1 Attachment(s)
There and back again - A settlers tale by LadyMinerva
A very warm welcome to all those who are reading this, you are joining me at the end of a very long journey, must be two years by now, time robs me of the ability to be certain. But I wanted to share my tale with you all and the experiences I have had, it has been one great adventure.
I started the game with no expectations, found it by chance and was looking for something to play in the background in idle moments of other games and it seemed to fill that niche nicely, I was not into browser games or phone games, this was my first, although in my time since it has certainly not been my last.
So many fond memories of those first few weeks and months, my tiny little first plots of land where everything was micromanaged down to the last detail, production values were perfect and the vicious bandits that swarmed the island were soon to be evicted. With each new territory came a new resource, a new challenge and most of all… new SPACE in which to build!
I did not have all that many friends in those days (still do not) but that was okay as I would play between long periods of being away from the desk or busy with other games. Sadly my job does not allow for me being able to hide the game in another tab and I never could get it to run very well on my phone, in the end gave up in frustration and settled for once a day being able to login when I got home and rebuild my mines perhaps do a few trades for things that I needed.
Stubborn pride or just my own personal challenge I do not know, but those friends early on in the game encouraged me to join their guilds (shout outs to Cheetah2_777 and AmySafeUnderdark) but I turned everyone down. I wanted to do things my way and not feel obliged to anyone else… at first the goal was to reach 30, seemed a nice easy number… then when I reached it I could see the foothills of 40 so kept on pushing.. and then the lofty peak of 50 hove into view and I could not help myself. In my wake there are bodies of so many broken recruits and malitia, their brave and continued sacrifice has made them more honorable than any red shirted crewman from star trek, my empire has been built with the lifeblood of your sacrifice and I salute you all my fallen comrades!
I think looking back over the time I only ever bought gems on a couple of occassions, religiously I would do my daily and weekly logins for the gems and early on I bought nothing but scouts and explorers, I bought as many explorers as I could, those seasonal events made them invaluable, wherever I could I bought more and more of them to feed my addiction for presents, easter egss, footballs and pumpkins. The rewards from those events I used to by veterans, generals and watermills, friaries, recycling plants everything that made life easier and reduced the need for continued management.
Then came the glorious day that I finally had enough recycling plants that I now longer had to mine for coal any more, I was so happy I cannot describe to you all, it made such a difference, each day coming home to demolish and replenish the copper mine, iron mine, gold mine and coal mines… being able to take just one of them away I could have cried at that point. It happened twice more when I realised I no longer had to search for water or replenish my fields, those were heady days indeed.
Progress slowed in 2016 though, my job changed, taking on a management role at work so I had much less time, doing the daily logins became harder as extended shifts meant I would roll from working to sleeping and then getting up to work again, I would miss my daily logins and so the weekly rewards came few and far between. Then the dark days of the level cap being raised came….
Sighs
… speaking honestly I almost left at this stage, for weeks and months running into years I wanted nothing more than to hit 50, to join a guild and then use my resources to help others reach the 'end game'. When the news of the level cap going on reached me it was like BB had reached out with a cold icy hand and put it around my heart and squeezed until it ruptured. The goal post had moved the end was now an impossible task and I almost gave up. For a long period of time I left the game idling, literally just logging in once a day but not doing anything, not interacting with the community, I had hit an all time low slump, resenting BB and the game for stealing away my goal.
Months later though I came to an understanding with myself, yes the game had changed, but my goal was still valid, nothing had actually changed so fundamentally it invalidated my goal, level 50 was still there, I could still reach it and do so under my own terms. The forges of war were relit, the red shirts were handed back out – much to the wailing and crying of all the soon to be widows. Plans were made, the crumpled notes of the often discarded battle-plan to invade the nords were dragged from the dusty shelf and spread out again.
So now dear reader you join me on my last push, over the next few weeks in my push to level 50, it has been a long and sometimes heart breaking road to be here. I have done it the hard way, the stupid way, on my own terms, never buying lootspots, never cheaping out and grabbing easy xp. Each fight has been my fight, each battle my own plan, working to make my little empire from that first camp into the sprawling landscape that it is today. I hope you have enjoyed the read and I look forward to sharing the last mile with you all.
My kindest regards,
LadyMinerva
January 2017
