Was wondering if just my buddies and I could have a closed round where we are just casual players having fun. Don't want to be near any super alliances.

    I'm imagining a 10 man no provinces, free for all. It sounds like a really fun idea

    Jets yes we can setup a custom server with these terms:
    Cost: $1000
    Service length: 3 months.
    Support: up to 1 hour/month.
    Version: Installed version at the time of server delivery only, no updates from the main game as it continues being developed.
    Customizations/setup: Starting resources per your choice. Up to 1 hour of dev time to make any other customizations at initial setup (change tech times, unit upkeep costs, etc).
    Acceptable Payment: Crypto.

        I agree... I'm here to play and have fun, not sit on my ass and farm or get BF'd. Game is losing it soul and we have less players on our "official" round 1 vs the test rounds if that says anything.

        I can't blame the Devs as I feel they're doing everything to bring this game back to it's glory days, but I blame the players that don't want a future for the game. If things keep going the direction they are with alliances and losing total player count, all there will be is an alliance and no one to play with. Just think about it, now is not the time to have 50% of the top players to be against the rest. Maybe if we get back to 1000's of players and hundreds of provinces, sure, but not now. Just think about it.

          jarockxu yep, totally agree. We lost more than half of players during the test rounds, people were unhappy with the battle mechanics, getting constantly gangbanged and pre-re into oblivion. It's just too bad they couldn't stick it out to see how things would develop to make the game more friendly for them. But, we're doing a lot of exciting things that will bring in new blood, like built-in translations, new player advisor, modern themes. I can see getting teens interested in Thardferr once those items are in place, just as I was drawn in to play my first round at age 13. We'll keep plugging away as best we can, who knows - with a little luck we'll be passing the fun of Thardferr on to the next generation 🙂

              Yah there's a big alliance as usual just dunking everyone else. Sucks that these guys gotta play like such cowards all the time. Maybe when everyone else leaves they will be happy and can just farm the whole round

              Lord Thane
              Is the plan for CLI to be just baseline in future rounds, or continue being a tech? From my experience so far it's a huge investment to hit the full tech tree, and without the full tree it's essentially useless in terms of preventing the pre-re playstyle that it's intended to address. It just delays when you get double tapped - every single one of the attacks that my group has done for a castle has been met with pre-re from at least 5 coordinated provinces. Makes it actually impossible to gain any ground.

                  What provinces are part of this alliance?

                    DougEfresh L3, L19, K19, K13, E13, E 20 trupeus, T11 trup real friend in life(castle passing to stars galaxy) correct me if im wrong peeps.

                      skigglez

                      Just curious, what 5 provinces are coordinating already?

                      I’ve been molested every time I have more than 1 castle by a kingdom bigger than me. I have no chance of getting that castle back. It’s gone. Bye castle. Enjoy the educated elves. With a pre, I’d have a chance. I cannot get a pre. Me even trying to have multiple castles pointless. Once upon a time hitting a caster made you a target for everyone that caster was casting for. Now the caster is castrated.

                      The option of choice is gone. There’s only one way to run a kingdom now.

                      I’ve seen friends try to hit back the attacking kingdom only to fail and leave themself exposed to be attacked again with an even weaker defending army. They were also BFd.

                      Maybe all attacks should get protection not just the ones that win a castle. Base it on the percentage of that persons overall army that was lost.

                          skigglez we're gonna see how this round goes before making any firm decisions about future rounds. I would prefer CLI was just "on" for everyone so we can see how it goes sooner, but being as techs is a compromise I'm ok with, we'll still get meaningful data about it as the round progresses.

                          At least once you get a little CLI starting the tech for it, it puts a bigger gap between you and the pre-re so you can get some troop production going for possible defense. Overall, I think this is just going to be an interesting part of the usual transition difficulties going from 1-3+ castles. Once everyone is +10 castles, then everything will be a lot more stabilized and we'll get more interesting strategies at play. The rounds are a long 3 months, a lot happens during that time, the growing pains are only going to last the first few weeks.

                              trupheus
                              Sounds like it's an issue with how bottom feeding functions, and not CLI (of which I completely agree with you, getting bottom fed sucks and feels hopeless). Thane has mentioned that he is open to suggestions on how to best address the bottom feeding aspect of the game. Probably should wait until everyone has had the CLI techs for a month or so and see what the combat actually looks like, because right now it's a combination of people with it (partial techs) or without it. You shouldn't be entitled to get the castle back whenever someone hits you. Giving an individual kingdom more autonomy is a good thing and will ultimately attract more players. Having a game state where every attack you make is 100% of the time met with 2 attacks against you (unless you're part of the large alliance of kingdoms) is not one that will have people stick around, which is ultimately the goal.

                              I don't agree at all with the option of choice being gone - you have a choice to be aggressive and attack (and be rewarded by the CLI mechanic with protection from pre-re), or you can be more passive and farm it out while leaving yourself exposed to hits. Each has positives and negatives, which each person has to weigh for themselves. There are many choices in how you manage your kingdom as well - building ratios, army composition, magic/no magic, etc. If someone wants to be a pure caster then they are opening themselves up to be easy castles - something they can overcome by managing a more well-rounded kingdom. If your friends attacked and failed, they should be punished for it - and they will have to evaluate what went wrong and adjust going forward.

                              I've gotten demolished a couple of times this round already (some BF's, some pre-re swarms), but these changes are all new and we should play out the round and see how things go.

                                  skigglez what provinces are this big alliance that are hitting you and your friends? Is it the same as the one lear was talking about?

                                      DougEfresh
                                      R8, L14, L19, T4, L3 are the ones who've done coordinated pre-re on us. There were some other random kingdoms that did TS on us leading into the pre-re. Might be one more prov that I'm missing.

                                        skigglez yea I had 3 castles taken from me already, 2 of which were BF. They did pay dearly for it with troop loss, and a TS showed I could have gotten my castle back on one of them since they suicided. Not going to be making anymore castles for a while though 😅

                                            AdinTheDark
                                            Just pointing out the issues with new players coming onboard, and how CLI alleviates the majority of those issues. Glad you were able to provide a well thought out response, congrats champ.

                                                Lord Thane Yah that's more or less the conclusion my group has come to. Let the guys in big groups pass us by until we get the tech then once we can turn more fights into 1v1 start climbing again