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I, Darling will be interviewing Mr. gh0st about his alliance's previous Race Of Champions event.
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Darling:
Greetings, let us commence with a formal introduction. Kindly provide an overview of both your personal background and the distinctive attributes of your alliance.
gh0st
Hello, I’m gh0st from VER on server 470! I live in Northern Colorado in the US, and for work I manage workforce, QA, and Technology teams for a wireless internet service provider.
I’m also a foodie, and enjoy painting, photography, reading, playing bass and guitar, and watching a handful of aquariums with my wife and our two cats!Our alliance VER started out very early on here on 470 and has been here ever since, and is up to alliance level 14!
We are a relatively small alliance, but have a very tight knit core group of experienced players, who are all most interested in having fun, but are still pretty competitive!
If anyone is in server range, we are almost always recruiting!
Darling:
For what duration have you been affiliated with this alliance, and could you elucidate on the distinguishing allure it holds for you?
gh0st
I’ve been with VER the majority of my time for the last couple of years, after first starting out in TWA also on 470 for my very early days, up until around hill level 18 ish.
I picked TWA for my first alliance at random, and they ended up being primarily Russian speaking, and I hadn’t learned how in game translator worked!
I kept getting messages from them, and not understanding, and then most of the alliance migrated away! LOL
Zeus, now R5 for VER, found my lonely hill left behind in TWA, and recruited me to join VER, and I’ve been here ever since!
VER is a very diverse group of different ages, countries, languages, and experiences levels. It’s a great group of fun, light hearted and experienced players, who have all gotten to know each other and become great friends despite being separated by time zones, languages, and thousands of miles!
I’ve learned a ton, and wouldn’t have gotten anywhere near as strong without them!
Darling:
What are your reflections on the Lost Island event?
gh0st
Island vs Barren… Island is on the whole easier, but also more challenging in some ways.
No protection time makes it much more ebb and flow on towers and fortresses if battling against alliances in other time zones.
I’m not a big fan of Barrens current Protection Time method, as it often excludes at least 1 alliance in a camp, and many of our players in different time zones from being able to fully participate.
Barren does have much better rewards however.
The Island change to require a Wonder 9 in addition to the Tree for Dominator rewards does make it much harder to have a fully peaceful and cooperatives ends.
Darling:
Describe your most recent experience participating in the Lost Island event.
gh0st
This last Island was Difficulty Level 4, with 6 total alliances in our Season, and a very different experience for us than other Islands or Barren Seasons. Level 4 was a significantly more difficult challenge for Fortresses and Season Soldier Nodes.
All of our previous Islands were nearly constant battles, filled with alliance betrayals and bloody fights throughout.
This Island was extremely peaceful and cooperative between all the alliances, with only agreed up battles for fun and achievements, all alliances getting a spot at the Tree, and a Tree Rotation before a final day of battling for the Tree and final rewards. This worked out pretty well as this Season was during Holidays for many of our players, and many were busy spending time traveling and being with family and friends.
Interestingly, it ended up taking ALOT of diplomacy and communication to keep things peaceful at a couple points, and may have ultimately been more difficult than just a typical war type Season!
Darling:
Elaborate on the strategic approach that your alliance adopts for these events.
gh0st
During a typical Season, we try hit the ground running, and build as quickly as possible to the Wonder and primary ant type buff fortresses (shooter buffs for us) in our starting zone.
Then focus on getting positioned for any Tunnels to Neutral or Clash zones, before troop bonuses end, and sprint build into those areas and secure Wonder positions in them as soon as we can after they open.
Throughout both Season types, first focus is to max out on Soldier Nodes at the highest level possible, and continuously upgrade them whenever we can, as well as enhancing buildings as much as possible to increase Honor.
Extra Season ants, as well as increased healing fungus this brings, along with fortress buffs will make or break the late game and clash zones and Tree area.
Darling:
How does your leadership manage the challenges posed by the Lost Island, particularly in hostile environments?
gh0st
In brief… Communication, communication, and more communication! LOL
Many players use different communication channels, so we try hit them all hard!
We schedule several planned fortress and tower attacks each day, and send out notice in advance of times and battle plans through game alliance mail, game calendar, and our alliance Discord channel, with event signups as well.
Ultimately, the battle leader for each scheduled attack has discretion to change or modify plans as needed in case the situation has changed. Planning only goes so far in a dynamic battlefield environment, and staying flexible is important.
We gave nearly 24/7 leadership coverage with our players time zones, and they can send an alert in Discord to muster a defense against any enemy attacks.
Darling:
How does your alliance navigate interactions with adversarial alliances?
gh0st
We normally try start on a friendly footing with all other alliances, and try communicating early on to get a feel for how they interact.
If they honor negotiated agreements about hill hitting, etc, and play fair by them, we always honor ours. If they break an agreement, we drop the hammer on them, and do our best to erase them from the area if possible.
Darling:
Kindly elaborate on the most remarkable occurrences that transpired during this Lost Island, encompassing both positive and unfavorable events.
gh0st
As I mentioned, it was a very different Island than what we were used to.
The entire Season was pretty much conflict free. There was a lot of unoccupied zones with 6 alliances, and then later on, one of them left the season early to go to a Barren afterwards.
We negotiated with one of our neighbors to split up clash zone we shared, giving them about 3/4 of the fortresses there in exchange for the Wonder 9, and a tower they transferred to us next to a tunnel on their border to an unoccupied area, where we would get the majority of fortresses, and they would get the Wonder 8.
Then we talked with the Alliance that was leaving early, and they transferred us a tower in their home zone next to their Wonder 8, so we could have some fun battles, and then take it and several fortresses after they left.
Before Tree Zone opened, all the tensing alliances agreed to everyone getting a spot at the tree, with first ones there getting first pick of positions, and unoccupied fortresses they reached.
Then one alliance would take first occupy rewards for the Tree, and withdraw afterwards. Remaining 4 alliances setup a rotation in order of season reputation points.
Then last 24 hours, those 4 alliances fought for the final occupy rewards!
The Tree changed hands several times between VER and D3N, the alliance with far and away the most fortress buffs and most active players. We managed to take the Tree with an hour left, mostly due to having the best position and rally spots to the south. And then defended against the other three for last 30 minutes before reset.
Those short rally time spits we rushed in for at the Tree really paid off and then some!
Darling:
To what extent do you believe your alliance exerted influence on the dynamics of the Lost Island
gh0st
I would say VER and DYN were probably the most influential for the Season. Myself and Hucachaka, the Diplomat from DYN (and an incredible player!) were both very active and busy in the shared Season discord in coordinating between the alliances and cutting deals through out!
It was an incredible season, and a lot of fun working together with GAT, BOB, DYN, D3N, and DUI. Strong players and fighters in all of them, and most importantly, friendly and cooperative people that honored agreements, and worked through and misunderstandings and differences of opinions!
If you run into them, I would absolutely vouch for all of them being good upstanding and trust worthy opponents, which seems rare!
Darling:
In retrospect, what alterations would you have made if given the opportunity to approach things differently?
gh0st
In hindsight, I wouldn’t change much! There was some last minute disagreement on the final Tree battle time frame that I would probably make sure to communicate and clarify further in advance, but it wasn’t anything we all weren’t able to work through! Huge shout outs to Captain, Grobig, Khat, and the other VER members! It was a great Season!
Darling:
Last but not least, what guidance would you impart to novice players who are either new to or contemplating their initial participation in Lost Island?
gh0st
For first timers on the Lost Island, I’d give the following advice:
Get ready ahead of time! Stockpile Resources, Honey Dew, Healing and generic speed ups, and Diamonds. As many of all of them as you can. Battle and healing burbs A TON of all of those!It’s all about those Soldier Nodes and Enhancements! Always fill up on the highest level nodes as you can in your main soldier type. Do everything you can to increase your Honor.
Take as many fortresses and get as many buffs as you can! They add up!
Participate and have fun! The more you do, the better the Season rewards you get! Battle and kill some ants! Even if you normally wouldn’t. You get most of the ants and healing resources back after Season ends!
Don’t be afraid to ask questions if you don’t know how something works or how to do something! I still learn new things from others all the time!