Teamwork with Strangers? | Arena of Honor | S2-R11

This new round of Arena of Honor, the 11th, is another solo attempt on my part. The experience gained since the creation of this event allows me to have a greater impact within a team of complete strangers and to influence the course of the game more significantly. It is always more challenging to win with a randomly composed team, with limited communication and little knowledge of your allies' abilities and strengths. In this new round, I wanted to do everything I could to steer the game in our favor and at least secure a spot in the top 3 of the rankings, even win the game. So how is it possible to compete against stronger, better-organized teams?

Upon entering the battlefield, I gradually discover my allies and opponents. On my team, there’s Blem, a highly skilled infantry player I’ve encountered before in the Ultimate Tournament. He has Jon Snow and Daeron as commanders. Then there’s Nakamura, a cavalry player who seems well-equipped, with Daenerys as his Lord. As for myself, I play spear as usual. On paper, this setup is ideal for deploying all types of troops and contesting the City of Glory.

However, much will depend on my other allies, especially if they are active and capable of reinforcing rallies. Regardless, we will represent House Stark on the battlefield.

As for my opponents, I can quickly identify a few worrisome players in this match. Among them is Andir1983 from the RRH alliance and House Greyjoy, located directly to our left, a powerful infantry player. Then there’s BABOOO [GCM] from House Tyrell, another strong infantry player, and N0NE [FFS] from House Lannister, who is also highly skilled with infantry. This doesn’t work in my favor, as I’m spear, and the strongest enemies appear to specialize in infantry.

Additionally, Andir1983, who seems to be the strongest player on the battlefield, appears to be part of a relatively weak team with no real allies and is likely to hinder our attempts to capture their altars.

The battle begins, and my team immediately starts discussing the type of strongholds to build and the strategy to adopt. Blem suggests building spearmen camps to play offensively, but another player, the team captain, prefers infantry camps instead.

I agree with Blem and support his idea of spearmen, and the captain eventually agrees to go along with our choice. Had he refused, I would have followed his strategy regardless, as it’s better to have a less effective plan that everyone follows than to impose a divisive strategy that penalizes the team throughout the match.

I then glance at the choices of our opponents. For their first line of strongholds, most opt for the economic mode with trading posts, except for Houses Tyrell and Lannister, who also build spearman camps like us.

This is far from ideal for us, as our main goal was to secure the points from the initial captures of the Watch Towers, which are crucial at the start of the game. Unfortunately, we’ll now have to share those points.

When the second line of strongholds becomes accessible, we decide to stick with our strategy and build additional spearman camps. The other houses also remain consistent with their initial choices, except for House Greyjoy, led by Andir1983, which builds infantry camps.

This is a highly questionable decision, possibly made to counter our spearmen. However, they likely won’t have enough troops to make a significant impact, even with infantry's advantage over spearmen.

Speaking of Andir1983, as the first altar of each house becomes capturable, he targets ours, an expected move, though we hoped to avoid it. Immediately after, House Baratheon attempts to steal our altar from him, making it clear that both our direct neighbors plan to attack us throughout the match. Defending against two direct opponents with a random team is far from easy.

House Baratheon fails against Andir1983, and I prepare to attack with my cavalry, asking our best cavalry player to do the same. My attempt fails; even with the counter bonus, my cavalry is too weak against such a strong infantry player. Nakamura also fails and admits to a major mistake; he joined the event with gathering equipment instead of combat gear.

The game is shaping up to be challenging. Now without effective cavalry for defense, we’ll have to rely on my spearmen or Blem’s infantry, who is focusing on House Tyrell.

We logically lose the altar, but it grants a Point Yield boost bonus that enhances trading posts, something we don’t need. We must focus on the Altars of the Warrior to boost the efficiency of our Castle Clan troops. For now, my team isn’t very communicative, except for Blem, so I’ll have to closely observe their actions and playstyle to assist them as much as possible and elevate the team. But they did a really good job to upgrade our spearmen camps.

The three Watch Towers become accessible, and as expected, Houses Tyrell, Lannister, and ours—House Stark—capture them first, thanks to all three having built spearman camps. Now, to capture their Watch Towers and earn more passive points, we’ll need to control more Altars of the Warrior than they do. As expected, House Greyjoy, despite their infantry camps, doesn’t have enough troops to defeat us and reclaim the Watch Tower.

The first half of the match is nearly over. While not much happens early on, this phase is crucial for setting up our strategy and positioning on the battlefield.

While Blem works on capturing the Altar of the Warrior from House Tyrell, our top contender for victory and defended by BABOOO, I focus on House Lannister’s altars, reclaiming one already taken by House Baratheon.

After winning my duel, I check the battle report and realize that my opponent from House Baratheon is one of my friends. I completely missed this crucial detail, because yes, at the start of the game, it’s very important to look for potential allies, even in other houses. Of course, we reach out to each other and agree to propose an alliance between our respective houses. However, since both of us joined random teams, our proposal is ignored by our allies, who prefer to stick to their own plans. We had an opportunity to work together to get ahead, but now we’ll each have to stick to our initial strategy and rely solely on our own team members.

Having captured several Altars of the Warrior, our Castle Clan troops have also taken the other Watch Towers, severely penalizing Houses Tyrell and Lannister, who now have almost no sources of passive points. However, even though we’ve gained the upper hand over our two rivals, it’s been beneficial for Houses Targaryen and Baratheon, who are gradually climbing the ranks thanks to trading post points and our little war against Tyrell and Lannister.

We’ll need to shift our focus and work on slowing their progress, all while maintaining our altar bonuses for the upcoming catapult captures.

Now is the perfect time to put pressure on Houses Targaryen and Baratheon, as all the altars and dragonpits are available. We must prevent them from gaining more Altars of the Maiden, which would boost the output of their trading posts.

The task is going to be very difficult when I realize that in my team, only about three of us are truly active in defending our altars and capturing those of the enemies. I don't think we can afford to spread ourselves too thin, so we’ll need to focus and prepare our allies for the upcoming rallies to capture the City of Glory, likely with Blem as the rally leader.

Just before the battle for the City of Glory begins, the catapults come into play. As with the Watch Towers, our house, along with Houses Tyrell and Lannister, each captures one, since none of us had changed our strategy. This allows us to reclaim first place temporarily, even ahead of the houses that are playing passively with their trading posts.

Sometimes, it’s more important to focus on hindering your direct competitors at a specific moment, rather than simply trying to score points without considering your environment.

The City of Glory is finally open, and Blem quickly rushes to start the rally. But just as the excitement builds, another major problem arises, the lack of infantry troops. In fact, only two players are able to send infantry, and with the other allies seemingly unresponsive to our requests, Blem’s rally plans are no longer feasible with so few troops available.

After some discussion, we decide to take our chances with my spearmen, even though we know our enemies are using infantry, and the odds of holding are slim, especially with the limited reinforcements we expect.

However, one key lesson to remember in the battle for the City of Glory is that if your team lacks active players, reinforcements, or the right troop types, your opponents might be facing similar challenges. That’s why it’s always worth giving it a shot.

Still, this isn’t our immediate priority, as during the fierce battle for the City of Glory, no one on our team noticed that we had lost four strongholds due to neutral troops sent regularly. This is a major mistake that could cost us dearly in the end. However, with less than half of our players active, it’s nearly impossible to keep an eye on the entire map and manage all actions effectively.

While reclaiming our strongholds, I managed to prepare and launch a rally to capture the City of Glory. The attack succeeds, as I face a weaker cavalry opponent. However, Andir1983 quickly takes the city back, unsurprisingly. Still, the defeat is far from crushing, and his rally also lacks significant troops and also struggles to fill rallies with his Greyjoy team.

This gives us a clearer picture of our options regarding the city. Most importantly, thanks to Andir1983, other houses will also struggle to capture it, making the scores likely to stay very close.

Amid all this chaos, I failed to check the map, another mistake to avoid. In a random team, it’s tough to manage everything, but always assign someone to report major battlefield changes.

In my case, no one noticed House Tyrell switching from spearman camps to infantry camps. They had already reclaimed all the catapults and even one of our three Watch Towers. It’s only a matter of time before they take all our Watch Towers.

At this point, we’ve dropped to third place on the scoreboard, with Houses Baratheon and Targaryen neck-and-neck for the lead. Every minute counts, and I must quickly make a decision and propose it to the team leader; there’s no time to waste.

I take a few seconds to weigh the best options. One thing is clear: we can’t keep our spearman camps, which are now useless.

One option is to switch to cavalry camps to counter Tyrell’s infantry. However, this feels too late, and they might anticipate it. Plus, House Lannister still has their spearman camps, which could retake buildings once we capture them.

The alternative is to build infantry camps to counter both issues, but only if we secure more Altars of the Warrior than Tyrell; a risky gamble this late.

The safest option is to switch entirely to trading posts and quickly capture Altars of the Maiden. Though unlikely to surpass Targaryen and Baratheon, this strategy minimizes risk and ensures we at least secure third place by denying their bonuses. Prioritizing stability over ambition seems our best bet.

I immediately share the plan with my team, and in the urgency of the moment, they agree without debate. We begin rebuilding the strongholds. Unfortunately, as I feared, with inactive allies and others ignoring messages, only three of us are working on reconstruction. This will take too long and cost us valuable points.

Meanwhile, I had already prepared another rally for a second and final attempt to capture the City of Glory. Though it wasn’t fully reinforced, neither were the enemy rallies anyway.

Once again, I faced the same cavalry opponent, easily winning and occupying the city. However, the same scenario unfolded: Andir1983's infantry rally immediately dislodged us. This defeat was even harsher than the last, confirming there’s no chance of retaking the City of Glory, but this holds true for all houses as well.

Something had just shifted, it felt as if a void formed around me, an icy wind piercing through my entire body, as though everything became a matter of life or death. From that moment, my mindset changed, and so did that of my enemies, realizing the urgency of the situation. Everyone seemed on edge, ready to do whatever it took to win, or avoid ending up at the bottom.

Suddenly, the intensity of enemy assaults spikes, the scores tighten dramatically, with House Tyrell nearly erasing their deficit. The final stretch is here, and the stakes are clear.

House Baratheon focuses relentlessly on our altars, likely seeing them as easier targets to secure their lead over Targaryen. Meanwhile, we must scrape together every possible point to hold off Tyrell’s rapid surge, all while hindered by our half-rebuilt trading posts.

I decide to target Baratheon, my closest neighbors, as they’re the only house unable to defeat me. Although it would make more sense to hinder Tyrell, BABOOO stands in my way, making that option impossible.

It’s incredibly difficult to keep up with all the back-and-forth over the altars, and securing the Altars of the Maiden we hold or even capturing more, is critical.

Amid the stress of constant attacking and defending, I overlooked a crucial detail: the opening of the Mine Shafts.

This was a significant mistake, but surprisingly, it didn’t cost us much. Apart from House Tyrell, which captured the mine near their base, all other houses also forgot about them. Amazingly, the remaining Mine Shafts stayed empty for nearly three minutes.

Without wasting a second, I inform Blem and my allies of their importance and urge everyone to capture and reinforce as many Mine Shafts as possible before our opponents catch on.

The race for every last point begins, and I try to split my focus across all fronts, securing points from the Mine Shafts and Altar bonuses. House Tyrell is now only 3,000 points behind us, gaining more points per minute. Luckily, no one contests the four Mine Shafts we hold, except for Baratheon, who remain fixated on us and manage to reclaim one through a rally. We can’t afford to lose those points, so I hastily attack the mine and manage to win the battle.

The minutes slip away, and now only five remain. The Mine Shafts are empty, and when I check the scores, disaster strikes; House Tyrell has caught up to us. They must have also collected points from other mines, on top of their increasing income.

I start to lose confidence, but there’s no time to hesitate. I have to go all-in to ensure they don’t overtake us at the finish line.

While keeping an eye on the Baratheon attacks, I decide to capture an Altar of the Maiden from House Tyrell to deprive them of points and add some to our total. I receive reinforcements from only one ally, but it’s not enough to withstand BABOOO’s immediate counterattack, which dislodges me instantly.

In hindsight, it was a desperate move on my part, feeling powerless in the final three minutes to change the outcome. After all, Tyrell’s points were coming from the Watch Towers and Catapults, not the Trading Posts.

At that point, I had to accept our fate, sealed in the last two minutes of the match after a hard-fought defense throughout the battle. In the end, the hardest pill to swallow was realizing that if my allies had helped rebuild the Trading Posts, which remained unfinished until the very last second, we might have even claimed first place instead of settling for a bitter fourth.

Playing in a random team is a true challenge, where coordination, commitment, and responsiveness are crucial elements for achieving victory. Mistakes, such as a lack of communication or inactive participation, can be costly, but they are not fatal if one can adjust their strategy based on the circumstances. Even in the most difficult moments, when our allies are inactive or the map changes rapidly, it's possible to turn the situation around with the right choices and a bit of luck. Ultimately, while victory is complex and every decision counts, it is never completely out of reach as long as we remain flexible and persistent.

Despite the setbacks, this match showcased my determination and resilience. I gave everything to push my team forward, making tough decisions under pressure and fighting relentlessly against all odds. While victory slipped away this time, the experience sharpened my strategic mindset, and I'm ready to turn setbacks into stepping stones and strive for victory in the next arena.