Aimo guide and Mindbender Example Setups

Recorded by The Plant Psychologist

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Basics

        Income: Getting a good economy in the early game is key to long term success. For example, upgrading a level 2 city with a workshop instead of an explorer or when upgrading a level 3 city, choosing 5 Stars instead of Walls

        Researching tech before taking a village: Tech becomes more expensive after you take a new village. Therefore, consider researching useful tech just before taking a new village

        Keep your options open: Whether it is waiting to buy a tech until you need it or waiting to build a port until you have a unit read to use it, don’t spend your stars until you need to. Another example, never partially upgrade a city.

        Plan ahead: Look at the map and the resources available. Chose tech and units that will support future turns. When you explore during the first few turns, always explore towards the center as early as possible (in a 1v1).

Make sure to read Gerenuk's guide for more general tips!

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Part 1a: Ai-mo opening (Credit to PewQ and Skrealder)

        This was the most common advice given by PewQ and Skrealder during round two of the tribal duels, which was Ai-mo vs Yadakk on medium map glory. It may be more/less effective against other tribes or on other map sizes.

        Essentially, the goal is to get a giant as soon as possible because that’s what Yadakk (and many other tribes too) has a hard time dealing with. Although ai-mo’s giant potential isn’t as great as tribes like Bardur or Luxidoor, Ai-mo does get a free monument that can be used to boost a city to level 5.

        First, we analyze why level 5 is such a great level. From level 3 (which is also a great level to be at) to level 5, it costs 6 population, gives you +2 stp, a giant worth roughly 10 stars, and a monument the first time you get to level 5. T

        As for an opening, there is no standard moveset like there was with prenerf Bardur. In fact, the question of whether to get a second warrior on turn 0 is disagreed upon. I will list a few pros and a few cons of buying a second warrior. Of course it depends on your spawn, but it can also depend on whether you hosted or not.

        Pros: Almost doubles your exploration during the first few turns, and allows you to grab contested cities before your opponent does. Early cities means more money.

        Cons: Essentially costs 4 stars because it delays your +2 upgrade by a turn. That means it also delays your giant by a turn, and the whole point of this strategy is to rush a giant. You don’t necessarily need new cities, in fact it is occasionally acceptable to delay a capture in order to get a tech for cheaper.

        After turn 0, you will explore with your warrior(s) and save up for either hunting, organization, or fishing to upgrade your capital. Wait until you have 9 stars before buying a tech, so that you can make the most informed choice between the three. If you can’t decide which tech to use to level up your city, take forests and potential whales into consideration, and don’t go organization if hunting or fishing are just as good, because there will be almost 0 farms in ai-moyan terrain.

        Some more things to consider: which city are you going to get your first giant in? You will need to get 11 population somehow, but 3 will be taken care of by the monument. Your giant city doesn’t have to be your capital, but it is easier to get it in the capital because you can get population from a ruins (more on that later) and extra population potential from connections. You might find that your capital can easily get a giant without the monument, so you might consider placing the monument in another city to 2 giants. Leave your options open and plan ahead.

        On the note of ruins: don’t ignore them! Whether it’s better to go for ruins first or villages first is up for debate, but they can give you stars, tech, or population to boost you to level 5, or if it’s after turn 5, they can give you a giant.^[a] Just a tip: if it’s in the corner or in a spot where an explorer would be useless, make sure to clear all the clouds around it so that an explorer won’t spawn.

        If you do it right, you can get a giant as early as turn 5 or 6, then another one in a few turns with the park of fortune.

Example game

        This game was played by Espark during the tribal duels (against yadakk, med, glory)

(1) In this game, Espark went for a second warrior because there were 2 clear directions to expand towards. She continues to save up until she has 9 stars.  *Note to appease Skrealder: this second warrior (often called T02) may not have been optimal, but you will see that it worked out just fine.

(3) By now it’s clear that organization will be very helpful. Espark buys organization before capturing, then levels up the capital. She sees that the northern city has no resources to level it up, so she plans to skip it because it will only raise her tech prices.

(4) After running into yadakk and getting 5 stars, she can afford to level up her new eastern city. An explorer here is helpful because it allows her to be prepared for whatever yadakk has coming. She has 6 stars left and plans to get hunting, but waits to do so next turn. She is going to get her first giant in the eastern city because it has the most resources. The capital does not have enough to get to level 5.

(5) She places the monument in the eastern city and takes resources instead of walls, which is usually the right choice. She moves back onto the northern village now that she can afford hunting and forestry. She can buy hunting and forestry but waits anyways because there is no point in buying it earlier, but it leaves her options open just in case she changes her mind later.

(6) She has a giant on turn 6. I’m too lazy to go count what she did exactly, but note that the park of fortune went in the capital because that was the next best place to get a giant.

(9) Yadakk responds by buying defenders. A giant alone can’t kill a defender, but if the defender is weakened by a warrior/rider, the giant can kill it even if it has the defense buff. Use the calculator if you are unsure if something will kill. Espark gets riders ready.

(13) By now, her giants and riders have swept through most of yadakk’s territory. It’s game over now.

More Example games

These are Pewq’s games. I have no commentary https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/581591886150631442/605017711335964700/20190728_144244.gif

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/602085165044465677/602290425067339787/20190721_020626.gif

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Part 1b: Ai-mo opening with philosophy (the faultier version, example screenshots TBA) In other situations, philosophy lets Ai-mo be pretty flexible. Obviously it depends on the map size, player count, glory/domination etc. This opening may not be the best but it’s reliably good enough.

On turn 0, buy another warrior. You will be  saving up for philosophy and other techs, and a second warrior doubles exploration during those turns.

It doesn't matter on which turn exactly you buy philosophy. It doesn't even have to be your first tech; if you get resources from a ruins, or you somehow are able to obtain fishing/organization/hunting, level up your capital, and have 7 stars before your first village, then by all means go for it.

The key thing is this: you must buy philosophy before you capture your first village. Otherwise your tech prices will snowball faster than your economy can grow. If you are lucky, you will have your first village on turn 3 and your second on turn 4.

After you buy philosophy, you need to decide if you will go hunting, fishing, or organization. You can count the number of fish/llamos/peppers in your territory, but if you have to choose between organization or fishing/hunting, you should not go with organization. Forestry, mathematics, whaling, and sailing are all useful techs. On the other hand, farming is useless because aimo has --farmland, and shields aren't useful until later.

It is also possible to use mines and forges to build your economy, but this doesn't work nearly as well or as often as it does for Xin xi.

On turn 5, you obviously place the monument. Place it in a city that you will not be able to level up with your hunting/fishing tech alone.

It is not hard to last the first 5 turns peacefully. Even if you are on a tiny/crowded map and run into other tribes within the first 5 turns, warrior spam will be able to protect you for a few turns. Defenders are not necessary.

If you are on a large or medium map 1v1, the rest of the game will probably play out like any other tribe. If you are on a tiny or crowded map, you will be the only tribe that can use mindbenders practically.

Here is a screenshot of an economy built off hunting/forestry/mathematics, and another built off mining/forges, both with philosophy. Even if philosophy is not optimal, it usually isn’t that bad and is harder to mess up.

Glory mode (example sprint)

First, make sure to reference Skrealder's point breakdown when you play glory mode. There are several ways to earn points: temples, vision, monuments, cities (population, parks, borders),  tech, and units.

        Glory mode should start out exactly like might mode does. Don’t build temples like in perfection, or else your economy will be so far behind that your opponent will be able to destroy you. The only difference is that when you reach around 8,000+ points, which can be as early as turn 15 on a large map, (but may take longer if you have to spend stars on military) you should start looking for ways to “sprint” the rest of the way to 10,000. Usually, you’ll be able to reach 10,000 in one or two turns.

Therefore, there any temple you build probably won’t level up, so a temple only gives you 5 points per star. Temples are not worth it in glory mode.

Next, you can use vision (exploring tiles). If for some reason you have a level 1 city, an explorer will give you a solid amount of points. Just make sure you have sailing and navigation if it’s a coastal city. But of course, you probably won’t have a level 0 city lying around that just happens to be next to a bunch of clouds. So that probably won’t help.

As for monuments, you should probably already have Park of Fortune, and Ai-mo would definitely already have the Altar of Peace (for other tribes, 5 turns is too long for such a sprint). Emperor’s tomb is not impossible if you are making 50+ stp, but at that point you probably don’t need it. Eye of god is almost impossible to get at this point. Tower of wisdom is pretty hard to get as well, but buying tech in general is a good option (more on that later). That leaves Grand Bazaar and Gate of power, which you can go for if you don’t already have them.

Finally, cities and tech should give you the bulk of your points. Your cities should already be at least at level 3. Unless you are certain your city is about to get captured (not just seiged) next turn or the turn after, choose parks when you level up. (However, parks are only good during the sprint because your giants usually will not have time to reach the front lines anyways. But midgame, before 7000 points, giants are usually better.) Buying techs for points is usually a pretty good option, and is even better if you have philosophy. Third tier techs give you the highest points/stars ratio. But even with philosophy, techs can get pretty expensive (if you didn’t already know, without philosophy: first tier techs cost n+4 stars, second tier techs cost 2n+4 stars, and third tier techs cost 3n+4 stars, where n is the number of cities you have.) If you do the math, parks are usually more cost efficient than techs, but you might not always have the resources to reach high levels.

        If you have leftover stars (don’t forget to clear forests, but don’t disband) and need less than 50 or less points, you might be able to make it the rest of the way by buying units, which give you 5 points for every star. But a 5/1 points/star ratio is pretty bad, so units won’t be the bulk of your points.

        Here’s an example sprint.

Context: this game was a practice game for the upcoming tribal duels. Medium map, and although it was technically might by accident, we were playing as if it were glory mode just for practice. On the left is the end of turn 23 (score: 8,855), on the right is the beginning of turn 24 (you can see the score went down because some units died). My navy and economy were much weaker than Yadakk’s, but I was ahead in points because I had been buying techs like Mathematics, shields, and mining.

Starting a few turns back, I began producing catapults because it was cheaper defense than a navy (although I was also spamming defender boats, which you should always do in naval battles).

On turn 24, I had 54 stars and needed a little less than 1,300 points. Although many of my catapults were killed or crippled by yadakk, the survivors killed enough of Yadakk’s navy that I managed to get Gate of Power. With a few extra stars I used it to get a park, which in total brought me about 700 points. I then bought a second tier tech for 13 stars and two third tier techs for 18 stars each (didn’t matter which techs). I made it over 10,000 with points and stars to spare. This was not the best example, but it’s better than just a bunch of paragraphs.

Do I need philosophy?

Philosophy is what makes Ai-mo special; if you don't use it, you're probably better off choosing Xin xi. Philosophy is nice on large maps because it sets you up for buying a lot of techs. This is useful if you are fighting multiple players or your opponent changes strategy. Philosophy is also nice on small maps because it gives you another option of mindbenders if you choose to use them. However, philosophy severely hurts your early economy and takes a while to recover from. Therefore, if you are playing on a tiny map against a tribe that is hard to mindbend (Yadakk, Oumaji, Hoodrick, Polaris, etc) or a medium map, philosophy is probably not worth it.

Should I buy climbing? 

Climbing is useful but not necessary. Because first tier tech prices rise slowly, it is ok to wait until later to buy it. But in a free for all, that’s a different story (ask PRA for FFA advice or watch his video here)

Should I use mindbenders?

As you know, mindbenders have two abilities: convert and heal. Keep reading if you would like to see effective converting traps in action. As for heal, I find that it is not very useful, because most experienced players are used to doing “kill not wound.” There is a possible tactic that can be used with the heal function. This is to use mindbenders in tandem with riders; the rider(s) hit and return, and the mindbender heals them up to full or almost full health so they can be used immediately next turn. However, I have yet to see this used against a human player, and I doubt it is practical enough to be used competetively.

Part 2: Mindbender example setups

As I said before: mindbenders rarely work. You can use these traps against bots or inexperienced players, but it is hard to get a trap so solid that a skilled player could not get out of. However, I will present a few examples here so that you can use mindbenders when the situation arises.

When should you not attempt a mindbender trap? When your opponent has  (or you predict they will soon have) knights, catapults, or battleships; mindbenders will be useless. Even riders and archers will make mindbender traps very difficult to pull off. For this reason, you must use your mindbenders early (as a rule of thumb, turn 15 is too late to do an offensive trap, unless you have a lot of support).

When should you attempt a mindbender trap? When your opponent has giant(s), mindbending or forcing them to disband is usually worth the risk, assuming you already have philosophy (otherwise catapults are more effective). Mindbending swordsmen is also pretty good (but again, catapults are better). Many players think that swordsmen can one shot mindbenders, but forget that with the meditation bonus or if the swordsman is 11 health, the mindbender will survive.

The perfect opportunity is when you see an enemy giant approaching alone or with few units. When you see this, buy a mindbender in the nearest city that is not in immediate danger. Buying two is even better.

The other condition you need for a successful trap is some support units (warriors are fine, riders are better) or a nice choke point formed by water or mountains. The more constricted the land, the less support you need.

Mindbenders can be used defensively or offensively. I'll start with a defensive example because it's easier. (Note: All of the following setups were against real players, not bots.)

Defensive mindbenders

Context: This was a ranked polychamps game (and I risked mindbenders? Unthinkable!). It was a crowded 4v4 in which imp was my ally, and zebasi was not. I had a knight there because I got a ruin (gave 10 stars) and a whale, but the knight is not important right now.

           The most basic way to use a defensive mindbender is to place it behind your city, so that just in case an enemy unit is able to occupy it, you can convert it.

In this situation, zebasi will need (assuming they don't have catapults or knights yet, their score was lower than mine) 5 riders/warriors in order to secure a capture: 3 to kill the warrior and 2 to kill the mindbender. They would also need climbing, probably, and would have to have knowledge of the mindbender's presence.

Result: His warrior became a veteran when he tried to capture my city, and I stole the veteran. My city was safe.

Stealing giants

An obvious way to use mindbenders is to steal giants (or force them to disband). Here is one example. If zebasi didn't know of the mindbender's presence, he may be tempted to kill the rider or warrior, and then the mindbender would steal him. And even if he was aware of the mindbender, his only good move is to stand on the park of fortune, but then he would get caught by a double mindbender trap, which would force the giant to retreat until reinforcements kill the mindbenders

Result: I don’t remember. But I did win. (if you were wondering, it was turn 10 but I had to crop out the waiting message to keep my opponent anonymous)

The double mindbenders are shown here (this is the same game from the first screenshot, so imperius is my ally and Hoodrick is not). If the hoodrick giant killed the mindbender next to it, the other mindbender would steal the giant. If the giant did nothing, it would still get mindbent.

Result: the giant disbanded. My team won.

I do realize that turn 19 is pretty late, and the trap would have failed if hoodrick had catapults in the clouds or if the ship became a battleship. However, since the mindbenders were still around from the early game, I would have lost nothing if the trap had failed. There was nothing to lose by trying.

Here’s another example of stealing a unit, this time it was a swordsman. This swordsman was at 11 health because it hit my warrior last turn. Obviously, if he tried to finish it off he would get mind bent, or he could try to kill the mindbender and occupy the city. A lot of players know that swordsmen can usually one shot a mindbender, but don’t realize that if the swordsman is at 11 health or lower, or the mindbender has the meditation bonus, the mindbender survives. So again, experienced players might not fall for it, but it’s always worth a try. Result: he tried to hit my mindbender, and it survived. Make sure to use the polytopia battle calculator.

One more example: you can use cities to bait giants, a bit like the defensive mindbender setups. This example game was played by The Snooper in round 3 of the tribal duels. Just to note: Snooper got philosophy from a ruin.

Offensive mindbenders

Mindbenders can also be used offensively to capture cities, although this is much more difficult. The basic idea is to place a mindbender next to an enemy city and convert a unit if it were to spawn in that city. However, the most common response to this is to leave the city empty next turn. Because of this, you need to have another unit (warrior, usually) next to the city as well to enter the empty city, because the mindbender itself is unable to enter enemy cities (Seriously, Midjiwan? Aren’t they useless enough?).

Here is an example of what an attempt might look like.

(It was turn 8, I had to crop out the waiting message for anonymity)

As I said before, it is very difficult to create a trap that is impossible to escape. If my warrior on the mountain moved southwest one tile, it would have been inescapable (assuming no catapults, ships or knights, obviously,because xin xi’s score was lower than mine) unless xinxi had a bunch of riders.

Notice the elements of a trap in this screenshot: The mindbender is there, the support warriors make it impossible to kill the mindbender (if they had been placed a bit better), and they are there in case the city was left empty.  Result: Xin xi left a warrior in the city and I captured it.

Here is an example of a failed attempt against a very good player. The screenshots are a bit confusing so let me explain: The one on the left is taken before turn 8. During turn 8, I moved the mindbender forward, kept the southern warrior where it was, and  advanced the other two warriors. The end of turn 8 is shown through the score screen. Quetzali left the city open. The picture on the right is taken after turn 9, when I moved the warrior into the city and the mindbender over to try to get the defender. Unfortunately, Quetzali had enough riders to kill both my occupying warrior and the mindbender. Result: I lost the game. Learn from my mistakes.

The Element of Surprise

Another thing to keep in mind when using mindbenders: because mindbenders rely on the element of surprise, you must be able to predict what your opponents can or can not see. You’ll have to remember where their units have been, and need to see if they have bought explorers. Here is an example:

I forgot to take a screenshot of what I saw, but my opponent sent me a screenshot of what they saw after they fell for the trap.

Context: my opponent (Yadakk) had just captured one of my cities with a giant from a ship. Because that giant was the only unit that had landed and it wasn’t from a battleship, I knew that the city he had just captured was all he could see. As soon as the lone giant stepped ashore, I trained a mindbender in the nearest city. I predicted that my opponent would move the giant south to explore my land, so I placed the mindbender just outside the border. Result: I stole the giant and won the game.

That’s about it for my serious examples. Thank you for reading, and please leave a comment if you have any thoughts.

Part 3: Fun and Games

The rest of this “guide” is all fun and games.

How to mindbend a navalon:

This was a game with some of my real life friends. Mindbending a navalon is usually not worth the trouble, it’s better to kill it with catapults or battleships. But since it was clear I was going to win this game, I made it a goal to mindbend a navalon, like trophy hunting.

This is what my setup looked like: I had my emperor’s tomb and a farm ready in that city to spawn in a giant. I used a string of weakened boats to lure the navalon into occupying my city. I had 2 mindbenders: one next to the bait city (the one with a temple), and one in the next city over. I also had catapults nearby just in case something went wrong.

Here’s what would have happened: the navalon swam in, killed the eastern mindbender, and crippled the veteran rider. Then I would push it out with a giant. The navalon would be pushed into the city’s north eastern port, and I would move my backup mindbender onto the custom house. The next turn, the navalon would not be able to move because it had just been pushed, and the mindbender would capture it. (I have now realized that this wouldn’t have worked because pushed units can still attack after being pushed. However, mindbending a navalon is still possible, you would just have to have a mindbender next to the spot the navalon got pushed into)

Here’s what actually happened: the navalon entered the city and tried to kill the rider before killing the mindbender. I stole it without using my emperor’s tomb.

Jebaited.jpg

And here’s an example of how not to use mindbenders:

Lol

Thanks for reading, hope you learned something. Please comment if you have any thoughts.