what does it take to win

[Scenester]

Covert Strength Ranked: 1

Well I can tell this era could be quite interesting though after spieing the 3 first pages (cept rank 1&2 = ???)
There are so many people with like only 3mill armies or no tech at all, just weapons. So the top 10 hasnt quite been settled yet I guess!

[S1eepy]

From what Ive seen, I think there are three aspects of winning

1. Ability
2. Money
3. Friends (and enemies)


1, Ability consists of;
your knowledge of the game,
your farming capability
the amount of time you can/do give to the game

2. Money is a factor for;
Bank size (previous era donation)
USS buying (mainly the UU increase to push ahead with armysize when needed)
Naq buying (from dedicated sellers, who give better rates than SS)

3. Friends are useful for;
Protection (from them) and discouraging others from hitting you
Socializing - its hard to spend this long on a game without having some social connection to its fellow users.
Support, both fiscal and combative.

---

Its difficult to win any wave without a source of all three.
The top players all have a similar level of skill. There may be a few little details of the game some are better with, but on the whole, its even. But it is still an important deciding factor, because every wave has its own characteristics, which need to be learned and understood as fast and accurately as possible to gain the biggest advantage.

Farming speed is important in waves like this.. where we have such an abundance of ATs.. but sometimes turns are in short supply, and you need to be good at picking your targets. A good player can identify which tactic to use, and implement it.

Time is the biggest difference in this catagory. You may be the best player in every other way, but if you cant spend enough time on, you cant win. Whereas if you can be online constantly, then you are going to be the most likely to catch any missed PPTs. Catch people farming, etc...

Bank size is always important. When the covert levels start costing more than your bank, you are going to struggle. But more than that.. at the start of the wave, if you can store more naq than every1 else, you can put off buying UP longer.. therefore making it cheapest for you. Also, having a big bank means you can fill it for the end of the wave, hiding your true capabilities until the last moment.

USS buying is a great advantage, but is not an automatic winner. The biggest single advantage is the UU. If you are challenging the top armysize, it can give you that little bit extra to pull away from the others. Therefore giving you more income, and making it easier to pull further away. The second biggest advantage is cumulative, which would be the bank size increase. Abd the instant naq is always a nice extra.

If you want to buy naq, the cheapest way is from another player selling. Which is a recent addition to the mix. (not a good one in my opinion)

Having friends is extremely useful. Knowing that over half of the top players wont attack you makes defending your income much less of a chore. But has its downsides.. because it means you cant farm them.. and they are usually the ones with the best incomes.. its a balance.
Having people willing to help you in a fight, or defend you if your picked on etc.. is always nice. But not as big a deal as it is in main.. because going to war in Q means little..its easy to recover from a war early game.. and any1 in particular threatening you can just be polarized. (again, not a good thing in my opinion)

The other way friends can help is by donating naq. This has been frowned upon recently. Because of the tremendous amount of feeders certain people used absolutely ruining a wave. But it is used (just look through the logs) And can be a powerful help.

I think thats it...not entirely sure why i posted this.. just got typing and kept going... guess it keeps things on topic at least

[Affirmation]

S1eepy that has to be one of the best summarizations of this Forum thread that I have ever read, and we have often made many speculations on what it takes. I do have one item to add:

It takes two good thumbs... HAHAHAHA

It makes sense if you read my Halloween adventure post here:
viewtopic.php?p=1916599&f=19#p1916599

with action photos included. What a moron I can be sometimes...

I may be out of action for a little while, looks like Affy will once again be bringing up hind tit another Quantum Era, but, I am always learning. Next time I need for someone to post a thread about handling sharp untensils and how you should not carve a Pumpkin while:
A. Drinking (or drunk) and
B. While watching your favorite sports team beating the shizte out of a hated rival team...

Sharp knives and undivided attention are my new educational experience that almost cost ole Affy his left thumb!!

Oh well, no one can accuse Affy of sitting around with my Thumb up my wazzoo for a while... HAHAHA

Happy Halloween to All! Good luck in the Era, my gaming will be limited for a while until I get my dexterity back, and/or, these excellent pain meds wear off!

Affy

[EnVy!]

happy halloween