ran across this post I made in 2009 - several versions earlier... some really still apply. Back then I finished in the first page of both individual and alliance rankings, several times in the top 10.... started playing a few months ago (second era in same realm), since then the game has been upgraded, and whole number of thingys have been improved...
Things I Learned While Playing IO[/u]
Here is a short list of things that stuck out in my mind when I played Imperia Online during this era. I was not the best of generals, but I sure had fun. Of course, all strategies are not equal, but again, I had fun…
1. Never, leave your army at home when you will be offline for more than an hour or so during peacetime. Is there ever any peacetime anyway?
2. Never leave your army at home during wartime – ever – why give up 270 points when 64 or less and 5 gold keeps them on their toes?
3. Make sure you have a good fortification strength AND military architecture if you are garrisoning Archers – it makes the opponent send large numbers in siege mode. hard
4. Build Iron mines as high level as possible, you will always have a way out if they are producing
5. Build only required levels of lumber mills and stone quarries that meet the needs of higher construction researches
6. Box your provinces as quickly as possible – preferably Mountains with Forests
7. Build up your fortification research as quickly as possible
8. Build your outposts as quickly as possible
9. Build up your depots as quickly as possible, get all provinces to the same level, this helps when you have to move when under attack.
10. Have a couple of very close in distance neighbors as members of your alliance – helps when coordinating attacks
11. Your “main province” is where your army is housed – no need to produce iron, wood, or stone in this province
12. keep that province empty of resources when army is away
13. If returning army doesn’t bring back enough money to feed and pay for their upkeep – Off with their heads! The buggers are lousy fighters and should be sacked! – Seriously though, if your other provinces don’t have the resources to support their return, you need to disband a few troops to keep from being caught in negative gold balance
14. It is cool to time out the attacks, moving armies, and returning for defensive battles
15. USE the calculators, many a battle has been lost when relying on bad intelligence.
16. Have a number of alliances with signed and maintained Peace Treaties
17. Have a member of your alliance with much higher spy levels who is willing to be busy with requests for reports
18. It is fun to have high level spies *Lips Sealed*
19. Send multiple spies to enemies when you suspect that their outpost to spy level “gap” is small, there is a chance that one gets through the defenses
20. Be in an alliance that wants to build up its alliance researches – that helps in wartime
21. Alliances with more than ten players become unmanageable for most people over large expanses of time
22. If you are in a large alliance, be careful, some egomaniacs get intel on you and reuse it in another alliance
23. Beware the Alliance Hopper!
24. I won’t suggest sharing login and password word info with your alliance leaders… *wink*
25. Use the pillage tactic sparingly… it takes a while to rebuild your honor points
26. You usually have plenty of time when under attack to take a breath, move resources, and turnaround your army. That being said, timing is everything – sometimes it is just dumb luck. I was subject to the wave attack, the 12-minute pillage, million-man marches, even had one attack where they sent 2600 trebs, and they lost the field battle
27. it is ok to get excited at suppertime when you have a chance to win a defensive battle – although your household will probably banish you from the computer for a few hours afterward
28. Laptops with aircards and any wireless connection you can get is helpful.
[[EDIT] what,what...new technology, dude[/color]
29. Don’t take the game seriously – it is a game and no real lives were lost, unless of course you beat your spouse/significant other/teenage children who are whining to get on Facebook or do something lame like homework, due to the constant nagging to “get off the game”…
30. No matter how smart you think you are, sh** happens: your alarm clock fails to wake you up when you know your army is returning; there is always someone smarter than you; your wife wants you to open a bottle of wine 3 minutes before a massive attack hits; the dog decides to sniff everything on your walk around the block and someone sends a pillage against you; you hit the snooze button one too many times; traffic lights suddenly all go to red on every block when returning home from an outing; sleep, work, and vacations interfere with war plans; sports related endeavors go to extra time; “army arrived” glitch always hits when your armies are returning with huge amounts of treasure; someone is always better, and it is not considered cheating when you get your a** kicked by multiple attacks/attackers; your ISP doesn’t work during hurricanes/snowstorms-of-the-century/flash floods/tsunamis (damn technology, infrastructure flaw - - *Embarrassed*); mother-in-laws don’t wait for dinner or rides from the airport;
31. 700 honor points is a magic number, you get extra morale bonus points and it is difficult to battle enemies with over 140 morale – unless of course you are there as well. You have to be really smart ( see #30 above)
32. READ the manual,
33. READ the Forum – thoroughly
34. Asking dumb questions in the Forum will result in you having to read the Manual again, and again wall
35. Starbuck is the best moderator, he doesn’t make you feel like an idiot, but he does get frustrated when you press along a dumb line of questions
36. Did I say read the forum?
37. The Public Chat is worthless – unless you like playing with emoticons
38. Read the Forum before you ask questions, chances are you aren’t the only one with the same question
39. When an ally declares war on an enemy, support their effort by also declaring war - - be careful about when that war is against an ally
40. You need to get at least to 10 provinces, 9 if you are a really smart player (see #30 above)
41. Premium players (those who pay for credits) are likely era survivors
42. Don’t change the color on your screen nick because you stick out like a sore thumb, and sore thumbs always draw the attention of hammers
43. Use premium production credits before you hire workers
44. IO proves that there is a use for algebra (for all you cynical teenagers out there)
45. Alliances do share battle reports regardless of the rules forbidding it
46. Leader, First Officer, and Diplomat can see all alliance battles regardless of wartime
47. Leader, First Officer can also see where you are going/returning which is helpful in attack coordination
48. MSN messenger, and Skype are good tools to use
49. Diplomat gets 4 honor points per day, it is good to be a statesman – it helps when you need intel and you have already made friends
50. Always report via alliance “mass message” when being attacked during war if you are online during the attack, helps if you can get a buddy to run a pillage against the person who is attacking you – sometimes they chicken out of the attack to go possibly win a defensive battle
51. Support your alliance buddies, attack if the leader says to...
52. Going to ATM/Goldmine/Abandoned provinces is ok – don’t feel bad if you do that to feed your troops
53. lots of people give up at stages in the era – major holidays in their countries, personal vacations, etc. there are always goldmines to be found.
54. You don’t need to taunt an enemy – it’ll just get you banned from sending messages or worse
*banned*
55. Learn Bulgarian or Polish, or Russian, it helps to know what a lot of these guys are saying, however, you can always tell when someone is ticked off after an attack - - regardless of the language rant
56. yes there are cheaters out there, deal with it – and quietly report to the admins if you suspect it - - don’t broadcast it in the Chat or Forums *OldMan*
57. Keep your head down most of the time, if you aren’t a jerk, you will have a good time playing
58. Survival is 50% of this game’s objective, if you make it to the end of the era of the realm, you are to be congratulated. hooray
59. Yes, 1000 point honor battles have occurred… (see IV22 battle reports)
60. No, you don’t have to become a Nolifer to enjoy the game, but it frustrates opponents when you pop up in the middle of the night (wherever that may be for you locally)
61. At the end of the era, you find yourself with tons of money and no way to spend it
62. Final official rankings go by military points – although you can be a GREAT farmer…if you want to be…
63. Low Pointers, hmm, too much work for me…
64. Have fun, it is a game…. *beer*
« Last Edit: June 09, 2009, 18:16:25 PM by Godric »
