No, this is not a new series of The Crown and this is not Netflix and chill! This is utopia and this is the business end of our game. Age 84 of Utopia has come to an end and we have networth, land, honour and war win crowns to be handed out.

I got to spend some time with Fate and Topsy to discuss their age.

Q. Obviously a great age for the kingdom, what would you attribute that to?

Utopia is a team game, and everything gets easier when there is minimal drama and high engagement amongst core and leadership. With how the age played out, we spent a lot of time sitting and waiting, but everyone was able to show up pretty much on a dime when necessary. We were also lucky to have many leaders capable of taking waves throughout the age, allowing for minimal burnout.

Q. Were there any moments in the age that you felt were turning points?

We only had two real engagements over the course of the age, first with Ascension and later with Ronin. Being able to snowball gc and wizzies from each of those conflicts let us grind out land as the server grew.

Q. Anything about the age in general that you felt were able to push you towards the outcome of winning both crowns?

In the previous two ages, the land/nw crown was won from a kd laddering together science and honor via war wins and then exploring to war the kd in #1. In those ages, the kingdom that explored had a unit disadvantage, but still won the conflict fairly handedly. Each time, despite the kd who was in the lead losing, we thought we’d have preferred being the initially larger kd, so going into this age decided to play for oow advantages where possible. We ended up having a few lucky breaks with many top kingdoms sorting to the top 10 very early in the age, leading to fairly extended wars, but choosing to focus on oow growth definitely put more initiative on our end.

Q. Anyone you would like to give a shoutout for?

Our entire roster was exceptional this age and deserves a ton of credit. In particular, we would like to thank Ning for helping secure theme crown. Francis, Dorje, Silent_Killer, and Memster for taking on waves at various points. Citadela for helping out with tm waves. Chigga, Marek, and Weed for sitting so much. Wulfin and Swoop for enduring #roguesquad. Yume for always keeping her phone charger on hand. Octo and Hengz for bringing the proper winning culture. Deana, Feyr, Cop and Jonc for keeping #tm the most hoppin club on discord. Joro for being #bestcore and Mod for #bestbod. JuiceBox for enduring the sins of other whores. Lewpac for keeping our edge. Burner for when Lewpac had too much edge. And Nick_Mi.

Q. Do you have anything you wish to add that may not have been covered in the questions or just anything else in general?

We like to complain about changes pretty regularly, but we’d like to give a shout out to Hex and others who contributed to last age’s changes. With so much time oow, we got to watch a lot of wars and nearly every war was between kds that had a fairly different take going into the age on what the best core was, what the best tms were, and what kind of distribution of tms would be best. With a few exceptions, almost every kd that went into the age aiming to get a lot of wars was able to get to 6+ by eoa, which was nice to see.

I took some time to speak to Hipmunks and to ask them about their age. Thank you, Hippies, for getting back to me!

Q. Obviously a great age for the kingdom, what would you attribute that to?

Our players played well and were proactive about stuff. Knew when and how to act. After a long period where we lacked true leadership and basically played hot potato with who’s leading, we finally had leaders up for taking control. Combined with a good setup the age went well for us.

Q. Were there any stages in the age that you felt were turning points?

Might seem weird but actually, the loss against Merciless was the turning point. We couldn’t find a war for a long time and we didn’t engage them because they were tagged as resting and we respected that. We had nothing else to do so we prepared to wave somebody else and razed out a bunch of homes we had. Right after that Merciless waved us. Probably unknown to them they pushed us into desertions on their wave and we just couldn’t recover from that. But after that war we got to pump up our numbers. Mostly WPA on Heretics and Mystics which could start farming honor hard after that war.

Q. Anything about the age in general where you felt the kingdom was able to push towards the final outcome of winning the honour crown?

Our setup was made to crush T/Ms in enemy kingdoms. Wasn’t our intention to go for honor crown but we knew we would soak it in. A wall of heretics that can farm honor from attackers, three mystics to go high with honor and Orc/Warriors to bash down T/Ms and take their honor. Our setup and playstyle was the way to winning it.

Q. Anyone you would like to give a shoutout for?

Of course, I want to give a shout-out to! To Taco! #tacoleaveswincrown

And of course, my whole team as I wasn’t the person in charge this age. Others carried us to victory! Most notably Starsfan/Peetah/Dax/Vengeance

Q. Do you have anything you wish to add that may not have been covered in the questions or just anything else in general?

Not much. Just that more kingdoms should dare to fight anybody. Don’t be afraid to war somebody good. Don’t be afraid of a challenge. Not saying it’s Hipmunks. Take others as an example - Giraffes or Ronins/Merciless. War them!  War them and learn a thing or two!

That’s why I want to salute Smiles and his team! Those guys really did play the hell out of last age

I want to thank everyone in my kingdom for a great age and to say I love them all! :)

Congrats Wolfgang for the kingdom winning the war crown.

Q. Are there any aspects of the age you can attribute the success of the age to?

Teamwork Teamwork Teamwork!! Quality over Quantity!!

Q. What did you feel went particularly well?

We started the age down a few provinces. We didn’t add up to 25 until about the 4th war. We merged with another KD this age. We picked up some very knowledgeable, very active players. This combined with our attack coordinators made for a fierce combination. There was lots of lost sleep

Q. What do you feel were consistent themes of the age that attributed to the kingdoms success this age?

Our goal this age was to see how we all meshed and to be happy with the result. Next age we will push harder.

Q. Would you like to provide a statement from yourself or just anything you want to shout out? single anyone out?

Lei for never sleeping, Feint for stepping up when he did, and Mr. Dan for the merger. Also, our entire team for their dedication, activity, and continued trust in our LS

No, this is not a new series of The Crown and this is not Netflix and chill! This is utopia and this is the business end of our game. Age 84 of Utopia has come to an end and we have networth, land, honour and war win crowns to be handed out.

I got to spend some time with Fate and Topsy to discuss their age.

Q. Obviously a great age for the kingdom, what would you attribute that to?

Utopia is a team game, and everything gets easier when there is minimal drama and high engagement amongst core and leadership. With how the age played out, we spent a lot of time sitting and waiting, but everyone was able to show up pretty much on a dime when necessary. We were also lucky to have many leaders capable of taking waves throughout the age, allowing for minimal burnout.

Q. Were there any moments in the age that you felt were turning points?

We only had two real engagements over the course of the age, first with Ascension and later with Ronin. Being able to snowball gc and wizzies from each of those conflicts let us grind out land as the server grew.

Q. Anything about the age in general that you felt were able to push you towards the outcome of winning both crowns?

In the previous two ages, the land/nw crown was won from a kd laddering together science and honor via war wins and then exploring to war the kd in #1. In those ages, the kingdom that explored had a unit disadvantage, but still won the conflict fairly handedly. Each time, despite the kd who was in the lead losing, we thought we’d have preferred being the initially larger kd, so going into this age decided to play for oow advantages where possible. We ended up having a few lucky breaks with many top kingdoms sorting to the top 10 very early in the age, leading to fairly extended wars, but choosing to focus on oow growth definitely put more initiative on our end.

Q. Anyone you would like to give a shoutout for?

Our entire roster was exceptional this age and deserves a ton of credit. In particular, we would like to thank Ning for helping secure theme crown. Francis, Dorje, Silent_Killer, and Memster for taking on waves at various points. Citadela for helping out with tm waves. Chigga, Marek, and Weed for sitting so much. Wulfin and Swoop for enduring #roguesquad. Yume for always keeping her phone charger on hand. Octo and Hengz for bringing the proper winning culture. Deana, Feyr, Cop and Jonc for keeping #tm the most hoppin club on discord. Joro for being #bestcore and Mod for #bestbod. JuiceBox for enduring the sins of other whores. Lewpac for keeping our edge. Burner for when Lewpac had too much edge. And Nick_Mi.

Q. Do you have anything you wish to add that may not have been covered in the questions or just anything else in general?

We like to complain about changes pretty regularly, but we’d like to give a shout out to Hex and others who contributed to last age’s changes. With so much time oow, we got to watch a lot of wars and nearly every war was between kds that had a fairly different take going into the age on what the best core was, what the best tms were, and what kind of distribution of tms would be best. With a few exceptions, almost every kd that went into the age aiming to get a lot of wars was able to get to 6+ by eoa, which was nice to see.

I took some time to speak to Hipmunks and to ask them about their age. Thank you, Hippies, for getting back to me!

Q. Obviously a great age for the kingdom, what would you attribute that to?

Our players played well and were proactive about stuff. Knew when and how to act. After a long period where we lacked true leadership and basically played hot potato with who’s leading, we finally had leaders up for taking control. Combined with a good setup the age went well for us.

Q. Were there any stages in the age that you felt were turning points?

Might seem weird but actually, the loss against Merciless was the turning point. We couldn’t find a war for a long time and we didn’t engage them because they were tagged as resting and we respected that. We had nothing else to do so we prepared to wave somebody else and razed out a bunch of homes we had. Right after that Merciless waved us. Probably unknown to them they pushed us into desertions on their wave and we just couldn’t recover from that. But after that war we got to pump up our numbers. Mostly WPA on Heretics and Mystics which could start farming honor hard after that war.

Q. Anything about the age in general where you felt the kingdom was able to push towards the final outcome of winning the honour crown?

Our setup was made to crush T/Ms in enemy kingdoms. Wasn’t our intention to go for honor crown but we knew we would soak it in. A wall of heretics that can farm honor from attackers, three mystics to go high with honor and Orc/Warriors to bash down T/Ms and take their honor. Our setup and playstyle was the way to winning it.

Q. Anyone you would like to give a shoutout for?

Of course, I want to give a shout-out to! To Taco! #tacoleaveswincrown

And of course, my whole team as I wasn’t the person in charge this age. Others carried us to victory! Most notably Starsfan/Peetah/Dax/Vengeance

Q. Do you have anything you wish to add that may not have been covered in the questions or just anything else in general?

Not much. Just that more kingdoms should dare to fight anybody. Don’t be afraid to war somebody good. Don’t be afraid of a challenge. Not saying it’s Hipmunks. Take others as an example - Giraffes or Ronins/Merciless. War them!  War them and learn a thing or two!

That’s why I want to salute Smiles and his team! Those guys really did play the hell out of last age

I want to thank everyone in my kingdom for a great age and to say I love them all! :)

Congrats Wolfgang for the kingdom winning the war crown.

Q. Are there any aspects of the age you can attribute the success of the age to?

Teamwork Teamwork Teamwork!! Quality over Quantity!!

Q. What did you feel went particularly well?

We started the age down a few provinces. We didn’t add up to 25 until about the 4th war. We merged with another KD this age. We picked up some very knowledgeable, very active players. This combined with our attack coordinators made for a fierce combination. There was lots of lost sleep

Q. What do you feel were consistent themes of the age that attributed to the kingdoms success this age?

Our goal this age was to see how we all meshed and to be happy with the result. Next age we will push harder.

Q. Would you like to provide a statement from yourself or just anything you want to shout out? single anyone out?

Lei for never sleeping, Feint for stepping up when he did, and Mr. Dan for the merger. Also, our entire team for their dedication, activity, and continued trust in our LS

Question: Why are you writing this about yourself?

Answer: I thought it would be a hysterical way to start the blog and articles about our game. I am hoping people can have a laugh about it and show that we will bring back some of the previous news we used to have, and people enjoyed.

Question: What does the game mean to you?

Answer: A hard question, how dare you start with this one! However, this game has given a lot of people, me included, a lot over the years. I have met some amazing people and made some seriously good friends through this game. In fact, one of my friends introduced me to my wife and that impacted my life in no way I thought possible. I left the UK to move to the US and have built a life over here since that move in 2012.

Friends I have met through the game attended my wedding, or they watched on the podcast we had set up so that family and friends that couldn’t make it to the wedding could still be a part of it.

Question: The community of the game appears to be important to you?

Answer: Absolutely. I don’t think utopia would have lasted as long without it, as the community is what holds the game together. How many kingdoms have people been part of over the years and the push has always been for players to join 3rd party platforms or provide a phone number? We have had ICQ, MSN, IRC, Team Speak, Discord, WhatsApp over the years and I am sure I have missed a whole bunch of others. It has always been about bringing the kingdom(s) together so that players can get to know each other and build relationships. It gives you stuff to do when armies are out and when mana/stealth are gone. Building those relationships keep kingdoms together or they bring players back into the game. I know I have brought back dozens of people and they love and hate me for it! There have been such amazing personalities in this game, and they became “keystones” to keeping people playing. As we saw those people leave, others stopped playing as well because you develop bonds with players/leadership etc. We still have this albeit in a diminished sense given the current count of players we have but this is still going to be the reason for any increase in players that we somehow need to capture and harness.

Question: You have become involved again with blogging, what should we expect?

Answer: I think there is going to be a lot of the same that we have had over the years as people do want to see interviews and war articles. I think it is still a good way to bring people together to celebrate or flame each other! I think the hope would be that if people can share this across their social media as we share it out to the community that there will be people that reach out and ask about the game or set up a province just to have a look. My main aim along with Tom is just to bring some fun back into it and get people talking!

Question: There is a lot of frustration with how the game are going to bring in more players, do you have any thoughts?

Answer: This is not an easy fix as the game is competing against a lot of others and the main thing that everyone has acknowledged is the lack of video/graphics. There are going to be a lot of young people that will immediately lose interest because they don’t get a “cool” video or graphic. However, I don’t necessarily think that is the make or break with being able to get players. Exposure via social media is going to be our largest driver in my opinion and we are going to need the community for that. People are going to have to want to explain the game to friends or people that have questions and want to try it out. We then need to make sure that players can immediately find their way into discord so that the community can be around them and hope that people don’t want to be idiots and flame them for being “nubs”. I am also willing to admit that maybe I am just naïve/hopeful/nostalgic/ etc but hopefully I am not!

Question: Any next steps or thoughts you want to share with the community?

Answer: One thing I would like to share is that since I have moved down to North Carolina and gotten into coaching rugby, I have tried to drive a culture and ethos for the kids to follow. I say to them every training and every game day, “Be there for each other, support one another, have fun”. I think there is a lot of this that is applicable for where we are as a game and as a community. It is going to take everyone to see where we can take things.

If you enjoyed reading this post let us know!

Quick snippet from Maddy himself:

I wanted to get back involved on this side of things after I saw the post about Utopia wanting a blogger. It felt like a natural fit after the years spent working with Alliance Rankings and the work, I had put into Utopia News in the forums.

The community is the true backbone of the game and for a lot of us, it has given us a lot of friends or it has been an outlet for people or is just a place they can bury themselves into.
Blogs, news, articles, interviews etc, whatever you want to call it play a part in this. A lot of people have missed the news we used to have going and hopefully this is something that can be shared and help bring people into the game or just increase enjoyment of it.

To our community, if you want to see something or you have ideas on something good that we may not have considered please let me/us know!

Find the Proposed changes here: 

http://forums.utopia-game.com/showthread.php&639853-Age-85-Proposed-Changes

Spend some time testing out these new changes live on the Genesis server, which starts in just a few hours (Sat Feb 29 @ 21:00 GMT) with 3 minute ticks!

Find the Proposed changes here: 

http://forums.utopia-game.com/showthread.php&639853-Age-85-Proposed-Changes

Spend some time testing out these new changes live on the Genesis server, which starts in just a few hours (Sat Feb 29 @ 21:00 GMT) with 3 minute ticks!

Age 84 begins on Monday and runs through February.  We’ve got a terrific balance of races and personalities with some interesting new mechanics to enhance gameplay for this age. 

Additionally, we have a Genesis round about to begin with 15 minute ticks which has the Age 84 changes LIVE and ready to be tested!

Don’t miss out on your chance at another great age of Utopia!

https://utopia-game.com/shared/

Age 84 begins on Monday and runs through February.  We’ve got a terrific balance of races and personalities with some interesting new mechanics to enhance gameplay for this age. 

Additionally, we have a Genesis round about to begin with 15 minute ticks which has the Age 84 changes LIVE and ready to be tested!

Don’t miss out on your chance at another great age of Utopia!

https://utopia-game.com/shared/

A new Genesis round will be starting shortly to allow more playtesting of the race and personality changes for the upcoming World of Legends Age 83!  

The current round will begin September 29, 2019 @ 22:00 GMT (6:00 PM EST) and last for 12 hours.

The round will include very fast ticks (5 minutes per tick) with productions doubled and durations halved (exploring/training/attacking/building) so you can get in a lot of testing in a very short time period!  

Or just play for glory and domination! Invites are available and more are free upon request so that you can play with your friends and Kingdom mates.  Take advantage of the opportunity while you can!  

See you on the battlefield!

Good luck, Warrior!

Age 83 - The Age of Adjudication is set to begin on Wednesday October 2, 2019!  Gather your friends and Kingdom mates to develop the game winning strategy for the age!  

Take a look at the upcoming changes here: http://forums.utopia-game.com/showthread.php&639774-Age-83-Final-Changes

As always, if you’re looking to start a new Kingdom with your friends you can do this with FREE invites, just take a look at the instructions in-game on how to make this happen!