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Rill View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Topic: NPC Attacks
    Posted: 03 Jan 2012 at 01:40
There are those who say they have developed remarkably efficient methods for attacking NPCs.  I am starting this thread so they can show off their prowess and awe the rest of us.
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Createure View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Jan 2012 at 02:45
If I had secret methods for killing NPCs I probably wouldn't share them all with the general public and lose my edge.

Then again, I have no secret method... so bring on the wisdom! ^^
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Jan 2012 at 06:22
i usally use 100 units of any kind to do my NPC attacking. i never attack anything larger than my army (like hordes and legions). 100 units are easy to replace if killed, and i find it easier to keep track of the EXP my commander get. its not as effective as other methods of going about it, but it works for me.
In short, i keep it simple. low amounts for weak NPCs
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Rill View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Jan 2012 at 06:24
Originally posted by Createure Createure wrote:

If I had secret methods for killing NPCs I probably wouldn't share them all with the general public and lose my edge.

Then again, I have no secret method... so bring on the wisdom! ^^

C'mon Createure, where's your community spirit?  It's us against the wolves, wild dogs, scuttlers, scritchers, giant rats, etc.

Do you really want to live in a world dominated by enormous fleas and cockroaches?

Wink
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Jan 2012 at 08:59
Hehe, I don't mind sharing an edge myself. I am the only one obsessive enough to carry these out to extremes anyway. As Createure said, there is a grinding part involved :)

Allright, I'll point out things that are true, but I won't prove them here. I do have the mathematical proofs, but if I posted them, noone would even read my text wall and I would get complaints about people hating math and feeling like they're back in school. I can put those in a proper guide another time

1) Production: Production time is attack time. You can make over 100 troops per city per day. The more you produce, the more points you will earn. If you can't produce nonstop, it probably means your standing army is too large.

2) Choice of units: T1 cavalry makes the cheapest units to produce, but with T2 you can get more points out of your production time, only do this when you can afford it

3) Choice of commander: Heroism is everything, but the bonus is dependent on base attack. T2 cavalry have the highest base attack. This value actually *lowers* your troop casualties, so T2 cavalry is the way to go. I use one T1 commander so I have the option of speed if I ever needed to (future tournaments? War? etc.). Also give them charge and forced march of course...

4) Many commanders: The more commanders you use in one army, the lower your casualties will be. One commander with heroism potentially cuts your casualties in half, 5 commanders will cut them in six. This is true up to a certain army size. After 60 troops or so, the casualty-reduction effect will lessen, which means you will be attacking less efficiently. It doesn't matter which division the troops are in, as long as they have the charge bonus.

5) Size of hits: As said above, small hits are preferable, but not realistic. You won't have the time to make hits on gatherings and lower. 100 troops a day means you can kill 1000 or more. If you try to do that with gatherings, you will not have enough time to travel, let alone RL time to spot the targets and send the troops at the right time. For this reason I hunt throngs, hosts and legions.

6) Type of terrain: Plains obviously. People know this. What most people don't know is that if you by accident attack a building with cavalry, your casualties will be increased by as much has 150% (so 2,5 times as much). Terrain is a big factor. Spearmen will get a penalty on plains (15%), so attack spears on plains preferably. You might think this is silly, with cavalry and all, but NPC monsters don't really have varying defenses. Only camp humanoids NPCs do.

7) Type of target: Wild dogs are best, but in a way they aren't. Ever seen a wild dog legion? I don't think they exist. I only find them in horde or lower, which means you can never spend all your troops on them. The next best thing is giant rats, with wolves coming FAR behind. Wolves suck, actually! So... rats. Rats are actually fully spearman, so attacking them on plains is good.

8) Scouting: Scout your targets. Oversending increases casualties when sending more than 60 troops or so. You can lose most of your commander casualty-reduction bonuses by sending 20k cavalry against a host of rats. Seriously, people lose 3x more troops than they need to, doing hits like that. Use a calculator to figure out exactly how much to send (example below).

9) Search grid: Just randomly dragging the map around means you cover the same spot many times. Make a list of coordinates sorted by distance from your cities. These coordinates are the centers of max zoomed maps that don't overlap. Make sure the settings are right so you can spot rats or at least can click on NPCs to see what they are.

10) Target locking: If you send troops, an NPC will not despawn. Even better, if you send a single scout, they won't either! Want to keep a legion of rats around for a rainy day? You can, with a scout. This is doable with targets of about 100 sq distant. Long travel times with scouts help you there. Even easier is if you have a remote town that doesnt attack and gives 100 hr travel times or more. That will really lock in the legion good. 

Below is an example of a hit with only two commanders (still training the others)on a legion of rats. Mind you, the efficiency is lowered due to the size of the hit. I could get better ratios on a host and especially on a throng (you can kill a throng with less than 60 so it wont get any better after that). See how I calculated it so one guy survived? It can't get any more efficient than that. If I had sent more guys, more also would have died. 

By the way, the report is formatted by the Tally board made by Eaque. It's not for me to share the link to it, so I just copy paste it.

Report #6032 : Innoble VS NPCs

Date 27/12/2011 03:04:21
Location 635|-531
Terrain combat type Plains
Terrain specific type Stone Circle
Stratagem Attacking

(Defender)

Army :
Division :
Type Quantity Casualties Survivors
Troops Ratlings 965 965 0
Troops Rats 1791 1791 0
Troops Diseased Rats 955 955 0
Troops Elder Bucks 637 637 0

Innoble (Attacker)

Army : Andromeda Cavalry
Division : light cavalry
Type Quantity Casualties Survivors
Commander Light Cavalry Commander 150 health 99 damage 1
Division : heavy cavalry
Type Quantity Casualties Survivors
Commander Heavy Cavalry Commander 200 health 99 damage 1
Troops Charioteers 496 495 1



Edited by Innoble - 03 Jan 2012 at 09:11
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Jan 2012 at 15:33
It is a solid guide - I applaud you - many new players, and alot of old players would do well to read it.

The 60 troop per commander thing is quite easily explained without any complicated math though - basically once a commander has maxed heroism, their total attack is equivalent to ~60 troops of the same type, so hitting a target at this 60:1 ratio means that the commander is effectively doubling the total power of the army, and hence halving the losses... if you use 120 troops, the commander only decreases losses by a third... if it is an infinite number of troops, the commander has no effect at all (through heroism)... this is why small armies = better ratios.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Jan 2012 at 16:12
Thanks and you're right, that is exactly how it works.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Jan 2012 at 18:35
Great Work!
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Jan 2012 at 18:52
very clear and useful guide innoble. I'll keep this link stored somewhere for new players.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Jan 2012 at 20:35
Thanks Innoble!
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