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Thread: Blocking... Blocking - What on earth is blocking...

  1. #1
    EWiggin

    Blocking... Blocking - What on earth is blocking...

    Hi all,

    Every guide to adventures talks about blocking... what is blocking? How does it work? What are the advantages. Any help gratefully recieved.

    E. Wiggin

  2. #2
    Aunt Irma’s Favourite Writer
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    The objective with all blocks is to reduce the number of normal camps you have to attack.
    Many of the camps we'd like to avoid attacking are however placed so,
    that their red area of influence covers the path or the entrance to the sector's leader camp,
    or other camps we cannot avoid killing to get to the leader.

    Thus, we block them instead...

    Blocking is possible due to the fact that while a camp is being attacked,
    it will not intercept any other generals marching through its red area of influence.


    There are two methods of blocking:

    Method 1 is to use a general with one cheap unit (typically one recruit, which is why they are called 1R blocks).
    This general will not fight for too long before he has lost his battle. A normal general will fight for 20 seconds.

    During these 20 seconds, another general would not have time to march across all the red influence area of that blocked camp.
    However, he would be able to march through the corner of that area, or to attack another camp located near the front edge of the red area.

    Method 2 is to use so called round blocks (based on the number of rounds a fight can have).
    In this case you attack the camp you don't want to kill with a troop setup that is optimised for a fight that will last as long (having as many rounds) as possible.
    While that fight is going on, another general could march through its red area of influence and attack the leader camp of that sector.

    When you kill the leader camp in a sector, all camps that haven't been killed before will be gone at the same time.
    If this happens while the blocking general is still fighting, that fight will be cancelled, and your general would return to his garrison without losing any troops.

    The troops used in a round block are mostly a combination of
    • soldiers/elite soldiers (having a high defence and taking a long time for the enemy to kill)
    • cavalry (having a low attack and taking a long time for you to kill the enemy)

    When doing blocks, the timing and/or garrison placements are crucial.
    • A block that starts too late will cause your main general to become intercepted when entering the red area of the blocked camp.
    • A 1R block that ends too quickly could cause your main general to become intercepted before leaving the red area of the blocked camp. In both this case and the previous case, you should still be able to retreat your main general, before he also enters that camp you tried to block. In this case you will only lose that one recruit plus 4 hours of waiting time till that normal general has recovered.
    • A round block that ends too quickly, before the leader is gone, would lead to you losing many of the rather expensive troops involved in the round block.
    Always use a normal general for blocking (fast generals would make the blocks last only half the time),
    and a fast general for the attack on a leader (a normal general would double the fighting time on the leader).
    The troop setups for the attack on the leader may have significance too. The fewer rounds it lasts, the better.

    If you want to try a block for the first time, I would recommend playing Dark Priests.
    The first block in that adventure is quite easy and even if you fail, you wouldn't lose too many troops.
    (That link is to my guide, but there are several other guides available out there too).

    If you want to invent your own blocks, I'd recommend to read ksinori's Blocking without using a guide,
    and my own post in Blocking time per round?.


    Note also that blocking is nothing BlueByte planned for this game. It's something players have found out.
    The round blocks have mainly become possible due to the difference in fighting time for normal and fast generals.

    With this in mind, also don't expect BB to replace any troops you lost in a failed block.
    Also, try not to do any advanced blocks if the lag is bad.
    Last edited by Tage; 09.11.12 at 15:53.

  3. #3
    EWiggin
    That's an excellent explanation. Thanks very much.

    Incidentally, I had read ksinori's guide but that (and others) lacks these basics.

    I'd have got it (as others have) in the end but if you're gonna read a guide, this is really useful stuff to underpin it.

    E. Wiggin

  4. #4
    Treasure Hunter NixMan's Avatar
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    Fully agree ! Excellent - thanks Tage.

    In practice, guess you need a lot of generals ?

  5. #5
    Aunt Irma’s Favourite Writer
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    Quote Originally Posted by NixMan View Post
    In practice, guess you need a lot of generals ?
    For the biggest round blocks out there you'd need 4 normal generals and 2 fast generals

    Most blocks only have one normal and one fast though.

  6. #6
    Guide of the Month Ruler of the Land Nogbad's Avatar
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    Yep, I had been working on one adv in testing, where it was theoretically possible to make 5 blocks, and kill the top camp directly, but the difficulty of the timings and lag made it virtually impossible to be successful, besides which, the new pathing killed it off.
    Incredible feeling of achievement though, on the rare occasion it worked.
    We love our new CM.

    Newfoundland: 20th November 2011 to 25th November 2014. RIP
    It was good while it lasted.

  7. #7
    EWiggin
    This should be pinned - The guide info, not neccesarily the thread itself. Very useful stuff!

    How does one go about that?

    E. Wiggin

  8. #8
    Committed Clicker
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    Anyone else experiencing the same problem i'm having where all generals have somehow become 'specialist' meaning blocks are over way too quickly losing all troops?

  9. #9
    Skilled Student duboisdvoleur's Avatar
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    in Outlaws the first block, cavalry won a round early.Everything else worked perfectly, but it cost me well over a hundred cavalry that i wasnt planning on.
    I would look at that block again? Next time I would be tempted to win that battle rather than block? Or maybe use more recs and less cavs?

  10. #10
    Treasure Hunter Polymer's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Peajay View Post
    Anyone else experiencing the same problem i'm having where all generals have somehow become 'specialist' meaning blocks are over way too quickly losing all troops?

    Every time you do blocks, use REGULAR generals for blocking and fast (specialist) generals for the attacks. That has been put in the info above but most of you skip reading it every time:

    Quote Originally Posted by Tage View Post
    Always use a normal general for blocking (fast generals would make the blocks last only half the time),
    and a fast general for the attack on a leader (a normal general would double the fighting time on the leader).
    The troop setups for the attack on the leader may have significance too. The fewer rounds it lasts, the better.


    Quote Originally Posted by duboisdvoleur View Post
    in Outlaws the first block, cavalry won a round early.Everything else worked perfectly, but it cost me well over a hundred cavalry that i wasnt planning on.
    I would look at that block again? Next time I would be tempted to win that battle rather than block? Or maybe use more recs and less cavs?
    As Tage says, if you use specialist= fast general for a block, the block will last only half time as it would with a regular general as a specialist fights (doh, and BLOCKS) twice as fast as a regular. Kinda beats the purpose if you use a fast general to do the block. Kills the blocking troops too.
    Last edited by Polymer; 11.11.12 at 07:35.

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