NEW** Advanced blocking for Victor the Vicious

Hello Everyone, this guide is for Victors that includes Advanced blocking. If you do not know what that is, then you may want to ask in guild chat, or watch Aerose video for Island of Pirates adv blocking, he explains it well.

This is a great adventure and the way I did this one was with Elite soldiers, though I will post a guide that is not adv blocking for people who do not have BH generals and/or Elite Soldiers. USE THE MAP DIRECTLY BELOW FOR MAIN REFERENCE - ANY OTHER PICTURES I SHOW ARE SOLELY FOR PLACEMENT PURPOSES BUT THIS MAP WILL BE THE ONE YOU NEED TO KNOW FOR WHAT CAMPS I AM HITTING
Attachment:

http://i1121.photobucket.com/albums/...orsbasemap.jpg
This is a base line map that i'll be using to guide you through since there really is no guide for this since a lot of it i came up with (i think) while running it a bunch of times, some of the information or unit breakdowns I use from previous guides i've seen but majority is my personal composition. At the end of this run I will break down the units lost/needed and feel free to ask me any questions about timing and so forth.
Where i first started was "Landungszone" colored in red - if you're color blind the bottom right one. There are other maps that depict going other ways, this is the fastest, shorter distance, and makes for a quicker run.

*Note* when you see the orange/gold box general it will ALWAYS depict a battle hardened general
Green Box Generals can be either Battle hardened as well or a regular general, that is your choice the only difference is the 2 hour or 4 hour cooldown.
on the pictures i provide ALL the Blue box generals will be REGULAR generals along with any Purple box Generals, it is necessary that you have them Regular, if you don't know why ask in guild chat or watch Aerose IOP video.

Before you get started on this adventure make sure you bring along
1600 Recruits (less if you're having tagalongs take out some camps or suicide a camp)
245 Cavalry
130 Soldiers
115 Militia (or replace the 115 M with another 70 Soldiers)
125 Elite Soldiers
146 Crossbows
and 80 Bows

Camp Red 1: Enemy(50 Thug, 50 Warhound, 50 Ranger)
--- Sent---
102 Recruits
95 Elite soldiers (you can send Militia or soldiers as well, the difference is nominal)
End Result --- 91 Recruits lost.

Camp Red 2: Enemy(50 Roughneck, 100 Ranger)
---Sent---
40 Recruits
1 Militia
125 Cav
34 Crossbows
End Result --- 32 Recruits lost.

Camp Red 3: Enemy(100 Roughneck, 50 Warhound)
---Sent---
139 Recruits
6 Militia
55 Elites (this can be replaced with Militia or soldiers, the difference is nominal)
End Result --- 137 Recruits lost.

Red Camp 4: Enemy camp(50 Warhound, 50 Ranger, 50 Roughneck)
---Sent---
25 Elite soldiers
133 Cav. *note* a REGULAR general must be used for this block to work, do not use a Battle hardened, Veteran or any other special generals for this to work correctly.
End Result --- 0 units lost.

Red Camp 5: Leader(1 One eyed Burt, 100 Warhound, 99 Roughneck)
---Sent---
Wave 1: 115 Recruits
Wave 2: 91 Recruits
109 Crossbows
End Result --- 115 Recruits + 83 Recruits lost.

Here is how the set up of the camps will look and also the timing of it
http://i1121.photobucket.com/albums/...31/hmmmmmm.jpg
***TIMING FOR BLOCK*** Here is going to explain the timing of the block, so pay attention. As you can see in the picture the camps are in a straight line where the the camp in the front (labeled in GREEN box) second camp (labeled in Gold/orange box) and third camp(Labeled in Blue) which are the same color as the diagram shows for their unit compositions. but just in case it wasn't clear

BoxBlue general - 25 Elite soldiers, 133 Cav
Gold/Orange box General - 91Recruits 109 Crossbows(or you can use 55M 1S 144Xbows) With Veteran 250 unit General - 88 recruits 109 Crossbows 53 Cavalry
Green Box General - 115 Recruits

Blue Box Gen needs to be sent out first, when he reaches the blue X in the picture you need to send the orange/gold boxed general to the Leader camp then immediately after, send the Green box General to the leader camp

Now that the Red zone is completed you will need to relocate in a specific manner as well, which is depicted in this:
Attachment:


http://i1121.photobucket.com/albums/.../advblock2.jpg

****TIMING FOR BLOCK**** Since there are no trash camps you need to kill here you just need to follow the info here along with the picture given. here are the Unit compositions needed, so you know which camps are sending to which enemy camps they will also be in the same color that the picture shows. They are as follows

Blue Box General - 98 cav 59 Soldiers 36 Elites
Purple Box General - 79 cav 33 Soldiers 54 Elites
Orange/gold box General - 56 Recruits 65 Cav 79 Crossbows
Green box General - 150 Recruits


The Blue box General needs to be sent to the camp shown in the picture (Enemy camp 8) and when it reaches the blue X, send purple Box General to the camp also shown in picture (Enemy camp 7). Immediately after, send Orange/gold Box General to Enemy leader (camp 9) and also send Green Box General to Enemy leader right after that.
The green box general will die but the orange/gold box general will finish it off, you'll return home and the losses will be

End Result --- 150 Recruits + 45 Recruits lost.

At this point you will relocate anywhere into the middle sector that you're comfortable with and kill off the next two leader camps with the same composition of

Camp Blue 6: Leader
--- Sent---
Wave 1: 115 Recruit
Wave 2: 91 Recruits
109 Crossbows
End Result --- 115 Recruits + 76 Recruits lost.

Camp Green 6: Leader
--- Sent---
Wave 1: 115 Recruit
Wave 2: 91 Recruits
109 Crossbows
End Result --- 115 Recruits + 76 Recruits lost.

Okay, so far it's looking pretty good this next one is a little scary though so pay attention!

Part 2 of the Victor vicious guide with advanced blocking.
Attachment:

http://i1121.photobucket.com/albums/.../ADVblock3.jpg

The unit composition of these camps are

Blue Box General - 45 Soldiers 79 Elites
Orange/gold Box General - 51 Militia, 149 Crossbows (you can also use 89 recruits 111 Crossbows)
Green Box General - 121 Recruits
Purple Box General - 153 Cav, 46 Elites

Now for the Timing - You can go on the BLUE X or after 5 seconds of seeing the horse come out of the Blue box General camp. Then right after that the Orange/gold box General will be sent - directly after that Green Box General and the final one sent, Purple box general which is sent Directly after the Green box general

The Green general will die but the Gold/orange general will clean up the mess.

The end Result --- 121 Recruits + 43 Militia lost.


After returning all camps back you will get to the last ADV block area which you will need to relocate like this:
Attachment:

http://i1121.photobucket.com/albums/.../advblock4.jpg

The unit composition of each camp is

Blue Box General - 153 cav , 46 Elites
Gold/orange Box General - 125 Soldiers, 1 Elite, 74 Crossbows
Green Box General - 40 cav

*note* you do want to kill the wolf camp BEFORE you send these waves off - the wolf camp is located on the left of the trees just scout around a bit

The timing is pretty simple, Send blue Box general to enemy camp 13 then once he reaches the BLUE X send Green Box generalto the leader camp 15 then immediately after Gold/orange box general to leader camp 15

The end result --- 40 Cav + 119 Soldiers lost.

The last 3 camps do not require any Advanced blocks or special attacks of any kind it is just as follows:

Enemy camp number 17:
1st wave - 95 Recruits
Second wave - 65 Recruits 50 Cavalry 85 Crossbow

Enemy camp number 18

If you have a Veteran General this can be done with just one wave of : 71 Recruits 1 Elite 120 Cavalry 58 Crossbows - this wave needs to be sent to the leader ( Enemy camp 19) and then it will be intercepted-
Make sure you are paying attention to recall once you win - there is a VERY TINY WINDOW

If you do not have a Veteran General it is
Wave 1 - 110 Recruits
Wave 2 - 62 recruits 120 Cavalry 18 Crossbow


Then the final Mary camp is
Wave 1 - 100 Recruits 100 Cavalry
Wave 2 - 100 Recruits 96 Cavalry
Wave 3 - 115 Militia 85 Crossbow

Thank you to Seacolt - without him I wouldn't have been able to post these on the forum since i wasn't smarter than the forum and didn't know to use photobucket! Thank you!

If you would like other guides that include advanced blocking then message me ingame or on here and if it's a map that I like (i hate Swamp witch Sons and a few others) then i'll make a guide for it.

Thank you

In your advanced blocking I do not understand why there are additional units for the sacrifice generals? IE why are you sending 25 elite and 133 cav for red camp 4? I think you are going to lose all of those troops. If you want to block why not just send 1 recruit at the camp and sneak past the other two generals while the general with one recruit is sacrificed??>

It's not the same thing. You do not lose any of the troops. The point of advanced blocking is to skip those camps without losing troops. If you were to send a single recruit, you would first put 2 generals on cooldown and secondly it's not a long enough time for your general to win the fight. The point of that is to extend those camp fights 8-12 rounds so that you can kill the leader first. Killing the leader clears the camp - even the ones you're currently fighting. That will then RESET the fight like you never fought them in the first place (you wont lose units and you wont have a general or generals on cooldown.)

of note on the Third block (the 1:01 am picture), the placement of the back generals (the 3rd with 115 R) is right behind the little bush, there is a placement option to the side of the bush but that will NOT give you enough time to get the other blocks set up. The 4th general can be right behind the 3rd camp, the only thing to make sure of is that they arrive in the correct order.

(yeah i lost my soldiers, there was much crying)

Thank you for your work civetadei, You mention a video by Aerose video for Island of Pirates adv blocking, I can't seem to locate this video ( I tried searching on youtube) could you provide a link to this video? Thank you in advance. I need to better understand advanced blocking.

I looked for it too and can't find it. I'm doing pirates right now and would like to see ...

dont know about a video but for pirates how about a pretty looking picture with circles and lines.

http://www10.pic-upload.de/23.04.12/x9jjvwiwjuso.jpg

and sort of a basics on blocking post from elsewhere

http://forum.thesettlersonline.net/t...light=blocking

This is "regular" blocking. I'm wondering about his advanced blocking for pirates. And I still don't really understand advanced blocking. I have never seen a fight verses a leader camp go faster than a fight vs a normal camp, I don't know how to make that happen.

Advanced blocking means you send troops at a camp that's "in the way" to make its battle last long enough for another general to clear the leader camp for that sector. Assuming the leader camp is wiped out before the blocked camp's battle ends, then the general doing the blocking is sent home with all troops intact.

After clearing the first camp in Pirates, you can send 45 elite soliders with a Tavern-purchased General (TG) at the NE camp in the first sector. That battle will last anywhere from 6 ~ 11 rounds, with an average of about 8.5. That gives you enough time to send 73 recruits & 177 elite soliders with a Veteran General (VG) to the leader camp and wipe out the leader in 1 ~ 2 rounds, (average about 1.2 rounds). So the trick becomes where to place the TG & VG and when to send the attacks so that the TG occupies the camp with 100 Deckscrubbers & 50 caltrops so that your VG can waltz through the aggro zone and hit the leader camp. (Yes, I'm sure there are LOTS of other troop configs that work - blocking with 53 soliders works as well as the 45 elites, and there are probably non-veteran 1-wave solutions for the leader as well. These are just the configs I use.)

Once you know where to place the garrisons, and when to launch, it's a breeze and works every time. And it saves you the troops you'd otherwise spend clearing that 2nd camp. I don't use the locations in Evelude's first link, (indeed, some are invalid with the latest release & the fact that decorative items remain on the map after their sector is cleared), but it looks like the first block would work fine, with the little white circle indicating where the TG needs to be when you launch the VG.

Thanks for the explanation Hobknocker. That makes more sense (on how to make fights last longer). The reason I'd never seen a regular camp fight last longer than a leader camp is because I always sent enough troops to end it in the least amount of rounds possible. I had just assumed that leader camps too longer in general, but I suppose it's because they take more rounds.

Does anyone out there have calculations on how long a battle lasts (in real time) per round?

i know the calculations exist, but i do not know them. The rules of thumb that i use are 6 round minimum for a general that has to cross the aggro zone. (say like pirates) 4 round minimum on simple ones (say like horseback). Spending a little time online and in german you can find posts with pretty pictures for blocking on pretty much any adventure. But if you want to figure it out for yourself get in a combat sim and what you want is to set up a fight not with the fewest losses but with an average battle that either side can win. Usually you want to use either your lowest damage troops or highest hp troops to make combat last longer. Playing with some of the more common or known blocks you can start to get the idea and then work from there.

Oh and dont forget just because you think it should be alright, like say a camp with a minimum of 4 rounds but a 7 round average fight, you may experience a 4 round fight.

I'm with Evelude on this, I tend to go with rules of thumb. Given internet latency, server lag and the like, I don't think you can get too precise. Study the guides available in the forum and you'll start to develop your own sense for what works for you. Unless I'm feeling especially open to painful learning experiences, I won't use any advanced block that goes less than 5 rounds minimum, and I like to see averages above 6. Above all, remember that BB doesn't endorse or support blocking techniques, and won't reimburse you for the troops you lost due to server lag.

A few things I try to consider when I'm trying something new:
1. The blocking general usually needs to be a Tavern General. Their battles seem to take longer per round. Attack generals should be Battle Hardened or Veterans. Veterans are usually best as they often provide 1-wave opportunities to clear the leader.

2. After the blocking battle begins, how far does the Veteran or BH General have to walk to get to the leader camp? The longer the walk, the more rounds I look for in the block.

3. How quickly can the leader camp be defeated? If it needs more than 2 generals, I just clear the path to the leader through brute force. If it's one or two generals, and each battle lasts 1 ~ 2 rounds, then I'll consider it.

4. How many troops am I saving for the number I put at risk? This idea was noted in the pro-tips battle thread, and essentially boils down to: Are you putting 200 expensive troops at risk to save 10 inexpensive troops? That's an extreme obviously, but you get the idea.

5. How much time will I have to launch all the garrisons? I prefer 1 blocker, 1 fighter scenarios, but 1 blocker 2 fighters isn't uncommon. From the moment you launch the first general, you have to make 3 or 6 mouse clicks to launch the 2nd and 3rd generals. Find setup locations where you're not required to move the mouse at near light-speeds to make it work.

6. How much time will I have to evaluate my timing before it's too late? Once you've done this a lot, you'll start to get a feel for how far ahead the blocker needs to be of the attacking general(s). Can I find setups that give me plenty of time to evaluate their distances? Can I use landmarks on the island to help me gauge success? Generally speaking, the further your setup is from the targets, the more time you'll have to evaluate each general's position relative to one-another.

7. Use a screen capture tool, (alt-Print Screen & MS Paint at a minimum), to capture configurations and save them for next time. Mark-up the image so you'll know where the blocking general needs to be when you launch the other general(s).

Nice job, civ! THanks!