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Deterring Plunderers Effectively During Extended Inactivity

  • Thread starter DeletedUser31420
  • Start date

DeletedUser

Thank you, something I can actually work with. Do you have any recommendations on how to lay my city out? My current layout is based on something I found on Google as a starting point, but it wouldn't surprise me if it needs to be further modified. I think I'm largely struggling with how to lay my city out in a more square fashion, which is the direction I'm trying to take it. And where to place my event buildings and GBs such that they don't interfere with the layout, since they tend to be large. I think once I get a solid handle on my layout, I'll be much more able to beef my city up from there.

I actually just replaced my Colosseum with the Hagia Sophia today. I put it in the same spot as the Colosseum.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but laying out your city is not a one time thing. It is a constantly fluid, game-long balancing act. Rearranging your entire city is something you will probably do more than once as you go along. The building sizes change drastically as you advance through the ages. Special/event buildings will influence your choices. GBs are always a challenge due to their size and varying proportions. If you use regular coin/supply/goods/cultural/military buildings after Industrial Age, you'll have to work 2 lane roads (that can only intersect on even numbered intervals) into your layout calculations. There is no cookie cutter, one size fits all formula. It's something we all work on all the time. It's part of the challenge of the game, and for many of us it is one of the most enjoyable parts. :)
 

DeletedUser31420

I
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but laying out your city is not a one time thing. It is a constantly fluid, game-long balancing act. Rearranging your entire city is something you will probably do more than once as you go along. The building sizes change drastically as you advance through the ages. Special/event buildings will influence your choices. GBs are always a challenge due to their size and varying proportions. If you use regular coin/supply/goods/cultural/military buildings after Industrial Age, you'll have to work 2 lane roads (that can only intersect on even numbered intervals) into your layout calculations. There is no cookie cutter, one size fits all formula. It's something we all work on all the time. It's part of the challenge of the game, and for many of us it is one of the most enjoyable parts. :)

Yeah, I know that. I've rearranged it several times. I'm looking to improve my city in case there's any efficiency lacking, based on the general fan-shaped layout I currently have. I don't need a diatribe about the game's fluidity and the changing dimensions of buildings. Thanks.
 

DeletedUser

I


Yeah, I know that. I've rearranged it several times. I'm looking to improve my city in case there's any efficiency lacking, based on the general fan-shaped layout I currently have. I don't need a diatribe about the game's fluidity and the changing dimensions of buildings. Thanks.
I don't think my post fits this definition:

"di·a·tribe
ˈdīəˌtrīb/
noun
  1. a forceful and bitter verbal attack against someone or something."
Forgive me if your naive original post about disconnecting your buildings made me think you hadn't caught on to the game's nuances. An impression that was bolstered by your plea for recommendations on how to lay out your city. That's something you don't usually hear from people who "know that". And you're welcome. :rolleyes:
 

DeletedUser26154

I don't think my post fits this definition

He was going more this direction.

12810e7f419b667a10031be2bf08345c.png

Which is a synonym of Diatribe.

[Edit to add: I talk to people from around the world quite a bit, in English. Sometimes they will use one word, but mean another that is similar or a synonym. I've long become used to understanding the intent of what word they really meant to use, based on the context of all else they wrote. That's another reason why I never hold typos against someone.]
 
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DeletedUser

He was going more this direction.

View attachment 7179

Which is a synonym of Diatribe.

[Edit to add: I talk to people from around the world quite a bit, in English. Sometimes they will use one word, but mean another that is similar or a synonym. I've long become used to understanding the intent of what word they really meant to use, based on the context of all else they wrote. That's another reason why I never hold typos against someone.]
Sorry, ardak, it wasn't that either. It wasn't that long, it definitely wasn't angry, and it wasn't even criticism or accusation. It was merely pointing out the facts of managing city layout as you advance in the game. I think he did use the word he meant to. I agree that he didn't understand the word he used, but I think you're giving him too much of the benefit of the doubt.
 

DeletedUser31420

Players who know what they are doing, never build the Colly. Players who learn what not to do have destroyed it if they built it by LMA.

I used it as a happiness booster until I could gather the goods and blueprints for the Hagia Sophia, which became a viable option a few days after my original post. That was what worked for me to help save on money and supplies, rather than building cultural buildings. Last I checked, this was a game and those who play it were allowed to play the way they see fit. I don't understand why a person doesn't know what they're doing simply because they play differently from you.
 

DeletedUser30900

Why are most people walking on the street with cloth on in US? Last time I checked there's not a specific law for that.
 

DeletedUser31420

Forgive me if your naive original post about disconnecting your buildings made me think you hadn't caught on to the game's nuances. An impression that was bolstered by your plea for recommendations on how to lay out your city. That's something you don't usually hear from people who "know that". And you're welcome. :rolleyes:

Firstly, if you attempted to understand this post as anything deeper than "naive," you would see it really isn't. I'm not really interested in wasting my time explaining my reasoning to you because you've made it quite apparent that you'd rather talk down to me than understand the logistics of it and why I came up with it at all. I'm more than happy to discuss my reasoning with you as long as you actually want to know. Otherwise, I won't bother.

Secondly, if someone suggests I rearrange my city, that usually means they have ideas about how to improve the layout. We all have different perspectives of how a city can be improved, irrespective of which age a given player is in and where they placed their expansions. And if someone suggests it, I'm going to ask them how because I expect that someone who comes with a suggestion also comes with a solution. I suppose I expect too much.

As far as I can tell, there's no harm in asking someone to follow up on a suggestion, especially given that this is supposed to be a community where players help one another. However, if condescension is your go-to, as it has been from the beginning without provocation, then you have insecurities the likes of which I can't relate to and certainly won't feed.

If you're not going to add anything useful to this post, then please excuse yourself.
 
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DeletedUser

However, if condescension is your go-to, as it has been from the beginning without provocation, then you have insecurities the likes of which I can't relate to and certainly won't feed.
All I can say to this is: LOL
Dude, you didn't come here looking for advice, you started this thread in "Guides", and labeled it as a "how-to" thread. You asked for it. Most of us rightly wait until we have some idea what we're doing before we even consider posing as an expert in any way. I didn't start posting in earnest on the Forum until I had been playing the game for almost 2 years. I look back on the one time I disconnected my city to avoid plundering and think how naive I was back then. I certainly didn't come on here and act like that was the best way to do things. And yes, I heard condescending comments about that strategy. And I realized that I deserved them. What I didn't do was act like the more knowledgable players were the ones with issues.
 

DeletedUser30312

I'm a little late to this party, but as a plunderer, I'm going to critique this strategy a bit.

Disconnecting roads is a pretty poor strategy for deterring a plunderer. It might deprive the plunderer, but it WILL deprive you. Disconnecting the whole city is just ridiculous. However, a more limited disconnect isn't too bad with the new building sets. I arranged my city with that in mind just in case:

safe.png

If I get into a hood where I'm facing someone who's a harcore plunderer, I can disconnect two little road tiles and cut off my statues and Zen Zone while leaving everything else hooked up. This is pretty much a last resort situation though, where I'm likely to lose collections from those buildings no matter what. The set buildings have that whole disadvantage of not being able to be motivated, but a full set of them can give some decent bonuses to the city.

In any case, your setup as shown in the first post isn't that great, since you're cutting off some SoKs. There's no need to cut them off from plunderers; their main use is to generate FP, and they don't generate them unless motivated. Plunderers won't hit a SoK that's ready to collect if unmotivated since they only make coins then, and we really don't need coin.

That parallel stretch of road where you have your houses isn't too bad, that's an effective way of plotting out your city. That loop going around the military buildings just wastes space though. You should get rid of the SoI too, it's a space hog for what little it produces, if you need BPs, aid everyone you can regularly, and join a decent guild that swaps FPs on GBs. You should get those Farms upgraded to Breweries or at least Cooperages too.

1. Build a decent army and swap the defense regularly. This will deal damage to their units and make it more difficult for them to fight you. It will also lull them into a sense of false security, stroking their ego as they're led to believe you're actively and unsuccessfully trying to counter their flawless attack strategy. Then, if they win, they will excitedly try to plunder you only to see the disconnect icon hovering over your best buildings. Check out https://forum.us.forgeofempires.com/index.php?threads/general-defensive-military-guide.8654/ to find the best defensive combinations for your current age, if you're so inclined.

That occasionally helps. Swapping your army won't stop that guy who's got a built up military machine unless you're pushing a very high defense. Swapping hasn't blocked me all that much. For your particular city though, you should look into doing the bonus questline for LMA and get some CA troops to bolster your defense. Finish the EMA one if you haven't for that Monastery too.

2. Place the moved roads somewhere highly visible, so they can see what horror you've wrought.

I've seen plenty of cities like that in 7 months in LMA, and I have to honestly say I'd classify them as comedies instead. That's pretty blunt, but a city like that isn't going to scare me at all.

3. Build cultural buildings and landscaping decorations to maximize your citizens' enthusiasm and compensate for any deficit that is created by unplugging your automatic-production buildings.

Um, no. Decorations usually have very little effect on enthusiasm unless they're special ones from events. Even the Faces of the Ancients and Gates of the Sun God from the GE that everyone bitches about aren't too bad for some happiness (really the problems with them is that we get more than will ever, ever be useful). They also have another serious flaw, they take away aid from your houses and production buildings. Culture buildings are also aid vampires AND they take up valuable road space, but they generally have better happiness per tile. You said you just built a Hagia, so that will provide you with some happiness for a while, enough that you won't need to rely too much on culturals or decos.

4. Conversely, have no army whatsoever, your defense being two measly spearfighters. Too good to be true? Absolutely!

Two measly Spearfighters does nothing but put you at the top of my plunder target list.

5. Use flowers, bushes, and other one-squared pleasantries to craft a lovely message such as "Go Away," provided you have enough free space, of course.

Unless you're doing this with Watchfires and Tribal Flames, no. Remember what I said about decos taking up aid while providing pitiful happiness? The only use for decorations is if you have so many guild mates and friends that there's not enough things for everyone to motivate in a day's time, it at least gives them a chance to earn a BP. Just don't use Stone Age decos.

6. If you're going to be AFK for an extended period of time, set your supplies and goods buildings to a 24-hour production or don't produce at all. Buildings can't be plundered while they're actively producing something.

That's one of the most solid pieces of advice you've given. Even then, if you can't reliably collect on time, even on a 24-hour schedule, I'd recommend avoiding goods buildings altogether, and probably the set pieces as well. Go for the goods producing GBs, you're got the Babel and LoA, next try to get St. Mark's and the FoD. Also, go for special buildings like the Oasis or Tribal Square that produce goods when motivated. It's a little slower when you're not making your own goods from goods buildings, but at least the goods won't get plundered. Supplies at least can be motivated and protected, and really what a player needs to do is build up a good social network. Join an active guild that matches your playstyle, and recruit reliable friends that will regularly aid you.
 
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DeletedUser13838

I actually just replaced my Colosseum with the Hagia Sophia today. I put it in the same spot as the Colosseum.
I had the col for a while before deleting it and I also had the capitol before deleting it. Most of your buildings will eventually be deleted anyway. Of course if I started again I wouldn't build either but that's how we learn. I built them as it was the easiest way to get something I needed but the game has changed quite a bit so that neither of them are ever really needed.

I personally like my hagia but it's one of those GBs that only become worthwhile when you level them.
 

DeletedUser12620

Firstly, if you attempted to understand this post as anything deeper than "naive," you would see it really isn't. I'm not really interested in wasting my time explaining my reasoning to you because you've made it quite apparent that you'd rather talk down to me than understand the logistics of it and why I came up with it at all. I'm more than happy to discuss my reasoning with you as long as you actually want to know. Otherwise, I won't bother.

Secondly, if someone suggests I rearrange my city, that usually means they have ideas about how to improve the layout. We all have different perspectives of how a city can be improved, irrespective of which age a given player is in and where they placed their expansions. And if someone suggests it, I'm going to ask them how because I expect that someone who comes with a suggestion also comes with a solution. I suppose I expect too much.

As far as I can tell, there's no harm in asking someone to follow up on a suggestion, especially given that this is supposed to be a community where players help one another. However, if condescension is your go-to, as it has been from the beginning without provocation, then you have insecurities the likes of which I can't relate to and certainly won't feed.

If you're not going to add anything useful to this post, then please excuse yourself.

Hey! Let's all be friends :(
 

DeletedUser12620

Plan ahead, by that I mean going deeper into the continual map and unlocking troops above your era should help a lot! While a level 10 deal and basil will help as well....
 

DeletedUser31420

Plan ahead, by that I mean going deeper into the continual map and unlocking troops above your era should help a lot! While a level 10 deal and basil will help as well....

Yeah, I'm working on collecting the blueprints for those as well as getting the goods to build them. It's coming along... slowly haha I'm almost able to build the Cathedral of Aachen, once I rebuild my goods storage. I think I'll be in a pretty good place once I get those put up. :)
 

DeletedUser28670

If you are "inactive for an extended period of time",
1. Get a lot of friends
2. Message them that you're going to be away for a while.
3. Get them to mopo everything
4. Nothing to plunder, it's all mopoed.
Seriously, plunder is just a small amount of stuff lost from your hopefully large collection of stuff every day.
Plundering isn't the end of the world. :)
 
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