Originally Posted by rdonj (Post 704568)

Gem generators, even aside from being unfun, are micromanagement hell. You have to have hundreds of commanders running around with gem gen items on them, and in the case of fever fetishes they'll eventually die. So you need to pass the fetishes off before that happens. Which means you need more than a constant rate of commander growth, eventually it will balloon preposterously. Gem generators are also too much of a strategy in and of themselves. If you just make enough more of them than anyone else, eventually your gem income will be so high that no one can affect you and your territories are more or less meaningless. Ask micah :)

Originally Posted by melnorjr (Post 704385)

I'm hoping to encounter things I hadn't considered, to learn more options for my own play. I'm a strange type. Ever profiled yourself on your gamer-type? there's social gamers, achievers(many in this game are probably here), killers, etc.

I'm an explorer. To me the fun in a game is doing something I haven't done yet. Going somewhere I haven't been. I deliberately play games without looking at guides, or (in the case of dungeons in WoW or some such) fight bosses and things without already knowing how to beat them, because the most fun part is figuring it out. The fun for me is not in the having won, its in the winning. When I have learned the be all end all I-win-button in a game, I use it once, and quit playing.

From what I hear and from what I've seen however, there is no such button here.

From what I've seen however, and no negativity intended, is that what seems to define a vet is not ingenuity, or cleverness, but experience. That's a bit of a tautology of course, but what I mean to say is that among the things that define a vet are simply knowing the probably course of action of a person in a given situation, knowing tricky little mechanics that noobs don't know yet, and simply knowing how troops tend to match up - noobs tend to go overkill when attacking something, or underestimate and not fight hard enough. The vet has seen enough battles to know the right amount of force needed to do each action.

And again, no insult intended, but I haven't run into somebody beating me with what appears to be a superior cleverness or ingenuity, but generally with experience, luck, or situational advantage.

Originally Posted by atul (Post 704585)

TwoBits: Hi, missed me? :)

Originally Posted by melnorjr (Post 704591)

I certainly did. I mean, I start fighting you, build an army to try and counter yours, and you run away and leave Marignon's angel to mess with me!

Originally Posted by melnorjr (Post 704591)

Now I've got an army raiding your lands and he can't even find a single opponent!

Originally Posted by atul (Post 704585)

TwoBits: Hi, missed me? :)

Originally Posted by rdonj (Post 704581)

Two or more members of the noob team seem to be about to be absent at the same time, and I'm not sure we'll be able to find subs for everyone. I think it may be best to institute a delay until everyone returns. We'll cross that bridge when we get there, but here's the heads up.