WoK: Tutorial

"All men can see these tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved."
- Sun Tzu, The Art of War

The WoK tutorial is designed to introduce players to the concepts of the Standard WoK game engine, allowing them to experiment with each phase and understand how they fit together to form a winning strategy. This manual serves as a guide to the tutorial, it is possible to complete the tutorial without reading it, but the game will be easier if you at least glance at it. It is recommended that you read a stage of the manual, then attempt that stage in the tutorial, repeating until you reach the end. But do whatever works for you!

You can start a tutorial game from the home page, provided you are logged in. Go to the "Open Games" section, and one of the "Create a new game" options is to start a tutorial. The game engine runs turns once a minute; a tutorial game only has one player, so within a minute of you starting one you should get an email notification that the game is ready to play. Go to the game page to see what you got!

The game page shows the current game map, a leader board of players in the game and a commentary of what happened on the last turn. If you are playing the game, you also have links to see a detailed turn report, enter orders for next turn, and send messages to the other players. As you are the only player in this game, you won't be needing that option!

This game consists of three robot players and you. You can see the players' names, scores, home province and status on the leader board. It also shows if players are ready for the next turn. Robot players are always ready, once all the human players are too then the next turn will run. Between the map and the leader board, you have the option to mark yourself as ready, and a button to end the game, if you've learned enough. For now, let's look at your turn report. Click on "Turn for player #1".

Stage One: The Beginning

With the death of your father, you are the ruler of our province. The old empire is falling apart, this is the right time for expansion!

#ID NAME POP WOK AIM ARM LEV DEF MIS SPY
1 The Old Kingdom 0 24 DEF 12 1.750 1.3 0 10
1 Provinces 0 24 12 1.750a 1.3a 0 10

You are the ruler of the Old Kingdom. A single province surrounded by the sea to the West and by a disintegrating empire to the East. Your father, the previous monarch, was happy to let the kingdom slide into anonymity but now you have taken the throne. It is time to reclaim the former glory of your nation!

You do not start with many resources. Your kingdom consists of 24 workers who are improving your land's defences, 12 armies with a small amount of training, and 10 spies who don't seem to do anything really (don't worry, they will later).

The game map doesn't give that many options for what to do. There are three provinces and the current objective is to capture them. We could stretch this out, taking one province per turn, but we can make three attacks so we may as well get it done.

Armies can attack more than once in a turn. A large group of armies is more likely to be successful than several small groups. Wokring on the assumption that our armies will take the first province they attack, we can then issue attack orders from that province.

Click on "Orders for player #1". You will see a form which allows you to enter some attack orders:

Once those orders are filled in, press the "Send finished orders" button to submit them. You will get a green confirmation message on the screen, and will also receive an email summary of your orders. Assuming you are happy for the next turn to run, check the box under the map which says so and click "Update". Within a minute the turn will run, again you will get an email, or you can keep refreshing the home page to see when the map updates!

Stage Two: An Empire Falls

The old empire was weak, it is time to finish it off.

#ID NAME POP WOK AIM ARM LEV DEF MIS SPY
1 The Old Kingdom 0 24 DEF 0 1.000 1.6 0 10
2 Faycrest 0 100 MIS 0 1.000 0.7 33 0
3 Roseburn 0 100 EFF 0 1.000 0.7 0 0
4 Wildesnow 0 100 DEF 10 1.876 1.9 0 0
4 Provinces 0 324 10 1.876a 1.2a 33 10

Hopefully that was not too difficult. Depending on how the fights went, you may not have exactly the same ARM and LEV values as above, but it should be representative.
Notice how, after you successfully take a province, some of your injured armies recover. This is based on the numbers rolled during the fight. - If the ATT number is higher, the attacker wins, if the DEF number is higher, the defender wins. If the winner more than doubles the losers roll, the losing army is killed outright, otherwise it will recover if it turns out to be on the winning side. This means that even after a long and close battle, you will still have some troops left!

The value rolled is randomly chosen between 0 and your power. For attackers, the power is based on the LEVel of the troops and the player's EFF. For defenders, the DEFense of the province is also taken into consideration. A high combat power is vital to winning fights!
Speaking of which, the defenders of province 5 are famously well trained. Our armies have done a good job taking the outlying provinces of the empire, but they have no chance of taking the capital. Fortunately, we captured some MISsile workers in province #2. They have made 33 missiles for us, which we can fire at province #5 this turn, wiping out the defenders without our troops having to fight!

Going to the orders section this time, a new phase has been unlocked. The missiling phase allows us to launch MIS from a province, either "short range" at a neighbour, or "long range" at the neighbour of a neighbour. Missiles have an EFF% chance of hitting short range targets, or ¾ of that for long range. The workers we captured in province #2 have made 33 missiles, which we can send straight into neighbouring province 5. To do that, pick 2 in the first select box, 5 in the second and a number greater than or equal to 33 in the last box. (If you try to use more of something than are available in a province, all will be used.)

If you're feeling brave, you can enter an attack order too. (There's a decent chance the missiles will knock out all the defenders, but it's not certain.). Click on next phase, and send some troops from 4 to 5. Don't send them all though, just in case some defenders remain.

Once you're ready, mark yourself as such and wait for the turn to run. Repeat this pattern until province #5 is yours.

Stage Three: Into the Desert

The armies of the empire never ventured beyond the desert, but now it's time to see what's out there.

#ID NAME POP WOK AIM ARM LEV DEF MIS SPY
1 The Old Kingdom 0 24 DEF 0 1.000 1.9 0 10
2 Faycrest 0 100 MIS 0 1.000 0.7 33 0
3 Roseburn 0 100 EFF 0 1.000 0.7 0 0
4 Wildesnow 0 100 DEF 9 1.876 3.1 0 0
5 Courthall 0 100 LEV 1 2.982 0.9 0 0
5 Provinces 0 424 10 1.987a 1.5a 33 10

Once we turned the empire's own missiles against them, their armies did not stand a chance! Congratulations, the old empire has fallen, you can now look to expand your horizons.

Notice that the missiles also destroyed DEF and SPY. It's not possible to aim missiles at a particular unit type. Sometimes this general destruction is useful, sometimes it is not. In this case it might have been nice to claim some extra resources, but if some troops had been left then reducing the DEF would help in a fight...

To the East is the Great Desert. A neutral province, unowned by any player. It will contain fresh resources to help us grow, but it will also be defended. We need to move up armies and missiles this turn in order to take it next turn.

Fortunately the movement phase has just unlocked, so that is exactly what we will do. No missile or attack orders required this turn, instead go to the movement phase. Movement orders work a lot like attack orders - you need to specify a source, destination and amount, and the destination must neighbour the source but also need to specify what unit to move. As a final restriction, you can only move units between provinces that you own!

Move MIS from province 2 to province 5, and move ARM from province 4 to province 5, then set the turn to run. Once everything is in place, obliterate the defenders and conquer province 6!

Stage Four: A New Enemy

The lands beyond the great desert are controlled by another empire. It will soon fall beneath our might.

#ID NAME POP WOK AIM ARM LEV DEF MIS SPY
1 The Old Kingdom 0 24 DEF 0 1.000 2.5 0 10
2 Faycrest 0 100 MIS 0 1.000 0.7 49 0
3 Roseburn 0 100 EFF 0 1.000 0.7 0 0
4 Wildesnow 0 100 DEF 0 1.000 5.5 0 0
5 Courthall 0 100 LEV 0 1.000 0.9 0 0
6 The Great Desert 400 12 DEF 10 2.181 0.4 0 0
6 Provinces 400 436 10 2.181a 1.8a 49 10

The lands on the other side of the desert are already owned. Hopefully the ruler of these lands is as surprised by us as we are by them.
We should move quickly, convert some of the POP we caputured in province #6 into armies, use missiles on the enemy and take their provinces!

During the transform phase, you can change POP into WOK at a 2:1 ratio, POP into ARM at a 4:1 ratio (but only three times per turn) or WOK back into POP at a 2:1 ratio (if you get very desperate).
For now, let's make some new armies. In the transformations section of the order form, choose province 6, POP->ARM and 48 (the maximum you can convert is 50, but 48 is the highest multiple of 4). Enter this order three times. Also enter any other orders you want to try (moving missiles up from province #2 couldn't hurt), then mark yourself as ready for the next turn.

Once the turn has run, you should have about 40 troops in province 6. That's a force that you can be more confident will succeed. Especially if it's backed up with missiles. Remember, missiles are limited in range. Missiles in province #6 can hit #7 at full effectiveness, #8 at ¾ power, and can't reach 9 at all. We could play it safe, missiling each province and taking it in turn, but that would give the enemy more time to react. Better to swoop in swiftly!

Enter orders to missile #7, then attack #7, #8 and #9. Best to make some more Armies in #6 too, just in case...

Stage Five: Covert Operations

This enemy is better prepared than the old empire was, we should tread carefully.

#ID NAME POP WOK AIM ARM LEV DEF MIS SPY
1 The Old Kingdom 0 24 DEF 0 1.000 3.1 0 10
2 Faycrest 0 100 MIS 0 1.000 0.7 33 0
3 Roseburn 0 100 EFF 0 1.000 0.7 0 0
4 Wildesnow 0 100 DEF 0 1.000 7.9 0 0
5 Courthall 0 100 LEV 0 1.000 0.9 0 0
6 The Great Desert 157 12 DEF 36 1.000 0.6 0 0
7 Deepsilver 0 100 SPY 0 1.000 0.6 0 34
8 Wellyn 0 100 SPY 0 1.000 0.6 0 36
9 Dracden 0 100 SPY 37 1.555 1.2 0 43
9 Provinces 157 736 73 1.281a 1.8a 33 123

That may have been more of a struggle, but a combination of missiles and superior numbers should be enough to win the day.
If our previous opponent is anything to go by, province 10 (our new enemy's home province) may be quite hard to take. We have gained some spies while taking provinces 7 - 9, let's use them to scout out what is in province #10
There are five possible spy orders:

Each of these orders has uses, but right now we want to know what is in the province, so the Spy province option makes most sense. Spies can work from anywhere on the map, a spy attempt is considered close range if there is a continuous route through your empire from the source to the target, and long range otherwise. As with missiles, each spy used has an EFF (or ¾ EFF for long range) chance of making it to the target, once there, the spies must evade any enemy spies in the province in order to carry out their mission. Spies which succeed in their mission return to your province, and can be used again in subsequent orders.

We have four provinces containing spies, let's try a spy province order from each of them, then a spread propaganda order from province 9, just for kicks. Remember, successful spies aren't used up, so we should send plenty of them for each operation; if there are no defensive spies no harm has been done, and if there are then we have a higher chance of success.
We should also convert more armies, and bring them and some missiles up to the front line. We should be able to get 50 armies from province #6 to province #9 and 50 MIS from province #2 to province #8, which will help when the fighting starts.

Stage Five (again): Covert Operations

This enemy is better prepared than the old empire was, we should tread carefully.

#ID NAME POP WOK AIM ARM LEV DEF MIS SPY
1 The Old Kingdom 0 24 DEF 0 1.000 3.4 0 2
2 Faycrest 0 100 MIS 0 1.000 0.7 16 0
3 Roseburn 0 100 EFF 0 1.000 0.7 0 0
4 Wildesnow 0 100 DEF 0 1.000 9.1 0 0
5 Courthall 0 100 LEV 0 1.000 0.9 0 0
6 The Great Desert 15 12 DEF 22 1.000 0.7 0 0
7 Deepsilver 0 100 SPY 50 1.000 0.6 0 47
9 Dracden 0 100 SPY 37 1.555 1.2 0 53
8 Provinces 15 636 109 1.188a 2.2a 16 102

Well that wasn't supposed to happen!

Your province 8 is under attack!! The attack comes from province 10
The enemy has 50 armies at a level of 2.
The attack is commanded by Dot Matrix
YOU HAVE NO TROOPS FOR DEFENSE!
You have lost the battle! 50 armies take your province 8

It's a good thing we didn't attack, 50 armies at level 2 would have wiped out our troops. (You can use the attack simulator to see how likely you are to win a fight.) We're not quite in the position we wanted to be in, but it's actually worked out quite well. - 50 troops and 50 MIS are sat right next to then enemy's attack force. We should definitely launch all the missiles, but they won't kill all the armies. We then have the chance to attack with the troops from province 9 into 9 and/or 10. We can also try some attacks with the troops in 7. Alternatively, we could sit and defend this turn, we might lose another province, but it would allow us to bring up more missiles which would seal the deal on the next turn. Why not use the attack calculator to figure out the best strategy.

Note: Our enemy is a robot player. Robots play by a very specific algorithm. We know that province #8 contains 45 armies at level 2.1, and that they will attack province #7 this turn. That knowledge, and the OOP (which tells us whose attack orders will be processed first), will allow us to choose the best strategy.

Don't forget to move up MIS and ARM too, and it may be worth entering some spy orders even if you choose to attack, just in case anything goes wrong...

Stage Six: Rule the World

We can now see the entire island. Another empire occupies the Eastern edge. They are aware of us now, and will move against us. We must eliminate them!

#ID NAME POP WOK AIM ARM LEV DEF MIS SPY
1 The Old Kingdom 0 24 DEF 0 1.000 4.0 0 10
2 Faycrest 0 100 MIS 0 1.000 0.7 0 0
3 Roseburn 0 100 EFF 0 1.000 0.7 0 0
4 Wildesnow 0 100 DEF 0 1.000 9.9 0 0
5 Courthall 0 100 LEV 0 1.000 0.9 0 0
6 The Great Desert 21 12 DEF 0 1.000 0.9 0 0
7 Deepsilver 0 64 SPY 0 1.000 0.6 0 39
8 Wellyn 0 64 SPY 0 1.000 0.6 0 40
9 Dracden 0 100 SPY 37 1.555 1.2 0 25
10 Castlelea 0 100 MIN 22 1.366 3.1 33 6
10 Provinces 21 764 59 1.485a 2.3a 33 120

Depending on the strategy you chose (and how lucky you were!) that could have been more or less of a struggle. Victory is yours though, and the final two phases have been unlocked. - You can change the AIM of workers in your provinces (perhaps to make some missiles closer to the front lines) and you can spend gold on upgrades. There should have been a hefty windfall when you took out your previous opponent, and this can be spent to gain more attacks, boost your EFF, or build LEV, DEF, MIS or SPY in all your provinces. The first purchase per turn is 100 gold, the second 200 and the third 300. You can get more gold by putting workers on the MINing aim.

You can now see the whole island (in a real game you would see the full game from the start. There is one more opponent to take out, your resources give you a significant advantage, but you are probably low on armies. Use missles to take some more neutrals, gain POP and rebuild your forces, then conquer the entire map. Good Luck!

Once you've completed the tutorial game, you're ready for a real challenge! Why not start or sign up for a skirmish game. 2 players on a 20 province map, but a human opponent is harder to predict. If you're feeling very confident, try a Duel where you and your opponent control three empires each, and fight across a 60 province map - with 4 robot players thrown into the mix.

Also make sure you say hello on the forums, and be sure to ask if you have any questions.

Good Luck, and see you on the battlefield soon!