EoA Article: Age of Rebirth (Age 43)

Reporter:

Versace

Editor:

Peppie

Introduction

Quote:

Re⋅birth

–noun
1. a new or second birth: the rebirth of the soul.
2. a renewed existence, activity, or growth; renaissance or revival: the rebirth of conservatism.

-- Definition extracted from: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/rebirth

Some may have wondered why this age ended up with such a controversial title. Was the Age of Rebirth meant to define the re-awakening of undead in the WoL and Genesis servers? Or was it an attempt by OMAC to capture and lull the attention of Utopians living on the edge between Utopia and reality? Or perhaps, for some kingdoms and alliances in Utopia, it was a time for a change? But that's for you to figure out - in the next age of course.

For now, it's too late. The Age of Rebirth has come to an end. For this age, it's been an amalgamation of frustrations and... surprises. For some kingdoms, it's been a wild ride, from entertaining hostiles to memorable wars; and from nasty politics to overwhelming drama. For others, it's been a mundane age, nothing out of the ordinary (which is just too bad for you!). Luckily though, for the ones that failed to attract attention and action this age, there's always a next age!

Age of Rebirth

Viva La Vida (At the Top)

At the start of this age, Rage of Absalom dominated the Land/NW charts, and remained unchallenged for the first half of the age. Mid-way through the age however, Sanctuary of Absalom began to make a speedy trek upwards, even after fighting some tough wars along the way. And so began an intense race towards the top between these two kingdoms - which kept most of the WoL on their toes up until the end of the age. In the end, Rage claimed the NW crown, while Sanctuary claimed the Land crown.

When discussing with AquaSeaFoam (Rage) and jdorje (Sanctuary) about how their age went, both stated that their kingdoms started out the age with #1 spot as their goal. For Rage, ASF mentioned that some of the challenges this age included trying to grow at the top; "If you wave another kingdom, you're called dirty bottom feeders even if that kingdom is in the top 5 (which all our war targets were). With paradise taking land from the explore pool, dicing to grow was not a good option, so we had to either random targets in weaker kingdoms or wave/war. People would not be happy no matter what we did." Sanctuary on the other hand, mentioned more in regards to banks and conflicts as their main challenges; "Seasons and Playboys, like us, ran cows so we inevitably had some conflicts there," said jdorje. Sanctuary also had a few major wars during their age with Playboys and Fratzia, and a few other clashes during the age which included Freedom, Seasons, Schadenfreude KLA, and Sinners. When asked about if there was ever a time Rage felt their reign would be challenged in any way, ASF responded with two potential kingdoms; "Certainly we saw Sanctuary catching up in land (and then passing us) late age as we focused on NW pumping. Seasons also had the potential to pull off a very strong NW pump on their dwarves." Rage also suffered a close to EoA wave from Sleepy for about 10k acres (just before their NW pump), which, at that point, gave Sanctuary a sizable lead in land over Rage. jdorje commented that Rage's incident with Sleepy "was pretty much the final straw, they just focused on NW after that". Now that the age was over, we asked Rage and Sanctuary whether there were things they would have liked to have done differently. Both ASF and jdorje responded that they could have been more aggressive mid/late age. For Sanctuary, jdorje stated that their orc set-up and running a bank was one of the key ingredients to their success this age. ASF also commented on the benefits of their set-up, allowing Rage to get a fast start and being able to pick profitable early fights. Attached below are the kingdom growth histories of Rage and Sanctuary for both NW and Land:

Rage's KD Growth History (NW):

Sanctuary's KD Growth History (NW):

Rage's KD Growth History (Land):

Sanctuary's KD Growth History (Land):

While Rage and Sanctuary pushed each other up top, separating themselves a good 30k acres and over 10 million NW from the rest of the kingdoms below them, there was still plenty of action within the T5. Old School was one of the late bloomers of the age, and worked their way up to #3 with their all orc set-up. Secrets remained in the T5 for most of the age with their Elf/Gnome set-up, having some notable tussles with Freedom and Snowflake along the way. Playboys and Seasons claimed #5 for NW and Land, with Playboys taking #5 Land and Seasons taking #5 NW.

The Most Powerful Kingdoms in the World
February 1st, YR13

1 Rage of Absalom (11:5) Escania (#5) 54,856,893 gc
2 Sanctuary of Absalom (15:15) Orb Island (#15) 44,892,371 gc
3 Old School (5:38) Maui (#38) 30,299,077 gc
4 Secrets (13:40) Olav (#40) 29,618,066 gc
5 Final Season (8:3) Corsov (#3) 28,553,971 gc
6 Playboys AR (2:35) Justa (#35) 24,363,037 gc
7 SINGAPORE (18:19) Targo (#19) 22,364,725 gc
8 Freedom (6:1) Astel (#1) 21,708,868 gc
9 BRING IT ON (7:37) Lionia (#37) 21,564,139 gc
10 Nameless (16:19) Targo (#19) 18,526,051 gc

The Largest Kingdoms in the World
February 1st, YR13

1 Sanctuary of Absalom (15:15) Orb Island (#15) 221,786 Acres
2 Rage of Absalom (11:5) Escania (#5) 212,023 Acres
3 Old School (5:38) Maui (#38) 168,837 Acres
4 Secrets (13:40) Olav (#40) 156,820 Acres
5 Playboys AR (2:35) Justa (#35) 154,631 Acres
6 Final Season (8:3) Corsov (#3) 139,147 Acres
7 SINGAPORE (18:19) Targo (#19) 138,900 Acres
8 BRING IT ON (7:37) Lionia (#37) 129,469 Acres
9 Freedom (6:1) Astel (#1) 120,224 Acres
10 S 1 3 3 p y of FTFW (15:39) Narsta (#39) 113,115 Acres

The Battle of the Banks

Once again, the battle between the banks for supremacy up top was a heated affair, with Sanctuary of Absalom getting the best of both NW and Land. The province of they do on the (played by jdorje) finished the age at nearly 48k acres and 12 million NW.

We had a chance to catch up with jdorje to discuss his #1 placement, and the course of getting there. Up until the showdown between Sanctuary and Seasons, the top three banks were relatively on par with each other in terms of acres. When asked about the hostile, jdorje mentioned that Seasons' bank "had about a 10% edge for a while, [which] gave him a big advantage in fast train-up, but not in a head-to-head battle." jdorje also noted that Sanctuary and Seasons had a standing 24 hour notice for a few weeks before the big encounter, so Sanctuary had to be constantly ready. Once notice was given, jdorje stated that Seasons' bank converted into a risky build consisting for 4 TPA; "I guess he figured we'd both be unbreakable so no need to over-train troops, better to take on thieves and go for the long haul." Contrary to Seasons' bank build, Sanctuary converted to straight offense with just 2 TPA, leaving room for a bigger military. This strategy proved to be successful when Sanctuary's bank initiated the first hit, breaking Seasons' bank all home. The rest of the details of this conflict can be read [here]. Ultimately, jdorje stated that having a lead in the cow race was very crucial for the EoA NW pump; "Rage did a much more careful pump so without the lead he'd have taken NW I imagine." jdorje also mentioned he never expected to take #1 this age after witnessing the war between Rage and Reunion, "had the age been four weeks as they said, we certainly wouldn't have [caught up to Rage]". Lastly, we asked jdorje how many NW/Land crowns he's taken in previous ages, jdorje counted a total of five, from WoL and Genesis combined. However, jdorje did state that this most recent crown felt more deserved: "this was a bit more earned than the previous WoL crowns, having to fight Elit head-to-head".

Rage of Absalom took the runner-up place with their bank, Houses of the Holy (played by Jackson), and Seasons's Ugly Urchin (played by Elit) took third. Some notable bank clashes include earlier in the age, when Rage took down Playboys's bank, AttackingWithArchers, and, as mentioned above, late into the age when Sanctuary's bank and Seasons' bank faced off in a tussle, producing the biggest hit on the WoL server this age:

January 1st, YR9 they do on the (15:15) invaded Ugly Urchin (8:3) and captured 4712 acres of land.

Ultimately, the top four NW/Land provinces kept in a league of their own. Clampy (13:18) [formerly in the kingdom 4:24] ranked at #4 with a significant lead over the #5 NW and Land provinces. uTimes had a chance to conduct a brief interview with Clampy regarding his experience on banking solo this age.

Click 'Show' to reveal his entire interview.

uTimes: Tell us about your age. How was it like playing solo?
Clampy: In a word, different. There were a lot of diplomatic challenges as unlike everyone of similar size I had no back up so it meant staying on constant lookout for what everyone else was doing and trying to come up with diplomatic solutions each time another cow started feeling carnivorous.

uTimes: Why did you decide to go solo in the first place?
Clampy: I had already planned on retiring from playing (again), then when I heard about there being a 4-week age, I thought I should try something very different, something I've never done before and know nothing about - cowing. :)

uTimes: What were some of the advantages and disadvantages with going solo?
Clampy: Disadvantages: Having no protection of a SKD is a big disadvantage as it means that ANY top KD could eventually farm me down with constant ops (late age a ghetto almost did). Getting virtually no aid at the start didn't really help either, and leading less experienced players in a ghetto presents its own challenges, particularly when it comes to who gets to use the explore pool. Also, getting into a war with another ghetto which killed about 450k peasants and destroyed 250mil gc didn't help either. Advantages: Seeing as I wasn't going to get in any wars, and the ghetto I was in wasn't even going to get to unfriendly with anyone (they were very inactive), no one would ever be able to do anything worse than like storms etc. which have minimal effect, so I figured there's no point having any wizards, they'd be better as peasants giving me extra income and sols (for exploring). The other advantages would be not having to get drawn into conflicts that would endanger me and being able to defect for more pool (which didn't work too well anyway), and to prevent the SKDs from getting gains on me due to the different kingdom NWs.

uTimes: Did you end up having CF relations with the other banks?
Clampy: At first I didn't, but as the OOP explorer targets started thinning and I had been hit by Rage and a few others I realized I needed to come up with some way to protect myself diplomatically, as I couldn't do it by military means. I basically told all the KDs with cows that if any one of them hit me, I would let the other cows farm me out. So say if Rage kept hitting me I'd release army and let Playboys farm me out - which is much worse for them than the free hit. All except for Seasons agreed, and that made me pretty much safe... for a while. It's all about seeing the silver lining. :)

uTimes: How did your kingdom mates react to things like these?
Clampy: The first kingdom I was in for most of the age (4:24) were great, they loved having me there helping with their strats, aiding out millions each day and protecting them from unwanted hostiles, and whenever a threat came up they were so willing to help however they could, though typically there was nothing really for them to do. The second KD had come out of a civil war, and was still at each others throats and 2 of their members even blamed me for them losing their last 4 wars (Even though I wasn't there), though most loved me being there, and eventually those who didn't like me at first seemed pretty happy to have me there. Even though I had over 50% of the kd nw (around 70% at the end), I gave the monarchy to the existing monarch out of respect and at that stage the extra 10% income wasn't entirely necessary.

uTimes: I assume the reason for your defection was because you ran out of pool?
Clampy: Spot on, I asked a bunch of people in ghettos how much explore pool they had, and average was around 20-30k, so I figured I could defect and grow 38 acres a day (that's what I calc'd at the time) instead of 20 as limited by pool. Unfortunately the kd I landed in had 5k acres and lots of people exploring, so I would've been bigger in the end if I had stayed in my original kd exploring 20 acres per tick.

uTimes: Overall, were you satisfied with your results this age? Would there be anything you would have liked to change if you had the chance to?
Clampy: I'm over the moon with how I went, I wouldn't have dreamed of being 4th as a ghetto-cow. Though there was a lot of room for improvement. If I did it again I'd actually calc out a build strat or something, or at least run a simulation.

uTimes: So would you recommend others to follow in your example and try cow'ing by themselves for an age? And what advice would you give off to those that may be interested in trying it out?
Clampy: Go for it, just don't be too optimistic about your performance, there was an awful lot of luck, diplomacy and calculations in my province (in that order), and make sure you have a solid plan for dealing with other cows/killers who will most definitely want to farm you out. Oh, and make sure you know the gains formula so you can move yourself out of range of enemies. And dice sucks, don't even think about it. :)

The Most Powerful Provinces in the World
February 1st, YR13

1 they do on the (15:15) Elf Sanctuary of Absalom (15:15) Orb Island (#15) 12,105,850 gc
2 Houses of the Holy (11:5) Elf Rage of Absalom (11:5) Escania (#5) 11,219,933 gc
3 Ugly Urchin (8:3) Elf Final Season (8:3) Corsov (#3) 9,581,960 gc
4 Clampy (13:18) Elf Ahhhh Nuts (13:18) Serpent Isle (#18) 6,050,711 gc
5 Thanks for the acres (11:5) Gnome Rage of Absalom (11:5) Escania (#5) 3,978,987 gc
6 Pong (11:5) Elf Rage of Absalom (11:5) Escania (#5) 3,646,066 gc
7 Daddy cool (8:18) Human Emperors NI (8:18) Serpent Isle (#18) 3,217,115 gc
8 Ping (11:5) Elf Rage of Absalom (11:5) Escania (#5) 3,109,632 gc
9 Thanx for the acres (11:5) Gnome Rage of Absalom (11:5) Escania (#5) 3,007,356 gc
10 Stephanie Seymour (13:40) Elf Secrets (13:40) Olav (#40) 2,668,521 gc

The Largest Provinces in the World
February 1st, YR13

1 they do on the (15:15) Elf Sanctuary of Absalom (15:15) Orb Island (#15) 47,945 Acres
2 Houses of the Holy (11:5) Elf Rage of Absalom (11:5) Escania (#5) 44,227 Acres
3 Ugly Urchin (8:3) Elf Final Season (8:3) Corsov (#3) 42,125 Acres
4 Clampy (13:18) Elf Ahhhh Nuts (13:18) Serpent Isle (#18) 27,850 Acres
5 Daddy cool (8:18) Human Emperors NI (8:18) Serpent Isle (#18) 17,996 Acres
6 Stephanie Seymour (13:40) Elf Secrets (13:40) Olav (#40) 14,824 Acres
7 Snuggles (2:35) Orc Playboys AR (2:35) Justa (#35) 14,766 Acres
8 Pong (11:5) Elf Rage of Absalom (11:5) Escania (#5) 12,876 Acres
9 Thanks for the acres (11:5) Gnome Rage of Absalom (11:5) Escania (#5) 12,660 Acres
10 dance Well they are (10:34) Gnome Pulse TCL (10:34) Icia (#34) 12,485 Acres

The Noteworthy Conflicts

Every age has its waves of turbulence up top, and this age was no different. Only three weeks into the age, the WoL saw its first heated battle between Rage of Absalom and Reunion. The two kingdoms were ranked #1 and #2 at the time the conflict began. The war ended with Rage coming out on top, gaining an early head start from the rest of the pack in the T5. Further details of the war can be read [here]. About a day after Rage and Reunion went to war, Sanctuary of Absalom and Playboys faced off in a war (in which the hostile actually started within the second week of age start, details can be read [here]), ending in a victory for Playboys. Later on into the age, Rage and Playboys kicked it off with an intense war which led to a bankruptcy for Playboys' cow (link [here]), and Rage continuing on their way at #1 spot. A couple of weeks later, another fervent battle took place between Rage and Fratzia (link [here]), in which Fratzia's two calves were cast (quite literally in colour) into the limelight.

Of course, who could forget the tangled web that most of the T20 weaved during YR9 (covered [here])? From waves to hostiles, and from retal wars to fake wars; it was a web of conflicts that involved kingdoms of all sizes and backgrounds. A head-on bank to bank showdown was also witnessed this age between Sanctuary and Seasons, which ended in a CF and Sanctuary's bank gaining over 4k acres (details [here]). End of Age conflicts were aplenty as well, namely two: one that involved four kingdoms, and one that involved six. Equilibrium, Sinners, Sanctuary and Freedom formed a square of hostiles where Equilibrium waved Sinners initially, which prompted Sinners to wave Sanctuary (ending in a CF), and when Sinners hopped into a FW (claiming to be no longer hostile with Equilibrium), Freedom moved in on Equilibrium. Finally, to close off the age, a snowball effect conflict sprouted from Secrets and Snowflake's hostile (read [here]). About 72 hours before EoA, Sleepy sent a wave into Rage for approximately 10k acres. One hour later, Seasons launched a wave of hits into Sleepy, which resulted in a declaration by Sleepy. And so, the Age of Rebirth came to a close, with unfinished hostiles and unfinished wars, leaving us in wonder of what could have been.

A Win-Win Situation

Apparently seven was the lucky number this age for the dedicated warring kingdoms of Marvel, Bodega Lotus, Fairytales HaJ, The Brotherhood, and Xiphos TF. Marvel, Bodega, and Fairytales sported perfect 7/7 records, while The Brotherhood posted a 7/9, and Xiphos exhibited a 7/8 record. Interestingly enough, all the kingdoms mentioned above were engulfed in an EoA war in which none of their opponents withdrew from at EoA. Thus, the War Wins crown would have to be shared five ways between these kingdoms.

The Honors List

For the most noble ones of this age, the crown went to Puffy GIRLS, who edged out Defiance by about 4k honor points, posting a total of 86k honor points.

Puffy GIRLS (abbreviated to PG from now on) is a newly formed kingdom this age. uTimes had a chance to speak with dazikas, a member of PG's council, who stated that the merger between Puffy and GIRLS was a big success, and provided them with great motivation for the new age. PG has had five wars this age, two of which dazikas mentioned were memorable: one particular one with a kingdom that got deleted and made them withdraw, but allowed them to gain in honor overall, and another one with Toasters Lotus. The concept of honor in Utopia, although arguably controversial, does require good planning and patience if a kingdom wants to gun for #1. PG recalls the course of the age being somewhat choosy, stating "as much as [they] wanted to war all the kingdoms [that] waved [them], [they] had to make sure they [had] enough honor for [them] to take, else it would be pointless." Most honor kingdoms chose to remain in the midst of a war come EoA, and for PG, it was the deciding factor for their crown as they were competing with at least three other kingdoms that were also in war. "We had to sink it in 30 minutes before EoA to take all the honor we could, and we ended up on top" said dazikas, when asked about how PG's EoA went. As for how PG's entire age went, dazikas was somewhat nonchalant about it, stating that they were satisfied with their performance, "except the almighty OMAC's extensions, but we adapted to it and made the best we could, and we reached the goals, so of course we're happy."

As for the rest of the T5, Defiance claimed the runner-up #2 spot at 82k honor points. The Brotherhood, Marvel, and The Remains rounded up the T5 in Honor with #3, #4, and #5, respectively.

The Most Honorable Kingdoms in the World
February 1st, YR13

1 Puffy GIRLS (1:22) Wallace (#22) 86,226
2 DEFIANCE (11:27) Barkonia (#27) 82,017
3 Unknown For Sale (2:10) Jarn (#10) 81,836
4 Panti Pijat Marvel (14:27) Barkonia (#27) 79,835
5 oO The Remains Oo (12:40) Olav (#40) 74,511
6 Pyromaniacs TF (4:12) Linst (#12) 74,171
7 S 1 3 3 p y of FTFW (15:39) Narsta (#39) 72,476
8 Warsong HOSTILE (8:4) Darth (#4) 71,726
9 ADDICTED (18:15) Orb Island (#15) 71,101
10 oh wtf were at war (14:21) Verdok (#21) 70,907

The Fugitive Princess

Earlier in the age, the province of cogito ego sum (played by a player called Pi) from the kingdom Krozac N Pi say bye (4:7) was crowned the first Princess on WoL, and maintained her regency for the remainder of the age, although she spent most of the second half of this age in Vacation Mode. A brief article in regards to her reign earlier on can be read [here]). At the time the article was written, her province and commotio cordis (4:7) (played by a player called Krozac) were #1 and #2 on the honor charts. Upon interviewing Pi, the two went into vacation mode mid-way through one of their wars due to RL circumstances. Later on, the province of commotio cordis (played by Krozac) took his account out of VM, and during one of their wars, was raze-killed because "his honor grew so fast that it threatened the then #2 honor province from some top honor kingdom", stated Pi. Pi herself never took her province out of VM until the last 30 seconds of the age, where she netted 1100 honor points in a quad tap. The reason, she said, was because she "predicted at least two kingdoms that wanted her DEAD", this was proven right when they started raze-killing her province during the last few moments of EoA. Luckily for her, when they finally sent her province to ruins, they were too late, and the age had already ended. When asked about how she felt about being the #1 ranked honor province this age, Pi's reply was: "I doubt many people cared much about honor, but for Krozac and me, it was something ... SPECIAL."

Many other provinces this age were crowned Princes and Princesses as well, with the T6 awarded with such luxury. The Brotherhood, Defiance, Marvel and MQN had provinces that followed behind Pi's #1 to round up the T5 placements.

The Most Honorable Provinces in the World
February 1st, YR13

1 cogito ego sum (4:7) Undead Krozac N Pi say bye (4:7) Gaia (#7) 9094
2 Brother Stealth (2:10) Gnome Unknown For Sale (2:10) Jarn (#10) 8753
3 I see unDead people (11:27) Gnome DEFIANCE (11:27) Barkonia (#27) 8554
4 SaMuRai (14:27) Gnome Panti Pijat Marvel (14:27) Barkonia (#27) 7520
5 WTFnotKozAgain (3:29) Gnome MQN Recruiting (3:29) Dorf (#29) 7464
6 Chaos is Come Again (3:30) Elf smell burnt meatball (3:30) Enia (#30) 7001
7 Silence Screaming (14:33) Undead Hardor (14:33) Harton (#33) 6925
8 Seven (3:29) Gnome MQN Recruiting (3:29) Dorf (#29) 6874
9 ogk (3:29) Gnome MQN Recruiting (3:29) Dorf (#29) 6606
10 Black Widow (14:27) Gnome Panti Pijat Marvel (14:27) Barkonia (#27) 6489

The Past, Present, and Future

The Age of Rebirth started out being announced for a mere four weeks in duration. Unfortunately, it was later announced by OMAC that the age would be extended, and many Utopians were kept in the dark until mid-age, where solid announcements finally came out with the age to continue until the end of YR12 (12 weeks). Ultimately, the short-turned-long age left many Utopians unsatisfied and vexed with OMAC's inconsistent communication. However, in the recent days things seem to be picking up again. The interview with Sean and Brian hopefully cleared up some of the questions that many of you had on your minds (the interview can be read [here]). Other than that, the Blog (link [here]) can provide the latest updates for the game.

The plan for next age, as OMAC stated in their updates, is a more or less six week age for WoL under the old code, while they touch up their new code, currently being tested with the help of Alpha testers. Once the majority of the bugs in the new code have been fixed, Sean and Brian stated (in their Blog) that they will look to open the testing pool for more players to participate in. As for the Alpha testing status, uTimes had a chance for a quick interview with a few of the Alpha testers. The interview is attached below:

uTimes: It seems everyone is eager to know what the status of the new code is at. So please enlighten us. :P
tzar: Well... it generally works, I guess. I mean, you can like build stuff and train and attack and op. It's all there... there's just bugs, which is why we're testing it.
Bishop: Right now the alpha has been opened up slightly to more testers. We now have 28 provinces in test, up from 12 initially. I believe 50 people were invited to this second round of testing, but obviously not all joined. The rest of the Alpha invites are to be sent out once we clear out the bugs list discovered by the new testing. There are roughly 50 bugs listed now, though some are duplications. None are really serious, some are minor like AD not displaying troops reawakened and many are of the "it didn't do this before!" variety.

uTimes: How many of you are testing currently?
tzar: Actively testing, before they opened up the alpha, about 10. More people had access, and in the beginning there were more provinces, but they went inactive.
Bishop: 28 provinces [now], including Brian and Sean.

uTimes: How many weeks has it been since the Alpha started?
Isaac: About a month.

uTimes: Has OMAC made much progress since then?
fimbul: Yes, the game used to break a ridiculous amount.
Bishop: They seem pretty decent at killing bugs. When we started there were bugs on every page - though nothing that didn't look as though it was easily fixed. The game was fairly playable, but nothing that you could release to public.

uTimes: Initially, what was your reaction when you first started on the Alpha testing?
tzar: I was like a kid in a candy store. New Utopia, here, for me. Epic win.
fimbul: tzar stop stealing my pool!
Isaac: I loved it even with the bugs.
Clampy: I must admit I was expecting it to be more done, but it was still great fun whenever you got the time, and great to laugh at the bugs.
Bishop: lolwtf is this - it looks different! Menus were different, font was different - it just seemed wrong after playing so many years with normal Utopia. It didn't take long to get used to Newtopia though, though some of the menu items should be reverted to be more familiar.

uTimes: Heard there was a load of bugs that needed fixing. Is that still the case?
tzar: There was, but Brian and Sean (we're on a first name basis now) are pretty quick on the fixes.
Bishop: From alpha 1 there were a hell of a lot of bugs. They fixed most of them fine it seems. Currently we have 50 like I said. In alpha 1 we were concentrating less on aesthetics and more on game play - checking attacks, spells, dragons etc. Now we are still checking game play mechanics, but also logging tickets about game appearance and wording of certain items etc.

uTimes: How are you guys splitting up the work in terms of testing? Like... does one province get all the thievery ops and spells on them, and one kingdom has all the dragons on them, etc. etc.? :P
fimbul: tzar gets the razes.
tzar: We didn't really have a conscious plan like one person gets all the thievery ops, it mainly depended on who was online at the time. You asked that like getting a dragon is a bad thing in alpha. :p
Bishop: We chat in #alpha about certain areas we want to test, like NS, sending dragons and the like. We compare damage done on spells and as to whether it matches messages, explore costs and the like. Apart from that I'm pretty much playing Newtopia as normal - its seems the easiest way to see what bugs there are is to just play. :p

uTimes: Is it okay to ask what some of the best/funniest bugs were in the Alpha? :P Or is that confidential information?
Clampy: Overpop giving you negative troops in training which turned into real troops. :) Much better than paying for them!
fimbul: Drakes used to break the ticking pattern.
tzar: I know I've personally been pretty open with discussing a few bugs in #strategy, particularly the negative networth bug, which was quite amusing to all. Another cool one was the dragon bug, as alluded to in my previous answer. I explored a whole pool with that one in about an hour. :D
Bishop: tzar sending out millions worth of solds in aid when he had none, leading to him being in negative networth was amusing. :) The best bug was when troops were being trained automatically from no-where - it was fun to be able to concentrate on growing/attacking without having to manage your province. :D

uTimes: So OMAC predicted the next age to be about 6 weeks in length. Do you see that vision holding true? If not, how long do you reckon the age will run to?
Isaac: It most likely not to be 6 weeks. For now I am guessing 12 weeks.
tzar: I've been guessing at least 8 weeks. But 6 weeks is possible, the new batch of testers should speed things up.
Bishop: Initially I didn't think it would be long enough - but if they continue to kill bugs at the rate they do now it looks a lot more viable.

uTimes: There's been a lot of angry comments thrown at OMAC regarding them unable to keep their promises. What do you have to say about that since you're in the testing zone with them?
tzar: Well... as far as exercises in futility go... that's a good one. I think a certain few people need to find some other outlet for their frustrations. Not the whole community, I mean, their delays aren't fun, but a few people seem to take it a bit far. The code will be done when it's done. The shit that goes in the forum won't exactly speed that up, and are probably more a distraction for the devs than anything helpful.
Bishop: I think as a player it sucks when you are told to expect something at a certain time and its not delivered. There is only so long you can ask people to "wait just a few more weeks!". I love Utopia though, so I'm really hoping they get this right - I'd rather wait and have it correct, then have them rush it and see it fail epically.

uTimes: Do you think the new code will help increase the player base again as OMAC hopes?
tzar: I don't think the new code will increase the player pool per se, a few old players might join to see what it's like, and I'm sure some people will leave because they don't like it, Utopians are stubborn like that, but, I expect some sort of advertisement of the game when the new code and all peripherals like the wiki and guide, some sort of teaching nubs how to play system are 100% done, and that to increase the player base. I suppose the game not falling down with cgi errors might help increase the player base too or at least stop the flow of players leaving.
Bishop: Ya, but indirectly. It's still a text based PBG - re-writing it isn't suddenly going to make people think wow - this is an awesome game. It was always awesome. I'm hoping with new code in place, no bugs and a solid platform to introduce changes onto, we can expect the guys to advertise the game heavily. I think the lack of advertising of the game is a major problem. As is the lack of an official newbie guide. Maybe if the community wiki takes off it will help in this regard.

At the Crossroads

They say nothing lasts forever, even in Utopia. Screwups, Gang of Four TF, Warcry, Seasons, and Halcyon NI have issued their farewells to the WoL this age.

Screwups, known in the last previous ages for their presence in the honor charts, have a long history together. After RedLenin, the central figure of Screwups fell ill, Screwups have felt the kingdom was not the same after his departure. An interview with RedLenin can be read [here]. Some of Screwups' recent achievements include two honor crowns in Age 42 and Age 40, and a T10 finish in NW in Age 38. Screwups have also been a long-standing member of the Covenant alliance, which disbanded in Age 42 (details can be read [here]). Screwups chose to disband mid-age this age, with Cheetzy (then Leadership in Screwups) delivering the disband statement, which can be viewed below:

Quote:

It is with a heavy heart and regret that the leadership of Screwups hereby disbands the kingdom. Over many ages whether you have liked or hated Screwups they have always been in one chart or another in the T20. ... (click to read the rest)

As many of you know our former monarch Lenin was ill and we felt that Screwups has not been the same since his departure. We thank Lenin for all his hard work he put into the kingdom and wish him well and hopes he recovers soon. We thank him for the guidance and leadership he gave us in Utopia that will be sorely missed by us and by many of his friends in the game.

We also thank every player who has been or was a Screwup for the constant effort they put into the kingdom making it a success through busy periods and sacrificing parts of their time, jobs and relaxation periods.

We thank all of our allies and friends who have stood beside us and fought for the cause and wish them all the best in Utopia.

Leadership of Screwups

Gang of Four, a warring kingdom created and led by Sjoerd, has been a long time member of the Truidian Federation alliance since their membership in April, 2008. GoF took part in the TF-KT AWAR which took place in Age 42, resulting in a victory for TF (details covered [here] and [here]). Their recent achievements include a T10 finish in the honor charts in Age 41, and numerous T50 finishes in the honor charts in past ages. Unfortunately, uTimes was unable to contact any members of GoF for a disband statement.

Warcry, created in Age 18 by Flafffy, and led from thereon by vdshark, decided to officially disband this age after 25 ages of playing together (with no breaks in between). Throughout the past ages, Warcry has been in a number of prominent alliances such as VAT, NA, CSB, and NoX. Warcry, as vdshark put it, was built on one simple rule: "love each other fuck the rest". Over the ages they have had their share of vendettas with other prominent kingdoms, one particular controversial one to note was the mass deletions that happened during the war between Warcry and Splendor (the details are covered [here]). Some of Warcry's notable achievements include #2 honor placements in Age 22 and Age 27 (on the WoL server), a T15 honor rank and T40 NW rank in Age 31, and of course, the prestigious #1 NW/Land crown they received in Age 42 (a brief interview in regards to that age with vdshark can be read [here]). Warcry's disband statement can be read below:

Quote:

cya all we liked how we raped u

Seasons, a household name in the past seven ages, rose from the ashes of the disbanded kingdom NeXuS. Known for their consistent chartings at the top in the past few ages, beginning with a #1 honor placement in Age 37, and charting within the T3 from Age 38 to Age 42, Seasons have also netted two NW/Land crowns in their achievements during Age 39 and Age 41. During the ages of their existence, Seasons have continuously entertained the Utopian community with flawless and awe-inspiring wars, and acted as a role model within the circle of kingdoms at the top. A further read through Seasons' history can be found [here]. Seasons' disband statement can be read below:

Quote:

Congrats to Rage! RIP Coss.

Halcyon, a kingdom formed from the merge between iDoom (the old Bloodstone shell) and La Famaglia, have been a long-time member of the Nex Imperio (NI) alliance. Halcyon was born in Age 40, and have had some impressive chartings in the T30s for NW/Land, including a 29th placement in Age 40, a 27th placement in Age 41, and a 33rd placement in Age 42. Halcyon's disband statement can be read below:

Quote:

A thank you to past and present players for being a great bunch to play with over the last few years, an putting up with me calling them all nubs in the middle of our waves :P An good luck to all our enemies who kept us setting our alarms at ungodly hours in the night so that we can get online to send out again. Especially Tivoli for being a particular pain in the butt.

Conclusion

Finally, the last few pieces of the puzzle this age have settled in, whether they're the right pieces, however, is another story. It's been a long journey for many kingdoms in Utopia. For the ones that are starting out fresh, there is potential and excitement to look forward to, for the old-timers of this game, there is always reassurance and stability, and for the kingdoms that bid adieu to this game, there is accomplishment and relief. And somewhere between all the bittersweet farewells, the snowballing-effect grudges, and the warmongering frenzies, there is a future: Utopians eagerly await the arrival of the new code, and cling on to the hope that it will propel them to continue on in this world called Utopia.

Comments

AquaSeaFoam, from Rage of Absalom
"Thanks everyone for another memorable age of Utopia. Good luck and have fun next age."

Deana, from Sanctuary of Absalom
"We were getting screwed all age and still got #1. Congrats to Rage, the best kingdom to share this with. Abs ftw."

MoD, from Old School
"He pulls a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. That's the Old School way."

NaDa, from Secrets
"Phenomenal effort from all our players this age. You guys deserved it."

Cello, from Seasons
"For everything there's a beginning and an end. This was the final Season. We had a good run: 2 land and networth crowns, 1 honor crown, a couple of good cow runs and several top 3 finishes for land and networth. Thanks to all our friends for the cooperation. Special thanks to Elit, Dirty- and Amaz, without them the whole thing would not have happened!"

SnirpsneR, from Playboys
"Gee, Brain. What are we going to do tonight? The same thing we do every night, Pinky. Try to take over the world."

Mad_Scottish, from Fairytales HaJ
"War records are sexy, especially when you have no losses. However, none of this could be achieved without the fantastic group that I have in the kingdom council. Without them staying up at night to make sure people make the proper hits and bugging people, we wouldn't have the record we do."

dazikas, from Puffy GIRLS
"GG EVERYONE FOR THE HARD WORK! SOMEBODY STOP US! REALLY! Were open for business this age, were gonna take on anyone that touches us. We gonna touch anyone and war everything that moves, who don't move - we'll shake and then war. So get ready! Bring it!"

Princess, from Defiance
"Great work by my defiance boys, we had a few wars and the honor was just a plus to a fun age!"

Sharu, from Xiphos
"With the 'short' age promised by OMAC, Xiphos had decided to take the age-off. But seeing reality last longer we decided to get back to what we love about this game so glad to see our efforts rewarded. Congrats to all Xiphos players and good luck to everybody in the new 'short age' just started."

Arthur, from Bodega
"Undeads suck."

Apollos, from Marvel
"My mom used to tell me that going to bed early is good, but i never listened coz she's never around."

KemoZabee, from Remains

jdorje, #1 NW/Land Province
"Thanks to the sanc crew for all the aid and sticking through this long 4-week age."

Clampy, #4 NW/Land Province
"PM me if you would like me to run scripts with gains formula and gbp calculations etc. for your kd, for more information see http://clampy.webdrisign.com/ClampbotReadme.txt.

Pi, #1 Honor Province
"Just a quick "I MISS YOU" to any oldbies who might be reading this (Kerstin? Jack Remeau? and the rest of the JRRT Angband JRRT crew). Bye for now ... we would like to wish this wonderful game, Utopia, all the best! -- e to the pi i + krozac."

uTimes would like to congratulate all kingdoms and individuals that placed in the charts this age, and would like to wish everyone a happy new age! We would also like to thank all participating kingdoms and individuals that contributed their comments and time into the EoA article, and we apologize for the long delays it took for this article to come out. Any kingdoms or individuals looking to add their comments or correct any mistakes of facts within this article should contact Versace in #utimes.

Comments

23 comments posted

Seasons' disband statement can be read below:
Quote:

Congrats to Rage! RIP Coss.

It was my pleasure to rape you 2 ages in a raw :D

Posted by coss on Tue, 08/11/2009 - 04:58

Truely awesome EoA article, great work :)
Grats to everyone who had a fun age, and thanks for not farming me :D

P.S. that link should now read: http://clampy.webdrisign.com/ClampbotReadme.txt

Posted by Clampy on Tue, 08/11/2009 - 05:14

THIS ARTICLE IS SO PRO ABS

Posted by Peppie on Tue, 08/11/2009 - 06:01

Why is anyone suprised about this?

Posted by TheNewGuyInTown on Tue, 08/11/2009 - 07:45

Nicely written article and a good read! If an article is about the top, and the top consists of 2 Abs kd's, its not that weird they get a lot of space, even if it perhaps was a lil too much. Seems a lot of time was put into this to contact a lot of involved kd's and cover many stories, so cheers to the reporters.

Posted by Elurin on Tue, 08/11/2009 - 09:13

It was well written but I also agree there was quite alot on Absalom and many good wars not noted.

Posted by Dark Messiah on Tue, 08/11/2009 - 09:34

PUFFY GIRLS FTW!!

Posted by aq47 on Tue, 08/11/2009 - 09:47

OMG Utopia is so Pro-Abs, obviously Abs being able to finish 1-2 is due to the game being biased!

You people make me laugh.

Posted by DHaran on Tue, 08/11/2009 - 11:08

I enjoyed the article, well done. Gratz to all the winners. Puffy Girls is an incredible gay kd name btw.. I like it. :p

Posted by Rapala on Tue, 08/11/2009 - 12:22

old school ftw

Posted by Shagrath on Tue, 08/11/2009 - 12:36

<3 to the author of article
good read =)

Posted by _greenie on Tue, 08/11/2009 - 12:57

Was interesting to read.

Too much absalom in article? Hmmm, I did not notice any word abt Trinity, Doa, Grace or Mercy. Only 1 word abt EQ. So it's all abt Rage and Sanc, no? So what can I say... win 3 crowns like Sanc or even 1 crown and 3 wars in top5 and half article will be abt ur ghetto.

Congratz to Sanc, but Rage is so much more FTW ;)

RIP Seasons, Dirty+Amaz+Elit was godlike leaders combo indeed.

P.S.
Whoever from Seasons joined PBs is plain homosexual imo^^

Posted by Drug on Tue, 08/11/2009 - 13:58

best article 2 come out in a while :DD cngrats 2 winners!!! y so many disband??
n tx versace 4 interview! :D

Posted by rilo on Tue, 08/11/2009 - 15:28

your mom is ghetto imo ;)

Posted by Realest on Tue, 08/11/2009 - 16:22

This article kicked major ass, lots of good information and everything was well-written, good work to every reporters who were involved into the writeup.

Favorite part was the interview with Clampy :).

Posted by LTDL on Tue, 08/11/2009 - 17:32

Excellent article

congrats to all the winners

Posted by Lead Pipe on Tue, 08/11/2009 - 17:53

ahh - now i remember where i saw that nickname pi first
and oldie from the utopiatemple gallerie returned^^
grats to all ppl that charted and reached their set goals :)

Posted by mod on Tue, 08/11/2009 - 22:15

Grats to FT.

Ofc the articles will always be abs slanted. That is just part of the game. This age, if we whoop a decent abs kingdom and it seems slanted here, we will ofc give the papers to the site that agrees to be fair.

<3 coss, Webbie, Tz, Balign and the rest of sleepy.

PS: It was quite funny to watch two big guys of rage log during our wave and not even think to check paper. Ego will get u everytime,

Peace out,

SleeplessDwarf

Posted by sleeplessdwarf on Wed, 08/12/2009 - 05:57

<3 staff for the awesome work behind this article

Posted by stella on Wed, 08/12/2009 - 16:16

Very good job Utimes!

Congrats on the Winners!

Posted by Marek on Wed, 08/12/2009 - 19:10

Great story and thanks for the effort made by all the reporters.

Just found out this is our 2nd warwin crown in a row :p

Posted by Sharu on Thu, 08/13/2009 - 22:37

"his honor grew so fast that it threatened the then #2 honor province from some top honor kingdom"

This person reached #1 Bullshit/acre.

Posted by Rlyeah on Fri, 08/14/2009 - 03:34

Its good when people make post about cows wars to get more info first from all sides. My Build start was pretty good and real reason for get hit was simple inactivity from Seasons. Making good cow is team job and when all KD not make his job cow cant do it alone. Seasons planed to disband 1 age ago but we decide to play one short age for 4 weeks. After week 5-6 all KD complete stooped care for utopia. Notice Sanctuary was try to wake up KD but this fail. Cf with sanctuary was hard decision ...but i decide to pay with land from my prov for nap them because we are so inactive for war vs good KD like sanctuary.. After it we didn't make 1 hit in peace for 3 weeks because none want to hit 60-50% smallest prov...Chart didn't mater for wave smaller KD too . Short before age end we did fun war with sleepy. Our activity was still low but good enough for make what we want.
I'm really enjoy all time in season. A lot cool people and nice time with them. Dirty and Amaz are rox.
Like every good story: its have begin and end. When a lot people cant play more its better to move on. Finally I can rest well and not wake up every night for utopia.

P.S.
I'm Just back from huge utopia beer meet. (Jair,Dena,vdsahrk,margo,crow,ice and other)Playing utopia is good only if produce new RL frends and fun.

Posted by Elit on Sun, 08/16/2009 - 23:18

EoA Article: Age of Rebirth (Age 43)

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