The Psychology of the Castle Age Attack By Tim "Out4Blood" Seitz I've heard some debate recently about the viability of attacking in the castle age. Some folks seem to think it's necessary and others think it's a waste of time. There are even folks in the middle who think that it's possible if done right, but usually very risky. Reasons to attack Apart from differences in playing styles, maps and civilizations, there are three primary theories why a player might want to make a strong attack in the early castle age: · Resource equalization - Cause the enemy to expend more resources in defending than you spend in attacking · Initiative - Put the enemy on the defensive and force him to react to your offense · Map control - Gain control over a larger amount of territory and key resources while the enemy defends his surrounding town Let's take a look at each one of these in turn and see how applicable they are in the new AOK environment. Resource Equalization In order to make resource equalization a compelling argument, you need to kill more than you expend in terms of resources. In the feudal age, as long as you stay away from the TC, this is do-able. One of the least costly methods of resource equalization is to build a tower near one of the enemy's key resources. Chances are you'll kill a villager or two and you'll force him to abandon his camp to run to a new area, all for the cost of a single tower. If he fights back, then you'll get bonus points, especially if you use a small group of troops in support. In castle age, however, your opponent will be planting TCs and making as many villagers as possible. It will much more difficult to attack his economy and stay away from the dreaded TCs. Typical losses for an attack on a TC are over 2:1 That's two military units for every villager killed. A lot of players believe that even if you sacrifice more resources than you lose, you are still disrupting their economy. Unfortunately, against best play, this is simply not the case. For example, assume you both reach castle age with the same size economy. At castle he makes an additional 30 villagers. You make 10 villagers and 20 military units. You use those 20 military units to attack his town and kill off a TC and 10 villagers. That's a 2:1 loss ratio. A lot of players say, "Yea, but he's got to replace those villagers now." The real answer is a bit different. After the smoke clears, he still has 10 more villagers than you. This means more resources coming in. A few more attacks like that and you might as well resign. Even if we account for the opportunity cost of those villagers not producing and assume a 1:1 kill ratio, the numbers still don't add up for attacking. Resource equalization is not a good reason for castle attacks. Initiative Another theory for attacking early is to gain the initiative. Maintaining an offensive front against the enemy forces him to react to you and to keep defensive units stationed in his town. Changing the units that attack to keep them off-balance can also have devastating psychological effects - even if the resource damage is insignificant. Players under attack often assume a defensive mindset, so intent on not losing, that they fail to counter-attack. This is why a few harassment troops in the feudal age can be so devastating. You tell the enemy, I am here and I know where you are. In fact, a couple archers or a couple knights sent at the right time can keep an enemy on the defensive for a long time. Gaining the initiative is a good reason to attack in the castle age. Map control Map control means using your attack to buy time to expand to other areas of the map. You can then build up new bases or towns to guard or cover important resources or chokepoints. While he is busy defending and keeping his army at home, you can freely move villagers out to expand. Because town centers are so difficult to destroy without overwhelming force, it is much easier to get and keep control over unoccupied areas of the map. This is extremely powerful. This reason alone is why so many castle attacks are successful. Using an early castle attack to keep the enemy tied to his town, allows you to expand and capture significant resource locations that the enemy will not be able to dislodge you from until imperial age. Countering castle age attacks Given that the only real advantage an opponent will gain over you during a castle age attack is that of initiative and map control, it is important to address your counters to this, and not just to his army. Even while under attack: · Counter-attack aggressively - attack the enemy's economy · Expand your territory - don't let the enemy gain control over the map Counter-attack aggressively You have to counter-attack to keep the enemy from controlling the initiative. Most attackers neglect to defend their towns while they are attacking. They think you will spend most of your efforts on defense and forget to attack. This is their biggest weakness and you can severely hurt their economy. You must counter-attack at all costs. If you lose the initiative, you can lose the game. Expand your territory Tranny to other islands or build out to other areas of the map. Keep expanding so that the enemy is not able to lock you in to one area. Once he has you penned in, it can be difficult to get out. IF you think you can reach imperial age a lot earlier than the enemy, this is one way to get out, but it is easier to expand sooner, rather than later. Just be careful he isn't able to overwhelm your fledgling outposts.