Falcons Eye

Pre-intro -> Terminology -> Intro

 
99.9% of this text is Great Tips and Help on FE Play. You will Understand
when you begin to read. Remember that Combat Alley plays a Very High
Structured Playing Style, thus this was Very Important for me to Write for
new Players who come here. It will help you out ALOT If You aren't the #1
Top player.
 
If you Find it hard, Don't worry, I will Help you, you will get used to
it after a bit. Combat Alley is very Effective for this reason. and I'm
Not an Ass, If you Ask me a Question, I will Answer you..
I Merely Want To Make Sure Everyone is on the Ball Without Confusion.
 
Please Don't be afraid to make mistakes every now and then, we are only
humans.
 
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  Terminology/Abbreviations
 
 GA(s) -----------> Group Attack(s)
 Indie(s) --------> Individual Attack(s)
 Kill Run --------> To Kill a Player Or BBS in one shot (DEATH)
 The Player(s) will Have to start ALL over again.
 NW --------------> Net Worth
 k (ex, 450k) ----> k=Thousands (450k = 450 000)
 Money Makers ----> Alchemists/Merchants
 TT(s) -----------> Travel Time(s)
 
-------
 A Unit & B Unit & C Unit (Self Explanatory):
 -----------[Military Training]------------
 Key Name Cost (Weapons) Owned
 (A) Peasants 4 600 - A Unit
 (B) Bull Riders 16 500 - B Unit
 (C) Minotaur Knights 18 25 - C Unit
 (.) Remove Military
 (*) Unit Information
 (0) Quit
 ------------------------------------------
 
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 Intro
 If you Want to be a Top Player, you have to put your Heart into the game.
 This isn't a friendly Game of Cards. This is a Medieval War Game, and you
 are Playing to REPRESENT ->Combat Alley<- World-Wide; not just yourself.
 
 This Tips/Help File will help improve your playing, and eventually, once
 you get the hang of our style of play, you will become a top player. But
 you have to put your Heart into it, and you must have SELF-DICIPLINE. You
 don't Need to Follow Exactly What this help says, but you MUST follow the
 Combat Alley Rules To The Letter!
 
 First, this is a *WAR* game, not babies. We are VICIOUS attackers, we
 do not Accept Threats from Others, We make the Terms. Combat Alley plays
 to win. We do want to have fun, but tell me, is it fun to be Crushed? no.
 We CRUSH Boards.. We do it VICIOUSLY. We don't pity unless the Leader says
 so. IF you are the kinda person that Will ask me Why Don't we hit
 boards closer to our Size, then you obviously need a lot of help in the
 game. We pick Sweet Land Targets. We Harvest their Land. The More land/less
 NW the Less Loses we take for Taking that land, THUS we grow more and more,
 outgrowing All Boards, and Therefore make EVERY war we get into an UNFAIR
 fight. If you do not agree with this way of play, and will not Follow,
 and will complain about it to me, then you Are not a Combat Alley player.
 I do not Want to Hear ANY whining about it at all. (shoot to kill baby!) (:
 
 Q--> IF we attack boards our own size from the start, what will happen?
 A----> We will Take HEAVY loses from each "Fair" War we get into, and then
 what? We will be outgrown by some Board, and then we will be Killed.
 this make any sense to you? is this what War is about? dying?
 

1st Day of Play -> Choosing a Race -> *IMPORTANT*

 1st Day of Play
 Choosing a Race:
 BEFORE joining an FE game, ALWAYS be aware of the Game's Settings. ie, IF
 a certain League's Setting for the Basic Wage Rate = 100, the ONLY Race you
 will be able to use and Actually Survive with is -> Ghouls. Ghouls Suck in
 a "Normal" setting for the Basic Wage Rate, but in these Extreme
 circumstances, it is the Only Race that will stand a chance. Why? Ghouls
 Wages are 0%. Thus 0 Silver/Worker. With Settings Between 0-35 other Races
 can hold up, and are the better Pick.
 
 For a Normal Game, the Most Suggested Race is a Minotaur. Why? As you will
 learn, Army is Almost Completely Everything that builds your NW.
 Buying 1 Minotaur "B Unit" will cost 16 Weapons; NW Rises by 16.
 Buying 1 Minotaur "C Unit" will cose 18 Weapons; NW Rises by 18.
 Since Peasants cost 4 Weapons, NW goes up by 4/Peasant.
 WITH the Training Grounds, Each Month 1% of your Peasants will be Trained
 into a "B unit", thus a NW Change of 12. 12!!!!, that is a HUGE jump from
 A-B.
 -=-=-
 War College is 1% of "B Units" to "C Units" each Month is only a 2 NW
 difference, BUT Minos units Are the Following :
 "B Unit"(Bull Rider) ------> 6 Swords(offense) / 10 Shields(deffense)
 "C Unit"(Minotaur Knight) -> 10 Swords(offense) / 6 Shields(deffense)
 Both Units can be Used for Attacking. Your NW growth is not reliant on
 your War College for Minos, as it is for Mermaids.
 Thus, with Minos you Can send your B's out in Attacks, and have Less
 Farmers and Merchants/Alchemists, and MORE ARMOURERS (MORE ARMY). This
 way you buy MORE Peasants/turn, and More A-B, 12 NW, Transition.
 The Added Bonus with Minos, unlike Mermaids, if your "C Units" get Caught
 at Home if you get Attacked, they aren't all going to Die! they are Still
 great Defense for their Cost.
 Also, Mino's "B Units" are Defense and "C Units" are Offense. Perfect if
 you want your War College to Make you some Offense, and Not Have to send
 out your "B Units". if it's the Other Way Around then DO NOT PICK THE RACE!
 If you choose a Different Race, then you are on your own to Find the Next
 best one.
 FINALLY
 When you start Playing, Styles of Starts can vary depending on the Settings.
 if it's a High starting Land Setting, between 500-2000, then you can Afford
 to start Building Improvements Right away. (what Buildings should you
 start with? Will be covered in "Buildings/Improvements") IF the game starts
 with giving you a relatively Nice amount of Food in stock, Then you should
 hire ONLY Merchants/Alchemists! Buy more land, Run your Food Reserve Dry,
 be careful when it gets low, smartly begin to add Farmers. When producing
 food, Try to ONLY produce what you need. You DO NOT need a huge Surplus!!
 The More Land you Buy, the More people Will come into your county each
 month. (People Growth isn't only dependant on your land but also your
 Aproval Rating) buying Land at the Start is the ONLY way you will Grow,
 the beginning of the game is the MOST important part of FE.
 
 (BTW, on day one, you should try and have at least 100 Builders)
 
 Most Games have about 3-4 Days of Protection, You can Go Without starting
 your Army for a few days, and then BOOST your Armourers a day or two
 before going out of protection. This can be done by Firing most of your
 "Money Makers", and putting them in Armory, or by Only Hiring Armourers.
 Since we Attack ASAP, you want some Offense to Attack With. So ALWAYS be
 ready when you get out of protection.
 
 (as for low Land starting games, then you just have to delay your
 Improvement building for a bit)

Next Few Days

 When should you start placing people in other Jobs? well, 1 1/2 days before
 you get out of protection, you should start to put some workers in Druids.
 and a Day before coming out of protection, start to put some in Mages, and
 Scientists. You want to make sure you will have enough Runes, and 10 Skill
 Mages to attempt to Cast your Aura Of Majesty (and if enough, if needed,
 attempt to cast a Create Confidence or two..) (Spells Later Discussed).
 
 Money, just like Food, You do NOT NEED a Huge Surplus. After a bit, you will
 no longer need to Buy any land because you will be Attacking for it! So
 the people that would be used to buy land like babies for half of the round
 will be used to Make a Powerful Army!

Approval Rating

 Your Approval is VERY Important! You must ALWAYS try to Keep it as HIGH as
 you possibly can! Goal=100% ALL the time. and YES it's possible, I do it!
 
 The Approval will Effect how many People you get/turn BIG TIME. ie, if you
 have 4000 Acres of Land and 3.50 people/acre, the Difference of 90% and
 100%, can be noticed by either Losing 100 People/Turn, or Gaining 100!!!
 You ALWAYS want to Gain people No MATTER how high your Density is!
 This is Self-Explanatory.
 
 Also, the Higher the Approval the Better the Productivity of Your People.
 this is more Significant than you may Think.

Worker Placement

 Where Should I place my People?
 Well, with the Exception of the Beginning of the Game, You can Easily
 calculate how much people should be where. This will Give you the Most
 Effective Numbers to Upkeep your County.
 
 Farmers ------> ONLY What you Need
 Builders -----> 100-350 for the Whole Game, Unless you are being Quaked
 to Death, then you MAY need MUCH more.
 Money Makers -> ONLY What You need
 Scientists ---> 1 Scientists/4-5 Acres Of Land
 Druids -------> 1 Druid/4-5 Acres of Land
 Mages --------> 1 Mage/4 Acres of Land
 This Gives Nice success with your Life Spells. without
 overdoing the Amount of Mages you just DON'T NEED. By
 Not overdoing it, you can used those extra People in your
 armory!
 Armourers ----> Rest

How NW Works

 NW is Calculated from many things. like, Food, Silver, Land, Weapons, Runes
 and so on.. But the BIGGEST is from your Army. the Others are Insignificant
 compared to how much NW your Army will give you.
 It's simple:
 As an Example, I will use Minotaurs.
 "A Unit"(Peasant) -------> Cost= 4 Weapons -> NW=4
 "B Unit"(Bull Rider) ----> Cost=16 Weapons -> NW=16
 "C Unit"(Minotaur Knight)-> Cost=18 Weapons -> NW=18
 With this Info you can Calculate how much Defense Someone Could have for
 their NW (to know how much to put in an attack for a Worse Case Scenario).

Quality Rating

 The quality rating of your army. This value helps determine how effectively
 your troops can fight. When military is used in Combat, Their quality rating
 drops.
 You should NEVER send out attacks if your Quality Rating is under 95%. This
 too, is self-Explanatory and the most Effective way to play.

Improvements -> *IMPORTANT*

 Buildings/Improvements
 BUILD BUILD! your goal is to build as many buildings as Possible. They help
 with Many things. Approval, Productivity, (1 building for Quality Rating
 after Combat), and a few other things..
 What's important to Understand, is that Your Approval is the MOST Important
 thing for Buildings.. I Will Explain one way of doing it, and you may like
 it or you can compromise a bit. Some Buildings disallow other Buildings, be
 careful with what you are Disallowing! (And Unless You have 1000s Of Acres
 of Land, BE CAREFUL, A Building Can Take Up Alot of Land, Depending)
 Most Important Approval Buildings:
 Artist's Hall --> +1% Approval Rating/Turn
 Jester's House -> Slows Approval Worsening by 50%
 * to Get to the Jester's House you will need to Build the Church, then
 Cathedral. doing this, Will Disallow building a Temple. The Temple Way
 is more-or-less for Runes Protection/Mages. (the Temple itself is +1
 Approval/YEAR). Some people Prefer the Temple Way.. I Disagree like
 hell!!! The Approval is MUCH more important.
 There are many Buildings that help Productivity for one thing or Another.
 
 A good Way to Start is by First Building the Library>School>Artist's Hall>
 University
 Smithy>Armory>Armourer's Guild
 Barracks>Fighter's Guild>Training Grounds>and so on
 
 Artist's Hall for faster Approval Rise
 University to Hire people that Start at 7.0 Skill instead of 5.0 Skill
 Armourer's Guild for +10% ARMOURER Productivity (VERY IMPORTANT!!)
 Fighter's Guild +1 Attack/Year
 Training Grounds for 1% of Peasants converted to "B Units" per Turn.
 
 What you Do NOT want to do is Sacrifice Productivity for Approval, some
 buildings like the Circus That gives +2% Approval/Year, BUT Your Workers
 Suffer a 5% Drop! NOT GOOD.
 
 Or the Pub That gives you +3% Approval/Year, BUT combat effectiveness is
 reduced by 5%! NOT GOOD.
 
 This should be enough Information for you about Improvements.

Spells -> *IMPORTANT*

 Spells
 What Spell Books Should I Research?
 1-> Nature Spells --> VERY IMPORTANT
 2-> Life Spells ----> EXTREMELY IMPORTANT
 3-> Either Death Spells or Chaos Spells
 *Sorcery Spells Are Basically for Local Play, and Cannot be casted
 InterBBS..
 
 Nature Spell's Most Important Spell(s):
 WATER'S OF LIFE: After Battle, Your Quality Rating will be Down, IF you
 Want to send you Army back out Sooner, Cast This, and
 BOOST your Quality Rating by 15%
 
 Life Spell's Most Important Spell(s):
 CREATE CONFIDENCE: This BOOSTS your Approval by 6%!
 FALCON'S BLESSING: Get Rid of Storms or Curses Upon you County by Casting
 This Spell.
 AURA OF MAJESTY: This is the MOST IMPORTANT SPELL IN THE GAME. It BOOSTS
 Your Productivity like hell. You Should ALWAYS Try to
 Have this Spell on your County at All costs. It lasts
 for a Year.. and If you Cast it 2 Times in a Row
 successfully, it will NOT Double the Amount of Time it
 Lasts.
 
 The Other Spell Books are, more-or-less, for offensive purposes.

Trade Market/Trade Deals

 Some People may be nice and Put Some Blocks or Runes on the Market for
 people for EMERGENCY purposes. Emergency, this is the Big Word. If I catch
 someone Being Greedy and taking Everything or lot's of it, when not needed,
 I will Take action.. I can see everything. GREED is NOT a Team like
 attribute.. We will not stand for it At ALL.
 
 Trade Deals.. It's possible that someone may Put their Runes on the Market
 to Protect them from Enemy Spells. This person will probably Write a Msg
 about it, asking for someone to Send it back. NOW :
 If you send the deal on turn 3, then the Person will get it on Turn 3.
 If you send the deal on turn 12, then the Person will get it on Turn 12.
 This is Not what we want.
 Sending someone Runes that will get there on Turn 3 is COMPLETELY USELESS!
 What if they have storms over their County? Receiving Runes on Turn 3 is
 NOT what I want to see people complain about. and >I< don't want to see it.
 When it comes to this, You are To send it on Turn #0 ZERO!!
 Turn #0 = BEFORE A SINGLE TURN HAS BEEN TAKEN. This is ABSOLUTELY IMPORTANT
 to understand. A fool can understand this. So don't make mistakes here
 please. This can Really Fuck up someone's Game if you do NOT send the
 runes back on Turn #0! I am telling you this, because We've had MASSIVE
 problems in the past having people understand this. Please just don't be
 a dumbass about this subject.. It is very important.. (:

Attacking

 My Advice to you, is Always Overwhelm your Attacks. Expect the Worse.
 Expect your Victim to Have 2 Military Alliances, and Maybe even a
 Protectorate Treaty with the 2/3 Largest Players on the Victims Team.
 Usually Sending 90% of the Victims NW in Offensive Swords is Enough.
 Assuming that the Teammates aren't 10 Times Larger then him. Be careful.
 You Don't need to lose Attacks.. 90% Takes into Account, not Only
 Military Alliances, but also a Day's Growth because of Travel Times.
 Of course you must ALSO Take into Account the Travel Times.. the Longer the
 TTs the more you may want to Overwhelm your Attack. Here at Xbit BBS,
 you will be Attacking ALOT.. If you are not sure about this, ie, you don't
 have the hang of Attacking, it won't take you long to get the Hang of it
 here!

Money Making -> *IMPORTANT*

 What's the Best Way to Make Money?
 Merchants! Some call it the Merchant trick. Whatever, it's a Strategy to me.
 What you Do is Hire Merchants (you might only hire Merchants, That's upto
 you), and WHEN you are Finished your Turns YOU MUST FIRE ALL OF your
 Merchants. Then when you Play again the next Day, Do NOT forget to Re-hire
 them. The Skill Will NOT be effected because you are not playing a Turn
 After Firing Them! What will this do? well, at it's Best the Merchant's
 Productivity can get as high as 400% or more.. 400%!!!
 
 Why do I have to Fire My Merchants though?
 EVERY Player Must do it for it To work. What happens is this: Merchants are
 like the "stores" in a Flea Market. in this Game, the Less Merchants Hired
 in the GAME, The More Money They Will Make. But IF people forget, the
 Productivity can be EXTREMELY Killed.. and this is not good..
 (More Productivity = less people making Money = more people for Armory)
 
 That's why If you are not Used to playing this style, Well, get used to it.
 It is a Rule.. or a LAW at Combat Alley. Forgetting too Often can earn you
 Expulsion from Combat Alley's InterBBS FE games until you feel you are ready
 to Remember all the Time.. (I Can accept Forgetting every Now and Then, but
 NOT all the time.) Write yourself a HUGE Self-Reminder to help remind
 yourself to Fire Them at End of Turns, and Re-hire Them before taking a
 turn, If you have trouble remembering.. Eventually it will come naturally
 to you.

KILL RUNS -> *IMPORTANT*

 Setting up a GA Kill Run
 This is EXTREMELY Important NOT to Mess up! This is the MOST EFFECTIVE way
 to End annoyances. Like a Board we just crushed doesn't want peace, they
 Will Annoy us with Spells, So We teach them a Lesson. We kill 'em ALL!
 
 This is EXACTLY how a Kill Run is Set up: The Leader will Usually Start
 the First Set of GAs to Leave at X time. The NEXT person is to Set up His
 SET of GAs 1 Hour AFTER the Previous Person's SET.
 (A SET of GAs, means if you can start 5 GAs, then ALL 5 GAs are to be SET
 to leave at the SAME TIME!!!)
 
 Here's How a GA Kill Run Would look as an Example Cut down,
 This is A little Example of a PROPER KILL RUN:
 GA #1 -> Leaves in 40 Hours -> Started by Player A
 GA #2 -> Leaves in 40 Hours -> Started by Player A
 GA #3 -> Leaves in 40 Hours -> Started by Player A
 GA #4 -> Leaves in 40 Hours -> Started by Player A
 GA #5 -> Leaves in 40 Hours -> Started by Player A
 GA #6 -> Leaves in 41 Hours -> Started by Player E
 GA #7 -> Leaves in 41 Hours -> Started by Player E
 GA #8 -> Leaves in 41 Hours -> Started by Player E
 GA #9 -> Leaves in 41 Hours -> Started by Player E
 GA #10-> Leaves in 41 Hours -> Started by Player E
 GA #11-> Leaves in 42 Hours -> Started by Player C
 GA #12-> Leaves in 42 Hours -> Started by Player C
 GA #13-> Leaves in 42 Hours -> Started by Player C
 GA #14-> Leaves in 42 Hours -> Started by Player C
 GA #15-> Leaves in 42 Hours -> Started by Player C
 .
 .
 .
 GA #56-> Leaves in 50 Hours -> Started by Player A
 GA #57-> Leaves in 50 Hours -> Started by Player A
 GA #58-> Leaves in 50 Hours -> Started by Player A
 GA #59-> Leaves in 50 Hours -> Started by Player A
 GA #60-> Leaves in 50 Hours -> Started by Player A
 
 Get the Picture? Very EASY to Understand.
 And YES, 60 GAs. Maybe even 100, More sometimes.. Depends.
 
 Well that's all. I hope this Helps you out a good amount. (I'm Sure it will)
 

Written By: G r y m   R e a p e r aka ~ K i l l a   H i l l ~