World Events Strategy Discussion

According to what DB has posted, we will not have another Event this calendar year. That allows us to take some time and do other things (like reincarnate!). But it shouldn't mean we forget about World Events. I'm hoping to formulate a firm strategy for next time, and have pre-decided assignments for people, so we get off to a huge start. With that said, we need input from everyone who has participated in even 1 event. What do we need to do better, in your eyes?

From reading the DB AvA guide over for about the 4th(?) time, I keep coming back to some specific points. Most critically, that like nodes in a camp offer bonuses to each other. For instance, if we build Dorne, all three (Deep Sands, Greenblood, and Red Mountains) all as sabotage camps, each offers a 40% bonus to the other two. This seems too huge of a benefit to pass up. The argument against, of course, is coming up with the resources and items to build 3 identical camps. My answer to which would be, who says we have to have 3 high level nodes? Designate Deep Sands, perhaps, as the primary, with the focus being there, and the other two we raise to level 3-5 and leave them alone. Big enough to support a garrison, but not to get heavily into the crafted items and spoils.

I'm not saying this is what we should do. I'm saying that with the admittedly limited experience and information I have, this seems to make huge sense. But I'm inviting input and discussion. All ideas are welcome, from anyone. Each player would support 3 separate camps that way. If Riverlands, for instance, is 3 barter camps, and Iron Islands is 3 harass camps, one person could support all 3, since they all would use different resources. Two teams, similar to what we did this time but much better organized, could support 6 seperate camps, with the second group perhaps being Stormlands for 3 fight camps, The Reach for 3 steal camps, and Westerlands for 3 swindle camps. Just ideas, but the rewards are based on the families in each, so following their style seems smart.

The other thing that struck me is that DB seems to think a 10 person alliance can have one node of 1 camp to level 10 by the end of Stage 1. A 25 person alliance should be able to have 2. This strikes me as hopelessly optimistic. But perhaps with better planning and preparation, it is possible to come close.. perhaps 6-7? To that end, we need a complete list of the things people need to be pre-crafting. Obviously, this won't work for the reincarnators, as there is no way to save items from one incarnation to another. But others not interested in sacrificing all the levels and power they have accumulated for some extra talent points, could make some real headway. I'm thinking the only sane way to do this would be as a spreadsheet, which we could then attach to here. People's names could be listed with what camps they choose to support, and what items they wish to begin creating.

Obviously, we have room for improvement in all 3 stages. But this one makes up 60% of the event, and probably 75% of the vps. Getting a handle on it seems like the best way to step up our game the fastest. Anyone good with spreadsheets out there, and willing to take on the headache? Anyone have ideas, things I'm missing, info to add? This is not a 3 person or 5 person or 10 person alliance. It needs contributions, however small, from everyone. And opinions, as well. We do not want this to become a second job. It has to stay fun, or what's the point? But *winning* is fun, too. So stay within your own limitations, but let's try and keep the progress we have made from last event to this one, going.

I like the idea of agreeing on specific specialties for different camps, and also limiting the number of camps we develop at once, especially if we're talking about breaking away into our own alliance. To be frank, I found it disheartening how people would build camps and, in some cases, just designate whatever specialty they felt like. And to be even more frank, I found supporting the North to be extremely aggravating, mainly because it seems to be the toughest region to both support and maintain. I think folks need to realize that Fight is only one of the 9 actions we can do, and picking our battles is very important, to optimize our successes and minimize our damage and potential sworn sword losses. One more thing: although I was happy to repair camp damage as a rule, I think a lot of us can relate to the frustration of seeing a small minority of players taking actions with repeatedly poor odds, and then ignoring the considerable damage that ensued. I think any player we include in the alliance must be aware that it is bad form to not clean up after themselves. To be clear: I know it's impossible for everyone to always be logged in, and mistakes can happen - I'm only talking about the players who never repair their own damage. End of rant.