EpicX Subjugation Explanation

EpicX Subjugation Explanation by Kadagan

Recently I’ve noticed a small number of people becoming upset, some to the point of rage, when they are subdued multiple times.  As someone who subdues a minimum of 10 times per day (when it’s not winter) I wanted to publicly share my motivation, reasoning, and thoughts on this in a way that will be useful to others.

Motivation/Reasoning:

-Prestige: Every time I subdue someone I gain prestige. I like prestige and I can never get enough.  It’s important for obtaining heroes, increasing max tributaries, increasing max farms, increasing max mines, increasing damage and defense, and winning contests/events.

-Senate Boxes: Every morning I have the opportunity to earn two senate boxes by subduing 5 times. Then again in the evening I have another opportunity to earn two more senate boxes by subduing 5 more times.  This is a total of 10 subdues per day for a total of 4 senate boxes.  I like senate boxes

-Senate Quests: Every day I work through my senate quests. Sometimes this means I have to subdue someone to complete them. Yes I could choose another quest type but often those aren’t reasonable to complete… such as marauding my own league mates or kin or spending gold which I have none of – I also know that the higher the quest is on the list the more likely it is to populate a higher star quest.  Worse/Best case scenario is that I’m on 7 star quests and I end up with all subdues.  6 quests times 7 subdues is 42 subdues in one day… I’ve never had that and I probably never will.  But I suppose it’s possible.  Usually though… I end up with half a dozen subdues from the senate quests.  When possible I try to combine senate quest subdues with senate box subdues.

Why it seems like you are being picked on: There are a number of different reasons why you may be the one being subdued or why it may feel like you are being singled out. It may be one or more reasons below:

-Alone in the zone:  If you are the only member of your kin in your level zone and there are 3 enemies of the same kin across the river.  You may be their only choice to subdue.  10+ subdues (see above) times 3 people… you are looking at being subdued (theoretically) 30 times.

-Everyone else protected:  If you are in a level zone where all others are under truce or cool down protection, you are the only person who can be subdued at that time.

-You are weak:  If someone can choose between you and X number of other people to subdue, but you are the weakest… You may be the one who gets subdued.  People don’t like to loose troops… if they loose 4,000 troops subduing you (on average) compared to loosing 6,000+ troops subduing someone else… you may find yourself being subdued more.

-You are a jerk:  If people don’t like you, and they have to choose someone to subdue… they are probably leaning towards you.

-Your team mates are cool:  If the people you are hanging out with are known to be cool and someone needs to choose someone to subdue… they probably are leaning against attacking the cool people which leaves you out in the open.

-You are worth more prestige: If you have a higher hate color (dull, white, green, blue, purple, orange, yellow) then you are worth more prestige.  Did I mention I like prestige?  Also if you are the same color as your neighbors but higher level, you are also worth more prestige…  Yeah… I like prestige.

So what can you do about it?

-Safety in numbers:  If you enter a zone alone, you better be the biggest dog in the zone level.  If you aren’t then you may want to enter as a pack of smaller dogs.  There is safety in numbers after all. Even if none of you and your friends can subdue the big dog, if you all attack him he’ll have such great troop loss that he may crumble, run away, or leave you alone.

-The Bear:  You don’t have to be able to outrun the bear, you just have to be able to outrun the slowest person with you (the bear eats them instead).  The same is true in EpicX.  If when I attack you it costs me more troops than if I attacked your neighbor, I’m going to consider attacking your neighbor instead (subject to prestige gains).

-Know yourself: if you aren’t strong enough to be in the zone competitively then don’t go into the zone at that time. This is just good judgment.  If you are 5’ 6” and 130lbs you shouldn’t go into a biker bar and start talking smack.  This is just good judgment.

-Know your enemy: Learn your enemies tactics and counter them.  If you are really motivated read “The Art of War” by Sun Tzu Wu.  This is also in keeping with EpicX since Sun Tzu Wu is a legendary tactician and strategist from China and EpicX is a Chinese game.

-Join a League: If someone is pounding on you and you are part of a league.  Encourage your league mates to take some pressure off you by attacking him.  He can’t farm you if he doesn’t have troops.  Plus he may get the message and move to a different target.

-Negotiate: Open a dialog with the aggressor. Cool kids get picked on less and respected men get picked on the least.

-Buy Gold: If you like EpicX then support it financially.  Buy some gold, develop faster and stronger knowing that your money helps ensure our game lasts a long time while receiving improvements/updates.

-Win Gold: This seems like a no brainer right?  I’m on my third server and I’ve won a large amount of gold so far.  I prepare for a contest and then devote myself to it.  Don’t accept anything less than first place… fight to the end.  I’m on S9 right now and recently we raced in Rise of the Braves.  Balron is a person I play against on S9 and during the race I subdued him often to try to hamper him while doing everything I could to advance as fast as I could.  He’s cool as hell and he has my respect. He used to dominate me but the tables turned. More than likely the tables will eventually turn against me… and that’s the way it should be.  Also while I’m at it, I’d like to give a shout out to Jupiter and Missy on S9 who are, as always, great team players and formidable opponents.

-Out smart your opponent:  If someone is subduing you move to a higher zone.  If they follow just sit tight and don’t level your government.  Once they level their government move back down a zone.  They can’t stay low level in that zone for long, others will be farming THEM.  There are lots of other little tricks like this you can discover on your own.

Counter Arguments: I’ve heard a number of counter arguments about why I shouldn’t subdue or why people like me should do things different… Here are my thoughts on those:

-“Spread the subdues around.”  I hear what you are saying, and sometimes I try to do this (this is harder to do if you are obnoxious or you subdued the crap out of me previously). However… people do what they think is best.  Sometimes they think it’s best to maximize their rewards, other times that it’s best to let things calm down.  My perspective is that you should maximize your rewards… this isn’t Hello Kitty Online, this is EpicX, a game of war!  Being attacked and attacking are the best parts of the game! I love EpicX! [insert a “This is Sparta!” reality check here]

-“It’s bad for the game!” I disagree that it’s bad for the game.  I’ve been on both ends of the stick.  Loosing makes me stronger… I observe winning strategies and tactics and learn to incorporate them and improve on them.  Winning makes me stronger… I put winning strategies and tactics into play and observe how they function and tweek them in order to improve them.

-“It will make people quit!”  It is true that some people may quit because they are subdued often.  This game isn’t for everyone.  If someone wants a game where they sit in a circle and take turns complimenting each other, or run around and beat up brainless non-player enemies then EpicX is probably not the game for them.   Those that remain will be stronger in this game and in future games.

-“At least let me get my troops back up!”  If someone asks me this in a nice manner, 95% of the time I will stop and let them recover… even if it means I loose out on rewards.  I’ve been there and people have let me stand back up before they knocked me on my backside again. It’s nice and I like spreading this courtesy.  But if someone has diarrhea of the mouth or are otherwise a nuisance I may just keep subduing and enjoy destroy buildings.  That’s the way the cookie crumbles.

-“You are destroying my buildings!” Yeah.. if I’m destroying your buildings repeatedly please see the entry just above this one.  Of course I may be desperate for prestige at a particular moment (due to a contest) and destroy your buildings for the bonus.  And yes… I know you’re going to get revenge and repeatedly subdue me later… I’m fine with that.

With all that said… and if you’ve managed to read this far.  If you are being subdued and have a problem with it, ask nicely if the person doing it will give you a breather.  In my experience most people respond well, even if they decline to cooperate.  You may get your troops shredded, but you’ll earn respect by being respectful.  The opposite is true too.. if you are disrespectful, you can expect disrespect in turn.

I think this post will be helpful for some and maybe irk others. But I wish I had read a post like this when I first started.  It would have helped.