Playing the Sapper

Hello everyone! Welcome to my first Steam Guide! I am Majegs, and I have been a part of Steam for quite a while, and I am excited to bring this guide to the members of the King Arthur's Gold community!

After reading this guide, you should be able to effectively play as an offensive builder in King Arthur's Gold.

Have you ever come across a time in KaG when you were unable to advance towards the enmy because he has set up stone walls and you are a knight? Are your bombs lacking the detonation power you need to win the game? Then you may need a "sapper," an offensive builder who lives to make a path to victory.

Introduction

Hello everyone! Welcome to my first Steam Guide! I am Majegs, and I have been a part of Steam for quite a while, and I am excited to bring this guide to the members of the King Arthur's Gold community!

Have you ever come across a time in KaG when you were unable to advance towards the enmy because he has set up stone walls and you are a knight? Are your bombs lacking the detonation power you need to win the game? Then you may need a "sapper," an offensive builder who lives to make a path to victory.

Before I launch into this shin-dig, I first would like to explain why I chose to use the word "Sapper" in the title. As defined by Wikipedia, "A sapper, also called pioneer or combat engineer, is a combatant or soldier who performs a variety of military engineering duties such as bridge-building, laying or clearing minefields, demolitions, field defences and general construction, as well as road and airfield construction and repair. They are also trained to serve as infantry personnel in defensive and offensive operations. A sapper's duties are devoted to tasks involving facilitating movement of allied forces and impeding those of enemies. The phrase "sapper" come from the French word "sap" which means to dig or to trench."

This guide will deal with the effective use of a builder playing an offensive role instead of the defensive role. After reading this guide, you should be able to effectively play as an offensive builder in King Arthur's Gold.

The Three B's of the Sapper

I have boiled down the role of the Sapper into an easy to remember, catchy phrase:

Blaze, Break, Block

Real catchy, huh? I bet you won't forget it any time soon.

So let's jump right into the explanation and description of each of these B's.
Blaze
When I say blaze, I am referring to the word blaze in the sense of blazing a trail, not any other definitions you crazy kids come up with nowadays.
As a builder on the front line, your primary objective should be to open up a path for your knights to rush through. Occupy yourself with breaking down doors, walls, and other areas your knights are clearly trying to get through. Create a way for them to attack the enemy. If done correctly, they will then occupy the enemy in combat, and permit you to move to stage two:
Break
Here is where playing the sapper gets really fun. After your knights have begun to stream into the enemy base, focus on stopping the enmy from re-plugging the hole you made. Do this by destroying any sort of defense that could potentially be turned into another wall. ONe of the main ways you will learn to do this effectively is through experience. You will learn how the physics engine in the game keeps buildings up or knocks them down. Generally speaking, it is pretty simple: without any back or side support, the top will crumble (and crush anything under it.)
Block
I will begin this section by telling you that there is a good chance that you will not perform this role of the sapper nearly as much as the other two parts. Nevertheless, blocking can become a valuable part of CTF and TTH. Essentially, blocking boils down to placing blocks in a manner that impedes any enemy attack on your allies. Whether it be silly wooden blocks placed willy-nilly, or a solid stone wall that prevents then enemy from moving forward without any wall breaching devices, blocking is the final priority, but should not be neglected in hard-fought games.

Sappers and Team Play

Obviously, KaG is very much a team game. Nevertheless, you have been probably been the victim of a team that communicates poorly, and therfore operates poorly. As a sapper, it is essential that you communicate your intents and needs to your teammates, so that they are prepared to assist you in any way that they can.

First of all, when advancing toward the enemy's base or defenses, alert your knights that you will be working on destroying the walls, and ask them to defend you as best as they can. Most knights will understand that a sapper can do more damage than a bomb in a shorter amount of time, more effectively. Much of the time, they will be willing to sacrifice their life if it means total destruciton of an enemy defense.

Next, be resolute in your decisions. If you decide you want to destroy a certain obstacle, then alert your team and do it. Do not begin to destory something, and then leave, because a strategically useless attack is better than a half-hearted attack that has no results at all.

Thirdly, get gritty. If you and a knight are together attacking a wall, and another knight engages your knight, sometimes it is usefull to get engaged in the combat with your ally. Many times you will be able to either distract the other knight, or take away enough health to let your ally kill him-and many times you will get the kill! Deciding whether or not to engage an enemy is solely up to you, and you will learn when to do so with experience and time.

Although these are my top three tips to being an effective sapper teammate, many unspoken rules still stand. Be a good teammate, communicate effectively, and you can turn the tide of the battle.

Miscellaneous Tips

• Be prepared to die! Bulders are weak, and you will likely be focused when it becomes apparent that you are a threat. Use your respawn timer to analyze the enemy base and find its weaknesses.
  
• Remember that you are a builder. If your team is constantly asking for a certain building, build it. If the enemy destroys part of your home base, you should still fix it.
  
• Remember that you can not destroy the blocks around the enemy flag. The "clink" noise means that you can't break a block there, so don't waste your time.
  
• As a builder, walling yourself in and then destroying an enemy base can be exceptionally effective, under the right circumstances. A stone block has more defensive power than any shield! (Courtesy of Klokinator)
  
• When walling yourself in, cancel out the light so you can not be seen by the enemy (placing back walls and such). (Courtesy of turbospeed2000)
  
• With builders, especially "sappers" [Love that term], it take too many valuable seconds away to type into chat. Using emotes are key to being able to get it done in time. For me, when there are knights heading the way, I do the Exlamation Mark [!!!] to alert them to go defensive. (Courtesy of Dargona1018)

Conclusion

Well, there you go! My guide to playing as effective sapper in King Arthur's Gold. Remember to communicate with your team, and follow the three B's:

Blaze, Break, Block

. If you follow these simple guidelines, I am confident that you will be able to win more games, and have more fun.

Thank youf ro reading, and do not hesitate to leave me a comment here, whether you are praising the guide or hating it. All feedback is welcome! Now get out there and ruin some builders' days!


Change Log

• 1/13/14 Created Guide "finished" all sections
  
• 1/22/14 Removed three instances of "KoG" and replaced them with "KaG"

[souffocation]

nice Guide

[Nails+Tape]

i know this is 6 years old now but

It's "sappe", not "sap". french words are like that.

[djdwrek]

@Majegs Haha I'm bad with kegs too, cause I always light them too early and *ahem* destroy the front wall of our base. Every time. So I just buy kegs for the better knights when I get enough money. You could also light it from the roof, parachute, and "divebomb" them as a knight. Kind of like how it was shown in the trailer. :D Happy kegging Majegs!

[Samathy]

@Majegs, a very common sight, but the trick to avoid this is to use a catapult that is high up off the ground, as soon as the knight is launched he will light the keg (after the 'stun') and drop on the tower/flag/enemies below, but sometimes he will not survive his own keg.

[Majegs]

@GamerEdeks I think I'm just very bad with the knights, because I always lose my kegs and the other team uses them to destroy my team!

[djdwrek]

@GamerEdeks Good point, but those methods are costly. An experienced builder can do much more than what kegs or ballistas can do, and at practically no cost. But good point :D

[Samathy]

'Have you ever come across a time in KaG when you were unable to advance towards the enmy because he has set up stone walls and you are a knight? Are your bombs lacking the detonation power you need to win the game? Then you may need a "sapper," an offensive builder who lives to make a path to victory.' - Majegs, well, u can use kegs... or explosive ballista bolts... great guide tho

[Toaster Turtle]

also walling in the enem tent tent is always effective and can stall them while you break their defences and/or steal their flag

[Prince_Hamster_the_3rd]

I have been playing KAG for a while now and i have to say this is a very entertaining and helpful guid. :)
Looking forward to read more.

[Majegs]

@Vaeroth Blitz isn't too bad, I was just thinking that you are more or less blazing because it is sometimes very slow going, and blitz is more of "fast" term. Thank you for the kind words!

@The Merry Madame Thank you! I'm sure you'll do great!