Is "Mass Recruiting" Always so Wrong?

[DeletedUser]

This all boils down to leadership. Say you had a player who was an awesome leader of tribes on other worlds. A total legend who decided for the hell of it to go down the mass recruit way to see if he/she could pull it off. You would get plenty folks joing just cos of name so to take it a stage further they changed their name. Now with the right leadership how do you think such a tribe would get on. My view is that the tribe would initially do very well and then through time falter a bit as noobs show through but then as tribe continued to stay/grow then they would be able to attract other stronger players to replace the dross. So to boil it down a lot strong leadership is the key and is this not fundamental to any tribe ?

 

[DeletedUser]

This all boils down to leadership. Say you had a player who was an awesome leader of tribes on other worlds. A total legend who decided for the hell of it to go down the mass recruit way to see if he/she could pull it off. You would get plenty folks joing just cos of name so to take it a stage further they changed their name. Now with the right leadership how do you think such a tribe would get on. My view is that the tribe would initially do very well and then through time falter a bit as noobs show through but then as tribe continued to stay/grow then they would be able to attract other stronger players to replace the dross. So to boil it down a lot strong leadership is the key and is this not fundamental to any tribe ?

I agree and would probably expand on what he said.

Leadership, communication, activity.

Without good leadership there is no chance. The leadership would have to stretch beyond the Duke to his officers.

Activity members are also essential. There will always be players that go inactive in every tribe. That is the drawback to mass recruiting. I still have mail from messages I wrote to the top players in my K spanning over the first week, who are now deleted (who never got invited because they were to lazy to reply). The leadership must continue to "mass-recruit" to replace those who disappear.

Communication goes hand in hand with activity. There are players that will never go yellow, but will never be a contributing member to the tribe because they don't bother to communicate.

If you could address the three basic hold ups, theoretically it could be done. Would I ever attempt it? Probably never.

 

[DeletedUser920]

Don't be so certain that the larger tribes have been mass recruiting. A lot of us have played on other worlds and have a network of friends, so if you start at the right time with a core of people, it is quite possible to grow a large tribe quickly.
Of course it takes a while to get to know everybody, but we have a few weeks to do it once we move beyond the spear wars stage. A large tribe need not have a large ODA if they concentrate on growing and farming rather than gratuitously attacking others. Their own size and ability to provide support deters attackers pretty effectively. Just my twopennorth.

 

[DeletedUser]

Don't be so certain that the larger tribes have been mass recruiting. A lot of us have played on other worlds and have a network of friends, so if you start at the right time with a core of people, it is quite possible to grow a large tribe quickly.
Of course it takes a while to get to know everybody, but we have a few weeks to do it once we move beyond the spear wars stage. A large tribe need not have a large ODA if they concentrate on growing and farming rather than gratuitously attacking others. Their own size and ability to provide support deters attackers pretty effectively. Just my twopennorth.

Clearing villages helps with farming quite alot. Without clearing, you'll be farming the same place over and over. Also giving the person youre not clearing a chance to outgrow and attack you.

Also, high ODA is usually a good thing. It deeters people more effectively than verbal threats.

 

[DeletedUser920]

Clearing villages helps with farming quite alot. Without clearing, you'll be farming the same place over and over. Also giving the person you're not clearing a chance to outgrow and attack you.

Also, high ODA is usually a good thing. It deters people more effectively than verbal threats.

I don't disagree with the detail of any of that, but I do with it overall - at least in the context of my post. If you are somewhere crowded, then as soon as you have cleared a village, especially when they then go barb, there will be others farming them as well. If someone else loses troops clearing someone else, you can still farm those villages. It depends on your situation.

Very high attacking stats may attract attacks because people could assume that you are an offensive player without defence. High walls and stacked defence can deter attacks pretty well, but in most cases if you are in a large tribe with members/allies close by, that can be pretty effective at persuading attackers to look elsewhere.

Whatever you do, building farming troops and avoiding losing them is a good strategy, so long as they are out there collecting. Having defensive troops or players is pretty helpful for a tribe as well. I'm not your start player, but I manage okay. In this world I'm in a big tribe. My point was that you should be careful of your presumptions.

 

[DeletedUser]

If we kill all opposition, there is no-one in the immediate area to defend against. In order to be effective, one must take control of every village, player or barbarian. Even if someone else farms your farm, it won't be barbarian for two weeks after you cleared it. I did write a massive response to this post earlier but the moment i thought "Time to post this" my computer decided to turn off! I had to unplug it to get it working... GRR!

 

[DeletedUser920]

If a player restarts after you have cleared them then they will go barb straight away.

If you have to clear ten active players to control your area, then there's a chance you will be the one that is wiped when at least one is stacked when your troops arrive.

I've cleared some villages near me and nearly come to war with a tribe over a couple, yet I'm farming thirty-forty villages daily. At least a dozen others are doing the same in the same area. Nevertheless, I'm still just a little ahead of you ;-)

 

[DeletedUser]

If we kill all opposition, there is no-one in the immediate area to defend against. In order to be effective, one must take control of every village, player or barbarian. Even if someone else farms your farm, it won't be barbarian for two weeks after you cleared it. I did write a massive response to this post earlier but the moment i thought "Time to post this" my computer decided to turn off! I had to unplug it to get it working... GRR!

This ^

@Lord Greg. Who is there to farm your farms if you clear them too?

Plus, you'll end out clearing further and further afield, resulting in you having an "inner circle" of farms all to yourself.

Yes, this is a pretty cheap post, as i am just re-iterating what almost easy said.

 

[DeletedUser]

What date did you start UK4? I would check twstats but it is down

Edit: Just checked ur locale, ur right in the core. Im doing much better than you.

Spoiler: Rankings

Player ranking for the continent 34

Rank Name Tribe Points Villages Total villages
1 zinjin R4 2.703 1 1
2 Spizz-Energi NEO 1.631 1 1
3 BoomTV NEO 1.524 1 1
4 Almost Easy Bi! 1.520 1 1

 

[DeletedUser]

I'm not just trying to brag, but this is just to prove my point.
Offensive provides a much quicker start.

To get back on topic.

All tribes need good leadership, because without proper direction, some players will lose faith in their leader and possibly their tribe. As someone said earlier, i usually don't join a tribe until i am a week in. This gives me the opportunity to show my growth and control of my area early on. Also by that point, i can usually judge which tribes i should join and which i should avoid. This world i chose iHate (as it was back then), and i will stick with them until i leave this world. This is my personal way of playing.

I think mass recruiting can have its advantages, as long as leadership is willing to cut people off when they do not play well. If you recruit anyone at first, then vet your players later, you would think that that gives you a more solid base of players. This is how most tribes operate, they get the users, then train them. The difference between these tribes and the so called "elite" tribes is that we vet our players before they join. This is probably why we end up with so few players, and is not a result of the tribe saying "no more than 20 tribe members!", its a result of selective recruitment.

With the above in mind, if there were 60 great players in a K, or even 120 great players across all four Ks. There is no reason why good leadership cannot take them to rule the world. Unfortunately, great leaders, willing leaders are not always available or willing to do any of what i just mentioned.

 

[DeletedUser920]

Yeah - I tried to check when you started too, but decided I didn't know if you chose central or south as a starting location. That's why I didn't say I was doing better than you, just that I am still ahead ;-) - which is true.

Slap bang in the middle isn't generally reckoned to be an easy, non competitive place, though is it ?

Which of the insignificant tribes around me do you think I should start a war with just to clear one farm, then ?

[EDIT - agree with your comments on leadership.
[EDIT again - I see we've both had about the same amount of attacks on us - scouts I'd guess ??]

 

[DeletedUser]

all down to leadership
of course mass recruitment with bad leadership leads to spy central
good tribes arent fussed .who puts there plans in the main forums
apart from the baddly lead mass recruitment tribes
nearly all tribes will recruit unknowns at some point
so theres always risk
good leaders can turn theses into loyal active members

 

[DeletedUser]

Hi, I'm the diplomat in DJLS, don't know why, I'm the most undiplomatic person I know...but thats another thread!

I would have to agree with almost every post in this thread so far. Mass Recruiting is a bad thing. And yes...leadership is the key to it even standing a chance. In our case, it is a little different. We are predominantly premade with some recruiting on top. Some may say too much, but it's what you do after that counts. Every player recruited is given a chance to prove their worth. ALL the leadership team are familiar with each others methods and levels of activity and we talk EVERY night. Either as a whole, or with just one or two missing due to RL issues. Without revealing too much, the tribe is split up into teams, each team has at least one duke or baron and a captain that is appointed from the trusted membership.
The Spy issue is dealt with by not discussing plans on the open forumm but offline amongst the HC. Notice of targets is provided but very late so that it would be too big an issue for tribal support to play a part from the attacks that are planned. We are proving succesful so far, but time will tell as with most things.

I see it in a different way to many...yes this is a strategic and team based game. Some tribes are simply effective because they are a collection of very good individuals, but that does not mean different is wrong...just different! A well thought out strategy followed up by good communication and a willing, active tribe under the right leadership is another way of few players with many vills achieving the same thing...just many vills being run by different people with a common goal.
The key word in that last para was "active". If you look at our tribal stats, you will see that we have 246 tribal changes already. Take out the current 116 members and you are left with 130 people leaving. I assure you that the VAST majority are due to inactivity or not acting as part of a tribe. I even had a PM today from a member moaning that He hadn't heard directly from the founder since the day he joined!!! If he was in the same group, I would have understood his complaint...however, the tribe founder is only one of the dukes in a tribe with an effective chain of command. Why would he have heard from him. I've already stated that battle plans are not discussed on the forum. It's a formula that has so far worked and I have no doubt there are tribes out there that will test it as the world develops. But as the world changes, so will we. And as someone already said, we are doing ok so far, despite the early predictions!

I hope that gives some insight. Probably the most diplomatic thing I've ever wrote!!!!!!

 

[DeletedUser]

Yes, yes it is.

 

[DeletedUser]

Cheers for writing Bryan, it was with DJLS in mind that I made this thread. From the limited I've seen so far DJLS stands out from tribes with similar numbers. It's good to hear that you're organised and know what your doing as it's nice to see different philosophies especially when they're used in the same K. Speaking of which your in a K with Bi! so it'll be interesting to see if you can make your 4:1 member ration count. Will be interesting to see.

 

[DeletedUser]

Yes it will. I (we) have a lot of respect for them...who wouldn't. It will be an interesting story that develops I'm sure. I'm not going to make any predictions or suggestions as to the future, that would be just foolish. But it will be fun whatever the outcome.

 

[DeletedUser]

Which of the insignificant tribes around me do you think I should start a war with just to clear one farm, then ?

[EDIT again - I see we've both had about the same amount of attacks on us - scouts I'd guess ??]

Any, if they are insignificant then they won't mind one bit.

Just a handful of fakes from NEO. I have continued to farm them with nothing further being sent my way so its all good lol. It was good practise actually as id been away from the game for a while xD.

 

[Nauzhror]

There's no question that mass recruiting can work. I don't doubt for an instant that I could make a tribe on the rim, invite 100 members more or less randomly, begin teaching them, dismiss those unwilling or unable to learn quickly, and take the resulting tribe to top 5 status within a few months.

 

[DeletedUser]

Its a good question indeed and its nice to read something new on the forums!

A lot of you come to this world with premades and or friends. I came from .net after a six month break, there are very few names I do recognize on this world.

Mass recruitment, or thoughtfully made recruitment? If a tribe disintergrates around me, a tribe who is good top 40 maybe but not my enemy (at this stage) am I wrong at looking to take their top 10/15 into my own ranks and nobel the rest? At what number exactly do we decide something is mass recruited.

Put 50 people in a room and there will still be some that dont communicate efficently. 50, 100 its hard to say. Every tribe has dead wood. Every tribe has their share of problems that will at some stage arise. And as many have said here, It is how the leadership rises to these problems, that will make the biggest difference.

Whether you run your tribe on military efficency or pure simple fun. The key is comunication and understanding.

Havent had coffee yet sorry if its jumbled. =)

 

[DeletedUser]

Yes it will. I (we) have a lot of respect for them...who wouldn't. It will be an interesting story that develops I'm sure. I'm not going to make any predictions or suggestions as to the future, that would be just foolish. But it will be fun whatever the outcome.

So does having alot of respect for Bi! mean that you:
a) Won't attack them and hope that they won't notice you
b) Won't attack them while they're are easier targets
c) Won't attack them until you have fashoned a Grand Allience out of all K44 tribes
d) Are just waiting for the right time to attack them?

Just interested to know ^_^