Chaos Blood - An advanced rookie guide

This is an advanced guide for the custom scenario Chaos Blood. It is being hosted several times every day. Often people resign because they don't know what to do, or how to do it effectivly. After reading this advanced guide you will not only be able to play Chaos Blood, but you'll be able to win it. It is a game where you can do alot of things right or wrong. It may be a long read but I like to believe it’s worth it :)

An introduction to Chaos Blood

Chaos Blood is a custom scenario, much different from Castle Blood. Unlike Castle Blood it takes skill, tactics and determination. Some may say it is the most thrilling and chaotic scenario. They’d be right.
In Chaos blood there is one main fighting area and each player has his own support area. More about this support area later. The next section will teach you what's what in each area.

The Fighting Area

The setup on the fighting area is each player has 3 barracks, 1 blacksmith and 1 castle. Each player’s first barracks are placed in the centre of the map and form a square of 8 barracks that way. The following 2 barracks and blacksmith are lined up diagonally towards the player’s castle at the edge of the fighting area. Every one of these buildings has an extra hp boost, making them very hard to raze.



The player starts with a Scythian wild woman, a missionary and a respawning imam who is stationary at the player’s castle.



At the start of the game the player can train militia at the barracks. The goal is to obtain kills as much as possible while not feeding your opponents. Get enough kills and you will be rewarded with strong units, technologies and advancement to the next age.

After just 25 kills you will advance to the feudal age and your 2 inner barracks will be replaced by an archery range and a stable (Mayans and Aztecs will get a new barracks instead of a stable).
It is important to know that in the fighting area, every 50 seconds each military unit will receive a +5 HP and +1 ATT. Therefore you should try to hold on to your older men since they may actually be very strong.

Eventually after 125 kills you will reach castle age and be able to train from your castle as well. Your ultimate goal is to raze your enemy’s castle, this defeats the player.

You will also be rewarded for doing converts and razes. For example; when you get 9 converts you will get a power up on your military worth 10 times a normal power up. The first 4 razes that you do will give you 1 villager each. These villagers are for repairing only, DO NOT bother building anything. The 5th raze and 10th convert both give you a king. These can be game-changing and should always be a goal to you.

The Support Area

There are 3 sections in your support area that you should be aware of. The first is your houses. After 10 minutes you can delete one or more of them in order to be awarded the unit that stands next to it. There is a population limit of 60. Deleting one house will leave you with 55 pop, deleting all houses leaves you 20. Huns don’t need houses, however, they are limited to get only 5 of the household units.



The second section is made out of a bunch of heroes with flags next to them. The player has a trapped turkey and sheep. After 300 kills the turkey becomes free and the player can then use it to select one of the heroes by standing on the corresponding flag. The sheep are harder to unlock, their name tells you how.



Finally the most important section is where the kings spawn. You start with 1 superking and get more kings over time and as a reward for things like razes and converts. There are also flags of each other player’s colour and a square white one. Putting one of the kings on a coloured flag will kill all military men of said colour. Putting the superking on the square white one will kill all enemies their military men. This excludes monks, villagers and every unit that is being garrisoned inside buildings. These garrisoned men will be left with 1 HP though. The king dies after being used so be sparing with them.



There is also a counter for kills (outpost HP), converts (Imam’s name) and razes (saboteur’s name). You can see what you will be rewarded for how many kills by looking at the names of the units on the L shaped island next to your support area.

The Numbers

Buildings HP

Barracks: 26.200 (Byzantines +120)
Archery Range: 26.200 (Byzantines +600)
Stable: 26.200 (Byzantines +600)
Blacksmith: 16.750 (Byzantines +210)
Castle: 14.800 (Byzantines +1000)

Rewards

Kills
25 kills = Feudal Age
50 kills = Robin Hood
100 kills = Nobunaga
125 kills = Castle Age
125 kills = Friar tuck
200 kills = Master of Templar
250 kills = Subotai
300 kills = Hero selection (select hero with Turkey)
350 kills = Imperial Age
500 kills = Superking can be used to kill all enemy units (bring to white flag)
750 kills = 1 King
900 kills = Super Hero selection (select hero with Sheep)
1000 kills = +2500 castle HP
1200 kills = Mega Hero selection (select hero with Sheep)
1500 Kills = 1 King

Every 25 kills after 1500 gives you a x4 Power Up

Razes
1 Raze = 1 Villager
2 Razes = 1 Villager + Masonary & Town Watch
3 Razes = 1 Villager + Architecture & Town Patrol
4 Razes = 1 Villager
5 Razes = 1 King
8 Razes = +4 attack to castle
10 Razes = +2200 castle HP

Converts
4 convert = +10 attack to house heroes
6 convert = 1 monk & 30 hp to all remaining monks
7 convert = +50 HP to all monks
8 convert = Faith
9 convert = +10 attack & +5o HP to all military
10 convert = 1 king & Heresy
15 convert = 1 villager
20 convert = 1 monkey boy & +1 raze count.

Every convert after 20 gives you a x4 Power Up

Razes & Converts
5 razes & 5 converts = Super Hero selection (select hero with Sheep)
10 razes & 15 conversions = 10 extra pop

House Hero Strength

Harald: +1 attack +15 HP/ 2 minutes
Charles Martel: +1 attack +15 HP/ 2 minutes
Archer Of Eyes: +1 attack +20 HP/ 2 minutes
Sythian Scout: +2 attack +25 HP/ 2 minutes
Frankish Paladin: +2 attack +25HP/ 2 minutes
Aethelfirth: +2 attack +30 HP/ 2 minutes
Imam: +255 HP
Villager: +175 HP

How to start

As soon as the game launches, start training 15 militia (use SHIFT) in each barracks and set each barracks gathering point inside of said barracks. The militia will be garrisoned inside the barracks and be safe from being killed or converted. Next take your missionary and try to convert a militia that is spawned outside your neighbours barracks.


Be aware not to stand your missionary next to a barracks that has men garrisoned. Your enemy may unload these men and jump your missionary. Don’t be afraid of the one militia you are trying to convert. It will always be converted before it can hit your missionary if you kept your distance.

Because you will hit feudal age after only 25 kills, you shouldn’t wait to send your militia out there for too long. Generally, as long as you outnumber your opponent at this moment you are good to go. Bring the Scythian woman with your army, she will get you kills. If you see two groups of enemies fighting it is a beautiful opportunity to jump them and kill them all off. But be careful, don’t get into a fight you can’t win, and never let two allies gang up on you. There is no shame in pulling back to your castle to be safe and heal. Never try to raze a building early in the game, it’s all about kills now. Keep your missionary safe and try to get more converts. Dark age is the best time for this because there are no ranged enemies and the militia don’t hit hard.

When you hit feudal research tracking and bloodlines if you can. Train archers, men at arms and scout cavalry (or eagle warriors). You could try skirmishers and spearmen, but they are vulnerable.

Keep on picking fights you can win or that are even. If you can avoid it, try not to let your archers get killed. With the power ups they become very usefull. If you can hang onto a few of your early archers with a big attack bonus, you can put them in your castle for later use. At 50 kills you get a Robin Hood. This guy is pretty strong, use him with your other archers, he will help you get more kills faster. But keep him alive so you can keep him inside your castle later.



At 125 kills you will advance to castle age. You can now switch to knights or camels, cavalry archers/crossbowmen and your castle unit. I generally stop using my barracks at this point, unless I need to repopulate my entire army. I also try to keep 10 ranged units inside my archery range so they can brew to become stronger while being near the action if they are needed. This has the downside of using less men in your main army, I wouldn’t recommend it if you are behind. With castle age comes an extra monk, so keep trying to get more converts.

At this point the razing game truly begins. Try to pick on nearby buildings, buildings which are already damaged, buildings that are especially threatening (Mongol’s archery range, Goth’s barracks) or just any building that you CAN raze. Beware, if you are going to put all your brewed super power upped men next to another player’s building, you are likely to get kinged. Even though I advice to save up your kings as much as possible, sometimes an opponent just doesn’t give you a choice. If he keeps feeding on you with buffed men, hurting your buildings while he blocks you, you have no option but to king him. Other than that only king to save your castle or to force an opponent to king you back or lose HIS castle.

At 350 kills you reach imperial age. Get spies, Parthian tactics and your civ unique tech if it helps your military. Upgrade the units you use and upgrade your blacksmith one last time. At this point you can see everything. It is likely that one or more players are already defeated, disconnected or resigned. Each game is different the team that appear to be winning can still be defeated if they don’t keep it up. At this point kills are less important than razing. You can either work your way down an opponent’s buildings or have a go at his castle. Just make sure you don’t start feeding. More kings and heroes are to be earned with kills.

How to win

Now you know how to effectively play Chaos Blood. Here are some final tricks, tactics and hints that will help you become a better player and enable you to finish off a game.

Hints

• Always remember to upgrade blacksmith fast.
  
• Always keep converting, but don't gamble monks.
  
• Keep some strong archers in your castle.
  
• Feed off opponents with inferior army/castle unit.
  
• Heal your militia while researching feudal blacksmith.
  
• Focus fire on heroes with high attack who are mixed in a group.

Tricks

• Steal razes by sneaking up on an opponent who is almost finished razing another opponent.
  
• Unload your barracks when an enemy missionary is near it and kill it.
  
• To let your army fire 20 arrows when garrisoned, unload castle and fill it back up, this resets it.
  
• King an opponent when he unloaded his castle, then go at him.
  
• Try to snipe villagers with a strong cavalry archer when they are received/repairing.
  
• Mix brewed units in with fresh ones for an extra punch without extra risk on getting kinged.
  
• Put archers on stand ground/patrol between two buildings during fights.

Tactics

To get a good start garrison your men in your barracks or gather them at your castle. When you have around 25-30 men move around and look for a smaller group or two groups fighting. Jump them and pull back if the odds are no longer in your favour. Reinforce your initial men with new trainees and repeat the proces. When you hit feudal finish your battle if it’s in your favour and then return to your castle to heal them. Meanwhile update your blacksmith and train scouts and archers. When you’re healed and have say 40-50 men, you can go at it again.

You can get converts by leading on enemy units that are on agressive stance. Let them follow one of your men towards your monk/trapped imam. Make sure your army doesn't engage them. If you lead a group towards your trapped imam target one of the units in the back, the first ones will die by castle fire.



When you reach 9 converts you get a x10 bonus on your units. Therefor pay attention to your number of converts. Never make the 9th convert if you just lost your army, because the bonus will be wasted on the few units you have. Make sure you make the 10th convert for the extra king.

Sometimes you’ll want to force an opponent to king you, like when you have more kings than him and you want to make sure he has none left. To do this, get a full army, king your opponent then go for his castle. He may try to kill your army with his heroes. If he unloads them, kill them first since they have only a few HP points left. Eventually he will have to king you. Possibly losing his heroes and a lot of castle HP.

Even though sometimes you can't prevent losing buildings, you must make sure you don't get behind another good opponent/team by letting them keep all their buildings while you lose yours. When you are op against an opponent with 3 or 4 production buildings and you only have your castle, it's very hard to win. Especially losing your archery range early should be avoided. Some players use a king to save buildings. I normally only do that if the enemy is using an army that is powered up alot. If you do this, make sure to go after his buildings so you can raze it or force him to king you back.

There is always the option in feudal age to change your stable back to a barracks. This is useful if your civ is Goths and maybe Japanese. To do this, go to your support area and delete this palaside wall. You only have limited time to make this descision, make sure you research bloodlines first if your civ can.



To finish off an opponent there are several options. You can try and surprise him and go after his castle with high ATT heroes and kill him. This is not really recommended because if he pays attention he can simply king you. If you have the better civ you can work your way down his buildings and eventually finish him off. If you manage to bring him to zero kings, you can get full pop, king him and go for the finish with everything you have. The last option he has is to get all household heroes and try to survive it.

Disclaimer

Now you know how Chaos Blood works and what to expect. Hower this is by no means the ultimate guide that makes you a pro. It takes some practice and dedication throughout the game to become real good at it. But at least now after reading this guide you’ll have a fighting chance in Chaos Blood. It is important to remember you can always win in Chaos Blood, even when you've been under all game. This is mostly true in FFA games. Mostly being top dog all game will result in the other players ganging up on you. That's why I don't like or recommend FFA in chaos blood, but it can be great fun with cordial players. It goes without say, whining to go 3vs the guy killing you is a d1ck move.

The author of this guide can not not be held responsible for noobish moves and lost games. Although this guide already covers pretty much everything, I may edit in some more screenshots and tactics later. Good luck, have fun and see you ingame! - SmellyLeopard

[SmellyLeopard]

Thank you for your comments. I have updated the guide and added in a whole new section.

[Logic]

super

[[CN]Error]

thk

[Marc5000]

Awesome guide!! You the man Smelly!! :-D