Tips and Tricks in War Written by Marquis George Good Vassals Don't go to war mode with special vassals and friends. Gift them to someone you trust who is in peace mode who will return them when you're back in peace mode yourself. Then this becomes just a game and it's not so personal and it's less traumatic in war mode when you lose vassals. If your good vassals are active and not in war mode you can even release them and they can swear loyalty to a friend temporarily. Don't release active vassals who are in war mode as they can be conquered. Anyone who is sovereign in war mode can be conquered. High Powered Vassals Don't go to war unbalanced with high powered vassals, for example a dozen 20s and a 70. Knighthood is a numbers game and a good TAS/defence ratio is vital. If you can attack with 3 knights and ladies and you have all 20 powered vassals, your TAS is 60 (3 x 20). If you have size 6 defences at level 4 filled with power 20 vassals your defence is 6 x 20 plus 20% of 120 which is 120 + 24 = 144, which is well over two times your TAS. That is superb defences. If you have a single power 70 your TAS is now 110 (70 + 20 + 20) and your defences, although still staffed with the same vassals, have been reduced to just over your TAS, which is absolutely awful and folks will have no problems getting through. In addition to that, the higher TAS will rocket you up into a higher Attack Bracket with other players with a TAS of 110 and you will find most of them could have 3 attackers of over 30 power each! Another major disadvantage will be losing pages of targets you could otherwise attack. High powered vassals are excellent in peace mode for building but having just one in war mode is a complete hindrance. Leave them with your Liege or with a friend or anyone else who is in peace mode who will look after your vassals for you. Not only will you stand a better chance in war but your friend will also benefit from the deal and they will no doubt return the favour when they go to war. Playing with others in War Mode Being a social game, Knighthood is best played with friends. This is particularly true in war mode. Without support in war mode it’s a bit like driving in a strange country without a road map and having to stop and ask directions from folks who don’t speak your language. Here are just a few benefits of having good communications (comms) in war mode. You can pass gold and weapons to each other when under pressure. If for example someone attacks you and you have loads of gold and you have a mate online, you can send the surplus gold your tower won’t protect to the other person and when the attack is over they can send it back. Or if you run out of gold, they can send you some to heal up. If you’re on your way back to peace mode and someone puts a good vassal in your trapper (or you can’t resist and seize a good vassal) and you have a friend in your Attack Bracket, they can seize the vassal from you and babysit it for three days and then gift it to you when the timer runs out. If your alarm is low, friends in your AB can help you out with alarm boosts. With good comms you can let each other know when you’re both ready, then place a single unprotected vassal in your palisade (not your watchtower as that's where most people attack to test for trappers). After seizing it, the other player then releases the vassal but you don’t reclaim it until your alarm is safe or you start raiding and seizing again. You can even help out by passing squirrels for trapper bombing to each other if one of you is short of them. Before gathering your armies find out who else in your alliance is at war and say hello and introduce yourself. If you’re already at war and see someone in your alliance heading into war, introduce yourself and say hello. Knighthood is a social game and the highest rewards go to those who play as part of a team and work together. Add folks to your Facebook friends and you can have real time comms using the Facebook chat utility, which can be a real life saver, or use Skype. There are many other benefits too, and, of course, it’s much more fun!The Tower Your tower will protect 20 times its defence value in gold. In the following illustration (seen from the Capital Page) this Tower has a defence of 238. This is made up of adding all the vassals in the Tower together and adding 25% (because the Tower had been upgraded to level 5). Multiply that figure by 20 and this Tower will protect 4760 gold. This means that if you have 4760 gold and someone successfully raids you they will raid 0 gold. If you have 5000 gold they will raid approximately 10% of 240 which is 24 gold. If you have 20,000 gold they will raid approximately 10% of 15,240 which is 1524 gold. Alarm does not protect your gold so when you're not around don't leave too much gold lying around other than that which your Tower can protect. Finding Gold in an Emergency Playing together with others in war mode is the best way to ensure you have a little gold when you need it. But sometimes that's just not enough. Another good way to find gold in a hurry is to sell a power 20 vassal at market. If you sell a power 20 vassal you could then send most of the gold to a friend in peace or to your Liege if they are in peace mode and use the rest of the gold to play. When you get back to peace mode your friend or your Liege will return your gold and you can then use it to buy another power 20 vassal! If you shop around the market you can actually make a profit with this method. This is an economically sound way of funding your war effort without losing vassals. Another way of finding gold is to raid people who have high alarms and who don't show any activity for a long time. You won't be able to seize a vassal from them but you can raid them as normal as alarm does not protect their gold. Chances are they have good vassals in their marketplace and they may just have a good reserve built up you can plunder. Yet another way is to buy credits. It's an idea to always have a few thousand credits around for emergencies. If you find yourself under attack from 2 or more people at the same time and your gold runs out and you're in danger of losing vassals and there is no one around to get help from, with one click of a button you can buy 5000 gold for 1000 credits. This is an emergency measure but it's nice to know that reserve is there should you need it. Rescuing Vassals from Opponents in your Attack Bracket If you are going to attempt a rescue from someone who is in your Attack Bracket, you can make things easier for yourself by first wearing down their defences by trapper bombing (or straight raiding if they don't have an active trapper). If you can rescue a squirrel from a defence you can rescue your vassal if it's in that defence! Bear in mind of course that they may have assigned blockhouse protection to your vassal and shoved it in the Tower which would make things a little more difficult. Raid their watchtower, wall and palisade, losing squirrels to their trapper if it is active, and attempt rescues of the squirrels from the wall and palisade after wearing down their watchtower. Keep rescuing from their wall and palisade until you get the message your vassal isn't there. For example, rescue a squirrel 8 times from the wall and then rescue it from the watchtower then raid the wall again and rescue from the wall until you get the message your vassal isn't there. Then you know you can attempt a rescue from that defence column. Similarly with the palisade. If you want to be sure, raid and pillage their defences a few times to make sure their defences are down. Once all three defences are down go for your rescue from the main rescue screen. Try not to get attached to vassals; go for your rescue and if you get them back great, if not, move on. If you have special vassals you really don't want to lose, leave them with a friend in peace mode for safe keeping before going to war. Building Strategy to make it to Viscount and Beyond When first going to war as a knight or lady with just a few vassals, a size 6 wall, watchtower and palisade, as well as a size 5 tower is probably sufficient to get you to Baron. To fill these will require 23 knights and ladies and if they are all power 20 that will take you up to just over power 60. While seizing and otherwise acquiring vassals at this level you will only have 3 attackers. If all your vassals are power 20s, your TAS will be 60 and if your defences are all expanded to size 6 and upgraded to level 4 your defences will be 144, over twice your TAS, which is not too bad at this level. However, once you hit 60 you will be promoted to Baron or Baroness and your power will increase immediately by 10 taking you up to power 70. Additionally you will now have an extra attacker which will affect your TAS/defence ratios. With 4 attackers your TAS will now be 80 so your 144 defences have just dropped in value. So what can you do? You can wait out the timers and head back to peace mode to build your defences to size 8 but there is an easier way. To build size 8 defences you could sell power 20 vassals. Why not sell a few vassals and use the gold to immediately expand your Wall, Watchtower and Palisade to size 8? There may even be enough gold left over to expand your trapper or tower. At size 8/5, your defences filled with 20s would now be 200, which is superb for a TAS of 80 at this level. Worth selling a few vassals for? Perhaps! It would take you days to build size 8 defences in peace mode with only power 20 vassals in your Castle. If you did sell 3 or 4 vassals at power 20, you would only drop back down 8 power at most so you wouldn't lose much and you would now have size 8 defences, which are strong enough to take you to Viscount or Viscountess. Once you progress past Baron or Baroness you will also require a size 7 trapper, outpost and tower. Once your main defences are filled, get your tower and trapper filled, then you can start filling other buildings like your hospital. Generally speaking, size 6/4 defences and 5/4 tower and trapper will get you to Baron/ess, size 8/5 defences, size 7 trapper and tower and outpost will get you to Viscount/ess, size 9/7 defences and size 8 trapper, tower and outpost will get you to Count, assuming you keep a balanced kingdom of vassals. If you become unbalanced and your defences drop below 2 x your TAS, you are heading into trouble. Seizing and selling to expand your defences is excellent war strategy for getting to Viscount and beyond. There comes a point where selling to build becomes counter productive but you'll know when you reach that stage. After all, the game is about vassals, not gold. Back to Top
Tips and Tricks in War Written by Marquis George
Good Vassals
Don't go to war mode with special vassals and friends. Gift them to someone you trust who is in peace mode who will return them when you're back in peace mode yourself. Then this becomes just a game and it's not so personal and it's less traumatic in war mode when you lose vassals. If your good vassals are active and not in war mode you can even release them and they can swear loyalty to a friend temporarily. Don't release active vassals who are in war mode as they can be conquered. Anyone who is sovereign in war mode can be conquered.
High Powered Vassals
Don't go to war unbalanced with high powered vassals, for example a dozen 20s and a 70. Knighthood is a numbers game and a good TAS/defence ratio is vital. If you can attack with 3 knights and ladies and you have all 20 powered vassals, your TAS is 60 (3 x 20). If you have size 6 defences at level 4 filled with power 20 vassals your defence is 6 x 20 plus 20% of 120 which is 120 + 24 = 144, which is well over two times your TAS. That is superb defences. If you have a single power 70 your TAS is now 110 (70 + 20 + 20) and your defences, although still staffed with the same vassals, have been reduced to just over your TAS, which is absolutely awful and folks will have no problems getting through.
In addition to that, the higher TAS will rocket you up into a higher Attack Bracket with other players with a TAS of 110 and you will find most of them could have 3 attackers of over 30 power each! Another major disadvantage will be losing pages of targets you could otherwise attack. High powered vassals are excellent in peace mode for building but having just one in war mode is a complete hindrance. Leave them with your Liege or with a friend or anyone else who is in peace mode who will look after your vassals for you. Not only will you stand a better chance in war but your friend will also benefit from the deal and they will no doubt return the favour when they go to war.
Playing with others in War Mode
Being a social game, Knighthood is best played with friends. This is particularly true in war mode. Without support in war mode it’s a bit like driving in a strange country without a road map and having to stop and ask directions from folks who don’t speak your language. Here are just a few benefits of having good communications (comms) in war mode.
You can pass gold and weapons to each other when under pressure. If for example someone attacks you and you have loads of gold and you have a mate online, you can send the surplus gold your tower won’t protect to the other person and when the attack is over they can send it back. Or if you run out of gold, they can send you some to heal up.
If you’re on your way back to peace mode and someone puts a good vassal in your trapper (or you can’t resist and seize a good vassal) and you have a friend in your Attack Bracket, they can seize the vassal from you and babysit it for three days and then gift it to you when the timer runs out.
If your alarm is low, friends in your AB can help you out with alarm boosts. With good comms you can let each other know when you’re both ready, then place a single unprotected vassal in your palisade (not your watchtower as that's where most people attack to test for trappers). After seizing it, the other player then releases the vassal but you don’t reclaim it until your alarm is safe or you start raiding and seizing again. You can even help out by passing squirrels for trapper bombing to each other if one of you is short of them.
Before gathering your armies find out who else in your alliance is at war and say hello and introduce yourself. If you’re already at war and see someone in your alliance heading into war, introduce yourself and say hello. Knighthood is a social game and the highest rewards go to those who play as part of a team and work together.
The Tower
Your tower will protect 20 times its defence value in gold. In the following illustration (seen from the Capital Page) this Tower has a defence of 238. This is made up of adding all the vassals in the Tower together and adding 25% (because the Tower had been upgraded to level 5). Multiply that figure by 20 and this Tower will protect 4760 gold.
This means that if you have 4760 gold and someone successfully raids you they will raid 0 gold. If you have 5000 gold they will raid approximately 10% of 240 which is 24 gold. If you have 20,000 gold they will raid approximately 10% of 15,240 which is 1524 gold. Alarm does not protect your gold so when you're not around don't leave too much gold lying around other than that which your Tower can protect.
Finding Gold in an Emergency
Playing together with others in war mode is the best way to ensure you have a little gold when you need it. But sometimes that's just not enough.
Another good way to find gold in a hurry is to sell a power 20 vassal at market. If you sell a power 20 vassal you could then send most of the gold to a friend in peace or to your Liege if they are in peace mode and use the rest of the gold to play. When you get back to peace mode your friend or your Liege will return your gold and you can then use it to buy another power 20 vassal! If you shop around the market you can actually make a profit with this method. This is an economically sound way of funding your war effort without losing vassals.
Another way of finding gold is to raid people who have high alarms and who don't show any activity for a long time. You won't be able to seize a vassal from them but you can raid them as normal as alarm does not protect their gold. Chances are they have good vassals in their marketplace and they may just have a good reserve built up you can plunder.
Yet another way is to buy credits. It's an idea to always have a few thousand credits around for emergencies. If you find yourself under attack from 2 or more people at the same time and your gold runs out and you're in danger of losing vassals and there is no one around to get help from, with one click of a button you can buy 5000 gold for 1000 credits. This is an emergency measure but it's nice to know that reserve is there should you need it.
Rescuing Vassals from Opponents in your Attack Bracket
If you are going to attempt a rescue from someone who is in your Attack Bracket, you can make things easier for yourself by first wearing down their defences by trapper bombing (or straight raiding if they don't have an active trapper). If you can rescue a squirrel from a defence you can rescue your vassal if it's in that defence! Bear in mind of course that they may have assigned blockhouse protection to your vassal and shoved it in the Tower which would make things a little more difficult.
Raid their watchtower, wall and palisade, losing squirrels to their trapper if it is active, and attempt rescues of the squirrels from the wall and palisade after wearing down their watchtower. Keep rescuing from their wall and palisade until you get the message your vassal isn't there. For example, rescue a squirrel 8 times from the wall and then rescue it from the watchtower then raid the wall again and rescue from the wall until you get the message your vassal isn't there. Then you know you can attempt a rescue from that defence column. Similarly with the palisade. If you want to be sure, raid and pillage their defences a few times to make sure their defences are down. Once all three defences are down go for your rescue from the main rescue screen.
Try not to get attached to vassals; go for your rescue and if you get them back great, if not, move on. If you have special vassals you really don't want to lose, leave them with a friend in peace mode for safe keeping before going to war.
Building Strategy to make it to Viscount and Beyond
When first going to war as a knight or lady with just a few vassals, a size 6 wall, watchtower and palisade, as well as a size 5 tower is probably sufficient to get you to Baron. To fill these will require 23 knights and ladies and if they are all power 20 that will take you up to just over power 60. While seizing and otherwise acquiring vassals at this level you will only have 3 attackers. If all your vassals are power 20s, your TAS will be 60 and if your defences are all expanded to size 6 and upgraded to level 4 your defences will be 144, over twice your TAS, which is not too bad at this level. However, once you hit 60 you will be promoted to Baron or Baroness and your power will increase immediately by 10 taking you up to power 70. Additionally you will now have an extra attacker which will affect your TAS/defence ratios. With 4 attackers your TAS will now be 80 so your 144 defences have just dropped in value. So what can you do? You can wait out the timers and head back to peace mode to build your defences to size 8 but there is an easier way. To build size 8 defences you could sell power 20 vassals. Why not sell a few vassals and use the gold to immediately expand your Wall, Watchtower and Palisade to size 8? There may even be enough gold left over to expand your trapper or tower. At size 8/5, your defences filled with 20s would now be 200, which is superb for a TAS of 80 at this level. Worth selling a few vassals for? Perhaps! It would take you days to build size 8 defences in peace mode with only power 20 vassals in your Castle. If you did sell 3 or 4 vassals at power 20, you would only drop back down 8 power at most so you wouldn't lose much and you would now have size 8 defences, which are strong enough to take you to Viscount or Viscountess. Once you progress past Baron or Baroness you will also require a size 7 trapper, outpost and tower. Once your main defences are filled, get your tower and trapper filled, then you can start filling other buildings like your hospital. Generally speaking, size 6/4 defences and 5/4 tower and trapper will get you to Baron/ess, size 8/5 defences, size 7 trapper and tower and outpost will get you to Viscount/ess, size 9/7 defences and size 8 trapper, tower and outpost will get you to Count, assuming you keep a balanced kingdom of vassals. If you become unbalanced and your defences drop below 2 x your TAS, you are heading into trouble. Seizing and selling to expand your defences is excellent war strategy for getting to Viscount and beyond. There comes a point where selling to build becomes counter productive but you'll know when you reach that stage. After all, the game is about vassals, not gold.
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