Here's an interesting strategy tip for you. This tip works better for lower level Keepers, up until you build a Training Room.
Before the Training Room arrives, all creatures are stuck at level 1. By looking at their Dungeon Score, the type of creatures that a Keeper has is VERY predictable. In fact, by looking at somebody's Creature Score, you also get an idea of how many creatures a Keeper has (we'll save that for another post).
The following is the minimum dungeon points required to recruit a specific creature.
Glowworm 190
Goblin 880
Salamander 2025
Wizard 4930
Deviler 6530
Troll 9430
Dark Elf 10730
Black Rider 20480
If a Keeper has LESS than the points listed, they can NOT recruit the listed creature. Most beginning players will only upgrade their rooms far enough to get their next upgrade - to recruit a new creature or to build the next room. This strategy leads to a very predictable dungeon composition.
example: If you have Salamanders and one of your neighbors has a dungeon score less than 2025, you can be sure that the best defense they have is goblins.
With my walkthrough account, I've decided to take it slow. Getting into the Top 100 isn't very important to me as it was with my first account on the English server. As I have mentioned in previous posts, one of my goals with the walkthrough account is to train a few squads to level 10 before upgrading my rooms further.
I'm going to outline my dungeon strategy and my attack strategy. Hopefully, some of you will find this useful.
- My German server account is at about rank 2300
- I have 10 training slots
- Maximum creature level is 10
- Defense is not very important to me right now
- Except for Chicken Farms and Sleeping Quarters, I don't intend to upgrade my dungeon until I have at least twelve level 10 Dark Elves
- I hate Internet Explorer (version 6 AND 7)
The setup:
I typically need 3 browser tabs to get enough surveillance information.
- Attack Screen
- My recent Attack reports
- The high score list of Keepers near me
Before I decided to start attacking, I made sure that my creatures were leveled up (for me this was level 10). Once I started attacking, it is better to attack regularly. Skipping a few days can have consequences (I'll get into this later).
From the high score list, make a list of Keepers near you with lots of gold. I prefer 200 points of more, but I will go as low as 100 points. If your target has anything less than that, your chances of bringing back a lot of gold are SLIM!!
I also check my recent attack reports. It's good to remember Keepers that have no defense. It's also wise to remember Keepers that have good defense, don't waste time trying to scout them again. Use the search function to see if you have recently attacked your target list.
Deciding the best targets...The 2 indicators that I use to find a good target are Battle Points and Creature Points. Keepers with low Battle Points, don't have much fighting experience. Keepers with low Creature Points USUALLY don't have good defense. Some Keepers with low Creature Points actually have the BEST defense, so be careful.
Once you have found a tempting target, it's time for reconnaissance. Forget Evil Eye! It's a waste of money! Research it to get your spells/traps, but I never use it to scout enemies. Hire 1 glowworm for 300 gold, put it in a 1 creature group and attack one of your targets. If it gets through, you have 10 gold. Follow-up with an attack with your Devilers (you shouldn't be attacking with anything except Devilers).
If your glowworm runs into defense, it's definitely dead. BUT, take a look at what he runs into. If the opponents are low level, attack with your Devilers anyway. If your opponent has a Defense Bonus, think before you send in your Devilers.
+5% chance to hit = target has 50% - 74% coverage
+10% chance to hit = target as 75% - 99% coverage
+15% chance to hit = target as 100%+ coverage
I still attack if my target is getting a +5% bonus.
Using a glowworm (300 gold) to scout is cheaper than a level 3 Evil Eye (348 gold). My glowworms usually last for more than 1 attack. They bring back 10 gold quite often, and they are GUARANTEED to detect 0% defense.
The magic is seeing the phrase "Muahahaha, the enemy is a WORM! You were able to enter the enemy dungeon with no resistance and looted XX". This means that your target does not have ANY defense. Send in your Devilers right away. If you're feeling confident, send in your Imps too! Believe me, it feels great when your Imps come back with 1000+ gold!!! Muahahaha!!
* I take no responsibility for you losing Imps. I have made multiple attacks with my level 5 Imps and none of my Imps have ever taken any damage since I started following this strategy. Your results may vary.
I have no fear of repeatedly attacking the same Keeper. If a Keeper has zero defense and if he is near me for 2-3 days, he can expect to get hit at least 2-3 time per day (sometimes more often). It's easy money.
When your Devilers return, be sure to HEAL them. You worked hard to train them, don't lose any of them because you got careless. Check out who is in attack range and repeat the whole process. Sometimes, it is a good idea to spend some money on training so that your rank drops back down and you can keep attacking a good target.
About attacking regularly...It's good to attack regularly so that you constantly know who is a good target near you. The consequence of not attacking regularly is that you will have to spend MORE money on glowworms to probe your potential targets.
That's about it. This has worked well for me and it should be a profitable strategy for you also. If somebody out there wants to experiment with attacking Keepers with a high Battle Score or if you have any comments on how I interpret Creature Scores, go ahead and post a comment. High Battle Scores might mean that the only thing that person is doing is attacking. Just because they attack a lot does not mean that their defense is any good. Likewise, a very high Creature Score often means that a Keeper has lots of low-level creatures. It's fun to kill 3 or 4 low-level creatures in one attack. Muahahaha!!
Somebody attacked me with level 10 Black Riders this week and killed 2 level 7 Dark Elves in one attack. He stole about 600 gold, but I can excavate that easily.
Here's the strategy part:
- I was online when he attacked a second time with his Black Riders. Somehow, my level 7 Devilers took tons of damage, but none of them died.
- I knew he would come back for at least 1 more attack, so I removed ALL of my creatures from defense. It's better to lose a 1k-2k in gold than to lose any more mid-level creatures.
- So he waltzes in with some level 14 Black Riders...You are a WORM! The enemy strolled into your dungeon, encountered no resistance and strolled back out with 618 Gold.....
- Not a bad haul for Black Riders
- Then about 1 minute later, he comes back for his 4th attack. But this time, it's with Imps! You are a WORM! The enemy strolled into your dungeon, encountered no resistance and strolled back out with 940 Gold.....
His last attack was with 8 Imps (level 5-6). I was surprised to see such low level Imps from such a high level Keeper. I also wonder if I could have seen his 3rd attack and put enough creatures back on defense before his 4th attack. That would have been awesome!
If the defender has NO creatures on defense, the defense report will say "You are a WORM! The enemy strolled into your dungeon, encountered no resistance and strolled back out with (amount of gold)".
If the defender has creatures on defense, but you did not encounter anything, the battle report will say "Your defenses could really use some improvement, the enemy relieved you of (amount of gold)".
Keep that in mind. Maybe you will find a target with zero defenses and you can pull off one of those fantastic Imp attacks.
This one is a judgement call and will probably vary, depending on what area of the high score list you are currently in.
Attacking can be profitable. One troop of 12 Devilers (level 1) can potentially bring in 300 gold from an attack every 15 minutes all day long. The challenge is to find Keepers with low defense and high gold scores.
Keep in mind that damage is healed at a cost of anywhere between 7 and 20 gold per hit point. 40 points of damage will wipe out the profits of 1 good raid.
- Find a Keeper with a creature score 1/3 or less of their dungeon score. This usually marks Keepers who are busy tech-ing and upgrading rooms, rather than recruiting creatures to defend.
- Attack Keepers with the highest possible gold score (10 gold points = 100 gold). Regardless of your carrying capacity, you are only able to steal a percentage of the defender's gold. A carrying capacity of 300 versus a defender with 400 gold usually means that you will come back with less than your maximum load.
- Calculate the minimum dungeon score needed to recruit each creature type. This takes a lot of work, but it will be helpful to know who does not have Devilers or Wizards.
- Attack the Keepers at the lowest possible rank. If you successfully steal from them, you may be able to widen the gap between you and your target and put yourself out of the 15-rank attack range.
- Whenever you encounter defenders, remember what level they are and look to see if they are getting a to hit % bonus. No bonus means that your target keeper has less than 50% coverage.
As with most web-based multi-player games, the last thing that you want to do is piss somebody off. Players like seeking revenge, no matter what it takes. Once a "personal war" has begun between 2 Keepers, the loss of gold and costs of healing will soar to phenomenal heights.
The best players will have high level creatures to fend off persistent attacks.
Good players will avoid starting a personal war.
Bad players will keep attacking, no matter what price they have to pay.
Unless you KNOW that you outrank another Keeper in creature types and creature levels, do NOT instigate a personal war. If you outrank the Keeper, though, let him have it. Show him who's boss and kill a couple of creatures while you steal his gold.
It's not hard to rise into the Top 100 on purely digging. A vengeance-seeking player with Burning Eye active, is rarely able to keep up with a smart Keeper who keeps a well-trained team of Imps.
At any rank up to the #200 or #300 level, it is extremely easy to ignore an attacker and dig your way up the high score list until you are out of their range. This is far easier and cheaper than trying to beat a Keeper into submission.
When you start out the game, defending may seem important. It's not.
Learn to live with attacks from a few Keepers. Let them steal what they want, just concentrate on digging (it's the safer, quicker way to a high score). Whatever you do, do NOT defend or attack with Imps. In one attack, this defender loses Imp #10 and #11. That's a loss of 2500 gold and 2750 gold for each Imp.
Even if the attacker lost 1 Goblin and an took 12 points of damage, 500 gold for a replacement Goblin and 90 gold for healing is a lot less than 5250 gold to replace 2 Imps.
If you choose to attack with Imps, you WILL harvest a lot of gold. BUT, it is only matter of time until you lose an Imp. I just hope that you learn your lesson before you lose a trained Imp.
Size matters when it comes to DignFight troops.
The biggest mistake that you can make is to believe that adding 1 or 2 wizards into a troop will make the troop stronger. The most expensive mistake that you can make is to believe that the other 10 creatures will protect your wizard(s).
Although Wizards are classified as Battle Supporters, notice also that Salamanders target priority is Blockers, then Battle Supporters. By the time you can afford Wizards, you cannot recruit any Blockers yet. This means that Salamanders will attack Wizards first.
Take a look at the screen capture. 2 Wizards, supporting a well-trained troop of Glowworms, Goblins, and Salamanders. By adding only 2 Wizards to his troop, the defender's Wizards takes ALL the damage from 12 Salamanders and loses 2400 gold in troops. Pretty painful. The attacker took about 450 gold in damage and didn't steal any gold, but who took the bigger loss?