What’s the sum in this game?

Anybody who plays three MMORPG games should be declared brain dead.

Playing Tribal Wars I learned about Spies, damn spies, and leadership. It is basically a zero-sum game. That’s how it’s set up.

If the total gains of the participants are added up, and the total losses are subtracted, they will sum to zero. Zero-sum can be thought of more generally as constant sum where the benefits and losses to all players sum to the same value of money and pride and dignity. Cutting a cake is zero- or constant-sum, because taking a larger piece reduces the amount of cake available for others. In contrast, non-zero-sum describes a situation in which the interacting parties’ aggregate gains and losses is either less than or more than zero. Zero sum games are also called strictly competitive.

And in a finite world, there is not much room for jumping in the middle of nowhere, unless allies determine to conquer a world together, and truly mean it. And how will two (or more) allies know such truths of one another? Experience on several Tribal Wars worlds have taught us about betrayal, not of success. Mergers work, but are frowned on by other tribes, individual players get dumped (the problem has moved to within the two tribes merging), and the problem repeats itself until the world is closed off for the final battles.

Two dukes are retiring, and I am jumping out. Am waiting for replies from two tribe members that will continue to play and will take over my villages. I wish them all the best. I am going to play a non-zero-sum game for a bit, Guild Wars. My second MMORPG game, if only because I am not brain dead yet!

1. April 27, 2009 at 2:05 pm scorpyon Says:

   it’s sad that you left TW.
   you are a good player and because, in time, we forget, i put a village with you name 🙂

2. April 27, 2009 at 2:41 pm Nynke Etk Fokma Says:

   Awwwwww. Scorpyon, you’ve made me the stuff of legends … Thx! (rofl)

3. April 28, 2009 at 8:51 am scorpyon Says:

   and another player that considet you a legend:
   brett golding on 26.04. Village: Wah is a legend! (572|635) K65
   we miss you. if you remain with us you will be in EvoKe also, with the remaining team 🙂

4. April 28, 2009 at 1:19 pm Nynke Etk Fokma Says:

   Scorpyon, I can only maintain what I can sustain, and RL is demanding some more time and energy from me at the moment, making it impossible for me to go online as often as is necessary to actually be that good player I can be. If and when later, like in 3 months or so, you guys are starting on a new world, please count me in (let me know)?

   I miss you guys too. You guys are so much fun to play with! But for now I will have to be with my TW kin as a legend, so you won’t forget to signal me for a new world in some future? I’ll hold until we get called by Heimdallr’s Horn to the rainbow bridge.

   By the way, being a legend for a bit is quite kewl, thank Brett from me too will you? And will you also tell him I am being offered the very best food and mead in the blot and sumbel at Odin’s table, and apparently, that brave men are also on the menu here …;)

   Wah?

5. April 29, 2009 at 6:50 am scorpyon Says:

   i start to co-play my account with oddprojectx. i don’t have enough time to play so it’s really good to get some help.
   and don’t worry, if we join another world later i will tell you.
   it would be nice to have you with us 🙂
   until then good luck in RL Wah.
   scorpy.

6. April 30, 2009 at 9:22 am Nynke Etk Fokma Says:

   Thank ye scorpyon. If in world 33 ye guys (th’ remainin’ crew) need someone (on ocassion) t’ sit an account fer a vacation (an’ I be havin’ time) jus’ let me know, arrr? … good luck t’ y`all in w33! Ya lily livered bilge rats!

Spies, damn spies, and leadership

On world 9 on the Dutch servers my entire tribe went through the christmas-and-new-years-attack-stop period – in that period you cannot attack any villages. If you do your troops come home absolutely shit-faced, with mistletoe branches in their hair and a biiiig smile on their faces, because they merely went for a visit, and it’s party time! – knowing we would attack one of our allies 10 days after the break. We were all building troops like crazy, and developing a sound attack plan.

In that case our allies had given us enough reason, harboring a fugitive we were attacking. Of course, any reason would have been enough, because the goal of the Tribal Wars game is to dominate the entire world we’re playing in. All tribes discuss matters and investigate “What if … we would noble our allies?” at some point in time.

Farting, A Classic Pitfall

Any tribe consists of individual players that each have there own skewing, either towards playing more offensively or more defensively. All are required to make it work. And a tribe as a whole may be more skewed towards offensive play.

In which case, an early war might be the result, especially if there is another offensively playing tribe. And usually there are several.

Building clusters

Realizing that clustering is a key to success, how exactly do I build offensive and defensive villages?

I can only share some general reasoning, because this is highly dependent on personal preferences, world drivers and boundary conditions, and state of tribe and enemy.

Feel free to shop in these ways, or be inspired by it to build yours totally different. 🙂

Clustering, a key to success

Except for early in the game, smaller than full clears don’t make a dent in a package of soft butter. When building an attack village, make it only that. Arrange for defense by building clusters: For each attack vill you need 3 defense villages. With two attack villages you need 5 defense and 1 scouting/defense village.