Bait

[LordFirefall]

In a case like that, send a present with the waves - 200 ballista, targeted at the building of your choice. Guarantee he will think twice about dodging the next one. With some folks, it changes from taking the city to burning it. Ether way, that person gets the point.

[MechaStorm]

i ususally send an extra scholar anyways if they are a good strong player.
and like firefall said. you either cap it or burn it to the ground. i make it so that i have 5-6 scholars within 5 seconds of each other. clears 1-10 seconds before, and some clears mixed in with my scholar attacks, and many fakes before and after my scholars land.

[LordFirefall]

I do that as well. I've only had burn cities a few time to make a point

[MechaStorm]

lol sometimes i just do it for fun if its their last city. make it a nice little 1k and occasionally give em a nudge to make life easier for them with a small city

[Sternist]

What if he lets you take the city? He destroys your clearing wave, pulls his troops and allows your scholars to take the city. After your last wave hits he sends a scholar from the city next door taking his city back.

This is an experienced, active player, who uses gold, with close clustered cities and 10+ hour scholar walking time. Basic tactics aren't working. Simple timed and fake attacks have been used and failed.

[LordFirefall]

Depends whether its a chaos or non chaos world. It's like chess. For every move, there is a counter move. Set it so you have 2 more scholar waves to land 5-10 hours later, and set guards to support just after they land, based on your first conquer. The more you talk about this guy though, the more I'd be inclined just to burn his city with Ballista.

[Sternist]

But is it that simple to just burn his city to the ground? A single city has a finite amount of troops that can be sent in an attack. Whereas a defender can load as many troops as they want in defense.

[LordFirefall]

A few minutes ago, you asked what to do if he dodged. My answers were predicated on that. While a defender can load as many troops as they want, they have to come from somewhere. You've said he's guildless, so that support is limited to the cities he has. It takes huge defensive numbers to prevent ballista damage. Also, supporting that one city leaves the others defenseless. He can't be everywhere at once. You have a guild, use it to your advantage.

[Sternist]

I'm giving possible outcomes, dodging isn't limited to the clearing wave. If his cities are close enough he can move support around fast. A decent number of guards can destroy 200 ballistas, or anything else you throw at him.

[LordFirefall]

That's debatable. I've taken 65k guards out in cities before. It's all about how bad you want it. Sim it out, and you'll see.