State of Progress: Travian, World 5

After very little deliberation last night, I have decided to quit playing Travian. I have told John and AK about it but I have yet to tell Yen Lyn, Augustine, Willie and Chester.



Initially, I was distracted by Eli Baskin who wanted to play in World 1 and I did play in World 1. I was then attacked daily for about a fortnight or more by a player named Bones with 100-200 troops. I managed to build enough crannies to stop him from plundering. At the same time, it was a massive setback because I could not devote my resources to building.

Eventually, over a period of three weeks, my neighbours and I managed to build up an army with a shared defence and we beat Bones. Since then, he hasn't attacked. And I managed to build up my village.

Augustine, John and Willie were meanwhile raiding and plundering with huge armies. They had also second cities and more.

My final position in this little of the world. This is the end. That's all folks.

State of Progress: Travian, World 5



I finally managed to build up some semblance of a defence. 151 Praetorians. I had not expect to be attacked daily initially. With the army, it bought some breathing space and I was able to develop a few of the resource-generating sites to level 10.

At level ten, these sites enabled the building of a bakery,a brickyard, a sawmill and an iron foundry which further enhanced production rates. The village is getting developed and picturesque. I had had to demolish some crannies to make way for these new buildings.

The environs. Sadly, an ally has quit nearby.

John's World: Travian, World 5

Mail from John, an old friend of over two decades. John is an old gaming pal who is a practising lawyer in Northern California. John has a powerful army of over 1000 troops but he is faced with a behemoth with over 4000 troops. Can he survive?

John is incredibly good at this. He swiftly surpassed me in village population and size and seems to grasp the concepts very swiftly despite not having played this. Of course, like myself, he has played real-time strategy games. John's passion is biking in Mexico.

An in-game mail from John:

divelaw 25.03.07
no subject
12:11:31

Well I have been through a lot.Yesterday I was dodging all her attacks and instead sent my army to raid her. I was getting more from her then she was getting from me. But then another member of Lucky sent in an attack. I sent my army off to attack him, but he 1,300 defensive troops waiting and my once proud army was reduced to almost nothing.During the night I was hit twice more, what was left of my army was destoryed.Today, with my army slowly rebuilding, I dodged two attacks of just troops, no resources were lost. But yesterday she sent catapults that took 24 hours to arrive. She sent two waves, 35 seconds apart. I had managed to build 75 troops and decided to make a stand (I had set my account to be deleted and wanted to make a stand. I even rename my city Thermopylae) I dodged the first wave (which had 1,000 troops and 80 catapults). They destroyed my stable and barricks. But I timed my army to return in the 35 seconds between the two attacks.The second wave only had 78 troops, but 80 catapults. All my troops died, but I took out 25 catapults and 24 troops. My main building and markets were each knocked down a few levels, but were not destoyed.It has been 5 hours since then and no new attacks. Do I dare hope she thinks she has "taught me a lessson" and move on? Only time will tell.I stopped the deletion of my city. My alliance needs me. I am the new diplomatic and probably the smartest person in the alliance. Lots of people ask my advice.

In which AK expresses his desire to have his opponent killed

AK is rambling on about his failed rigged elections in Chosen Space on Windows Live Messenger.

AK Silverune says:
lost the election for some reason

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
But you rigged it!

AK Silverune says:
but i'm having a hit taken out on the winner and hence restarting the election

AK Silverune says:
actually i tried to rig it, not knowing the full extent of how the process works.

AK Silverune says:
but chester getting killed didn't help.

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
Hmm...

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
Sounds like you were ignorant.

AK Silverune says:
yes i was ignorant.

AK Silverune says:
now i'm not

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
Now, you are resorting to assassination to get that post?

AK Silverune says:
to TRY and get the post

AK Silverune says:
because it means elections will happen again

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
And you will rig it again, right?

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
Well, did you not learn that cheaters don't win from that last episode?

AK Silverune says:
well it isn't that possible to rig it since you and chester haven't stayed with the planet long enough to vote.

AK Silverune says:
so it's a risk. yes.

AK Silverune says:
well my other option is to join his council, have him killed and take over.

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
Hmm...

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
You sound like a Borgia.

AK Silverune says:
what's that.

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
Oh, you don't know. I didn't expect you to know anyhow.

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
It doesn't matter.

AK Silverune says:
why don't you tell me ?

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
Why would I? I am content to leave you in ignorance.

AK Silverune says:
this game isn't as straightfoward as TW

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
If you say so.

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
And this is coming from a guy who got wiped out in the early part of the game.

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
ie did not survive.

AK Silverune says:
heh

AK Silverune says:
CS is more political i guess.

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
Keep on guessing.

AK Silverune says:
but SC!

AK Silverune says:
you're my best supporter!

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
What other pearls of wisdom can you offer?

AK Silverune says:
my own personal puppet!

AK Silverune says:
surely you can offer me words of support

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
I want to learn from your ignorance!

AK Silverune says:
you don't approve of my methods in CS?

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
Did I say that?

AK Silverune says:
it was an innocent question from an innocent gamer.

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
I think there are two falsehoods in that question alone.

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
It is not an innocent question.

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
And you are not an innocent gamer.

AK Silverune says:
but i am! and it is!

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
You would have to show proof.

AK Silverune says:
how about you? show proof of your baseless accusations.

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
But you made that assertion that you were innocent and you asked an innocent question. You need to back your assertion up.

AK Silverune says:
aftre your back your baseless accusations!

AK Silverune says:
er after you back.

AK Silverune says:
ok, i just ordered a hit on the election winner.

AK Silverune says:
what do you say to that SC?

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
Hmm.. You do play dirty.

AK Silverune says:
well it's interesting.

AK Silverune says:
it is an MMO

AK Silverune says:
there will be consequences for my actions.

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
I hope they whip you like they did on Tribal Wars.

AK Silverune says:
but the assassins have a code they abide, a code of confidentiality.

AK Silverune says:
bah, you're no better.

AK Silverune says:
your army got wiped out! and you were the aggressor!

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
Not on World 5.

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
And on World 3, my army has been rebuilt. I conquered a second village.

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
And I am conquering a third village soon.

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
What do you say to that?

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
Speechless?

AK Silverune says:
i saw you're too gutless to play CS.

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
I have decided not play in games where I get abandoned by you in the midst of everything.

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
Where you turned tail and ran like a whipped puppy.

AK Silverune says:
bah! excuses!

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
Did you not turn yellow and run?

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
How many games? Travian? Tribal Wars?

AK Silverune says:
they were boring you fool

AK Silverune says:
B

AK Silverune says:
O

AK Silverune says:
R

AK Silverune says:
E

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
Excuses!

AK Silverune says:
yes your weak excuses show off your weakness

State of Progress: Travian, World 5

My village in Travian, World 5, is heavily built up, however, with the wrong things. Too many crannies for hiding resources. The main reason is that there are very powerful villages that are raiding all the nearby villages and preventing them from progressing. These armies of 50 to 200 men would raid almost daily. One of them raided twice daily and has so far plundered little of worth in the last week or two. (He had managed to plunder some resources due to the fact that I had to plug my Electric Barbarella in.)



I can't get my resources much higher as I refuse to build additional storage space to house them. I can't hide all that resources. In a sense, I am at a impasse.

Right now, I am banding up with a few neighbours and we are consolidating a defence to beat off these raiders. So far, they had eliminated a raider army.

Rigged Elections

Here is an exchange this morning about Chosen Space. AK is trying to get me to want to play that game. Somehow, I have been uninterested.

AK Silverune says:
have you flown to planet Rumino yet? and voted for me?

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
I don't know how.

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
I won't be logging on ever again.

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
You can use my account.

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
It's all yours.

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
I have quit playing that game.

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
Like how you quit World 3 in Tribal Wars and Travian.

AK Silverune says:
you can hardly blame me for quitting those substandard games

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
I don't have time for this game.

AK Silverune says:
like how you quit AD&D

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
You can hardly blame me for quitting those games with substandard allies.

AK Silverune says:
oh dear!

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
I know.

AK Silverune says:
i was a good ally

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
It's sad.

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
Those people quit on me, eh?

AK Silverune says:
i was being killed! while you went off on your crusades! killing all those moslems!

AK Silverune says:
i shall install your player as my 2nd in command

AK Silverune says:
get him to fetch me water and my papers

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
Excellent!

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
Go right ahead!

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
Do remember the password.

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
Oh dear.

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
Are you going to be prez?

AK Silverune says:
dunno yet

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
I think you are. You got the deviant look.

AK Silverune says:
i'm up against a particularly bloodthirsty individual known for violent attacks against civilian traffic.

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
Sounds like you are against a mirror image of yourself.

AK Silverune says:
he might be unhappy if he loses

AK Silverune says:
hehehe

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
I think you might be unhappy too, right?

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
Will you hold the office in perpetuality?

AK Silverune says:
yes and no

AK Silverune says:
if i die, i lose it

AK Silverune says:
but can be reappointed by my lieutenants

AK Silverune says:
if they cooperate

cyberiad@pacific.net.sg says:
Ahh.. They are co-operative I am sure. After all, you control them.

AK Silverune says:
exactly

Travian, World 5


My current game in Travian is World 5. I kept getting attacked by large armies. At least, those that I can't defend against. However, my crannies, of which I have five, have minimised the losses to nought. I lose nothing.

The reports of attacks. Quite a bit. There is no point in building an army. It would get wiped.

My village is getting crowded. I am developing my village. Not as quickly as John as he raids. Yen Lyn, Emperor Loh, Augustine, Chester are also playing. AK has given up.

My resource generating sites could be better developed as I lost focus earlier when I was playing many simultaneous games.

Travian, World 1



Eli (Iolai) has decided to quit Travian. I discussed this with Augustine who is playing three different worlds at the same time and we have also decided to quit World 1.

This is my final positions. The village and the buildings in it.

Travian, World 1

No troops yet. I am pursuing a pacifist policy of pure building for now.

Travian, World 5

My village in Travian, World 5. Why have I named it Laksa, an awful local dish when I think Laksa is like diarrhoea? Well, there is a moderate player a few screens away that has a village by the same name. So, I hope to confuse matters when it comes to attacks. Let attackers who want to target me pick on him instead!

Yes, there is a bunch of players from Penang near by who name their villages after food names.

I have built 3 crannies. One at level 10 which can hold 1000 units of resource of each type, two at level 3.

I had thoughts of pursuing a pacifist policy, pure building and no conquest. However, I am not decided. I am a barracks.

I am thinking of a palace later.

His Majesty Loh the Great makes a Royal Appearance

His Majesty appeared on MSN Messenger just now:

Emperor Loh says:
oh mighty chuang...

Chuang Shyue Chou says:
Yes, your Highness?

Emperor Loh says:
I have converted to MN by your command..

Emperor Loh says:
MSN that is...

Chuang Shyue Chou says:
Can I get up now? I have been kowtowing non-stop for the last few hours when I saw that I missed your summons.

Chuang Shyue Chou says:
I was afraid that you will execute me.

Emperor Loh says:
hahah! Are you still playing on S7?

Chuang Shyue Chou says:
Yes I am!

Chuang Shyue Chou says:
I got attacked many times.

Chuang Shyue Chou says:
However, I built my cranny up to level 10 and constructed a second one.

Chuang Shyue Chou says:
And a third one.

Emperor Loh says:
want some resources? Its the only way I can think of 2 offer u some sacrifices and resources...

Silverado!

This was an exchange from about two weeks back where AK (Silver or Silverune) vehemently proclaimed that he would not play any online game. Subsequently, he not only started playing Tribal Wars, he tried Travian, Astro Empires, Pardus and many many more. He ended playing Chosen Space and Tribal Wars.

AK says:
hi there

Chuang Shyue Chou says:
Have you made the down payment for the new Kuobyville Horror*?

AK says:
i don't understand what you mean

Chuang Shyue Chou says:
Are you going to play Tribal Wars?

Chuang Shyue Chou says:
Colin is playing that.

Chuang Shyue Chou says:
http://www.tribalwars.net

Chuang Shyue Chou says:
I'm in World 3.

Chuang Shyue Chou says:
Give Travian a try:
http://www.travian.com:80/

This one has a historical theme with Romans, Gauls and Teutons.
http://www.travian.com/anleitung.php

AK says:
no

AK says:
chester has tried to get me to play

AK says:
but i'm too busy right now

Chuang Shyue Chou says:
Which one is Chester playing? Travian or Tribal Wars?

AK says:
life and all that. you know? that which you lack.

AK says:
tribal wars

Chuang Shyue Chou says:
Ahhh...

Chuang Shyue Chou says:
I think I am a lot more interested in Travian than Tribal Wars.

Chuang Shyue Chou says:
Travian has got Gauls, Romans and Teutons!

AK says:
yea yea sure sure

Chuang Shyue Chou says:
Hmm.. you sound pretty sour.

Chuang Shyue Chou says:
What happened, Sourpuss?

AK says:
i'm not sour

Chuang Shyue Chou says:
You sound very sour to me.

AK says:
anyhow i'm stuck on this job

AK says:
we've missed the deadline by a week already

AK says:
the boss isn't giving enough direction somehow.

AK says:
oh well i'm only a hired gun. a freelancer with no loyalties.

Chuang Shyue Chou says:
Of course, since you play the part of a deceiver.

Chuang Shyue Chou says:
A professional deceiver, peddling lies to children and the innocent.

AK says:
oh there you go again

AK says:
flap flap flap

Chuang Shyue Chou says:
Selling fast food and alcohol to them. Amoral.

AK says:
close the lips of yours!

Chuang Shyue Chou says:
Learn an honest trade.

AK says:
GO. tell ME.

AK says:
ok. give me an example.

Chuang Shyue Chou says:
You haven't toiled an honest day in your life, have you?

AK says:
you can't tell me can you?

AK says:
YOU

AK says:
DON'T

AK says:
HAVE

Chuang Shyue Chou says:
Huh?

Chuang Shyue Chou says:
You can't see the farmer in his fields?

Chuang Shyue Chou says:
Producing food?

Chuang Shyue Chou says:
Are you blind?

AK says:
you're on drugs again. where's this farmer on the fields that you see?

Chuang Shyue Chou says:
Trying to divert attention from the fact that you are a societal leech?

AK says:
F

AK says:
U

AK says:
C

AK says:
Kuo!

Chuang Shyue Chou says:
Trying to divert attention that you are lackey of alcohol and fast food companies?

AK says:
what's your take on the long-term viability of cinemas?

AK says:
specifically cineplexes

Chuang Shyue Chou says:
They thrive in Singapore for some reason.

Chuang Shyue Chou says:
As a destination in a developed Western state, I'm not too sure.

Chuang Shyue Chou says:
It's competing with many more types of entertainment.

Chuang Shyue Chou says:
Not good.

Chuang Shyue Chou says:
I don't have numbers in the West. From the reports I have read, it is not good. The numbers have been declining. The golden age of cinema is over since the percentage of the population has declined greatly since.

AK says:
anyway cinemas are more entertainment complexes now

AK says:
that's what's been happening in the west

AK says:
but in australia, there aren't any huge cineplexes like orchard cineleisure

Chuang Shyue Chou says:
For Singapore, according to a report today, Golden Village has up to 48-49% of the local market. Cathay and Shaw?

Chuang Shyue Chou says:
I think cheap DVDs are overrunning China and possibly India.

AK says:
singapore has a very high rate of cinema viewership compared to other countries.

AK says:
singapore is unusual.

Chuang Shyue Chou says:
Anomaly.

AK says:
like your farmer

Chuang Shyue Chou says:
Like you, the copydeceiver?

AK says:
so what does one do with a big campaign when the ECD doesn't have much direction for you.

Chuang Shyue Chou says:
ECD?

Chuang Shyue Chou says:
Evil Copy Deceiver?

AK says:
Executive Creative Director - the dept boss basically.

Chuang Shyue Chou says:
Ahh....

Chuang Shyue Chou says:
Well, you said you were so creative.

AK says:
it all depends.

Chuang Shyue Chou says:
And that other Singaporeans were losers compared to you.

Chuang Shyue Chou says:
And only you have it.

AK says:
woh. such slander never departs from my lips.

AK says:
it stays in my brain and not in your mouth drain.

AK says:
eh? eh? you like that?

AK says:
rhyming words.

Chuang Shyue Chou says:
You're the Hokkien vulgarity spewer, remember?

AK says:
F

AK says:
U

AK says:
C

AK says:
Kuo!

Chuang Shyue Chou says:
Not merely Hokkien.

AK says:
F

AK says:
U

AK says:
Kayu!

AK says:
C

AK says:
that's malay

AK says:
Kayu

Chuang Shyue Chou says:
Hmm...

AK says:
Kaya

AK says:
that's an egg jam

AK says:
if you stuff that jam in your mouth, you'd be talking les.

Chuang Shyue Chou says:
Eh?

AK says:
listen

AK says:
KAYA

AK says:
EGG JAM

AK says:
stuffin your mouth and shut yer pie hole.

*Kuobyville Horror refers to AK (Silver or Silverune)'s new abode.