Have Travian Gold, Will Attack, Part IV

---

On the second day playing the test server of the Travian game version 3.6, the leveling up of my Village resource fields continued. Only four remaining fields have yet to be upgraded to Level 2. Still retaining Warehouse and Granary at Level 1, respectively, while I continued with amassing troops. Also, I have used the free Travian Gold to preview the 24×24 map of my immediate vicinity and found only a half a handful had accumulated population much similar in number as my starting Village. These particular players have signed up hours before me. Thus, I surmised that in time, I could be at par in terms of their troops’ strength but wary that any time on my third day, which was later today, the attack on my Village will soon start. Usually Teutonic troops prey on Roman villages as soon as they come out of beginner’s protection. Troops … troops … troops! Keep creating troops. Incidentally, A Gallic neighbor—now with twice as much population than my Village—proposed some kind of partnership: a personal non-aggression pact for our respective villages, and he offered to be my defensive shield in the future. I accepted, knowing one less enemy Village within my sphere of influence looks promising for my Village survival.

Searching for a suitable Alliance, I sent an In-Game Message [IGM] to one in the Top Ten Alliances. Better join one in the Top Ten rather than those fledgling alliances, I thought. Unfortunately, there was not even a forum where prospective members could view the requirements. My application was denied because my Village was situated far from their main camp, a fact which was inadvertently not visible anywhere on the Alliance forum or profile. Tried another, but the day ended without a reply. Maybe the founder was off-line. Viewing his profile, I found that he was one of the first few players who signed up at 00:00:00, the start of the server, but his Village’ population was even less than mine; which basicaly meant that he had not even upgraded his Village resource fields to level 1. I guessed that he is rather inactive or tied up with something in his Real Life. Maybe the latter fact was something we have in common.

I was discriminatingly critical of any Alliance, especially those belonging to the Top Ten. As of this time, early on the start of the server, I stayed away from Alliances following my self-imposed criteria: If the Alliance forum boards were yet to be set-up, how the hell would prospective members know what was required or how would the team move forward? If the founder’s profile was littered with the bastardization of the English language, the medium of communication on these Travian servers, I’m pretty sure that I will have some difficulty understanding the leader; and if given a chance, I might upstage him; or most likely correct his grammar. Last but not the least, an Alliance, with no existing Non-Aggression Pacts [NAPs] or confederates, especially those whose members are within my sphere of influence, or within the 7×7 perimeter of my Village, would be like joining Heaven’s Gate clan planning for a suicide path to eternal damnation.

Later, my beginner’s protection wore off. As soon as this happened, a Teutonic neighbor attacked my Village with only two (2) Clubswingers killing the Rat, which I left in the Village while my Legionnaires were raiding. Both attackers were killed; looting nothing. Nice start, probably a newbie warning me of his seemingly formidable Teutonic presence, or someone who did not know what he has gotten into. Let him be. No need to retaliate … for now! When my Legionaires came back, sent them off to raid the one who killed my Rat, and looted some of his resources. He had not had the time to create a single troop. Now, I have a prospective Teutonic village to farm. Is this one of the disadvantages pointed out by some Teutons in the Test server forum? Too early to tell, I guess.

Maybe, my mentors in the Philippine servers really had taught me well; or most probably I just digested what every other player was chanting: to achieve this, do this … to avoid this, do that! Even though I am considered an old dog, as far as one of my attackers in the Philippine speed server claimed, I sure would want to learn. I personally believe that no one should stop learning new things even when we grow older, otherwise those unused neurons will atrophy and die a natural death. Though not to flaunt: I self-studied Visual Basic, HTML, and Javascript, back when there were still no computer learning centers teaching them nearby my workplace for a fee. I taught myself Esperanto and successfully hurdled an online Esperanto examinations given by one Esperanto expert. Unfortunately, I am losing conversational Esperanto because of the dearth of Filipino Esperantists. I might be forgetting names when telling anecdotes and narratives but I rarely forget a lesson learned. Neither do I forget the first strike in Travian.

I am fully aware that Travian is a game, a war game specifically, but in retrospect, I have to surmise that anybody playing a Roman in Travian is instantly branded as a newbie. More often than not, that is the case. I chose to be a Roman because for me it is the most challenging of all the Travian tribes to play. At least in some international Travian forum, BlackPaladin explains:

“The first thing you need to be aware of, is you are NOT going to be in competition with the heavily aggressive Teutons in your area. You won’t shoot into the top 50 players, you won’t be the first to 2 villages, and you definitely won’t be the first one with a huge raiding party. In fact, you probably won’t be first at anything.”

Most players playing Teutons, particulary those whom I have encountered, show similar personal characteristics like their chosen Travian race in their dealings with other players. Attack left and right, seemingly without a plan showing their indiscipline and machismo. Some even have this gungho spirit to a point of attacking even confederates, which unfortunately is allowed by the Game Rules. The Gauls are a bit passive at first but could become formidable defensive troopers later. Yet, I have no patience as the Gauls, or playing them. Incidentally, in most servers I have played, almost 50% of players are Romans, and the remainder evenly divided between Teutons and Gauls.

And I am still learning … and by the time I get to 50, I am still playing Travian!

---

Notes:

The Postscript for this series will be posted when the Wonder of the World in the Philippine Server 3 and Speed Server have been built, respectively.

Disclaimer: The posts herein do not necessarily represent any organization’s positions, strategies or opinions. Read the full version of self-imposed rules for this blog: A New Year; New Rules. Unless otherwise expressly stated, the posts are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Comments are moderated to keep the discussion relevant and civil. Readers are responsible for their own statements.