Blocking without using a guide.

[ksinori]

First you have to figure out what the generals troop-count should be - or...you do not. Players everywhere has already done that for you:

Use this combat simulator for perfect settings:
http://settlersonlinesimulator.com/d...pfsimulator/en


The perfect attack on an enemy camp:

- Over the left column you toggle the Veteran general icon on or off. - Do NOT plot your own troops in the left column.
- In the right column you choose the tab "Bandits" if you are doing your island or you choose an adventure in the menu.
- Plot in the enemy troops from the camp you want to attack.
- Press the button "Simulate battle"
- Scroll down to "Example simulation" - hopefully you find what you need.


The perfect round-block on an enemy camp:

- Do all of the above.
- Just below "Example simulation" you find two links (Update now) (Full size).
- Press (Full size).
- Press the cloumn "min. rounds" or "avg. rounds" twice - then you get the blocks that will last longest. (5 rounds is considered to be a good round-block)
OBS! Always use Normal general for blocks.

Sometimes the (Update now) (Full size) links does not show up, then you plot in a random troop in the left column - your troops. Press "Simulate battle", scroll down to "Advanced features" and press the link "take a look at simulations of other users." Then you will always have the ("Full size") link to press.


_______


This is how I do my blocks, without ever guessing when it is the right time to send the attacking general.
I will show you 3 blocks from Island of the Pirates.

A= Attacking general and attacked camp.
B=Blocking general (always a 30 minutes general) and blocked camp.

_____

First block:

http://i47.tinypic.com/xyfr5.jpg

First you click on the camp you want to block. The red line indicates at what point the attacking general will enter the area that would intercept him. Before that happens - the blocking general should be in the blocked camp. Try to remember some landmarks, where the red line is.


http://i47.tinypic.com/seytn8.jpg

Next - click on the attacking general and lead you cursor to the leadercamp, you want to take out. Count the flags from the garrison to the point where the red line begins. In this case there are 14 flags till the point where the attacking general will enter the area of influence. (Before he will be intercepted).


http://i46.tinypic.com/aeac93.jpg

Now - click on your blocking generals camp - lead the cursor to the camp you want to block. You remember from the previous image that you needed 14 flags - so count back from the camp you want to block. 14 flags - and you now know excactly at which point your blocking general has to have passed, before you send out your attacking general.

____

Second block:

http://i49.tinypic.com/2jd2a6d.jpg

Area of influence - find the landmarks.


http://i48.tinypic.com/1672rzm.jpg

You find that the count is 21 flags from your attacking general to the point where he will enter the area of influence.


http://i50.tinypic.com/nc1l4k.jpg

Now - click the blocking general and lead the cursor to the camp you want to block - count back from the camp....21 flags - and you once again know what point the blocking general should have passed before you send the attacking general.

____

Third block:

http://i46.tinypic.com/2nici13.jpg

Area of influence - find the landmarks.


http://i50.tinypic.com/xpzua9.jpg

The count is 16 flags - from the attacking general - the point where he would be intercepted.


http://i46.tinypic.com/35k2wbo.jpg

Now you just have to click your blocking generals garrison - and count to 16 flags from the camp you want to block - and you know at what point your general should have left, before sending off the attacking general.


With this tiny tutorial - you actually got everything you need to do an adventure, without leaving all the fun to 87.000 guidemakers.
Happy blocking. ;-)

[LePue]

pure genius and i can see plenty of people face-palming themselves! Let 'the games' begin though there's already a winner ;)

[der_heikle_lukas]

not bad, assumes the use of same speed general i suppose

[Holiday]

All generals move at the same speed, as far I as I could see. It's the fighting speed which changes, which is why you want the slow general to do the blocking (long fight) and the fast general to do the real fight (fight fast before the blocking general ends).
I use the same approach, but I add 2-3 squares to the blocking general (= I launch the fighting general *later*). It may be due to lag, but I have seen that there's a big lag between the moment the blocking general gets into position and the moment it really starts the fight. If the fighting general enters the area during this time it'll still be intercepted. Type II blocks are rarely time-critical, so you can take some margin and be safe.

[Flaxarn]

its because theres "1" "more" "flag" inside the camp, the general takes 3 sec to walk to the middle of a camp and start the fight from when he dissapears.

[Nogbad]

Don't forget to check out how he exits that area too, occasionally I've had the horror of seeing a block appear to work perfectly, only to see the general get recalled to an intercept at the last minute, just as he was on the far edge of the red zone.

[ksinori]

True - count in the funny things that can happen when lag is on. Buuut - BB has promised us all that lag will soon be history.
My advice is - keep an eye on the first general you send out - if the block is tight - you need to compensate (by intuition) with the following generals.

[Martonus]

I like you guide to blocking very much :) I'm doing the blocks counting flags too. Maybe it's useful to say that attacking gen needs about 4 rounds of normal gen blocking to get accross the whole red field so ofcourse it's best to have as much block rounds as possible ( just wanted to say 4 block rounds rarely do the trick). maybe i'm wrong.

[Tage]

Thanks ksinori!
I was going to post something similar... now I don't have to! :)

I'll just add a little taking your first block as an example...

As flaxarn mentioned, I count the flag inside the enemy camp too, and thus get 15 flags from your garrison B to camp B.
After this I would move general A one "step" further south, so that he has 15 flags before entering that red area of camp B.

In that case generals B and A can be sent right after each other, without any need for timing
(checking where general B is and sending general A when general B has passed a certain spot).

Despite this, lag can still cause havoc though!!!
I've experienced cases where general A has walked his 15 flags before general B has walked his 15 flags,
and thus been intercepted by camp B, even if general B was sent before general A...

[ksinori]

The lag will be gone soon. The promise is there. Well... somewhere.

Adventure-guides are of good use, for a beginner, but at some point it becomes boring, to leave all the fun in the hands of 87.000 guide-makers.
The real fun, when adventuring, is to invent funny blocks for yourself. Or just being lazy and doing the blocks from wherever your garrisons land.

I believe that strategy-players want to use their brain, and not just rely on a guide. (Guides are made by people - and using a guide, is admitting, that they are smarter than you.)

I am not making fun of guide-makers, you do a great job. But you do suck out the fun of the game for high-level players if you have to prove something, that can be done in a million other ways.

So my motivation was to show how easy it is to block. All you need is the ability to count. (Without putting sticky fingers on the screen.)

I do not write in guide-threads, as I will not share how I do adventures. ;-) At least not yet.

[Tage]

The lag will be gone soon. The promise is there. Well... somewhere.

:rolleyes:



The real fun, when adventuring, is to invent funny blocks for yourself.

Yes, I agree! :D



So my motivation was to show how easy it is to block. All you need is the ability to count. (Without putting sticky fingers on the screen.)

I use the rubber end of my pencil... ;)



I do not write in guide-threads, as I will not share how I do adventures. ;-) At least not yet.

Writing guides is fun too, although not as fun as figuring out those blocks yourself. :)

[ksinori]

Updated this thread. Now it got all you need to do an adventure - if you really do not think that guidemakers are smarter than you.

[Gavona]

I think Tage's post here is also so helpful: http://forum.thesettlersonline.com/threads/18710-Blocking-time-per-round!