This is a short guide to MK success, compiled by
Indian. A player in the MK realm. He has kept a low
profile in his time in MK, so it is with even greater
pleasure that MK World brings you some of the insights of
a successful, yet quiet, MK player. The content below is
Indian's own personal views. Minimal editing has been carried out
for presentation and clarification purposes.
Before placing your base, carefully inspect the whole map as minutely
as possible and then choose the best location for your base in the map.
In this aspect don't only consider the opportunity of what you can get on turn 0 only
expansion but also take into consideration the fact of expanding in
the later turns.While inspecting the map make the map window (placed at the
top-right corner of the game window) as big as possible by dragging its
borders. This is the best way to look at the whole map very minutely.
Choose a place from where you can use the naval way (i.e. access to the sea) before getting the
hercule. Most of the players neglect this aspect of base placement. You can
reach near your enemy much quicker if you are in a condition to use the
sea. This does depend on what map you are playing on! One word of caution, don't set your base just by the river side.
Rather place it behind a city or woods or any mines. So that you can use the riverway through the city or woods and at the same time you are not vulnerable to any naval attacks.
If your base is in dryland then the enemy has to reach atleast the tiger technology to kill your porcupines. But if you are just beside the river then the enemy can invest only $122
to get the destroyer and can kill your porcupines with it using 200% surrounding effect. Got it? Expand like mad, because usually the player who wins is the owner of the bigger empire.
Before placing your base also check through the advanced player search
on who the weakest opponent is in the game. Furthermore, check if there are any unregistered
players. If you are confident about your skill and ability for quick kills, then place near such players (don't crowd
them!) and make sure that you reach them before anybody else and capture
their base so that you have potentially the largest empire by turn 4. Think of such players
as your unwilling "partners", who are expanding on your behalf at their position in the map
and will "hand over" their empire to you when you ask (hahahaha). (editor's note: basically, they are easy pickings, so it is as if they are actually working "for you", but not really)
If wrecks are on, then you must start collecting them before anybody else
does so or atleast on the same turn in which your opponents also start
collecting them. Always use 'cargo + shark' combination to collect the wrecks.
It would be advantageous to identify the most powerful opponent on
the map before placing your base. Then calculate how you will get stronger
than him early in the game. While fighting or expanding at wartime or during peace
time, especially when you are not directly facing the strongest enemy,
always keep your eyes open towards him. If you are four to five turns away from him
use a radar to understand what his next plans will be (such as key factories, technology level reached and potential victims).
Try to reach the enemy's base before he reaches yours. Offence is the
best type of defence! If two players of same size are fighting, then the chance of winning
is 5:1 depending on who is nearest to whom. Even if one player is a bit weak compared to his opponent, he still has a greater chance to win over his mighty opponent, if he is nearer to his enemy's base.
I killed Ironfist just a few days ago when he was 3 times bigger than me. But he was 2 turns away from my base! I was only one turn away from one of his bases. I had only one chance to hit it and I hit the bull's eye :)
So it's a well-proven fact.
In games that have "wrecks on", it would be a good idea to build the destroyer on turn 0 and go for the resources and cities with the remaining $78.
Then you must secure an income of $ 200 on turn 1 to build the shark.
You should choose your base position accordingly to provide you with access to a healthy amount of wrecks.
Now some words about the art of offence. It is always a wise decision to use artillery during an attack that lasts more than one turn.
I mean where the enemy will get a chance to hit you back. In such cases if you can protect your attacking units from the enemy's attack then,
on the next turn you can use the old experienced units as well as buying new units. That simply doubles your strength. How can you orotect them? Use porcupines for cheap defense,
since the units with the highest defense are the first to take damage. The enemy can't cause any damage to the artillery. If you have 10 artilleries
and put 6/7 porcupines to guard them, then in the next turn you will be in an advantageous position, especially if the enemy doesn't bother to defend his offensive units appropriately.
Besides if the enemy uses grizzlies or scorpions then their defence power will be more than the porcupines and you can easily destroy them with the artillery.
So always try to use the 'artillery and porcupines' combination. I have used it in many close encounters and this tactic has never let me down.
This is one of the greatest secrets of mine lol. (editor's note: several people seem to think that!)
Watch the expansion of your enemy very closely and always try to find out the spot from where he gets
an expansion boost. Then you can be pretty sure that there is a undefended factory there, if the enemy has no porcupines there yet.
Try to get that factory by pulling a double before he is alerted of your intentions and put porcupines there.
Another trick to locate enemy factories is to calculate the distance the enemy hercules - that you can see - have covered to reach a spot with lots of units inside it.
From the hercule spot, calculate every square(tile) upto 14 (hercule's maximum movement range) and see which cities it leads to. There could be a factory there.
When it's only one to two turns away from the end of the game, never spend your money in buying units to capture enemy cities and resouces. If you can capture the enemy base before the captured
enemy cities give you back the money completely which you have invested in capturing them. Then you are wasting your hard-earned money.
If you have a factory chain which the enemy can capture and can cover the distance of more than 1 turn within that turn then, you should ghost the middle factory.
Look at the following diagram:
Base <--- 14 sq ---> F1 <--- 14 sq ---> F2 <--- 5 sq ---> Enemy
(F for factory)
If the situation is as the above diagram illustrates, then you should ghost the F1 factory and defend only the F2 factory, very heavily. Then if the enemy is in between the F2 and your Base, you can always reach him either from F2 or from your Base.
There is no need to have and protect the F1 factory. That saves you a lot of money.
In order to determine how much money the enemy can use for attacking your base, you multiply the number of his cities by 5.5 (editor's note: this rule of thumb applies with standard taxing systems, the reality is, if you are using unconventional tax systems, the 5.5 estimate may not be that realistic).
It will give you an estimate of his city income.
Now to be on the safe side, assume that he can collect 80 % of his resources. You can decide the amount of resource by closely looking at his mills and mines. If there are plenty of trucks
then take the 80% rule and if there arent a lot of trucks and transports, then assume his resource income accordingly.
Also if you and your enemy are the only alive players remaining or if the battle between the two of you, will decide who will win the game. Then you should also consider about the money he will get by selling his units. Because if the enemy wins the game by kiiling you, then he will not hesitate
to even sell porcupines from his base (i.e practically every unit he can sell). You should also check what kind of units he has. If he has many flags then calculate an average of $10 for each of his units. If he doesnt have many flags then you can assume $13-15 for each unit. Depending on the situation,
the average amount for each unit will vary, so choose wisely what average to use.
When you are attacking an enemy spot at the very end of your hercule's reach (14 squares), then don't carry all of your attack units by hercules. Rather, build a road from your factory to the enemy spot when you send the first hercule towards it.
Then, with the exception of the units used for the surrounding effect, carry the other units by transports. The transports can take them atleast 8 sq and the other units like the grizzli, artillery, tiger and elf, can over the remaining distance by themselves easily.
There are some maps with gold or wood chains locked in the middle of a mountain chain without having a city there. Then, if anybody places in that spot, it is impossible for him to come out from there.
It's popular belief that, that player should assign trucks in every resource mine and another player from his alliance could then send a predator there and take those mines.
But then, it becomes impossible for him to protect those mines until he gets the hercule technology and would still need to bring units there using the hercules or put flags. It is not very economical, nor time saving.
Hence if the former player who placed his base there can take the resposibility to protect those mines from the very begining and can gather the gold or wood in one specific mine, that mine will later at that turn be taken by his ally.
Therefore all the mines remain well defended by flags and porcupines while the allied player outside that mountain can easily get the flow of money and can use it efficiently.
But in order for this to succeed, the former must play before the later and will have to mention the cordinates of the mine containg the stacked resources to his ally.
It will be a chain process. Hope you got it guys!
