The Importance of Nw Optimisation

Abstract
The importance of networth optimisation is often underemphasised or completely ignored in utopian build and training strategies. This report will discuss the benefits of optimising provinces for networth, and in particular maximising offense per networth and defense per networth (OPNW/DPNW) to increase province options and power in various areas.

Definitions
Firstly some explanation, the term “optimisation” has a very specific definition when discussing builds and unit selection. You have optimisation considerations, and strategy considerations. Optimising a province is all about getting the most efficient results with the land, units or gold available, sometimes however it is more effective and a wiser strategic move to run other than the optimum result. This balance is discussed with examples later in the report.

Turtle power is often used to describe a races inherent ability to prevent being successfully attacked if the defenders elites are at home. If a province runs defensive specs and offensive elites, while those elites are home their defensive strength is added to the provinces total defence. This is called turtling, and is more successful with some races than others.

Gains
To understand the reason why one would wish to optimise individual provinces for maximum strength and minimum networth, it is important to understand the current attack gains system used in utopia.

Land gains are networth based, with various constraints on maximum and minimum gains. The important point to understand however is that maximum gains occur when the defending target is exactly 100% of the attacker’s networth. Gains are also calculated as a “relative gains” percentage value which is then multiplied by their acres.

Example
GN/Rogue Attacker = 100k NW, 600 acres (166 NWPA) – No science, 65% draft.
GN/Rogue Defender 1 = 90k NW, 600 acres (150 NWPA) – No science, 65% draft.
GN/Rogue Defender 2 = 100k NW, 600 acres (166 NWPA) – No science, 65% draft.

If the attacker hit defender 1, the result would be approximately 9% relative gains which equates to (.09 * 600) = 54 acres.
If the attacker hit defender 2, the result would be approximately 12% relative gains which equates to (.12 * 600) = 72 acres.

Now, given that all example provinces have the same amount of acres, same race, same personality, same draft and no science. Assuming each province runs the same TPA and WPA, the differences in networth come down to just two factors, buildings and unit selection.

Unit Selection
Each race has different elite offensive and defensive values and some different specialist strengths as well. In addition to these values, there are also variations in each races elite and specialist unit contribution to province networth. Generally the choice of unit is obvious given the strength values, however it is not always this easy.

In the case of gnomes for age 41, maximum OPNW is achieved when running a full specialist army, however if the offensive unit is replaced with elites the strength is the same and the increase in networth is minimal, thus the sacrifice in OPNW is acceptable for the bonuses of being capable of running very high turtle defence when elites are home. Additionally the elite for gnome is cheaper to replace than specialists which is a benefit in war, allowing the province to operate with a lower income (less economic buildings / more offensive buildings, and lower peasants / higher draft). This is an example of when running the most efficient unit is strategically and effectively not the best choice without considering other factors such as buildings.

Building Optimisation
As discussed, buildings are one of the two factors that affect like provinces of the same size. Unit selection is important and often viewed as very simple, however rarely is unit selection considered in conjunction with build strategies, as is necessary for a fully integrated and optimised province.

In the case of gnome, offense specialists contribute 4 points to province networth (strength 5/0), defence specialists 5 (strength 0/5), and elites 4.5 (strength 5/4). As optimum defence is comprised of specialists with a networth of 5 each, and offense is strategically chosen to be elites with 4.5 NW each, defence specialists are the unit that contributes the most to networth. Running a build strategy that includes forts will enable the province to be run with the same defence per acre, with a lower number of defensive specialists, and resulting in lower networth. Compared to a like province at the same size without forts, the province optimised with forts will have the same defensive strength as the other but will achieve this at lower networth, and therefore incur lower land losses when attacked.

Decreasing the amount of units used for defence also opens more possibilities. By saving perhaps 10% units on defence, the province can be run at a lower draft for the same strength as usual, with increased income, and also a lower networth. Or it can be run at a similar draft level, with increased offensive units for greater attacking strength, the same amount of defensive units for a greater defence at no networth cost, or a higher TPA. The possibilities and benefits of optimising units and buildings for networth are vast.

Similar to defence optimisation, keeping offensive units low for the same power, or increasing offensive power at minimal cost to networth gives similar benefits and even greater options for province improvement.

Conclusion
Optimising provinces for networth using smart unit selection and appropriate integrated building strategies enable provinces and kingdoms to run comparable or greater offensive and defensive strengths at the same or lower networth values, allowing greater range of target options and greater defence or deterrent against enemy provinces that are in the maximum gains range of your own networth.

The actual calculations to optimise buildings and unit selections are too complicated to include in a report of this nature, but I have created a tool that will optimise setups given a small number of inputs and constraints that will be available for public use shortly.

If there you have any questions regarding province optimisation, strategies and tools, please visit irc.utonet.org #Makka or contact me directly IRC Nick: Makka, or Email: