I would like to share how I play zorbs with everyone!! I'll add a few comments my self too.

Pros:
-Extremely cheap workers and military.
-Free diamond mines
-Easy to play.
-Can easily come back from a big attack.

Cons:
-Cannot do well post oop.
-Must resort to gold mines :(
-Must be caution to big pushes at all times.

Misconceptions:
-Giants do not have low casualties; they aren't worth conquesting with.
-Improvements are not secondary and less important, they are actually more important to that of other races.
-You do not need less farms, zorbs farms are equal to that of a non population penalty race.

When to pick Zorb
-If it is a 5 week + round, go for it zorbs are great.
-If it is 4-4.5 week round, pick zorb, they are still great but have less potential.

OOP: Someone told me to use elite defense and spec op @ oop, and that someone was very wise, do that. Have around 40 diamond mines oop while using mostly gold mines. 1 gq and ect. Be extremely careful when selecting your military mix, I would suggest only 1000-1050 Snow bears, that will make you 6 attacks and the rest should be ice hunters. Have 3.5k defense by the first wave of attack, (it is better to be underdefended now and overdefended later, I made this mistake every single time). And 5k by the second and then you should be covered by the 3rd wave (use chill beast if you wish). Taking a hit with 300 acres is much better than taking a hit with 650-700 acres.

-Do not use guild quarters.
-Do not frostbreath oop attacks.
-Do not train any more offensive specs.
-Do not train chill beast before the third wave.
-Save your runes, do not train splitters.

Now you have around 700 acres and probably can add 30-60 acres if you get 2 lucky bottomfeeds. As a frost zorb this is a very good position even though you are set back on the ranks. This is where the luck comes in and your round will be a blast. Most your land should be diamond mines (40%) and you start to turtle here for a bit. Don't turtle too long, 24 hours should be a good time. You start to attack again. But watch out for these crazy OOP maniacs massing specs, don't be under defended.

-Train all splitters asap
-Do not spy on top op
-Do not use any more specs
-Do not invest in anything but banking
-Invest in realm!
-Push workers every 12 hours.

Mid Game: Do whatever, watch out for top op. Bottomfeed!

-Max out at 750-900 diamond mines (spliters count as 1.5 mines) depending on the round length. Get it early so you don't need to build it later
-Use homes instead of gold mines.
-Alchemies are FTW
-Watch out for top op, do not rely too heavily on turtle
-2.5% ore mines for a bottomfeeder, 5% ore mines for a feeder, and 8% ore mines for suiciders.

Late Game: Use 50 lumberyards! Let say you have 2 weeks left, it's pretty stable out there, unless you are #1 do not go early taverns, make a good push and sit there with your econ. When you have 8 days or fewer left, push your military, make a good war hit and build taverns with your incoming lands, as the game ends sac diamond mines --> taverns.

-Recommended # of Frozen shadows: 1900.

The hero:
Generally:
Weapon > Agility > Stamina

For the first 2 levels, use all the points in intel. Collect the turn bonus and leave your hero home at all times. After level 2 I would take 1 point in stamina and 2-4 points in agility based on how good my inventory looks. Build gem splitters until the round has fewer than 1 week left. Even then you think about it, you are only paying 3 gold per diamond.

No this strategy will not win the round, but it's a very good strategy. Comments?

Thanks wilan. :)

although, not spying on top op could backfire.

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I don't have a dirty mind, I have a sexy imagination. XD

Interesting strat Wilan.

Though I would like to add my two cents.

Iron Mines: If you use your iron for improvements (which i do. I cant stockpile to save myself), then run 5-7%. If you dont invest iron, then about 3-4% will do. I found that when I wanted to mass OP for a few big hits, I was iron limited

GM: These belong to the devil. Do not build them. Ever.

GQ: I like GQ and ran 15-20% OOP. Couple this with homes and your economy kicks into overdrive. At no stage since OOP was i ever under a 1:1 peasan:worker ratio. Let the GQ fade

Homes: Very good friends of yours. Get pop, get it good. Invest heavily into pop mods and these become much more effective than GM. And you dont need to rezone.

Stockpiling: Unless you are 100% confident you are safe, dont stockpile as zorb. You dont have the turtle, your troops are efficient. No need.

Mage/Spies: Are your friends. 0.5 spa/wpa is very good.

Gem Splitters: Train them lots and lots. The more you get the earlier you can tav. You need about 300-350 late game to sustain your troops. Once you get that and you feel you have enough imps, then R/R tavs.

Good stuff man, however yes I emphasize stockpiling, 3 times it has failed me. I still do not learn... Yea don't play like I do, stockpiling is very risky.

GM aren't bad preOOP, don't completely neglect them.

I disagree on investing ores, that's just a waste. And plus ore stacks, it'll be very helpful for a stockpiling push (xD).

Again preference kicks in, GQ aren't as efficient because A. Worker cost is very low, B. Population penalty is high, C. Good peasant growth rate/no need to moderate on zorbs.

So how long does OOP last? I'm confused as to when the Mid Game starts.

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-It's burning! It's all burning!

Btw, for diamonds, id recomand having 100-200 piled when you rezone your dms to tavs, this way you won't have nay headaches on if youll run low on em ;)

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Save water , drink beer.

Scorpio dit :
but i say they are for the family. so i look all generous and shit, but fuck that i stood in the snw for 3 hrs outside of toys r us that wii is MINE

I like this idea. I use it myself. It actually works all round. What I do is NEVER EVER spy on anyone near the top, and as long as I don't they can't see me. It's a pretty impenetrable strat really, I like to call it the "ostrich strat" :)

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WARNING: Quaffles is a whiny bitch, and he will complain to adminz if you say anything negative about him in your signature.

How do you "watch out for top op" without "spying top op?"

I do agree with not spying top op though, just take it like a man (sorry knic) or be top dp. NO way to watch out for 'em if you don't spy 'em.

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WK and Ace and tuco for scorps.

For clarifications:

Do not spy on top op refers to the beginning where your defense is rather low. If there is a really high networth person, chances are he can break you.

As for mid game, constantly spy on top op to make sure that you can't be broken all in.

Then you're doing something terribly wrong.

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www.ceekayed.com

Nope, a zorb can't compare with fast races or spec pushers. It'll be no surprise if someone running away with 1k acre can break a zorb with 720.

You didn't have any bullet points for the Late Game section. So I was wondering, is there some super secret transition to a strategy like this for the end game?

End Game:
- Stop spying on top op
- Feed the round winner all-in

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It's a bird!
No! It's a plane!
No! It's the amazing1weekflare! :mrgreen:

That's only half of it...

-Stop spying on top op
-Stockpile 6 mil gold
-Do not train defense
-Get hit for 500+
-Start crying.

Excellent response. I approve.

Props for making the effort to post such a detailed strat btw.

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It's a bird!
No! It's a plane!
No! It's the amazing1weekflare! :mrgreen:

Well, if you can't defend the top op, play slower and get some "better meat" inbetween you and the top op; so you should know it in any case. You don't need a kickstart with a zorb in any case. Let the dorfs and gobbos roam for a while. But never advice other people to not to pay attention to the top op, thanks. ;)

I thought I replied to this already, but can't see my post anywhere.

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www.ceekayed.com