This is what happens when you don't scout. If you don't know what the Keepers around you are up to, how can you expect to make a profit by attacking?
Keep in mind that this attack takes place in the Top 100 on the English server. What in the world was he thinking attacking with level 6 creatures?
- Scout a little. Use a Glowworm to attack each potential target once (see puzzle #4). A Glowworm only costs 300 gold and will detect 0% defense ALL the time.
- After you scout, attack with appropriately leveled creatures. Gronk9 could have very easily lost 3 more Devilers. That would have been expensive and time-consuming to replace. Notice the damage difference, his creatures took 5x more damage than my defenders took.
- At least Gronk9 attacked with a full squad of Devilers. A squad of mixed creature types would have resulted in more deaths.
Heh, this is yet another attack by my favorite attacker. If it wasn't for Gronk9, this article series would not have lasted this long. ;)
Bring it on. What's wrong with this? What would you have done differently? Or how would you have avoided making this kind of attack?
Rather than say that this week's puzzle was wrong, it was a good example of a common bad habit.
Don't mix creature types. Notice how the only attacking creatures that took damage are the Dark Elves. My Dark Elves have a certain attack priority: Sprinter, Battle Supporter, Blocker, Flanker.
Dark Elves are Battle Supporters, Devilers and Trolls are Blockers...the Dark Elves will take ALL of the combat damage. The next target priority will not take any damage until all of the Battle Supporters are dead. When you mix creature types, a small number of your battle squad will end up taking all of the damage. This is a great way to "execute" some of your own creatures.
mame81's Dark Elves have less than 20 hit points left. This not too bad, but should be a warning to you NOT to attack again, otherwise you risk losing a Dark Elf.
One the other hand, I was very surprised to see that 3 level 9 Dark Elves can take all of the damage from a full squad of level 10 Dark Elves and still survive. In my experience, a full squad of creatures can survive combat against a full squad of the same creatures even if they are 5 levels higher (without any spells or traps). example: a squad of level 9 Dark Elves should be able to survive combat against a full squad of level 14 Dark Elves. Your mileage may vary, post a comment if you think differently.
This week's puzzle is more of a conversation piece. There are a handful of things that can be learned from this screenshot, be sure to leave your thoughts as a comment.
Sigh, this one is so wrong, I don't even know where to begin. But this is all about learning, so here goes:
- attacking with less than 12 creatures
- mixing creature types
- attacking with low level creatures (compared to the defenders)
Another point to learn is how durable creatures are. 4 Dark Elves going up against 12 level 10 Dark Elves only ends up with one casualty (I was surprised). In my experience, your creatures can survive being attacked by the same creature 5 levels higher. You will take a lot of damage and you have no chance of winning, but your creatures will usually survive. The level difference changes when you go up against different creatures - level 5 glowworms will NOT survive against level 10 Dark Elves.
Mixing creature types is a big no-no. Piccolastella was almost guaranteed to lose at least 1 Dark Elf or 1 Deviler. This is how Target Priorities can work against you.
The only loss was 1 level 4 Dark Elf. 6000 gold and 2 days of training time...not too bad. But still painful. If you spend the time to train your creatures, then take the time to scout your targets properly, you can avoid wasting resources. With high level creatures, your attacks will also be more effective.
This one is a little harder to explain without giving away the answer right away.
This attack takes place on one of the non-mainstream servers somewhere in the Top 300. For now, I consider the English and German to be mainstream (but that's not very important).
The funny part is that piccolastella is the clan founder. I guess a clan is best described as a group of friends, rather than an organized group of dungeon keepers.
Bring on the comments.
Oh, so much confusion.
BTW, the Watcher traps are not the problem...even though you might think so. My excuse is that my Trolls were restless and didn't have anything better to tinker. LOL.
In my opinion, there is absolutely nothing wrong with this week's screenshot. In fact, sending in a lone glowworm is my preferred method of scouting a target. It's cheaper and will find out more information than Evil Eye at any level. Wouldn't it be funny if he learned this strategy from reading this blog? Well, before I strain anything by trying to pat myself on my back, let's review once more why a lone glowworm is such a good method of scouting.
On second thought, just go back and read the post.
Welcome to another episode of DignFight Puzzles. This week's screenshot comes from my main account, which is in the Top 100. Take a look at it and tell me what is wrong with this attack.
Post your thoughts as a comments. Hopefully we can all learn from your input.
Puzzle #2
The truth is, since the attack was successful, nothing was really wrong with it.
HOWEVER, this is NOT something that I would have done.
Sending in Imps to attack is a high-risk/high-reward situation. Creeping past clueless defenders and making off with 1200 gold may have been a good move today, but the odds are stacked against you.
Here's what is wrong:
- This was jacki's first attack against me for that day. Jacki may have used Evil Eye on me, but I can't tell.
- Even if the Evil Eye was successful, jacki would have known that I have some defense.
- If I had been defending with Devilers, all 4 level 15 Imps would have DIED!
- jacki attacked me 4 more times in the next 3 days with the same group of Devilers and Imps, but did NOT lose any Imps
- At the time, I was ONLY defending with Dark Riders
- By studying Target Priorities, jacki would have lost Imps ONLY if he ran into defending Devilers.
Lessons Learned:
- Don't send Imps to attack unless your are absolutely positive that your target has ZERO defense
- Study Target Priorities, there are times when it is a good idea to mix creature types
- Learn to read the Defense Report or Attack Report, the message at the bottom will give you clues to your target's defenses
Here's your next DignFight puzzle. This time, it is a screenshot of a successful attack. What is the problem here? Nothing has been edited out of the screenshot.
The solution has been posted.
Thank you to all of the handful of users who posted a comment! I hope you had fun trying to figure out our first DignFight Puzzle.
The problem with this attacker is creature types. All of his creatures are leveled-up (lvl 10-13), but his lone Dark Elf is the only battle supporter and his 2 Salamanders are the only flankers.
My 12 Dark Elves have the following target priority: sprinter, battle supporter, blocker, flanker. There aren't any sprinters in the attacking group, so my Dark Elves go after the battle supporter first (the lone Dark Elf). In this screenshot, the attacking Dark Elf gets killed, then the rest of my damage goes to the next target priority: blockers. Black riders, trolls, and devilers are all blockers, so my remaining 40 points of damage is split between 9 creatures (only 3 creatures get hit though).
If I was defending with Devilers, both of his level 13 Salamanders would have died. 39k gold and 26 days of training for each one.
I don't care that he won the battle and stole 434 gold, my Imps can dig more than that in 10 minutes. Losing 1 level 12 Dark Elf just cost him 15 days of training time and possibly as much as 45,000 gold! Even if he used the Home Training Made Easy premium, it would still cost 31,500 gold to train a level 12 Dark Elf. Who do you think really won that battle? On top of that, there's still the 2000 gold to recruit the Dark Elf.
Lessons learned:
- Attack with appropriate level creatures
- Do NOT mix creature types when you attack
- Take care of your high-level creatures, you spent a lot of time getting them there
Explanations:
Attack with appropriate level creatures. If your creatures are too low, they will die. That should be obvious.
Do NOT mix creature types when you attack. It is perfectly alright to mix creatures. My attacker would have been fine if he used ONLY Devilers, Trolls, and Black Riders. When you have 1 or 2 of a creature type in your attack group, they often become the first target for the defenders.
Take care of your high-level creatures. Do you want to recover 15 days of training time and dig up 31,500 gold? I didn't think so.
A few months ago, I used to be active on the DignFight forums. I used to post a lot more often on my blog too. It became tiring to see the same questions coming up on the forum and honestly. People don't know how to search for answers before they ask the same question.
Recently, a few "new keepers" tried to attack me and I could not believe the dumb mistakes that they were making. Please read the DignFight forums and this blog. There's lots of good information.
Here is an edited screenshot of an incoming attack. Both the attacker and my account are in the Top 300 on this server. Tell me what is wrong with this attack.
Post your guess/answer in the comments. The answer to this DignFight Puzzle will be posted later this week.