Knights and Merchants.net Forum

Ive played a few games and one thing I noticed was that people tend to play the building scenarios very passively. The fastest time you can get a military unit out is somewhere between 20 and 30 minutes, but most guys dont make any military nor towers before like 1:30. And thats fine, but I think its much more fun to play very agressively from the beginning. So make an arrangement that you are going to battle from the very first minute and tell your opponent to make barracks or town hall as soon as possible and maybe add in some towers too. And attack at 30 minute mark, not 1:30. And keep it up.

In case you want to win a game and are sure the other player will not stop playing you, if you win fast consider this:

In pretty much all multiplayer strategy games attacking as fast as possible is the easiest way to win. This is especially true in KaM, as 1 militia can end other players game if he doesnt have any units. Thats of course not overly fun thing to do, so be reasonable. But bumping out milita as soon as possible is usually a good thing to do, because the opponent might be doing this aswell, and you need your units or towers.

* in order to flee with your melee troups, make the opponent your ally for a moment. This way your troops can run away from melee fights or right through the opponents town. Otherwise the units would get stuck with hand-to-hand fighting.

I'd like to see one militia end a fully loaded watch tower.

Yet you're right. Speed is often the key to victory in strategy in general (not just games). Waiting around gives opponents longer to prepare and recover. By all means wait for the right opening, but once the opening has appeared you should move like lighting.

So I advise not making agreements with opponents, but simply smashing them. Let them pay for leaving a gap open in their defences which your fast built troops can exploit.

The militia does stand a chance if it can outrun all stones thrown from the tower and then attack the building from the entrance.. Or wait for the recruit to go hungry..

The latter case would be EXTREMELY frustrating for the one with a single tower and no military units

Elaborated a bit further on the TSK militia rush. My personal record is now 3 militias out on the 15th minute, starting with 3 laborers and 7 serfs. My town consisted of school, inn, 1 quarry, 1 lumberjack, 1 sawmill, 1 weapon workshop and 1 barracks Im sure its possible to make it in 14 or even 13 minutes if buildings are placed better.

So basicly you would either make militia, a tower or be shattered on 20th minute with 1 milita standing in front of your storehouse. Muhahaha!

When two players get into race with time it's still not always critical for the slower one that he recognises the first unit of the faster one because it takes at least a minute but often more to lead a unit from a base to another. If the slower player has enough builders and serfs then he might be able to build at least one tower as defence while the unit of the faster player is approaching his town. Furthermore the recruit can't be hungry yet.

Plaguesworn, can you elaborate on the topic on "fast crossbowmen and militia"? I saw you doing this the other day. You make 1 of every building required to get crossbowmen + weapons workshop? And skip everything else?

Once they get hungry, will most of them starve, as you have no food?

I think key to better multiplayer quality is openly sharing information about what works. So dont be shy

Ha, that's just an iron rush. After 40 minutes I can make the
first crossbowmen, but I don't make them yet, because I'll run
out of food any minute then. Yes, in order to do this as fast as possible
you must skipp your food production and anything that's related to food.
So no farms. As soon as I can make those Crossbowmen, I start building
some farms, mills and bakeries. It'll take me about 10 - 15 minutes to get
out of the famine. Always make sure you have 3 gold chests left in your
barracks, for you will need those 3 to train up to 3 metallurgist for gold.
Hope this helps.

I once won a 3 player game with my brothers in 45 minutes... that was a good day ^^

In a 1 vs 1 vs 1 game, one might feel less inclined to sending troops away from his base...for fear of being attacked. You probably make 4 and have 2 stay at home? Idk, cus I have never before played multiplayer online... I would like to, though.