GoT Ascent - Headstart

[TheSilence]

Hi everyone,

I'm a big GoT fan and I don't know about you but i'm looking forward to the release of the facebook social game 'Game of Thrones: Ascent' and will hopefully be on the beta trial too.

I was wondering if anyone else was as keen and might look to sort some alliances/clan for when the game is finally released?

Cheers

[Tommen]

Sure, why not? I'm really excited to see exactly what the gameplay is like. Hope it's not disappointing.

[Tony Soprano]

I'm up for it.

I have really high hopes for this one. From what I've seen in the previews, this looks like a very unique social game.

[SpaceChampion]

GOT Ascent is open beta now.

[hollowcrown]

The game doesn't work.

Spent about an hour to it, closed the tab to do something else, and then when I came back I was stuck at character creation again.

I wouldn't risk your time playing it in this buggy state.

[SpaceChampion]

There are bugs, but they've been clearing them up within a day of being reported.

[The hairy bear]

Question:

I don't like Social games that are too social. I won't have any significant amount of fb friends playing, and above all, I don't want to bother the rest of them with three posts a day about the game.

So, is this a game for me? Can I progress (even if it's at a slower pace) without dozens of friends supporting me and without posting?

[SpaceChampion]

Yes, you can. Nobody but you ever need see any posts from the game on your wall if you set the app to "only me" when authorizing it. As far as I remember that's what I did.

I only bugged people I knew were already playing, or who I gamed with in another game and I knew were fans and likely wanted to play.

However, once in the game you'll probably receive in-game friend requests. That doesn't make you facebook friends with them, so go ahead an add them in-game without worry about privacy.

You can friend me in game (Brynden Blackwood) in order to join the Golden Company, and that's all you need to really to play, as you'll need to be in an alliance eventually, and have at least one friend to trade favors and go on quests with. Favors are need to give temporary boosts to your stats and luck (I don't know what they call it but the % chance of succeeding in an action) so you can take on challenges higher than your strength would normally allow.

Quests are things like mini-wars which you need friends to help win, but you can play them by yourself. With other players you're actually competing against them to win the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place for most contribution to the quest, and placement determines how much loot you get from it. If you play the quest by yourself you will get the 1st place loot of course, but you might lose the quest without support. I'm won by myself though, since I spend a lot of time building up my sword swords to good stats.

There are suppose to be tourneys coming up, pitting alliance vs alliance, so you might want to get in on that action.

[DragonAge93]

A very fun game. I like how you can create your own banner, reminds me of Diablo III. Definitely going to be getting more into it later today.

[Chalkius Stark]

Seems interesting,I've only got up to choosing my background so far. Name is the same as my username on here, my castle is Winterfell. Original I know, but I like the Starks!

[Crown]

Just started playing, name's Rodrik Noye. :)

[Dementia]

Now I'm going to spend all day trying to think of a kick ass Ascent character name.

[Ffiferoo]

I started last night (Alysanne Tollett - took me forever to decide!) and it's decent so far. I don't like that there are so many things that need to be bought with gold, which it seems like you can only get from actually paying for it with real money (or maybe if you swear for Lannister?), but I'm sure those things aren't necessary to play.

I'm getting a lot of error messages today and it's lagging a lot when I actually get it to load. I'm assuming it's heavy traffic causing it. Hopefully it'll start running better soon.

[Crown]

I started last night (Alysanne Tollett - took me forever to decide!) and it's decent so far. I don't like that there are so many things that need to be bought with gold, which it seems like you can only get from actually paying for it with real money (or maybe if you swear for Lannister?), but I'm sure those things aren't necessary to play.

I'm getting a lot of error messages today and it's lagging a lot when I actually get it to load. I'm assuming it's heavy traffic causing it. Hopefully it'll start running better soon.

I believe you can also get gold after a fews days by checking in every day, if that makes any sense, not sure though. :P

[Ffiferoo]

I believe you can also get gold after a fews days by checking in every day, if that makes any sense, not sure though. :P

Ah, guess we'll see in the next few days - thanks for the tip!

[SpaceChampion]

Yes, you get a free gift everyday, usually a favor, and on the 7th day you get a chance at gold. It's not much 2 - 4 gold. If you're really impatient yes you can buy gold but it's not necessary at all.

Some tips,

1) focus on your Counting House at first, upgrading the silver production rate as well as the stack size. Silver accumulates at a rate based on the number of upgrade in the counting house, and you can collect any time but the stack size is the max you can produce without collecting. I'm got mine stack up to 4000, so that's good for about 8 hours at my silver prod rate of 420.

2) Next get some basic sworn swords, about 3 is good, but eventually you'll need 20 or so, as there are slots for 9 defenders (which you can assign to titles like Champion and Quartermaster) in case other players attack you (so far no one has me), and the rest you'll need to send out on quests or participate in tournaments and battles. I wouldn't bother with buying any with real money. You can build them up from nothing quickly. For example, I have a +34 sworn sword (SS) after just a week (his base is now about +18 but I have about +16 in gear on him). So to get to a base of +30 will only probably take a week or two (higher you go becomes harder). The best SS you can hire is a +30 for 24000 silver. Your silver is better put towards building upgrades, especially early on. So just buy your first three at +1 for 1200 each and level them up.

The primary way to boost their stats is through upgrading building and giving them gear. Your main character's stats are added to your SS's stats to determine the % chance of success for any action, which your SS's stats also need to best or equal whatever opponent you are facing to guarantee success, but an inferior SS can best a better opponent due to your high character's stats.

There are a lot of buildings, and each building upgrade adds +1 or +2 to your main character's stats. You also get power points; each power level crossed give you an addition talent point which you can spend on boosting stats of the main character. The SS's have experience points, and with each rank leveled up you can a talent point to apply to them.

There are two strategies for your characters and SS.

i) Give your best gear to your main character in battle, trade and intrigue stats so that they boost all your SS equally. Then level up your SS equally in all three areas of battle, trade or intrigue.

ii) Give your best gear to SS's and specialize so that one SS is focusing on battle, one on intrigue, one on trade; then what your main character focuses on doesn't matter so much. He/she could be all towards battle stats for instance.

Ultimately, you need balanced generalist characters to go out on quests, while keep specialists for the 9 defender slots.

3) Keep making resources (fur, cloth, stone, wood, iron, ore, horse, grain) when your Village Center is not otherwise busy. Once you declare fealty to a Great House, you can unlock (with talent points) one building that the other fealties cannot. Each of these talent buildings are labelled "talent" on them until they are unlocked, but you can unlock only one. Each can also make a resource, like the Hunting Lodge (starks) can make fur, and turn 3 furs into cloth.

Some gear you can make from the building cost many many resources to make, like 7 furs and 4 cloth (plus another item) to make a +10 cloak. HOWEVER, i'm finding i'm getting better gear through the storyline and quests rather than making them, so hoard your silver and resources for the building upgrades.

4) Send your SS out on adventures to level them up. There is a list of adventures that are repetitious, there just to earn resources and experience points. You'll fail a lot on adventures at first, until your SS have higher stats than their opponents.

5) If you get a request from another player to join a quest, join it! The rewards are way better gear than what you can make from your buildings, and you get them a lot sooner. On quests you start with 5 actions, and gain a new action every two minutes. These are like live battles, so you get to make choices like making a cavalry charge to outflank an army. The main reward is usually some sweet gear, but there are additional gear for the top three players, AND a few thousand silver depending on how many actions you put in. You are competing against other players based on the strength of your SS and the number of actions to make. So when initiating a quest of your own, make your 5 actions and then invite others from amongst your friends and alliance to join you. There is a delay so you won't see what actions they make in the current round until the next round starts, but you'll see your own actions right away.

6) Each chapter consists of storyline missions that you need to complete before moving on to the next chapter. Watch for the bonus conditions and try to meet them. Don't be too eager to blast through all the chapters as quickly as possible. If your stats aren't high enough, you can lose those story missions, but still proceed. I'd recommend boosting your stats until you can consistently win the storyline missions and get the extra rewards, even to the point of parking yourself in the prologue or first couple of chapters for a week while you level up.

For a laugh, take a look at the last achievement in the storyline section of the achievement tab of the character page. If you don't want to spoil it for yourself, don't look!