to learn the game and discover advanced strategy and tactics.

If you decide to join, please do so via my personal reference link (http://mm-hk.com/referral/630c8b58ed9c9d4c9deb0fcc0b0c40834628a9c6) so I can get some free stuff. :)

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Aloriah: Midgard Progress Update #2.23

Life goes on, getting close to the 50k mark now!

Now that this round is pretty much won, and we are getting to the end soon, I have started to focus on achievements. As you can see from the "Realm Ranking", I am the first to achieve such.

 The Mother Dragon has landed for the last time. The full list of available epics has now been revealed.

 As we push to the end, everyone (whether big or small) has been trying to get an attack in: 

  • 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"

Friday, May 20, 2011

Lord of Ultima: Ballista Military City Layout

Here is my Ballista Military City Layout which you can see in the LoU Flash City Planner:
Max Units: 284,000 Ballistae
Recruitment Speed: 48s
Storage: 1,375,000 wood/iron, 575,000 stone and 2,175,000 food
Food Deficit: 29,583 per hour (need to restock every 3.06 days)

As you can see, it is designed for maximum troop strength and reasonable recruiting speed. There is no need for Moonglow Towers, Marketplaces, etc. You just build lots of Ballistae who sit and defend your cities.

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

For towers, I 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."

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Aloriah: Midgard Progress Update #2.22

I am pushing out the Aloriah updates out to fortnightly, as given most things are known by now, there is not enough content to fill weekly updates.

There was not a reward for 35k scenario points as it has now gone to 10k jumps. Got one for 40k.

I finally used this greater dragon scroll which I got several weeks ago. It gives more scenario points then before, but I still do not think it's worth the 12 hours it takes to use.

Between the Mother Dragon weekly self damage and multiple attacks (only major attacks shown), the Mother Dragon is now up in the air again. We welcome her landing soon for the last phase.
You may noticed that Azumi and I left the alliance on a temporary basis for solo attacks. We are pretty busy in real life at present, and do not have time for joint alliance attacks. Solo attacks are better anyhow as:
  • The Mother Dragon negative wrath effect for alliances is too punishing.
  • It is a lot less hassle.

The only reason I see for a joint alliance attack is to preserve a feeling of team. We have done several attacks as a full alliance but it has taken its toll, and few of us have the time to spare any more.

As for new epics/plans/unit upgrades, my luck has not been good, and there has not been anything new gotten. This is in spite of me having several armies out there farming. I have not bid big in the auction house as I have used most of my money for research/unit retraining.

  • 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"