Frequently asked questions DOA

Frequently asked questions DOA

Q1.

How do I damage or defeat this wall, march or Sanctuary?

A1.

Translation of question: I don't want to learn battle mechanics. I want you to be my Ninja and fight my battles for me. What troops and Sanctuary do I use?

The members of this Group are not permitted to use the Group for providing idiot guide take down advice or what is commonly referred to as Ninja advice on request (see Pinned Post Rules). They are here to explain what occurred in BR, why it occurred and which battle mechanics players would benefit from gaining understanding of in order to improve on their marches and walls - nothing more. Those giving guidance should ensure the advice they give is actually educating by imparting understanding of known battle mechanics. If your answer to a question doesn't refer to a known battle mechanic, why it is relevant to a BR and how it works that is a good indicator that the advice you are giving is imparting nothing that is improving a player's understanding of battle mechanics and is Ninja advice.

The general answer to the question is that you should acquire a basic understanding of battle mechanics for yourself. This is the first step every member of the Group should be taking if they wish to progress on to be accomplished players and to be able to ask specfic questions concerning battles they ave been involved in to improve their understanding of battle mechanics. Improving a player's understanding of battle mechanics is what this Group is all about. 

Improving understanding of battle mechanics can been done in 3 ways:

(1) studying and understanding Chapter 5 of the Guide,

(2) seeking clarification on Group of sections of the Chapter 5 of the Guide you are having difficulty understanding [quoting them to increase your chances of getting help], and

(3) posting test and combat BR results or Sanc and Unit abilities you are having difficulty understanding and asking for an explanation of the results or abillities.

If you want Ninja advice seek it in other groups not this one. This is not a Ninja Dojo and if you want to feel the business end of Ace's boot using his page for Ninja activities is a sure fire way of getting introduced to it. Admins encountering posts seeking Ninja advice have standing instructions to remove them. Repeat offenders risk losing their membership of the Group, particularly if they repeatedly ignore warnings from Admins or Ace.

Q2.

Can I share combat strategies and tactics on Group and if so how do I go about doing that?

A2.

Yes, provided it is done in a way that is designed to encourage players to gain an understanding of battle mechanics in keeping with the Group's ethos.

This can be done in one of 2 ways, each by creating your own thread outlining the combat strategy or tactic you wish to share illustrated with BR. It is a requirement that you produce BR to illustrate combat strategies and tactics so don't create posts making claims unsupported by BRs illustrating the claims.

Since you have an absolute right in this Group to decide the extent to which you share information how you share strategies and tactics can take 2 forms:

(1) the Basic Educational Version, where you MUST produce a FULL BR illustrating the results of the strategy or tactic that showis all BR information AND also explain how it works, if you know, or states that you don't know how it works OR

(2) the Advanced Conundrum Version, where you MUST produce a BR showing results but can exclude those elements such as Sanc which you wish to keep confidential and are encouraging players to consider and solve for themselves.

The purpose of the second style of posting is firstly to reveal the existence of a strategy or tactic to increase awareness of its existence and secondly to encourage players to learn and apply battle mechanics to solve such conundrums for themselves, with uncovering the knowledge of the strategy or tactic being the reward for taking time to learn and apply battle mechanics. This is a useful teaching method because it requires players to both learn and problem solve for themselves, both essential abilities if you are to become a master of the game. It is an Advanced teaching method designed to engage Advanced players in reward-based learning, testing and discovery of new strategies and tactics.

When you use the second method of sharing you may encounter players who complain about the extent of the information you have chosen to share or complain that you won't just explain how your combat strategy or tactic works. Either warn players in advance that your post is a conundrum post and that they will need to ultimately solve it for themsleves using their own understanding of battle mechanics or refer complainers to this FAQ so they can see the purpose of such posts here for themselves and that they are supported by Ace as a method of teaching battle mechanics.

Q3.

How good is my Sanctuary and what can I do to improve it?

A3.

Translation of question: Tell me what Guardian Roost Arrays you use so I can copy and use them without needing to learn battle mechanics or how to use them. This is not what this Group is about. This Group is about encouraging you to learn skills that will equip you to answer that question for yourself. By asking the question you are revealing you know nothing about battle mechanics. Your first port of call should be Chapter 5 of the Guide before you even start dabblling with Sanctuary.

The reason the question is meaningless beyond the translation is that it fails to state a specific objective for the posted Sanctuary. "I want a good attack or good defensive Sanctuary" is a general objective not a specific objective and is also equally meaningless.

Effective Combat GRA are all about having specific objectives in combat. Sanctuary-based combat is all about coming up with a specific objective be it a specific strategy or counter-strategy. General approaches to combat went out with the introduction of Sanctuary in October 2012. Realizing this basic truth is the first step to becoming a better player and adapting to the new game environment that requires players to gain an understanding of battle mechanics if they are to survive on the battlefield. Those who don't are accidents waiting to happen.

Combat GRA with a general objective are by definition ALL crap because, as a general rule, there is no such thing as a universally good general Sanctuary and all such Sanctuary GRAs are a disaster waiting to happen. A Sanctuary's usefulness depends entirely on the unique circumstances into which it is to be deployed from time to time and the effectiveness of its specific objective in those unique circumstances. The usefulness of a Combat GRA is also entirely dependent upon march, wall and opposed Sanctuary composition.

Developing a basic understanding of battle mechanics is essential if you are to design, make and use Sanctuary Combat GRA effetively or to ask meaningful questions concerning them.

The ultimate question is how good is your Master Rookery and what can you do to improve it. Again, the answer to that question isn't specific but is that you should colllect up to 300 dragons that can be combined in a number of useful ways or Guardian Roost Arrays designed to achieve various clearly defined specific objectives.

GRA fall into various categories in which you would expect to have various different GRAs designed to do different and specific things.

The categoroes include the following: Offensive Combat GRAs, Defensive Combat GRAs, Offensive Resource Raiding GRAs, Defensive Resource Raiding GRAs, Anthropus and Dead City Farming GRAs, Traning GRAs, Resurrection GRAs, Building GRAs and Research GRAs.

Learning battle and game mechanics will equip you with the ability to design useful GRAs before seeking to make them. Design is the next step after learning battle mechanics and it is at that point one should seek guidance before one begins expending resources attempting to make a designed GRA.

If you want guidance on a specific GRA you have designed post it on Group, state what its specific intended objective is, your thinking beind it and how you expect it to work and ask any questions concerning it that you need guidance with. Posting a Sanctuary GRA and asking for general advice wihout explaining what you Sanctuary GRA is intended to specifically achieve and your thinking behind it is unlikely to attract the attention of Ace or other experienced members. By posting your own thinking behind your GRA this assists mentors to see where you might be going wrong in your understanding of battle mechanics and helps them to provide specific helpful advice that will assist you to advance your understanding of battle mechanics and Sanctuary.

Q4.

How do I get certain Sanctuary Dragon Abilities through breeding?

A4.

Chapter 8 of the Guide lists the Seed Lines that have Kabam Seeds with the listed Sanctuary Dragon Abilities or which Ace and others have dropped when breeding within the Seed Lines (ie. not cross-breeding). Chapter 8 also includes an index of the acronyms used by Ace for the Sanctuary Dragon Abilities.

Speed Traits such as Mobility and Rapid Deployment drop well in the Wind Seed Line. Mobility Curse is a rare and notriously difficult to drop unless you are working with the Royal Mephitic Serpent Kabam Seed which has at and even then it is very difficult to drop. It is one of those traits you should be saving your greater and master speed crystals to get.

The File Section of this Group will also include other players' Answers to Sanctuary Breeding FAQ.

Q5.

Where do I find a complete list of the Kabam Seeds and their Sanctuary Dragon Abilities, including the Omniscient Nightshade Dragons?

A5.

Chapter 7 of the Guide contains a complete list of the Kabam Seeds and their Sanctuary Dragon Abilities where known. It specifically includes a script code listing for each of the Omni Nightshades and their Sanctuary Dragon Abilities.

Q6.

What Sanctuary Dragon Abilities are best or better or should I crystal out?

A6.

Ace grades Sanctuary Dragon Abilities in Chapter 7 of the Guide from time to time based on his assessment of their potential usefulness in combat.

Whilst some Sanctuary Dragon Abilities are obviously useless many will have some application at some stage in a given scenario so the general question is meaningless.

Comparing Sanctuary Dragon Abilities from different Life Threads is pointless because each Life Thread affects different Unit Combat Statistics and thus has different objectives in the context of battle mechanics. 

Obviously, Sanctuary Dragon Abilities from the same Life Thread with bigger boosts or curses than others are more powerful however having more in a given scenario is not necessarily always best or better.

It should always be remembered that general boosts and curses affect all units whilst unit specific boosts and curses affect a specific unit. There will be scenarios where unit specific boosts and curses will be more beneficial than general boosts and curses because of their enhanced ability to change the sequence in which units are hit in a given scenario.

Gaining an understanding of battle mechanics will equip you to answer the question in a given scenario for yourself.

Q7.

Is Mobility Curse capped at 90%?

A7.

No. It was briefly but the cap wa removed following complaints from players in 2013. Its description and display data was not corrected by Kabam to reflect that it is no longer capped.

Q8.

What Sanctuary Dragon Abilities are capped?

A8.

Burden, Units Specific Load Curses, Levitation, Scientific Research, Dragon Healing and Dragon Stamina are known to be capped. Devastation and Unit Specific Training Boosts are believed to be capped but the caps are also presently equal to their maximum level for 5 roosts so whether or not they are capped is presently academic.

Various other combat curses said to be capped like Mobility Curse are also not capped. They were briefly but the caps were removed following complaints from players in 2013. Their descriptions and display data were not corrected by Kabam to reflect that they are no longer capped.

Q9.

What Sanctuary Dragon Abilities are disabled or have no effect?

A9.

Life Leech, Discipline and Resurrection are currently disabled and inform no discernible affects. Unit Specific Life Curses and Units Specific Training Boosts do however work.

Dragon Specific, Transport Specific and Spy Battle and Marching Speed Boosts and Curses have no effect and these untis are unaffected by General Speed Boosts and Curses. The reason for this is the base speed of these units are artificially fixed and specified in the game code to be unaffected by any form of speed boost or curse irrespective of if it arrises from Science Centre, Sanctuary or Items.

Q10.

What Sanctuary Dragon Abilities are not working either as intended or properly?

A9.

Burden and Unit Specific Load Curses.

There is presently an issue with how the Overalll Load Equation in the game code works.

Load does not have a Science Centre Research Boost. The Overall Load Equation sould be written the same way as other Overall Statistic Equations are written but it isn't.

Currently, General and Specific Sanctuary Load Curses directly affect the Base Load of a Unit wherever it appears and is used in the Overall Load Equation with the consequence that if Base Load is reduced to 0 no amount of Load Boost applied to it will cause a Unit to take or take increased amounts of resources since the equation always resolves as 0. Kabam has capped Burden and Unit Specific Load Curses at 90% to mitigate this issue. However a combination of Burden and a Unit Specific Load Curse that equals or exceeds 100% will nonetheless have the same effect in relation to that specific unit. Further, if a Unit that is subject to a 100% or greater Load Curse is included with other Units in a march, this issue will affect all Units in the march even though the opposed Sanctuary does not block all Units included in the march by 100%.

Armour Piercing

A recent issue has arisen with Armour Piercing where it appears it has either been secretly capped at an undisclosed value or has been effectively capped by it being blocked from reducing Overall Defence below the Base Defence of a Unit (ie Overall Defence can't be reduced below 100% of Base Defense).

Q11.

What do the various Sanctuary Dragon Speed boosts and curses affect?

A11.

Rapid Deployment affects both battle and marching speed.

Mobility, Mobility Curse and Unit Specific Speed Boosts and Curses only affect battle speed.

Kabam has yet to release Rapid Deployment Curse and the General and Unit Specific Marching Speed Boosts and Curses. Rapid Deployment Curse will affect battle and marching speed and the other unreleased boosts and curses will affect marching speed only.

Q12.

Does Level 16 Wall affect marching speed?

A12.

No. The description is incorrect. Level 16 Wall works like Mobility Curse and only affects battle speed.