Oh, @dfrost,
One of the other things we should warn you about that's kind of related to making sure you defend your homeland: what I call the "suicide tantrum."
Sometimes, when you attack a player who doesn't think they can successfully defend themselves or beat you, they'll immediately initiate the "suicide tantrum". Some players on the Forums don't get bothered by it, but I think it's the silliest, most immature thing in the world.
What happens is: the opponent gets butthurt because you attacked them and because they believe they are going to lose. So, instead of attempting to defend themselves, salvage the game, or benefit themselves in any way, they'll just send all of their existing units at your homeland to try to ruin your game. I think of it as the equivalent of flipping over a boardgame; "You're going to beat me?! Okay, then, I'll mess up your game out of pure spite, even though it still doesn't benefit my game in any way."
I'm warning you now: The "suicide tantrum" is really, REALLY popular among public players. Some players will even keep logging back in over and over again to a game they've already essentially DAYS AGO just to keep trying to mess with you. I've had players go to the effort of hiding their remaining forces in a remote spot in the ocean JUST so they can log back in much later to try to sneak in and ruin my homeland. It's ridiculous, in my opinion. I don't expect everyone to fight every battle head on (I don't), but I do think everyone should be playing to win, rather than playing to cause someone else to lose.
Anyway, watch out for that. Some folks won't even try to defend themselves; they'll just jump straight to the "suicide tantrum" if they feel threatened by you.
One of the other things we should warn you about that's kind of related to making sure you defend your homeland: what I call the "suicide tantrum."
Sometimes, when you attack a player who doesn't think they can successfully defend themselves or beat you, they'll immediately initiate the "suicide tantrum". Some players on the Forums don't get bothered by it, but I think it's the silliest, most immature thing in the world.
What happens is: the opponent gets butthurt because you attacked them and because they believe they are going to lose. So, instead of attempting to defend themselves, salvage the game, or benefit themselves in any way, they'll just send all of their existing units at your homeland to try to ruin your game. I think of it as the equivalent of flipping over a boardgame; "You're going to beat me?! Okay, then, I'll mess up your game out of pure spite, even though it still doesn't benefit my game in any way."
I'm warning you now: The "suicide tantrum" is really, REALLY popular among public players. Some players will even keep logging back in over and over again to a game they've already essentially DAYS AGO just to keep trying to mess with you. I've had players go to the effort of hiding their remaining forces in a remote spot in the ocean JUST so they can log back in much later to try to sneak in and ruin my homeland. It's ridiculous, in my opinion. I don't expect everyone to fight every battle head on (I don't), but I do think everyone should be playing to win, rather than playing to cause someone else to lose.
Anyway, watch out for that. Some folks won't even try to defend themselves; they'll just jump straight to the "suicide tantrum" if they feel threatened by you.