The US Houses

[DekeYoungAtlanta]

If you can reach level 14 page before the 20th house is taken, you can start a faction, convince a few others to join you, and then immediately place your faction into House that has less than 5 factions ALREADY assigned.

One of the problems starting the first houses is that you cannot prevent other people from an associated faction from joining that house and "sullying" that house's reputation.

I have been in discussions with a few other players that intend to create factions, and I believe it is in our interest NOT to join an early house and wait for the dust to settle and join a house with 4 other factions with similar goals, code of conduct, command and control, rhetorical style, in-house division of labor, etc.

To no surprise I have already received unsolicited faction/house invites. My guess is that since I am a parish steward I am receiving blind invites. I respond with an in-game mail describing my goals, and asking if they want me to join now knowing that I will leave when I hit level 14. To day I have not had responses to these in-game messages.

I am still hopeful that I will be able to launch the Southern Comfort Faction and join a house with similar political views.

- Deke

[DekeYoungAtlanta]

Sudo,

Contact me in game once you start your faction. Southern Comfort will be based in the South, I have conversed with a few others looking to join a mutual defensive group. If our game goals, political alignment, command and control, code of conduct and "communicate before invite" match up, we should be able to choose a House both both our factions.

- Deke

[jess1sc]

I buy cards. I'm not ashamed of it. This is an excessively slow-paced game, and I'm impatient. I have lots of players in my faction in another world who never buy cards. The fact is they can't keep up with the carders in the world, they often need help with resources and armies. I don't mind helping them, they contribute to the team in other ways, like faith points (which you can't card).

Every time I use a thoroughbred card, I get hate mail, even when I turn my scouts around if I notice someone else going for stashes. People complain if my armies are faster than theirs, if I play defensive cards, if I attack them with more than 12 catapults, if I manage to ID or absolve myself with an envoy card, if I use a politics card to outvote them. People are always going to complain if they feel they're at a disadvantage.

What people forget is that they could join a faction led by nice people who can afford to buy cards and don't mind helping them. And they forget that this game would not exist without people buying the cards so Firefly can pay the salaries of the people who create the content of the game.

[Zeekio1027]

Well if it makes you feel any better. I'm a heavy carder and I don't like using them to unfair advantages over others. If I'm going to level I try to do it fair and square. I don't think Firefly wants to hear that because they want everyone to spend as much money as possible.. Money is the name of the game here, and that is one of the reasons why Firefly keeps opening up new worlds. All those carders you are talking about have to be the best and the first one to get everything. So in other worlds Firefly benefits from the greed of others making them richer. Ironic is what that is.

[ButtonTheSaurus]

It's an unfortunate reality that if you don't card, you can't be an effective leader of a house/faction. The brunt of most of what happens will fall to you and your officers and you can't afford to build yourself and everyone else in your faction/house without cards.

As I said, it's unfortunate, but how is life any different? You can't build something without significant resources behind you.

I'm sorry but I would have to differ with this view. IMO, being a heavy carder has everything to do with GETTING a house but has very little to do with RUNNING a house. In fact, most of the heaviest carders do not make the best leaders because they are more focused on building and breaking things, rather than spending their time running a faction/house.

I've gone through long stretches as a house marshall where I hardly even play the game because I spend all my time on emails and skype.

Heavy use of cards definitely provides some major advantages, but making someone a good leader is definitely not one of them

I think you proved his point though, in that without a heavy carder on your team, in your network, then it's impossible to get a house. He's upset that people who don't card (or who have friends who do), do not possess a way to get something going later in the game.

Sudo, all I can say is this, for those who don't card, if you survive the beginning of the game and build yourself up, you'll have a chance to take a house later on as houses fall. You don't have to be on top in the beginning to make a good showing later. You can still form relationships and prepare and eventually move up the ladder in later stages. To some extent, I did that on W5. I was a little peon noob when I started, surrounded by giants, but later put on a good show, I think.

[Lt.Columbo]

Sudo, all I can say is this, for those who don't card, if you survive the beginning of the game and build yourself up, you'll have a chance to take a house later on as houses fall. You don't have to be on top in the beginning to make a good showing later. You can still form relationships and prepare and eventually move up the ladder in later stages. To some extent, I did that on W5. I was a little peon noob when I started, surrounded by giants, but later put on a good show, I think.

amen...
i made the same experience.came to the game with no prior mmo experience what so ever, the players i met made all the difference.build on friendship,cameraderie and dedication i had the luck of meeting many people friend and foe that taught other "noobs" such as myself the mechanics of the game. it was then that i was convinced you can be a good player and have heaps of fun without spending immense amounts of $'s on the game.i spend perhaps a tenner each month and thats really alot of money considering a PC game nowadays costs say 40-50 quit.you can be a great player without ever spending more than the intial few bob to get the 14 free cards each week..its up to you and your mates that you hook up with really IMO

[ButtonTheSaurus]

You don't need a lot of cards to perform well. I can suggest a good card strategy for people that will get them up and running.

I would recommend all players to make a small investment into cards in the very beginning just to sustain wood and stone production, boost banquetting, and keep food coming in. That will keep you growing constantly. Just go with a few industry packs and food packs. You don't need to spend an excessive amount, maybe $30.

Along with a handful of cards, get a token. They're really essential in the beginning, and they're cheaper than going to a movie.

Later on in the game, cards really aren't all that necessary. Maybe just some army packs for speed and some defense packs to repair castles, but still, you don't need a ton to do well. You CAN compensate with skill and timing.

Just be strategic about the cards you get, knowing precisely what their benefits will be. You don't need a billion chivalry cards to rank up reasonably quickly. In the USA world, in fact, I haven't used a single chivalry card. Sure, the guys who are barons already, yeah, they've bought themselves a ton of chivalry cards and they've taken an early lead. The rest of us can still catch up eventually, though.

You just need to be able to sustain production early on and possess a queue of research and buildings. That's it. With that you can become a super stud. And it's really not expensive to do.

[ButtonTheSaurus]

You know, marshals tend to burn out. There's a lot of turn over for house marshals. You can always join an existing house and work yourself into position to take over once the HM dies...