Kingdoms Live tips and tricks: What are your goals and the risks of battle

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So I had a few thoughts based on the comments in the other Kingdoms Live posts that got me wondering, What are your goals in this game? Like most MMOs, people play them for different reasons. Some people play World of Warcraft for raiding PVE content and becoming the first players in the world to defeat a boss. Some people play EVE or Warhammer Online because of its player versus player or PVP options that lets people battle each other. In Kingdoms Live, you get both options. You can do quests, which are PVE, and you can battle which is PVP. Which one you focus on is really your choice.

So what are your goals in this game? Are you trying to level up as fast as your can? Are you trying to have the best record of wins and losses in battle? Are you trying to collect the largest sum of gold you can dream of? It isn’t really clear as to what the game intends the goal to be. Personally, I have focused on a good record in battle. It is true that I could be much higher than level 26 at this point, but I have focused on my record, and I think it is more impressive to have 544 wins and only 42 losses that it would be if I was level 30 right now. Which brings me to a new statistic that I have been trying to monitor as I play. I’ve already talked about the cost per income of land before, and now I’d like to introduce the gold to XP ratio. This is why I have been focusing on quests rather than battles lately. My current quest is “Assault Barracks” and gives 900-2700 gold and 27 XP. If we take the average, gold amount (1800) and divide by the XP, you get 66.6 gold per XP. It also has a chance to loot a mace, which is a very good weapon with NO UPKEEP, but since I don’t know the drop rate of this loot, I can’t factor it into the equation.

So how does battling compare on gold to XP? Well, for one thing it is much more variable. You can get 0 gold from a battle, you can get 100, or you can get 1,000 or more. but if you win, you always get some XP. At this point you may be wondering, why does this ratio even matter? Gold and XP are both good things, so why wouldn’t I just want to get them both as much as I can. And that leads me back to what are your goals? If you want to level as fast as you can, then this ratio does not matter. Keep battling away and grinding the XP that you get, and when you strike it rich, you can rejoice, and when you get 0 gold, you can be sad. But what are the risks of this? The main concern is that as you level up, your army grows and equipment gets better, but more expensive. This means if you aren’t improving your equipment as fast as your opponents, you start to get behind the curve, and will win fewer and fewer battles.

Here’s what I mean in a specific example. For every level you go up, your maximum army size grows by 5. Do you have enough gold to buy 5 weapons, armor and spells for all of your new army members? You can go the cheap way and get sword swords, bows and fireballs, but will that be enough to win battles? They won’t do very well against Mithril swords, Mithril shields, and comet or invisibility spells. So it’s hard to come up with an accurate gold to XP ratio for everyone, some people can plunder at will, and others have a tough time finding targets. Personally, since around level 20 I haven’t found much gold to be won from battles, and that is why I have switched to quests. It has slowed my leveling speed, but I have drastically improved my land and equipment.

How does everyone else feel about this? What are your goals with this game?

  • Bronar

    sers :) … for me its a mixture: overall i also keep an eye on a good record. right now im at 950-100 (lvl27) and every single time i loose a battle, it “hurts”. on the other hand, cash is the strongest weapon in the game, so it needs a good income for later strong army development. to buy more land, the necessary cash results for me from duels rather then from questing – i guess im to impatient for that^^. because i cannot support am extremly well geared army right now, i slowed down leveling and keep my army small (30 soldiers), focus on defense to collect more cash. not sure when the moment will be to get out of the defense-collecting mode into expanding… we will see ;) . summary: record & cash & active playing with not to much waiting time

  • Bronar

    sers :) … for me its a mixture: overall i also keep an eye on a good record. right now im at 950-100 (lvl27) and every single time i loose a battle, it “hurts”. on the other hand, cash is the strongest weapon in the game, so it needs a good income for later strong army development. to buy more land, the necessary cash results for me from duels rather then from questing – i guess im to impatient for that^^. because i cannot support am extremly well geared army right now, i slowed down leveling and keep my army small (30 soldiers), focus on defense to collect more cash. not sure when the moment will be to get out of the defense-collecting mode into expanding… we will see ;) . summary: record & cash & active playing with not to much waiting time

  • YHWH

    Good post. I’m sort of wondering the same thing about my strategy now. I think it’s basically PVP for me. I’m pretty unbalanced – I hardly ever lose when I attack, but rarely successfully fend off the attacks of others. My main gold source has been through PVP victories, which I think I’m almost locked into continuing now – with low defense, if I made any more significant land investments to try to gain income, that money would be stolen from me by those who would attack me (my higher health also becomes a detriment there as it allows me to not only attack more frequently, but be attacked more frequently). I’m only level 22 but have won 653 battles, so that has been my focus, and I think will continue to be because my character would not be effective with any other strategy. I’ve recently started investing more skill points into Defense and am seeing some improvement but it might be awhile before those increases become meaningful. The PVP aspect has probably been the most fun part for me.

  • YHWH

    Good post. I’m sort of wondering the same thing about my strategy now. I think it’s basically PVP for me. I’m pretty unbalanced – I hardly ever lose when I attack, but rarely successfully fend off the attacks of others. My main gold source has been through PVP victories, which I think I’m almost locked into continuing now – with low defense, if I made any more significant land investments to try to gain income, that money would be stolen from me by those who would attack me (my higher health also becomes a detriment there as it allows me to not only attack more frequently, but be attacked more frequently). I’m only level 22 but have won 653 battles, so that has been my focus, and I think will continue to be because my character would not be effective with any other strategy. I’ve recently started investing more skill points into Defense and am seeing some improvement but it might be awhile before those increases become meaningful. The PVP aspect has probably been the most fun part for me.

  • Bronar

    lvl34, 1454-177, 5k income with some significant spendings even for a relatively small army – i like to play active offense for some additional cash, but im also ok in defense; so i could pump up defense even a bit more and sit & wait to develop more land/cash (common strategy) but thats simply to boring ;) ; next necessary decision is when and to which degree to expand the army size and how to support this armory-sidewise.

  • Bronar

    lvl34, 1454-177, 5k income with some significant spendings even for a relatively small army – i like to play active offense for some additional cash, but im also ok in defense; so i could pump up defense even a bit more and sit & wait to develop more land/cash (common strategy) but thats simply to boring ;) ; next necessary decision is when and to which degree to expand the army size and how to support this armory-sidewise.

  • Frodo-UZRNV

    lvl 35, 649-757(the reason my loses are so much greater than my wins is because my clan has been a war the past few days), 400k income. Lately i have found out the best way to make money. Ive been camping and all the money i make from quests and income i use on buying more land for more income. Camping is a very efficent way to make money in this game but also a very dangerous way. I have no items right now except the ones i use for quest. In 3 hours i am able to make more than 1 mill. If you choose this path you will find that you will not level as fast but when the time is right you can get all the best weapons with a high enough income for more money for income. Right now my health is 100 mana is 70 and spirit is 5. I have been lucky and not had many people pick me for a target and when they do i do not get hit that bad cause every time i get my income it goes directly to land and they do not attack me as much because they think that since they only get 50 gold i am not good and move on. So the secret to this game is to get as much income as you can and when you think its high enough to buy weapons and get a good amount of income do so. Please add me and contribute to my army of 250

  • Frodo-UZRNV

    lvl 35, 649-757(the reason my loses are so much greater than my wins is because my clan has been a war the past few days), 400k income. Lately i have found out the best way to make money. Ive been camping and all the money i make from quests and income i use on buying more land for more income. Camping is a very efficent way to make money in this game but also a very dangerous way. I have no items right now except the ones i use for quest. In 3 hours i am able to make more than 1 mill. If you choose this path you will find that you will not level as fast but when the time is right you can get all the best weapons with a high enough income for more money for income. Right now my health is 100 mana is 70 and spirit is 5. I have been lucky and not had many people pick me for a target and when they do i do not get hit that bad cause every time i get my income it goes directly to land and they do not attack me as much because they think that since they only get 50 gold i am not good and move on. So the secret to this game is to get as much income as you can and when you think its high enough to buy weapons and get a good amount of income do so. Please add me and contribute to my army of 250

  • Ian

    My strategy has been:

    Camp at each level until you have at least 50 of each land you can buy – you will have more of some since ROI is higher for those. Then level up to the next land you can buy and start building up those. For example I have:

    Lumber Mill 89
    Tavern 81
    Stone Quarry 79
    Barracks 73
    Blacksmith 79
    Temple 70
    Village 60
    Shipyard 51

    I don’t bother with mana, health and only have about 8 fighting points. So I hardly ever do quests, but because all my stats are in attack and defense, I rarely ever lose a fight.

    I only have 9 armies, since I don’t want to spend lots of kit – I have the best kit for all my guys and it’s only costing me 1% of my income. No-one with higher armies can see me to attack me, so I don’t know why everyone bothers having large armies until higher levels.

    So I am currently charging up from level 22 to 30 – it will only take me about 2 days, because I just log on every 15 mins, recharge my health, kill 8 people – I just kill the first person on the list since I know I will win – and then log-off. My health is low at this point from the 8 attacks, so the most anyone can hit me is 2 times and they aren’t likely to win anyway.

    By the time I get to lvl 30 later today, I will have 14million in the bank from not buying land for 5 days and I will then straightaway be able to but 30 of the new land. Then I will stay at lvl 30 until I have 50 of them and then move up again.

    Maybe I will come unstuck at later levels but it’s working well for now.

  • Ian

    My strategy has been:

    Camp at each level until you have at least 50 of each land you can buy – you will have more of some since ROI is higher for those. Then level up to the next land you can buy and start building up those. For example I have:

    Lumber Mill 89
    Tavern 81
    Stone Quarry 79
    Barracks 73
    Blacksmith 79
    Temple 70
    Village 60
    Shipyard 51

    I don’t bother with mana, health and only have about 8 fighting points. So I hardly ever do quests, but because all my stats are in attack and defense, I rarely ever lose a fight.

    I only have 9 armies, since I don’t want to spend lots of kit – I have the best kit for all my guys and it’s only costing me 1% of my income. No-one with higher armies can see me to attack me, so I don’t know why everyone bothers having large armies until higher levels.

    So I am currently charging up from level 22 to 30 – it will only take me about 2 days, because I just log on every 15 mins, recharge my health, kill 8 people – I just kill the first person on the list since I know I will win – and then log-off. My health is low at this point from the 8 attacks, so the most anyone can hit me is 2 times and they aren’t likely to win anyway.

    By the time I get to lvl 30 later today, I will have 14million in the bank from not buying land for 5 days and I will then straightaway be able to but 30 of the new land. Then I will stay at lvl 30 until I have 50 of them and then move up again.

    Maybe I will come unstuck at later levels but it’s working well for now.

  • ProudFarmer

    Interesting posts. However, after playing both Kingdoms and World War, I think Kingdoms isn’t as suited to camping. I like Ians thoughts, but don’t like the requirement of logging in every 15 minutes. Besides that seems incredibly boring to only battle eight times. :)

    I actually have to say that I advocate the farming approach. Now I think this is pretty scandalous to bring up, but since its allowed by Storm8, I feel its well within rules and not morally reprehensible.

    I add folks and grow over time, I attack and fight those that I can beat and build gold. My mana is now over 38 so on a full load I can attack people and earn over $1M in one batch. I generally roll that cash into farms and weapons that max out attack. That enables me to have more wins.

    I have almost no cashflow, so I don’t care if people attack me since I never camp. I only bank between buying things so the 10% is never more than 200K commission (to bank 2M in gold).

    This is more fun and fits my style of constantly seeing how many new weapons I can buy.

    I actually think the structure of the low farm rates in the current game encourage this style of play.

    Sure stupid immature people that lose all the time complain or stupidly bounty me, but they can’t do it all day. I log in when I want and each time I earn myself enough to get two or three new max weapons.

    To be clear, I do actively seek out people I can beat. And since Storm8 seems to constantly be bringing people on my attack list that have armies 30-70 members more than my own, I do cruise the links in comments.

    But hey, this is my strategy. Those that camp choose to leave themselves exposed to more powerful armies to attack. If Storm8 wanted to prohibit this they would have disallowed it, but as long as they’re within the 10 level range its fair game and allowed.

    Sure I have a couple favorites and sure if someone decides to take it personally and swear me out or just start bountying me, I take the pleasurable revenge of farming them as much as I can.

    I do like this more than the typical method of growing slowly. Over only a month of playing the game I’m over level 70 and am maxed out for my army of 114 for weapons and armor (focused on attack.) My next goal is to slowly invest in good spells since that’s the most expensive for maintenance.

    Death to whiners! Haters of farmers are just whiny because their strategy of play leaves them exposed. Hey they only lose 10% at the most (if they play smart) and that’s enough for me to fund my strategy and growth. That sounds harmoniously symbiotic to me…..

  • ProudFarmer

    Interesting posts. However, after playing both Kingdoms and World War, I think Kingdoms isn’t as suited to camping. I like Ians thoughts, but don’t like the requirement of logging in every 15 minutes. Besides that seems incredibly boring to only battle eight times. :)

    I actually have to say that I advocate the farming approach. Now I think this is pretty scandalous to bring up, but since its allowed by Storm8, I feel its well within rules and not morally reprehensible.

    I add folks and grow over time, I attack and fight those that I can beat and build gold. My mana is now over 38 so on a full load I can attack people and earn over $1M in one batch. I generally roll that cash into farms and weapons that max out attack. That enables me to have more wins.

    I have almost no cashflow, so I don’t care if people attack me since I never camp. I only bank between buying things so the 10% is never more than 200K commission (to bank 2M in gold).

    This is more fun and fits my style of constantly seeing how many new weapons I can buy.

    I actually think the structure of the low farm rates in the current game encourage this style of play.

    Sure stupid immature people that lose all the time complain or stupidly bounty me, but they can’t do it all day. I log in when I want and each time I earn myself enough to get two or three new max weapons.

    To be clear, I do actively seek out people I can beat. And since Storm8 seems to constantly be bringing people on my attack list that have armies 30-70 members more than my own, I do cruise the links in comments.

    But hey, this is my strategy. Those that camp choose to leave themselves exposed to more powerful armies to attack. If Storm8 wanted to prohibit this they would have disallowed it, but as long as they’re within the 10 level range its fair game and allowed.

    Sure I have a couple favorites and sure if someone decides to take it personally and swear me out or just start bountying me, I take the pleasurable revenge of farming them as much as I can.

    I do like this more than the typical method of growing slowly. Over only a month of playing the game I’m over level 70 and am maxed out for my army of 114 for weapons and armor (focused on attack.) My next goal is to slowly invest in good spells since that’s the most expensive for maintenance.

    Death to whiners! Haters of farmers are just whiny because their strategy of play leaves them exposed. Hey they only lose 10% at the most (if they play smart) and that’s enough for me to fund my strategy and growth. That sounds harmoniously symbiotic to me…..